A pie that's really more of a cake, but tasty either way!
Molasses is one of my favorite ingredients to use in dessert. I'm a big fan of chocolate and boring old vanilla (which really isn't that boring) as well, but anything with molasses and spice in it tends to win my heart pretty quickly.
This unusual pie might not be entirely authentic to Caroline's time period - and actually has its roots in the 1870's, and you may know it as shoofly pie - but molasses would have been so much a part of her life that it just felt fitting to give this one to her. Besides, American Girl doesn't seem that inspired by the 19th century these days, so if you want something done at all, let alone right, I guess I'd better do it myself.
This unusual pie might not be entirely authentic to Caroline's time period - and actually has its roots in the 1870's, and you may know it as shoofly pie - but molasses would have been so much a part of her life that it just felt fitting to give this one to her. Besides, American Girl doesn't seem that inspired by the 19th century these days, so if you want something done at all, let alone right, I guess I'd better do it myself.
In all honesty, I think I'm going to hold off on deep diving into the history of shoofly pie - a pie that's actually more of a crumb cake that can trace its history back to the Centennial of the United States - and talk specifically about its primary ingredient: molasses. Molasses is a byproduct of processing cane sugar, and was the most popular sweetener in the United States up until around the 1880's, when producing white sugar became more affordable to the average American.
Molasses was sold to the U.S. colonies from sugar plantations in the Caribbean, where enslaved workers were forced to work incredibly brutal jobs processing sugar cane. It's hypothesized that an enslaved man was the first person to realize that fermenting molasses created rum, and a fair amount of the molasses imported to North America would be distilled into my personal favorite alcoholic beverage. The United States and particularly the northeast, had a long history of rum distilleries that were effectively killed off by Prohibition, and it's only relatively recently that American rums are coming back into the scene.
As Caroline's family was comfortably middle class, they likely could have afforded white sugar occasionally, but molasses would have been a staple ingredient in their pantry. The ginger cookies in her rescue kit would no doubt have been sweetened with molasses, and there were likely many nights Caroline split a cauldron of baked beans flavored with molasses with her mother, father, and grandmother.
Molasses is usually associated with fall and winter recipes for two reasons: its rich taste compliments other seasonal spices really well, and because molasses was not available during warmer, summer months in the years before refrigeration. Being a New Englander who's very much used to molasses being incorporated into our traditional foodways, I'm just too excited to tell you all about how to make this pie.
Turns out? It's super easy. In a mixing bowl, mix 1 1/4 cups of flour, 3/4 of a cup of packed brown sugar, and 1/2 of a teaspoon of salt together. Then, using a pastry cutter, butter knifes, or a fork, cut in 1/2 of a cup of cold butter until the mixture is nice and rough.
In a second bowl, mix together 1 teaspoon of baking soda with 1 cup of warm water, then add 1/2 of a cup of molasses, 1 egg, 1/2 of a teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/4 of a teaspoon of nutmeg, and 1/4 of a teaspoon of ginger and mix everything together well.
Using an unbaked pre-made pie crust (or if you're brave or more into making pastry crusts than I am, you can make your own), pour 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the crust and top with 1/2 of the wet ingredients. Add another 1/3 of the dry ingredients and the remaining wet ingredients, then top with the remaining dry ingredients to form a crumb topping.
The pie bakes in the oven at 350 degrees for 45 or 50 minutes, and is finished when a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Shoofly pie can have a wet or dry bottom, and mine was definitely wet. You can see the top 3/4's of the pie have more of a cake or brownie like texture, while the remaining 1/4 is pretty damp.
The final product is very tasty... so long as you like molasses! Although this recipe is known as a pie, the filling is really more like a crumb cake, and is pretty solid and not too sweet. Because of the dark color, a few of my tasters were curious if it was chocolatey, or said they thought it did taste like there was some cocoa in it, but it's just straight molasses. Traditionally, this treat would have been enjoyed as a breakfast snack, and putting it in a pie crust made it easier to eat with your hands, perfect for a day when you were running out the door or drinking a cup of coffee with your other hand.
So, is this an authentic treat Caroline would have enjoyed? Not until she was an elderly woman with grandkids of her own! But I still had a lot of fun making it and trying it out. Somehow I've never actually had shoo-fly pie before or anything similar to it, and while it's pretty unusual, it's also definitely right up my alley, and I've been enjoying eating the leftovers instead of being reasonable and dropping it off at work for my coworkers to help me devour the rest.
I hope you enjoyed this brief look into the history of molasses!
Molasses was sold to the U.S. colonies from sugar plantations in the Caribbean, where enslaved workers were forced to work incredibly brutal jobs processing sugar cane. It's hypothesized that an enslaved man was the first person to realize that fermenting molasses created rum, and a fair amount of the molasses imported to North America would be distilled into my personal favorite alcoholic beverage. The United States and particularly the northeast, had a long history of rum distilleries that were effectively killed off by Prohibition, and it's only relatively recently that American rums are coming back into the scene.
As Caroline's family was comfortably middle class, they likely could have afforded white sugar occasionally, but molasses would have been a staple ingredient in their pantry. The ginger cookies in her rescue kit would no doubt have been sweetened with molasses, and there were likely many nights Caroline split a cauldron of baked beans flavored with molasses with her mother, father, and grandmother.
Molasses is usually associated with fall and winter recipes for two reasons: its rich taste compliments other seasonal spices really well, and because molasses was not available during warmer, summer months in the years before refrigeration. Being a New Englander who's very much used to molasses being incorporated into our traditional foodways, I'm just too excited to tell you all about how to make this pie.
Turns out? It's super easy. In a mixing bowl, mix 1 1/4 cups of flour, 3/4 of a cup of packed brown sugar, and 1/2 of a teaspoon of salt together. Then, using a pastry cutter, butter knifes, or a fork, cut in 1/2 of a cup of cold butter until the mixture is nice and rough.
In a second bowl, mix together 1 teaspoon of baking soda with 1 cup of warm water, then add 1/2 of a cup of molasses, 1 egg, 1/2 of a teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/4 of a teaspoon of nutmeg, and 1/4 of a teaspoon of ginger and mix everything together well.
Using an unbaked pre-made pie crust (or if you're brave or more into making pastry crusts than I am, you can make your own), pour 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the crust and top with 1/2 of the wet ingredients. Add another 1/3 of the dry ingredients and the remaining wet ingredients, then top with the remaining dry ingredients to form a crumb topping.
The pie bakes in the oven at 350 degrees for 45 or 50 minutes, and is finished when a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Shoofly pie can have a wet or dry bottom, and mine was definitely wet. You can see the top 3/4's of the pie have more of a cake or brownie like texture, while the remaining 1/4 is pretty damp.
So, is this an authentic treat Caroline would have enjoyed? Not until she was an elderly woman with grandkids of her own! But I still had a lot of fun making it and trying it out. Somehow I've never actually had shoo-fly pie before or anything similar to it, and while it's pretty unusual, it's also definitely right up my alley, and I've been enjoying eating the leftovers instead of being reasonable and dropping it off at work for my coworkers to help me devour the rest.
I hope you enjoyed this brief look into the history of molasses!
Now if only AG would make an 1870's character so we could explore more of those recipes...
Very cool. Lots of shoofly pie around where I live :)
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