When I lived in Pennsylvania, there are few things that stick out in my memory with Shoo-Fly Pie being one of them:
- Wonderful fall colors on the trees.
- Huge storms that would possibly make Pacific Northwest orchardists have a stroke.
- Playing outside and making sure you don’t run with your mouth open or it will be full of gnats!
- Catching fireflies at dusk- splendiferous!
- Amish carriages going down the road.
- Deep history: we lived in the parsonage of a Civil War-era church and it was AWESOME!
- Tasty Cakes- an East Coast version of Hostess brand cakes.
- Shoo-Fly Pie.
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If you’ve never been to the East coast to savor the one and only Shoo-Fly pie, it can best be described as a molasses crumb pie. Extremely sweet, like pecan pie, so a little goes a long way! Traditionally, Shoo-Fly pie is a Pennsylvania Dutch recipe from the 1800″s. I was fortunate enough to have found a vintage Pennsylvania Dutch cookbook with a wonderful pie recipe in it for the occasional hankerin’.
The name conjures up visions of houseflies wearing shoes but the name stems from the theory that the original cooking was done outside and the gooey molasses attracted persistent flies. Hence the name: Shoo Fly! Even with this dubious name, it is a most delicious delectable that you don’t want to miss if you travel that away. A much faster and delicious option is the cupcake version to give a tasteful hint of this Pennsylvania Dutch treat.
Gluten Free Shoo-Fly Cupcake Adaption
This recipe is adapted from a baking contest in Taste of Home quite a long time ago. The clipping has been hanging around in my recipe book for ages with no name. If I had the information, I would definitely give proper attribution to the lovely person who first came up with the non-gluten free version of these lovelies.
I hope you enjoy these as much as my family did! Drop a comment if you have favorite East coast memories.
Gluten-Free Shoo-Fly Cupcakes
Course: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy3
dozen15
minutes20
minutesA rich and delicious taste of the old colonies, these gluten-free shoo-fly cupcakes will be a family pleaser.
Ingredients
2 C. Brown Rice Flour
2 C. Tapioca Flour
1 C. White Rice Flour
1 1/2 tsp. Xantham Gum
2 C. Brown Sugar
1/4 tsp. Salt
1 C. Molasses
1 C. Vegan Butter or regular butter (I use Earth Balance Vegan Butter)
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees before starting
- Then mix the first 6 dry ingredients in a bowl.
- Using a mixer (I could’ve just used the pastry cutter but why put more work into it when the mixer does just fine is what I ask) cut in the butter until it all looked like crumbly struesel type sand. Scoop out 1 cup to keep aside for sprinkling on top later.
- The baking soda goes into the remaining crumble mix as well as adding the boiling water and molasses
- After seeing a pan leave flakes of non-stick coating all over the bottom of my cupcakes in the past, I always use cupcake liners in my muffin tins now since it made me a little paranoid. The muffin wells are filled about 2/3 full, sprinkled with some reserved crumble topping and good to go.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until a food thermometer measured approximately 200 degrees in the center of a cupcake.
- Removed from pan and let cool. Stored extras in an air-tight container in the freezer until ready to be used. Made 3 dozen.
