Recipe: Super Sticky Shoo-fly Pies + Sparkling Lemon Zest Streusel

Super Sticky Shoo-fly Pies + Sparkling Lemon Zest Streusel

Happy & Healthy Cooking,

Fun-Da-Mentals Kitchen Skills

• bake :

  to cook food with dry heat, as in an oven.

• knead :

  to work dough by pushing, pulling, and folding it by hand or with a stand mixer.

• measure :

  to calculate the specific amount of an ingredient required using a measuring tool (like measuring cups or spoons).

• mix :

  to thoroughly combine two or more ingredients until uniform in texture.

History of Shoo-fly Pie!

• Pennsylvania Dutch farmwives made a molasses crumb pie in the late 1880s that came to be called "shoo-fly pie." It may have begun as a crumb cake to eat at breakfast before being put into a pie crust so you could hold it and eat it without a fork. 
• The pie may have been a variation of the British treacle tart. Treacle is a name for any syrup made from the sugar refining process, like molasses.
• There are a couple of fun stories about how it got its name. One is that the sticky, sweet molasses in the pie attracted flies that cooks would have to shoo away by waving their arms. Another is that it was named after a Pennsylvania brand of molasses, Shoo-fly Molasses, with an image of Shoofly, the Boxing Mule, on its label. The mule supposedly got its name from the 1860s song "Shoo fly, don't bother me." 
• The pie consists of a bottom pie crust with a filling of molasses, boiling water, and baking soda. The crumb topping is a mixture of flour, shortening or butter, and brown sugar.

Let's Learn About Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Dutch!

• The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was the second state admitted into the United States. Before it ratified the United States Constitution on December 12, 1787, the Pennsylvania Colony (or Province of Pennsylvania) was one of the original thirteen colonies.
• Several tribes of indigenous people lived in the area before the arrival of Europeans, including the Lenape, Susquehannocks, Iroquois, Erie, and Shawnee.
• The colony was founded by William Penn, a Quaker leader, in 1681. It was a royal land grant given to William's father, Sir William Penn, to satisfy a debt the English king, Charles II, owed the senior Penn. The king named the colony Pennsylvania, which means Penn's woods or forest, from the Latin "silva." 
• The Pennsylvania Dutch (or Pennsylvania Germans) are descendants of German immigrants who settled in the colony and the state in the 17th through the 19th centuries. They do not come from the Netherlands, as their name seems to indicate. The Amish are a small subset of this group, but not all Pennsylvania Dutch are Amish.
• Pennsylvania borders the states of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, West Virginia, and the Canadian province of Ontario. It also has 51 miles of coastline along Lake Erie, one of the Great Lakes. It is the only one of the first 13 colonies that does not border the Atlantic Ocean.
• The state capital is Harrisburg, and the largest city is Philadelphia. The state is 44,817 square miles, making it the 33rd largest in the country. It is the 5th most populous state, with over 13 million people.
• Pennsylvania's nickname is the Keystone State because of its crucial position in the country, geographically, politically, and economically. A keystone is an architectural term referring to the stone in the middle of an arch holding the other stones in place. The keystone image is used in several of the state's logos.
• The state's climate can be cold in the winter and hot and humid in the summer. Several rivers and lakes provide habitat for animals and recreation for residents and visitors. 
• Mount Davis is the highest point in Pennsylvania at 3,213 feet. It is in the Alleghenies, part of the Appalachian Mountains, that run through the center of the state. The Pocono Mountains are in the northeastern part of the state.
• Some of the animals that live in Pennsylvania are the North American beaver, black bear, bobcat, coyote, white-tailed deer, elk, gray and red fox, groundhog, mink, opossum, river otter, and various squirrels. 
• The Philadelphia Zoo is the nation's first zoo. The National Aviary, home to over 500 birds, is in Pittsburgh. 
• Pennsylvania has eight major league professional sports teams: the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers American football teams, the Philadelphia Phillies and Pittsburgh Pirates baseball teams, the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team, the Philadelphia Union soccer team, and the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins ice hockey teams.
• The Sturgis Pretzel House in Lititz is the oldest commercial pretzel bakery in the US. It was founded in 1861 by Julius Sturgis. There are now several other pretzel companies in Pennsylvania, including Snyder's of Hanover.
• The Wilbur Chocolate Company also makes its chocolate confections in Lititz. However, Hershey is the location of the state's most famous chocolate company, the Hershey Company. We are probably all familiar with Hershey's Kisses!
• Some popular foods from Philadelphia are Philly cheesesteaks (sandwich), hoagies (sub sandwich), strombolis (savory turnover created by Italian-Americans), and Irish potato candy (made from cream cheese, coconut, sugar, and cinnamon). 
• Pennsylvania Dutch foods include scrapple (cornmeal pudding with pork scraps and trimmings), shoo-fly pie (molasses crumb pie), funnel cake (fried doughnut), and pepper cabbage (sweet and sour coleslaw).