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Shoo-fly pie

An old-school recipe that's a bit of this and a bit of that.
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10
35M
1H 5M
1H 40M

It’s not really a pie. It’s not really a tart. It’s not really a cake. It’s the remarkable child of a three-part union, where the very best of each bubbled to the top. An old-school recipe requires an old-school ingredient and that’s where molasses comes in. Combine that with a crumb and you’ve got an old-school pie-tart-cakey thing that’s delicious and soon to be a family favourite.

Ingredients

Method

1.

Preheat oven to 180°C fan-forced (200°C conventional) and put an oven tray on centre rack.

2.

Put 100g of the butter, cream cheese and 1 cup of the flour in a bowl and mix with fingertips, until shaggy and just holding together. Knead gently until a dough forms, roll out on a lightly floured surface and line a 25 x 5cm loose-base metal pie dish. Chill for 15 minutes until firm. Line pastry with baking paper and pie weights and bake on hot oven tray for 18 minutes. Remove weights and paper and cook for 5 more minutes.

3.

Put remaining butter and flour, sugar and spices in a bowl and rub with fingertips, until a crumb forms.

4.

Mix molasses, bicarb, almond essence and3/4 cup boiling water in a large bowl, then pour into pastry shell (mixture will keep expanding, similar to honeycomb). Top with crumb, then bake for 25 minutes. Reduce heat to 160°C fan-forced (180°C conventional) and bake for a further 15 minutes until golden brown. Cool for 10-15 minutes. Serve with cream and caramel sauce.

shoofly pie

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