Shoofly Pie, Elizabeth Birnie

ByKara
  • baked pie in ceramic pie dish on wooden surface with blue oven mitt

Lest we forget the Pennsylvania Dutch contribution to the Maryland culinary tapestry, it was high time I tackled that old classic: Shoofly Pie.

This crumb-topped molasses pie most likely gained its folksy name from a brand of molasses, according to historian William Woys Weaver. He wrote about the pie in his 1993 book “Pennsylvania Dutch Country Cooking”:

“Shoofly pie is a breakfast cake meant to be eaten early in the morning with plenty of hot coffee. It first appeared in 1876 at the Centennial [International Exposition] in Philadelphia under the name Centennial Cake.”

  • Vintage grocery store advertisement showing prices for Libby's Pear Butter, Sweet Milk Chocolate, Shoo Fly Molasses, and Sumbrite Cleaner
    Reading (PA) Times, 1921

My database has 6 recipes for Shoofly pie. The oldest one was contributed to by Mrs. George H. Birnie to “Eat, Drink & Be Merry In Maryland” in 1932.

Born Elizabeth E. Zollickoffer in 1852, Mrs. Birnie’s father Alfred was a Carroll County farmer. In the 1860s and 1870s, Alfred Zollickoffer’s ads can be found in Westminster-area newspapers advertising such things as cider vinegar, livestock, and “peerless potatoes.” Elizabeth married banker George H. Birnie in 1882. The bank that Mr. Birnie founded in 1884, the Birnie Trust Company, existed until the 1960s before merging with Taneytown Bank and Trust, which was itself merged with a larger bank in 1998 and the local names swallowed up for good.

  • Public Sale advertisement from 1869 for horses, cows, hogs and farming implements by Alfred Zollikoffer near Uniontown
    one of Alfred Zollickoffer’s ads in the Westminster (MD) Democratic Advocate, 1869

Eleanor died in 1937. Her daughter Eleanor also contributed recipes to Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland.

I parbaked my pie crust. I now believe that was a mistake as it took much longer than I expected for the pie filling to thicken in the oven. Once it finally did it turned out alright, but the suggestion that it should be served with strong black coffee is a wise one. The molasses flavor is otherwise kind of bitter for modern tastes.

In the Baltimore area at least, autumn is ripe for enjoying & romanticizing Pennsylvania Dutch culture and foodways. People flock to orchards to pick pumpkins and apples, breathe in the scent of apple butter simmering, and get decorative hay all over their pantlegs. I can see the appeal.

It seems like a good time for me to finally check out William Woys Weaver’s “As American as Shoofly Pie: The Foodlore and Fakelore of Pennsylvania Dutch Cuisine,” wherein he celebrates and debunks Pennsylvania Dutch cookery and culture. Apparently a lot of the foods marketed as Pennsylvania Dutch specialties have their origins in commerce more than homegrown tradition.

I like to temper my enjoyment of things with a dose of distrust.

Recipe:

  • Vintage baking ingredients with cookbook holder: flour, sugar, molasses, butter, baking soda, and spice jar on wooden surface
  • 1 Cup molasses
  • 1 Cup boiling water
  • 1 Teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 Cup sugar
  • 1 Cup flour
  • 2 tb butter
  • cinnamon

“Mix water, molasses and soda. Pour into pie crust, mix sugar, flour and butter into crumbs. Put on top of pie. Season with cinnamon if liked. Makes one pie.”

  • Baking ingredients including mixing bowl with whisk, measuring cup with liquid, and small white bowl on wooden surface
  • Flour in green bowl with measuring spoons and recipe book for pie baking preparation
  • Mixing brown sugar and oil in metal bowl with whisk for baking recipe preparation
  • Unbaked pie crust with crumb topping in decorative ceramic dish on wooden surface
  • Slice of chocolate pie with crumb topping on white plate with fork and beverage

Recipe from “Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland“

Similar Posts

  • Bisque Ice Cream / Cauliflower Salad with Chef Charlotte

    ByKara

    Now and then I encounter an unfamiliar recipe enough times that I just have to give it a try. Such is the case with “Bisque” Ice Cream, a recipe that has popped up in various forms in 19th-century manuscripts, later transforming into a jello pudding dish before disappearing altogether. 1940s and 50s recipes such as…

  • Peanut Butter and Jelly Cheesecake, Delores Brown

    ByKara

    “For those gloomy days,” write Charles Britton in 1992, “when everything seems to be turning into dross, I have a note of encouragement to offer: We are living in the great age of cheesecake.”

    His column, which was syndicated in newspapers across the country, remarked on cheesecake’s 1980s rise to stardom, citing the two latest books on the subject, as well as “a popular Southern California restaurant chain called the Cheesecake Factory.” In that article, Britton shared six recipes for different cheesecake variations.

    Ten years earlier, Patricia Turner wrote in the Bridgewater Courier-News about two cheesecake cookbooks that were out at that time. Turner was somewhat less exhilarated about the possibility of cheesecake. Perhaps the golden age had not yet begun. Or perhaps it was the fact that Turner was on a diet and admitted to not having tried any of the recipes shared in her column.

    One of those recipes was for a Peanut Butter and Jelly Cheesecake – a different version than the recipe that I encountered in “Country Classics Vol. 2,” a 1980s cookbook put out by the Old Friendship United Methodist Church in West Post Office Maryland.

    This recipe’s contributor, Delores Brown, was too hard to pin down amongst the population of Worcester and nearby counties, despite the small size of the historic church she may have attended. All I know is that she shared this fun and slightly oddball cheesecake variation.

  • Crab Cakes & Career Girl’s Delight, a tribute to Virginia Roeder

    ByKara

    I once referred to Virginia Roeder as “Baltimore’s own Martha Stewart.” The statement is a little out of character for me, but I wanted to convey my impression of Roeder’s business savvy, the way her “immaculate home” was described in the Sun, her reputation for culinary acumen, and the sense that Roeder was one of…