Shoo-Fly Pie

Remember, I was supposed to tell you about 2 things? The second is a shoo-fly pie. My brother texted me to say I should make a shoo-fly pie. Twice, so I know he's serious. My semi-flippant response was I'd make it just before washing the sheets and towels. They need washing so it's time to make myself a shoo-fly pie.

This recipe is a bit more difficult than the previous entries. Normally, I start with a recipe and see what comes out. This time, there's no recipe. I've searched all my cookbooks and I found just one from 1965.  So I turned to the internet.

Whew. There's a lot going on with this recipe. Originally called Centennial Cake, it was a molasses based cake made to celebrate the centennial signing of the Declaration of Independence. To make it easier to eat, it was placed in a pie crust. But the name shoo-fly itself is either named after a brand of molasses or because you had to shoo the flies away from the molasses pie after baking. It comes in two varieties, wet-bottom and dry-bottom. Wet-bottom has a cake like texture at top and a custard-like consistency underneath. Dry-bottom, as you can imagine, is fully set top to bottom.

As for how to make it, there are recipes here, here, here, here, and here. But I'm not going to make any of them. Since I prefer ambiguity in my old recipes, I'll use a recipe from 1915 from Mary At The Farm And Book Of Recipes Compiled During Her Visit Among The "Pennsylvania Germans" (link).

For the most part this is straightforward except for the "small sized pie-tins." I got a 6 inch pie pan; it's small, so it should work, right? I'll try it. Also since I'm only making one pie, I'll divide everything by 3. Lastly, I don't have lard so I'll substitute more butter. Here's what I ended up doing:

Shoofly Pie

Crust:

1/3 cup + 1 T butter

pinch salt 

1 cup flour

3 T water

Work butter into salt and flour until crumbly. Add water by tablespoons just until dough begins to come together. Split dough into halves and gather into balls. Roll out half of dough between 2 pieces of waxed paper. Transfer to pie pan and crimp edges.

Pie Filling:

1 cup flour

1/3 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup butter

1/3 cup molasses, unsulfured type

1/3 cup hot water

1/3 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 teaspoon vinegar

Preheat oven to 375 F. Combine first 3 ingredients in large bowl with hands until crumbly. 

In small bowl, mix together molasses and water. In a very small bowl, combine vinegar and soda, pour into molasses mixture. Stir. Pour into pie crust. Sprinkle on top as many crumbs as you can fit (about half). Bake about 35 minutes or until puffy and mostly set. Cool completely.

(For those curious about what I did with the other half of the pie crust dough and crumb mixture, I made a galette filled with crumb mixture. It was good, but a bit dry.)

Well, what have I learned? I have learned that a small pie tin is probably a normal sized because all my crumbs didn't fit. I've also learned that this version is a physically unimpressive specimen of a pie. Its a bit ugly, being a sort of mottled brown and sunken in the center. Taste-wise, its good but a bit one dimensional having only molasses for flavor. But I like molasses so I think this is a plus. I suspect I've ended up with a wet-bottom version as the texture is a bit fudge-y at the bottom.

Inverse Sundae

It's been forever! Sorry. But I'm back (for now) and I'm on a mission to tell you about two things. The second will have to wait because I haven't made it yet. But it's on my list of things to do but it's a long list. It is, however, sitting above washing the linens so hopefully soon. Anyway, the first thing I wanted to tell you about... well, it's not old (probably). But I made it and it's good enough to share. The title may be a good hint. OK, I'll tell you: it's vanilla sauce.

Now for the meandering story to get to that. Shortly before marrying Beta Taster, I asked every family member and friend I had for their favorite recipes. They delivered magnificently. And I've still not cooked every good thing they've shared. My list of things to do and things to cook are equally long.

Back to my story. So, this past weekend, I went to the farmer's market and there was some rhubarb. It wasn't the sad and limp end-of-season rhubarb that you would expect in mid-summer. It was fresh and firm. So I bought 2 stalks. The woman I was chatting with as I bought them asked what I was going to make with it. Answering without thinking, as I sometimes often do, I said probably a rhubarb cake as you can only take so much rhubarb in pie form (with or without strawberries) in a given rhubarb season.

When I got home, I searched my recipe database for rhubarb and there was a Special Rhubarb Cake from Cousin Gayle. Now I didn't want to be a liar, even about something as minor as what I'm going to do with my fresh produce. So I gathered up the ingredients and realized I don't own a 9 inch square pan. But since I didn't want another baking pan that I'd only occasionally use, I decided to use my 2 rarely used 9-inch round cake pans and just make my cake height shorter and figure out something to put between the layers. I toyed with the notion of strawberry preserves but decided to make a rhubarb filling as the best rhubarb accompaniment is yet more rhubarb.

Anyway, that cake was delicious. I ate more than half and my only regret is that I had to share the whole thing with Beta Taster. But the real star of the show was the vanilla sauce that goes on top. I finished the cake two days ago but some of the sauce remained. And I got to thinking, what else can I put this on since I ate the cake it was supposed to go on? Well, if vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce is a sundae, then chocolate ice cream and vanilla sauce is an inverse sundae. Let's do it.

Now I'm not going to give you a recipe for a sundae. You can make one as you like best. But I humbly submit that chocolate ice cream, this vanilla sauce, perhaps some whipped cream, and fresh berries makes a luxuriant dessert, even when it's not a Sunday.

Special Rhubarb Cake
Cake:
1/2 cup butter softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter milk
1 stalk rhubarb, chopped fine-ish

Filling:
1 stalk rhubarb, thinly sliced
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
approximately 1/2 teaspoon pectin (I didn't measure and I'm not sure if necessary)

Sauce:
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

For cake: Preheat oven to 350 F. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; add to creamed butter mixture alternating with buttermilk. Beat just until moistened. Fold in rhubarb. Split between two greased 9 inch round cake pans. Bake until done. (I forgot to time this step.) Cool in pan 5 minutes then turn onto a baking sheet and let cool entirely.

For filling: Meanwhile, combine rhubarb, sugar, and water in small saucepan. Cook over medium heat until rhubarb breaks down entirely and almost all water is boiled off (about 10 to 15 minutes). Add pectin and continue to boil until thickened. (I'm not sure pectin was needed.) Let cool completely.

Build your cake. Spread rhubarb filling between layers.

For sauce: Melt butter in saucepan. Add sugar and milk. Bring to boil; cook and stir 2 to 3 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla. Serve over cake (or anything else you can think of).