My vegan shoofly pie is the scrumptious dessert that you didn't know you needed in your life, but totally do! Made with a gooey molasses filling and lightly spiced brown sugar crumble topping, this decadent pie is perfect for holidays, special occasions, or just treating yourself. It's easy to make too!
If you grew up anywhere near southeastern Pennsylvania, like I did, you're probably familiar with shoofly pie. If not, well you are in for a treat! This pie a molasses lover's dream come true!
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Shoofly pie has origins in the Philadelphia region, and you'll find folks all around the area selling slices at farmer's markets and flea markets. It's a pretty unusual pie, but it's delicious! The filling has has all the molassesey flavor of my vegan gingerbread cookies, but is super sweet and gooey. The crumb topping is rich and buttery, kind of like the topping on my vegan peach pie.
Why This Recipe Works
One thing about shoofly pie: it can be accidentally vegan. But, as with all pies, you need to watch out for ingredients like lard or butter in the crust, as well as non-vegan sugars in the filling. We're keeping everything 100% vegan here.
Also, while the filling is traditionally made with nothing more than molasses, water, and baking soda, lots of modern recipes call for an egg or two, in order to help it set. I found that I had a hard time getting my filling to set without eggs, so I did what I did for my vegan pumpkin pie and vegan custard pie — I added cornstarch. It worked like a charm, and the filling had all the amazing texture of the non-vegan shoofly pies I enjoyed as a kid!
Ingredients You'll Need
- Vegan pie crust. You can use my vegan pie crust, coconut oil pie crust, or a store-bought one. If you're using store-bought, watch out for ingredients like lard and butter.
- Flour. The recipe calls for all-purpose wheat flour, and we'll be using it just for the filling. Substitutions include white whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour, spelt flour, and all-purpose gluten-free flour.
- Brown sugar. You can use light or dark brown sugar — both are fine! Just make sure it's organic. Conventional sugar is often processed using animal bone char, so it may not be vegan.
- Spices. We're using just a tiny bit of cinnamon and nutmeg to flavor the topping.
- Salt.
- Vegan butter. You can buy vegan butter in most grocery stores, usually in the refrigerated section, close to the regular butter.
- Water.
- Cornstarch. Cornstarch is one of my favorite vegan egg substitutes for baking, and it works great in this recipe!
- Molasses. Use regular, unsulfured molasses, such Grandma's or Brer Rabbit brand. As much as I love blackstrap molasses, it's not a substitute for regular molasses in baked goods. If you've got blackstrap molasses to use, try my blackstrap molasses muffins or blackstrap molasses cookies.
- Baking soda. Not to be confused with baking powder!
How It's Made
Below is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
Step 1: Preheat your oven to 400°F before you do anything else.
Step 2: Get your crust ready! If you're using a premade crust, you're ready to go. If you're making your own, do so now, place it in a pie dish, trim and crimp the edges, and poke some holes in it.
Step 3: Blind bake the crust. Line it with foil or parchment paper, then fill it with pie weights or an alternative like dried beans or rice. Bake it for fifteen minutes.
Step 4: To make the topping, first stir the flour, brown sugar, spices, and salt together in a large bowl.
Step 5: Cut the butter into a few slices, add them to the bowl, then cut them into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter or fork.
Tip: You can use your hands to work the butter into the crumb mixture, as long as you avoid warming it up too much. Let the topping chill in the fridge while you make the filling.
Step 6: Stir the water (make sure it's cold!) together with the cornstarch, then heat the mixture to boiling. It will thicken a bit.
Step 7: Take the pot off of heat, then whisk in the molasses and baking soda.
Step 8: Pour half of the molasses filling into the crust, then sprinkle half of the topping over it.
Step 9: Spread the other half of the molasses filling over the topping, then sprinkle the remaining topping over the filling.
Note: Yes, you read that right. We're putting half of the topping inside the pie, with the filling. This helps give structure to the pie so that it holds together and slices up nicely.
Step 10: Pop your pie into the oven! You'll be baking it at 400° for fifteen minutes, then turning down the heat to 350°F for the remaining twenty five to thirty minutes.
Step 11: Place your pie on a cooling rack and let it cool completely before slicing. Super important! If you slice it warm it will fall apart and make a huge mess. (It'll still taste good though!)
Tip: Vegan shoofly pie can take a while to cool — at least three hours! Consider making it the day before you plan to serve it.
Shelf Life & Storage
Your vegan shoofly pie will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for two to three days, in the fridge for about a week, or in the freezer for about three months.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Use a gluten-free pie crust and an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend for the topping.
Absolutely! Baking is chemistry after all, and different types of molasses will react differently when combined with the other ingredients of the recipe. Unsulfured molasses will give you the result you want. Anything else, such as blackstrap molasses, would be a gamble.
Unfortunately, no. Molasses is the key ingredient and flavor of shoofly pie, so there's no alternative. Try one of my other pie recipes. You'll find a few suggestions at the bottom of this post.
This step is known as blind baking. It prevents the crust from getting soggy, so skip it at your own risk.
More Vegan Pie Recipes
Like this recipe? If so, please stop back and leave me a review and rating below if you try it! Also be sure to follow me on Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram, or subscribe to my newsletter for more recipes like this one!
📖 Recipe
Vegan Shoofly Pie
Equipment
- 1 9-inch pie pan
Ingredients
- 1 vegan pie crust, unbaked
For the Topping
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup organic brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup vegan butter, cold
For the Filling
- 1 cup cold water
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- ¾ cup unsulfured molasses
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- If you're not using a premade crust, roll your dough using a rolling pin, then carefully drape it into a 9-inch pie pan. Press the crust into the pan, trim the excess dough, and crimp the edges. Use a knife to poke holes in the bottom and sides of the pie crust.
- Line the inside of your pie crust with foil or parchment paper, then fill it with pie weights, dried rice, or beans. Bake the crust for 15 minutes. Place it on a cooling rack and carefully remove the foil and weights when it comes out of the oven. Leave the oven on.
- While the crust bakes, make the topping. First, stir the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together in a large bowl.
- Cut the butter into about eight slices, then add them to the flour mixture. Use a pastry cutter to cut the butter in until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. You can work it in a bit with your hands as well, but work quickly to avoid warming up the butter too much. Place the bowl in the fridge to chill while you make the filling.
- To make the filling, stir the water and cornstarch together in a small saucepan. Place the saucepan over high heat and bring the liquid to a boil. It should thicken slightly. Remove the pot from heat.
- Whisk the molasses and baking soda into the cornstarch mixture. The baking soda may cause it to bubble a bit.
- Remove the crumble topping from the fridge. Pour half of the molasses mixture into the pie crust, then sprinkle half of the crumble topping over it.
- Repeat the layers, spreading the remaining molasses filling over the crumble mixture, then arrange the remaining crumble mixture over the top layer of filling, spreading it out as evenly as you can and very gently pressing the crumble into the filling.
- Place the pie into the oven. You may want to place something under it to catch drips. Bake the pie for 15 minutes at 400°F, then turn the temperature down to 350°F and bake the pie for 25 to 30 minutes more, until the filling is bubbly and the topping is golden brown. Keep an eye on the pie and cover the edges with foil or a pie shield as it darkens to prevent burning.
- Remove the pie from the oven and place it directly onto a cooling rack. Let the pie cool completely, which should take at least three hours, before slicing and serving.
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