Today's recipe is from the archives. A few years ago Michael and I visited Lancaster Co. Pennsylvania for our anniversary. It was a trip I'll never forget. We stayed on a small farm and just enjoyed watching the life around us. Girls in bonnets with bare feet running down the dirt road from our B&B. Visiting a Mennonite church with our host family. Riding hours on back roads to find covered bridges. It was such a peaceful and beautiful trip.
I had just barely started the gluten free diet when we took that trip. I'm sure I ate many things I shouldn't have. I wasn't as knowledgeable as I am now about eating in restaurants safely. I was still eating dairy and soy. So many things have changed in four years!
When we came back home from PA, Ginger asked me about making a Shoofly Pie. I had bought a locally written cookbook on my trip. I read them like novels, gluten free or not. Don't stop buying gluten-filled cookbooks -- you can learn so much about cooking and baking techniques with well written cookbooks of any type. I remember being really excited thumbing through the handwritten book and finding a simple recipe for Shoofly Pie. Looking at this recipe again today, I was thrilled that it naturally contains no dairy and no soy! This is one of the first baked goods I shared on GingerLemonGirl and I'd be proud to serve it just as much today as I did in October 2007.
Shoofly Pie doesn’t even need the traditional pie shell. So if want to cut back on carbs, or just don’t want to go to the trouble of making a gluten-free crust: just pour the pie filling into a 8x8 glass baking dish, or pie tin and bake as directed for shoofly pie brownies!
Amish Shoofly Pie
- 1 ¼ cup brown rice flour -or- sorghum flour
- 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum -or- guar gum (optional -- just a bit more crumbly without it!)
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp. Spectrum Palm Shortening
- 1 cup molasses
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- ¾ cup boiling water
- 1 egg, slightly beaten
- 1 prepared gluten-free pie shell (optional)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together flour and sugar. Cut in shortening to make crumbs. Save ½ cup of crumbs for top of pie. In large metal bowl, mix together molasses, baking soda, and boiling water. (This will foam and bubble, it’s fun to watch!) Let molasses mixture cool. Add flour mixture to the molasses mixture and whisk until combined. Add beaten egg. Pour into prepared pie shell or 8x8 glass baking dish and sprinkle reserved crumbs on top. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes. Slice into 8 pieces, serve, and smile!
A few more of my favorite memories from Lancaster, Co. PA:
