I just noticed that I hadn’t written about my mother’s shoo fly pie recipe on the current incarnation of my blog. I had done so on a previous blog but not on this one.
Also, I hadn’t made a shoo fly pie in some time. So I just rectified that as well.
A few notes.
If you make the filling it might seem to be very thin, but it does thicken up during baking. Depending on several factors it might bake over, so it’s a good idea to put the pie plate on a cookie sheet when you put it into the oven to catch any overflow.
My mother’s recipe calls for dark molasses, but what she really meant is dark corn syrup, so I’ve adjusted the recipe accordingly. Everyone in my family referred to corn syrup as molasses. I remember my grandmother (paternal) used the kind with the rabbit on the label. Or sometimes King Syrup. I use Karo dark corn syrup.
I’ve looked for other shoo fly pie recipes and they generally call for molasses (although one mentioned Karo syrup in parentheses), and you could use molasses instead of dark corn syrup, but it would taste different. Some recipes make a point of specifying molasses rather than corn syrup. All I can say is that I grew up with the taste of dark corn syrup in shoo fly pies. On no account should you ever use black strap molasses; that’s a syrup of a different flavor. The results will be inedible.
A long time ago, like over 40 years, I had some delicious shoo fly cake at someone’s house, and they gave me the recipe. I don’t think I ever tried making it myself, but I have to see if I still have that recipe. But, of course, if it lists molasses in the ingredients, will it mean real molasses or dark corn syrup?
Arlene’s Shoo Fly Pie
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon Crisco (or butter or vegetable oil)
- 1 egg
- 1 cup molasses or dark corn syrup (I use Karo dark corn syrup)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 cup hot water
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Mix together the flour, brown sugar, and Crisco. Take out 1/2 cup for the topping.
- Mix in the egg.
- Mix in the molasses or dark corn syrup
- Dissolve the baking soda in the water and add to the mix.
- Pour into a 9″ baking shell (Arlene’s Pie Dough or use your favorite pie dough recipe).
- Sprinkle the 1/2 cup topping over the top.
- Bake in 400 degree F. oven for 25 minutes; reduce heat to 350 and bake another 25 minutes.