whoopie pies and shoo-pie flies

In the spirit of Lancaster County... I'd like to feature two favorite desserts coming from this area of the world:

Simply, it is a molasses pie.  It got its name because of the flies that need to be constantly shooed away.
So Kelly and I tried our hand at making a Shoo-fly pie.

But first...
No-Fail Pie Crust recipe that my mom uses:
Mix together:
5 c. flour
2 t. salt
1 t. baking powder
2 c. shortening


Pour into a liquid measuring cup:
1 egg
1/4 c. vinegar
Then add water until these three ingredients reach the "1 cup" line, then add this to the other ingredients.

This will make 5 pie crusts, which can be refrigerated or frozen to use later.

Roll out the dough as thin as possible, or as thick as you love it! Be sure to put a little flour down, and on your rolling pin so the dough won't stick.  I don't have a rolling pin but a glass jar, vase, bottle works well too.  

Next, fold the dough in half twice to make it easier to move from the counter to the pie dish, and then unfold it. Trim the edges or make something fancy with your fingers or a fork!

Our pie smelled wonderful while it was baking... but tasted awful! It was so rich and incredibly runny.  I'll have to try again soon... I love a good shoo-fly pie!


While I may be a temporary failure at making shoo-fly pie, there's always Whoopie Pies!! Recently there's been debate over where the Whoopie Pie originated, but it's a fact that it can be found right here in the Lanc.  Jill invited me over to make them for the square dance coming up.  I had never made them before, but I sure have eaten my share!

Lucky for me I broke a few, so those ones had to get eaten instead of wrapped!