ACFW Conference Begins Today!

We interrupt this story for breaking news:

The ACFW conference begins today in Dallas, Texas.

In case you’re not a writer, ACFW stands for American Christian Fiction Writers, of which I’m a member. Their conference is the premier conference for Christian fiction writers. (Wish I was there!)

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Ryan’s neighbor, Mrs. Schuler, gave him a Shoo-fly pie to welcome him to the neighborhood. She shared this recipe with him.

Recipe for Shoo-fly Pie

A favorite dessert and the most famous of all Pennsylvania Dutch pies is Shoo-fly Pie, so-named because in years past, when pies were placed on window-sills to cool, housewives constantly had to 'shoo' away flies from their sweet and sticky pies. There are two kind of Shoo-fly pies—Plain Shoo-fly Pie and "Wet-Bottom" Shoo-fly Pie, by far the most popular kind.

This recipe is for the gooey, wet-bottom version.

Shoo-fly Pie

•               1 cup flour

•               1-1/2 T. shortening (such as Crisco)

•               3/4 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed

•               1 cup molasses or dark Karo syrup

•               1 egg, slightly beaten

•               3/4 cup hot water

•               1 tsp. baking soda, dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water (in addition to the 3/4 cup water)

Mix the flour, sugar and shortening together until crumbly. Measure 1/2 cup of this mixture and set it aside. (This will be used for the crumb topping.) Add the molasses, egg and baking soda/hot water mixture to the remaining flour mixture. Pour the batter into an unbaked deep dish 9" inch pie shell. Sprinkle the reserved 1/2 cup of crumbs over top. Bake in a preheated oven at 400º for 5 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350º and bake for 30 more minutes. As the shoo-fly pie bakes, a gooey wet bottom will form in the pie crust, below the molasses crumb cake. Enjoy!