Shoofly pie is traditionally eaten at room temperature or slightly warmed but not hot.
However you can eat shoofly pie cold or hot or at room temperature, slightly warm or even chilled, whichever you prefer.
I prefer to eat the shoofly pie slightly warmed up by placing a slice of shoofly pie in the microwave for 15 to 30 seconds to soften the sticky bottom layer.
The warm shoofly pie also pairs very well with a hot cup of coffee or even black tea or even with some vanilla ice cream.
Some people prefer to eat the shoofly pie chilled from the refrigerator, which also deepens and concentrates the rich molasses taste.
Room temperature is the most traditional way of serving shoofly pie as it also allows the gooey molasses center to firm up properly and makes slicing clean.
You can also add a dollop of some whipped cream or vanilla ice cream to balance out the sweetness of the molasses in the shoofly pie.
When serving the shoofly pie, let the shoofly pie cool down completely before cutting into it, so that the wet bottom filling of the shoofly pie doesn't run everywhere.
Shoofly tastes deeply like caramel, rich and intensely sweet, with a dominant, earthy flavor from molasses and warm spices such as nutmeg and cinnamon.
The key flavor profile of shoofly pie are molasses and brown sugar, spices, buttery sweetness and the pastry crust is a simple, flaky pie shell that helps to anchor and cut the heavy sugar content.
A sandy, streusel like flour and butter crumb topping balances the dark sweetness of the filling of shoofly pie and the spices in shoofly pie include warm undertones of cinnamon, ginger, cloves or nutmeg that add a cozy, rustic profile.
The star flavor of shoofly pie is also robust as well as bittersweet molasses, that is similar to the taste of gingerbread cookies, toffee or even brown sugar Pop Tarts.
Shoofly pie is made of a pie crust, a rich molasses filling and a sweet crumb topping.
The ingredients for the crumb topping of the shoofly pie are all purpose flour, brown sugar, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, salt and cold butter or shortening.
The ingredients for the molasses filling of the shoofly pie are molasses, hot or boiling water, baking soda, an egg and optional 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
For the base of the shoofly, which is the pie crust, 1 single crust 9 inch pie shell, unbaked or deep dish.
Crumb Topping for shoofly pie:
All-purpose flour: 1 ½ cups
Brown sugar: 1 cup (packed brown sugar or dark brown sugar)
Ground cinnamon: 1 teaspoon
Ground nutmeg: ¼ to ½ teaspoon
Salt: A pinch or ¼ teaspoon
Cold butter or shortening: ¼ cup (unsalted butter or vegetable shortening), cut into pieces
Molasses Filling for shoofly pie:
Molasses: 1 cup unsulphured molasses (avoid blackstrap molasses)
Hot or boiling water: ¾ cup
Baking soda: ¾ teaspoon
Egg: 1 beaten egg or egg yolk (optional/used in some recipes like for Grandmas Shoofly Pie or Sugar Amish Shoofly Pie)
Vanilla extract: 1 teaspoon (optional)
Shoofly pie is not strictly Amish, although shoofly pie is a traditional Pennsylvania Dutch dessert, but shoofly pie is also deeply intertwined with Amish, Moravian and Mennonite heritage in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
The shoofly pie also belongs to the broader Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine and was developed by German speaking immigrants, (the "Pennsylvania Dutch," derived from Deutsch) who had settled in the region during the 17th as well as the 18th centuries.
While shoofly pie is shared across multiple groups, shoofly pie is also widely baked and sold by the Amish and Mennonites, evolving around the late 1870s/1880s from a crustless molasses breakfast cake that was adapted for handheld coffee drinking.
The styles of shoofly pie include wet bottom shoofly pie and dry bottom shoofly pie.
Wet bottom shoofly pie features a gooey, molten molasses custard layer underneath a crumb topping that is similar to sticky toffee pudding.
And dry bottom shoofly pie bakes into a more cake like, firm consistently that is designed for dipping into coffee.
Shoofly pie is healthy to eat in moderation, although shoofly pie is not a healthy food itself.
While shoofly pie is healthy to eat in moderation, shoofly pie is a traditional pie dessert that is packed with refined carbohydrates, butter and also heavy amounts of molasses and sugar.
A standard slice of shoofly pie contains around 60g to 90g of carbohydrates as well as over 60g of sugar, which comes mainly from the brown sugar and unsulfured or blackstrap molasses.
A typical serving of shoofly pie also contains between 450 calories to 483 calories per slice.
Shoofly pie also contains between 11g to 19g of total fat, with around 5g to 7g of saturated fat, which is due to the pastry crust and butter crumb topping of the shoofly pie.
Shoofly pie is also very low in protein, with only 3g to 6g of protein per slice and the fiber in shoofly pie is also minimal at around 1g.
However there are some health benefits of shoofly pie as shoofly pie contains iron and minerals.
The molasses used in shoofly pie, especially dark or blackstrap varieties of molasses contain trace amounts of iron, potassium and calcium.
Although, the high sugar content of shoofly pie far outweighs the small mineral content of the shoofly pie.
You can also find modified, lower sugar or even grain free shoofly pie recipes online that also use sugar free syrups, alternative flours such as rye flour or oat flour, and reduced sweeteners, although traditional shoofly pie still remains a high calorie treat that is meant to be eaten in moderation.
As long as you eat the shoofly pie in moderation and are eating a healthy and balanced diet the shoofly pie is perfectly healthy to eat.