Making Shoo Fly Pie

Recipe: Chocolate Shoo-fly Pie

(A blue ribbon contest winner - at a PA Dutch fair, no less!)

Ingredients

• 1 unbaked pie shell
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/3 cups boiling water
• 1 1/2 cups (16 oz. can) Hershey's syrup
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 1/3 cups unsifted all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/3 cup butter
• Cinnamon

Directions

Dissolve 1/4 teaspoon baking soda in boiling water; stir in chocolate syrup and vanilla. Set aside. Combine flour, sugar, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda and salt. Cut in butter with pastry blender to form coarse crumbs.

Set aside 1 cup each of chocolate mixture and crumbs. Gently combine remaining chocolate and crumbs, stirring just until crumbs are moistened (mixture will be lumpy). Pour reserved cup of chocolate mixture into pastry shell.

Pour chocolate-crumb mixture evenly over liquid in shell. Top with remaining 1 cup crumbs. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake at 375 degrees F for 60 minutes or until set. Cool completely.

By Renee from Slatedale, PA

Recipe: Shoo Fly Pie

Shoo Fly Pie is a favorite dessert in the Amish community, and there are many different variations. Some are more like coffee cake than a pie. The name comes from the days when pies were cooled on the windowsill, and the sweet filling would attract pesky flies, which the cook "shooed" away.

Here's a simple and no-fail version that can be created with staples from the pantry.

Ingredients

• 1 deep dish pie shell

• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp. Crisco or other solid shortening
• 1 cup flour

• 1 cup molasses
• 3/4 cup boiling water
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 tsp baking soda

Add crumb mixture; dont worry about lumps. Pour into unbaked pie crust and cover with reserved crumbs.

Bake at 375 degrees F for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees F and bake for an additional 35-45 minutes or until firm. Let cool before slicing.

By Claire

Recipe: Coconut Shoo Fly Pie