Traditional Shoofly Pie

It's gooey sweet and unadorned by a top crust. What better invitation to come join the party does a hungry insect need? It should be called "molasses pie," but it's whimsically named shoofly because its "open" structure lures flies that must be shooed away. Shoofly Pie is thought to be a Pennsylvania Dutch creation, and may be a direct descendant of "Centennial Cake" introduced at the first World's Fair -- the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition.

• Preparation Time: 20 mins
• Cooking Time: 45 mins
• Total Time: 1 hr 5 mins
• Calories: 280 Calories

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup white sugar
• ¼ cup butter
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup molasses
• 2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts
• 1 cup warm water

Recipe Instructions

Step 1

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).

Step 2

Place pie crusts in 9 inch pie pans. Chill the crusts approximately 1 hour before use.

Step 3

In a medium bowl, stir together the baking soda and warm water. Mix in the molasses and stir until foamy. Transfer the mixture to the pie crusts.

Step 4

In a medium bowl, mix together flour, sugar and baking soda. Use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the flour mixture until very fine crumbs have formed. Sprinkle the crumbs over the molasses mixture in the pie crusts.

Step 5

Bake in the preheated oven 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), and continue baking 35 minutes, or until crust is lightly browned and the filling has set.