In the year 2020, Steen’s Syrup has turned 110 years old. While we had plans to celebrate our 110th business birthday, well...2020 was chock full of other challenges.
What’s better than celebrating year 110? Well, year 111, of course!
Part of celebrating our 111-year-old brand in the coming year will be the release of a whole new recipe collection. Some recipes have been with us for generations while others are creative twists that use our cane syrup products.
One of those older recipes is this one for shoofly pie, a recipe that’s been with us for over 60 years thanks to Aunt Margaret Steen.
Aunt Margaret was the recipe tester and editor of our first real cookbook back in the early 1960s. As a member of a homemakers club, she undoubtedly sought the opinions of her home baking peers about recipes for her cookbook project. And since Steen’s makes syrup and molasses, she naturally embraced syrup and molasses recipes like this pie.
Shoofly pie originated in Pennsylvania among the Dutch families, very popular in Amish country. It’s traditionally made with molasses, that rich brown sweetness that undoubtedly draws flies...hence the name!
Aunt Margaret‘s not with us anymore, so we can’t confirm, but we sure can imagine she and her friends adapting the shoofly pie recipe, making it their own Louisiana style by substituting our cane syrup for molasses in this pie.
Let’s bake a #ShooFlyPie, Steen’s style! Cane syrup goodness with a crunchy, crumbly topping. Old Pennsylvania meets South Louisiana (up there, they like it with morning coffee). Easy to bake when you start with a premade crust and most of the rest from your pantry.
Steen’s Shoo Fly Pie
1 unbaked graham pie crust
3/4 cup Steen’s Cane Syrup
3/4 cup water
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
6 Tbsp cold butter
1/4 cup ground pecans (optional)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake pie crust for 5 minutes, then remove to cool. In a bowl, whisk together syrup, water and baking soda, then set aside. In another bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, spices (and optional pecans). Cut butter into tiny cubes. Using a pastry cutter or fork, cut butter into flour mixture until a coarse, crumbly meal is formed. Gently pour syrup mixture into pie shell. Spoon flour mixture over syrup mixture. Bake for 35 minutes. Serve warm.
Topping can be blended in a food processor, pulsing only a few seconds, just enough to chop cold butter into tiny pearls.