Shoofly pie is a type of American pie made with molasses associated with Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine. While shoo-fly pie has been a staple of Moravian, Mennonite and Amish foodways, there is scant evidence concerning its origins, and most of the folktales concerning the pie are legendary, including the persistent legend that the name comes from flies being attracted to the sweet filling. The name "shoo-fly pie" was borrowed from a brand of molasses that was popular in parts of the US during the late 19th century. Possibly related to the Jenny Lind pie (a soft gingerbread pie), it may have originated among the Pennsylvania Dutch in the 1880s as molasses crumb cake, and is sometimes called molasses crumb pie. It was traditionally served not as a dessert pie, but as a breakfast food with hot coffee. The modern form of shoofly pie as a crumb cake served in pie crust was a post-Civil War innovation, when cast iron cookware and stoves made pie crust more accessible for home cooks. Description Shoofly pie has been described as a crumb cake baked in a pie crust. The primary ingredients of the filling are molasses, brown sugar, and water. Serving the cake in pie crust made it easier for people to eat it with their hands in the 19th century. It comes in two different versions: wet-bottom and dry-bottom. The dry-bottom version is baked until fully set and results in a more cake-like consistency throughout. The wet-bottom version is set like cake at the top where it was mixed in with the crumbs, but the very bottom is a stickier, gooier custard-like consistency. Recipes differentiating between wet and dry versions appeared in the early 20th century; the dry version was suitable for dunking in a cup of coffee. History Shoofly pie began as a crust-less molasses cake called Centennial cake in 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. There is no evidence of it being made before the American Civil War. In the 1880s, home bakers added a crust to make it easier to eat alongside a cup of coffee in the morning, without plates and forks. Precursors include Jenny Lind pie, a type of gingerbread cake that was named for the famed Swedish opera star, Jenny Lind after her tour of America in the 1850s. Because shoofly pie traditionally contains molasses but no