Life is getting back to normal, but I feel a little edgy and am having a hard time making decisions – especially baking decisions. Everything sounds tasty, but too complicated, too expensive, too rich or too much. I almost took the day off, when what should appear in my email but a note from Louise saying she was typing up a special recipe.
Straight from Pennsylvania, home of coconut eggs, Whoopie Pies, Hershey Bars and The Office, it’s Shoofly Cupcakes!
Have I ever mentioned that I don’t like Shoofly Pie? Yes, multiple times. But these cupcakes were very tasty and made with ingredients I had on hand here in temporary housing.
And they were simple. You make a quick molasses batter (it’s odd looking, until you add the flour)….
Divvy it up between muffin tins, top it with a crumb made of butter, sugar and flour, then bake.
The result is an interesting looking cupcake with an old fashioned molasses flavor and wonderfully soft crumb. Thanks, shortening! I know lots of people shy away from it, but it’s what the recipe called for and I must say it worked beautifully. The molasses gave it the cake plenty of flavor and I didn’t miss the salt. Most versions of this recipe don’t have salt, and Louise’s didn’t either.
For the butter in the crumb topping, I used unsalted. Louise doesn’t keep salted butter in the house so she uses unsalted too. For my tastes, I think I’d prefer a salted butter in the topping, but I’m not complaining. Thanks to Louise for sending me the perfect recipe for a day like today.
Shoofly Cupcakes (aka Molasses Crumb)
1 cup soft shortening
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, well beaten
1 cup molasses (dark or light)
1 teaspoon baking soda, dissolved in 1 cup lukewarm water
3 cups all purpose flour
Cream shortening and sugar in a bowl; add eggs, blending well.
In a small bowl, combine molasses and dissolved baking soda and water. Slowly add to the creamed mixture. Gradually beat in the flour. Pour batter into paper cupcake liners 2/3 full.
Crumb Topping:
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
Combine all ingredients and make into fine crumbs.
Sprinkle crumb topping over each cupcake. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes. Makes 18 cupcakes.
UPDATED: These were good, but this morning I found one that might be better. Taste of Home has a Shoofly Cupcake which uses all butter and has just enough salt to ramp up the flavor a bit.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Ha Ha! Anna, this message straight from PA… I am the only member of my family, both immediate and extended that doesn’t like shoo fly pie. I feel like the black sheep of the family! My grandfather loves to bake them, I feel like I break his heart every time I turn down a slice.
Maybe I need to try the cupcakes…
Oh those do look delish! I am sorry, I can not find the recipe…..can you tell me where it is?
thanks!
Doh! I wrote about it and didn’t paste the recipe. Thanks for catching that. Here it is.
Jennie, I think your grandfather would understand if you baked him some cupcakes. It would make up for everything.
I’m pretty sure I’ve never tried shoofly pie, let alone cupcakes, but I do like molasses-y things. Wondering about with no spices though.
Katrina — shoo-fly pie doesn’t need spices. Look at Pecan Pie and you’ll see most recipes don’t have spices either but rely on the nuts/sugar for taste. Here it’s molasses. Some use a combination of brown and white sugars. My personal preference is wet-bottom shoo-fly, and a single slice, not a whole pie, does me just fine. And like anything else, there are good and bad ones with some just not worth the calories. And the crust has to be a very good one too.
I have never heard of or tried these but they look pretty interesting!
Taste of Home has another recipe for Shoofly Cupcakes.
http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Shoofly-Cupcakes
Theirs uses butter and salt. I think I’ll try that one.