Shoofly Pie Recipe
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This old-school shoofly pie is a flaky crust filled with molasses custard and topped with a buttery brown sugar streusel. It takes me 20 minutes to prep, and the crust, molasses, and streusel are what make it. I like an extra handful of streusel on top and black coffee alongside.
I will be straight with you: this pie has an acquired taste. If molasses is not your thing, this one probably will not win you over, and that is fine. But if you love molasses the way I do, this is your pie. It is a recipe that came out of what people had in the cabinet, which is why I trust most of you already have everything you need for it. If you like a good old-fashioned dessert, take a look at my homemade apple pie or my indulgent key lime pie too.
Shoofly Pie
Shoofly pie is a molasses pie from Amish country in Pennsylvania, dating back to the late 19th century, when it was originally called a Centennial cake. It supposedly got its name during cooling, when the sweet molasses attracted flies and people had to shoo them away.
It did not gain real popularity until the Great Depression, when rationing made ingredients like sugar scarce and molasses stepped in as the substitute. Most folks think it started as a wintertime dessert, since hens lay fewer eggs in the cold months and the original recipe used no eggs at all. If you told anyone 60 or younger about this pie today, a lot of them would not even know what it is, and they are missing out, because I have never come across anything quite like it.
Making it is about as simple as pie gets. You cut butter into flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon for the streusel, whisk together molasses, boiling water, baking soda, and an egg for the filling, then pour that into a homemade crust, cover it with the streusel, and bake it until the center firms up. That is really all there is to it.
Follow my directions and the chef tips down below and you will have a bakery-worthy shoofly pie cooling on your counter before you know it. Let’s get into it.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Making this Shoofly Pie is seriously very easy since most of the ingredients you need are probably already in your pantry. Here is what I use:
For the crust:
Pie crust is the base of the whole pie, and it needs to be flavorful because it is standing up to strong molasses. I use my homemade pie crust, but your favorite recipe or even a store-bought crust will work.
For the streusel:
All-purpose flour is the main body of the streusel that goes on top to help cut the molasses. Bread flour works too if that is what you have.
Light brown sugar – Keeps the molasses theme going in the topping and adds a little more sweetness against the bitter edge of the molasses. Granulated sugar works, but I like the brown sugar here.
Cinnamon balances and rounds out the streusel. Add more if you love it.
Unsalted butter – The fat that makes the streusel rich and crumbly. I stick with unsalted so I control the salt myself.
Salt – Seasons and balances the whole pie. I have been using Diamond Crystal kosher salt lately.
For the filling:
Light molasses is the heart of the pie. I go light instead of dark or blackstrap because those get intense and bitter, and light keeps the flavor friendlier. If you are a serious molasses fan, blackstrap is your friend.
Hot boiling water – Loosens the molasses so it whisks into a pourable filling.
Baking soda – Softens the sharp bitterness of the molasses and gives the filling a gentle lift. The acid in the molasses is what activates it.
Beaten egg adds body, structure, and a little fat to the filling. Cold or room temperature is fine.
How to Make Shoofly Pie
Preheat the oven: Preheat the oven to 425°F so it is fully hot before the pie goes in.
Make the streusel: Add the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, and butter to a large bowl. Cut it together with a pastry knife until the butter is about the size of rice. Those little butter pieces are what keep the topping crumbly instead of pasty, so stop once they look like coarse crumbs. Set it aside.
Mix the filling: In a large heat-safe bowl, whisk the molasses, boiling water, baking soda, and beaten egg until fully combined. The boiling water is doing real work here, thinning the molasses enough that everything blends into a smooth, pourable filling instead of a stubborn glob.
Fill the crust: Pour the molasses filling into the pie crust shaped in the pan.
Add the topping: Sprinkle the streusel generously over the top until the filling is completely covered. This is where I go a little heavier than most recipes tell you to. The extra streusel is what balances the molasses.
Bake: Bake at 425°F for 15 minutes, then drop the heat to 350°F and bake another 20 to 25 minutes, until the center is firm. The hot start sets the crust and top, and the lower finish cooks the filling through without scorching it.
Cool and serve: Cool the pie completely on a rack before slicing. Serve it as is, or with whipped cream or a scoop of ice cream.
chef tip + notes
One simple tip I recommend is to go heavier on the streusel than you think you should. Molasses is a strong, slightly bitter flavor, and a thin dusting of topping will not stand up to it. When I cover the filling in a generous layer of that buttery brown sugar crumble, every forkful gets sweetness and crunch against the molasses. The whole pie balances out into a goodness dessert I actually want a second slice of.
- Stick with light molasses: Light molasses keeps the flavor approachable. Dark and blackstrap get intense and bitter, so save those for when you truly want that punch.
- Cover it completely: Sprinkle the streusel until none of the filling shows through. Bare spots bake into a sticky overly molasses-forward top. Trust me, you don’t want that.
- Cut the butter to rice: Work the butter into the dry streusel only until it is the size of rice. Go too far and the topping bakes dense instead of crumbly.
- Watch the center, not the clock: The pie is done when the middle is firm and no longer jiggly. Take it out early and the filling stays loose.
- Mind the pan size: Most pie tins are 9 inches, and this recipe fills one right to the top. If you are worried about overflow, reduce the recipe by 25 %.
- Use a food processor if you like: The streusel mixes up in a food processor just as well as with a pastry knife.
Serving Suggestions
This is a pie I like in the morning more than after dinner, if I am honest. A slice with a cup of cortadito coffee is my idea of an amazing start to the day, and the bitter coffee against the sweet molasses is the whole reason it works so well. When I want to dress it up for my daughter, I add a bowl of homemade whipped cream on the side which I highly recommend.
If you are team dessert, then you guys have to try this alongside other old-fashioned pies. I remember last fall when my wife hosted an afternoon tea party with her friends, and I made my highly requested pumpkin pie and my decadent pecan pie. Oh my, everyone asked my wife for the recipes, and of course, she shared my website with all of them. By the way, thank you to all my wife’s friends for following me!
Make-Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: I make this pie up to 2 days before I plan to slice it.
How to Store: Once it has cooled to room temperature, I cover it with plastic and keep it in the refrigerator for up to 7 days.
How to Reheat: I serve this one at room temperature or cold, but a slice warms up fine covered in foil in a 350°F oven for a few minutes.
How to Freeze: I cover and freeze it for up to 3 months, then thaw it in the refrigerator for 1 day before serving.
More Amazing Pie Recipes
Video
Shoofly Pie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 homemade pie crust recipe
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 ¼ cups light molasses
- 1 ¼ cups hot boiling water
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 beaten egg
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°.
- Add the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, butter, and salt to a large bowl and cut in together using a pastry knife until the butter is about the size of rice. Set aside.
- In a large heat-safe bowl, add the molasses, boiling water, baking soda, and beaten egg until completely combined.
- Transfer the mixture and pour it into a pie crust molded pan.
- Generously sprinkle on the streusel over the top until it is completely covered.
- Bake in the oven at 425° for 15 minutes, then at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until firm in the center.
- Cool on a rack completely before slicing and serving.
- You can add optional toppings such as whipped cream or ice cream.
Can you substitute and use syrupy
with which ingredient?
OMG, Billy! To see a chef have a recipe for this is awesome. I am totally making it this week. I would make it now, but have to do another grocery store run for molasses.
I just made your cream puffs with Bavarian cream on Saturday and they were perfect! These were specially requested by my boyfriend and has a very acute sense of smell and taste and doesn’t like many foods as a result. He said they were prefect. Thanks Billy!
I’m here again today looking for another dessert to make for a birthday tomorrow (my birthday!).
Cheers,
Debbie