Three slices of Shoofly Pie arrived on my desk one morning and immediately the idea arose to research this pie and learn what it is all about. Shoofly Pie has remained famous for generations, while other historic pies haven’t fared as well. It has been a long time since I visited the Amish and Mennonite areas where, when dropping by any restaurant or bakery, you find Shoofly Pie listed along with cherry, apple and peach.

According to historical accounts, Shoofly Pie is an early American pie dating to the early 1700s made by the Pennsylvania Dutch colonists who included Mennonites and Amish, and other Anabaptists. These settlers ate pies of all types any time of the day. The earliest settlers brought with them the staples of their diet, items that could survive a long boat trip. The staples were flour, brown sugar, molasses, salt and spices. Thus they lived on pretty much what they had brought with them until next year’s growing season. The women were masters of the a...