~ My PA Dutch Favorite: Shoo-Fly Pie (Part Two!?!): How to Control the Crumbiness/Wetness of this Pie! ~
A shoo-fly pie recipe has two parts? Well, apparently yes. When I posted my recipe for ~ My PA Dutch Favorite: Shoo-Fly Pie (Give it a Try!) ~ last Friday, I was not prepared for the stir it would cause. Some emotions on Facebook ran high. Mine was a fine looking pie, full of fragrant spices and baked just the way my family likes it, with an ooey-gooey wet bottom and slightly-crunchy crumb topping. To read this entire recipe click on the Related Article link below!
One problem I have with Facebook readers is, they often comment on my food photographs (or anyone's photos) before they read my recipe here on Kitchen Encounters, meaning: they don't read, they look. I wouldn't say any comments on my pie were hurtful, they were simply uninformed. Apparently, a few of you wanted a pie with a crumbier top (that looks like the one just below) and a slightly firmer texture (like the one at the top of this post)!
When one of my regular KE readers chimed in and recommended to my regular FB readers that they actually read the recipe, in order to get a clear understanding prior to making judgement calls, I decided to bake another pie and write this follow-up post. Thank-you Marilyn Cummins!
Read and Ye Shall Learn:
As I explained clearly and concisely in my precisely written recipe:
There is an important control factor that manages the crumb topping being crumby or crunchy, as well as, the desired wetness or cake-like texture of the bottom!
The crumbier you want your top, the less butter you add to it. The cakier you want the bottom, the more crumb topping you stir into the pie filling!
Is that concept so hard to understand?
There's no right or wrong: it is all about how YOU like this pie!
This is one of those pies that people avoid making because the recipes for it, while all similar, are all just different enough that if it's not the way "your people like it", the pie is deemed "not right" or a "a failure". That is just plain wrong (not to mention a bad attitude).
So, today, instead of a regular post, I've decided to be Mrs. Nice Woman and make you another pie just to prove my point: A recipe is a guideline, read it through, and follow the instructions:
For a crumbier cake topping (as pictured in this, my second shoo-fly pie post:
Decrease the amount of the butter in the original recipe from 8 tablespoons of butter to:
4 tablespoons butter cold
Don't change anything else. Just reduce the amount of butter. Use the exact same amount of flour, dark brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg and salt!
For a firmer texture to your pie filling (as pictured in this post):
Increase the amount of crumb topping added to your pie filling from 1/2 cup to:
3/4 cup crumb topping mixture, reserved from above recipe.
For a cakelike texture (which most die-hard shoo-fly pie lovers do not like and is not pictured here):
Increase the crumb topping added to the pie filling to 1 cup.
Bake the pie exactly as directed, on center rack of preheated 350 degree oven for 40-45 minutes or until puffed through to the center and a cake tester comes out clean.
If you don't "get it" yet, "shoo-fly don't bother me"!
My PA Dutch Favorite: Shoo-Fly Pie (Part Two!?!): How to Control theCrumbiness/Wetness of this Pie!: Recipe yields 1, 9" pie, or, 8-10 servings.
Special Equipment List: 9" pie dish, preferably glass, pastry blender, paring knife, large rubber spatula, cake tester or toothpick
Cook's Note: If you like moist flavorful spice cake, for another one of my Pennsylvania Dutch desserts, you'll want to try my recipe for ~ Nana's Applesauce-Oatmeal-Raisin-Walnut Cake ~. You can find it in Categories 6 & 19!
"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti
(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2013)
I suggest you try the second one with the crumb-y top first. It is more in keeping with what you and I grew up eating! That being said, my husband, who didn't grow up eating it, likes the crunchier topped one better!
Posted by: Kitchen Encounters | 10/21/2013 at 06:35 PM
Because you have gone to such great lengths to clarify your pie position, I am going to try both variations. After all, my WI family has never tried, or heard of shoo fly pie! I will love both AND appreciate your efforts. Thanks Mel!
Posted by: Marilyn Cummins | 10/21/2013 at 06:21 PM