Amish Shoo-Fly and Whoopie Pies

Amish shoo-fly pies "made from gooey molasses-based filling and sometimes topped with chocolate cream." 

Photo by Carol M. Highsmith c. 1980 from the Library of Congress.

One of my favorite things to do when I am bored is to troll the Library of Congress digital collections (pushes up invisible nerd glasses). Of course I tend to look up topics I have a passionate interest in-- folk songs, hobos, and you guessed it, pies (and somehow those are all related. hmm...). I think I may have looked at all 1,785 entries for pie in the catalog. It's true.

You'll be seeing more of my search results, but these two photos of Amish shoo-fly pies and whoopie pies from Lancaster, Pennsylvania caught my eye. Just today at work we were discussing the possibility of featuring Maryland Amish whoopie pie vendors at an event, and I've been doing some free-lance work transcribing interviews related to medicine in Amish communities. I also grew up in northern Indiana, where we went out for lunch at Das Dutchman Essenhaus, bought produce from Amish farmers at the Goshen Farmers' Market, and spotted buggies parked outside our local Target. When I lived here in D.C. previously, I once met up with my friend Francis Lam (of Gilt Taste and formerly of Salon.com and Gourmet Magazine, RIP) at the Dutch Country Farmers' Market in Burtonsville, Maryland. There we wandered through the rows of vendors, taking in the sights of blaze orange cheese mixtures, mayonnaise-based casseroles, and strange pickled things, and picked up some to take home. I definitely snagged a whoopie pie or two and remember thinking it interesting that the baker's crescent-shaped fried pies or hand pies were called "moon pies," which to most of America, or at least south of the Mason-Dixon line, means something else entirely. 

 Amish whoopie pies "a surprisingly sinful treat." 

Photo by Carol M. Highsmith c. 1980 from the Library of Congress.

 There's something weird about these photos (or is it just me?). Though they are lined up in almost perfect rows according to color and variety, they still seem to be shot without artifice, sans any of today's bloggy food styling, as if they could appear in your middle school home-ec class textbook with a simple caption "Amish desserts". All the while, there is something appealing about them--I'd totally chomp into one of those oatmeal whoopie pies or chocolate covered shoo-fly pies given the chance. I should probably plan a return trip to the Dutch Country Market or whip up some oatmeal pies of my own? Shoo fly, don't bother me.

Pi(e) Day on the Piedmont

Here at Nothing-In-The-House, we've been celebrating pi(e) day, 3.14, for a few years now, and though I haven't been to any of the amazing TX pi(e) day parties, Pi(e) Day has never been as beautiful, full-force, or fun as this year's celebration.

My friend Lora lives and works at Celebrity Dairy Goat Farm in Siler City, NC. Awhile back we got to talkin' about a pie party, and she generously suggested (and offered to host!) that we have our Pi(e) Day celebration out at the Dairy where we could enjoy the industrial kitchen, comforts of the inn, adorable baby goats, and spring peeper chorus, out in the Chatham County country.

Most of the baking team gathered at the inn the evening before, where we made a large batch of pie dough and some of the icebox pies, then ate tacos, crackers and goat cheese, drank wine, played Exquisite Corpse and sang songs late into the night.


The next morning, the kitchen was abuzz with the 13 member baking team as we rolled dough, chopped fruit, whipped cream, and fluted crusts.

forks await folks

Altogether we made 26 pies, and not a bad one in the bunch. In fact, they were all delicious (at least the ones I tried, which was close to most). Lora made fresh goat's milk ice cream to top them off. Here are a few pie portraits, but for a list of all of them with their respective bakers, plus additional words and photos, see Lora's blog post here.

Brooke's delicious lemon goat cheese tart w. Lora's blackberry preserves, recipe here

Lora's Kentucky Pie

I tried my hand at this tart, from Michel Roux's Pastry

Shoofly! Don't Bother Me Pie by Lora

April's (of Farmer's Daughter) Sweet Potato Muscadine Pie

My Avocado Coconut Pie (vegan) recipe here

Pimento Cheese Tomato Pie by Emily Wallace, the day's favorite and first to go!

About 40 friends came out to the farm to help us enjoy the pies and the beautiful spring day. We gave away 2 pies in our pi(e) walk (walked in circle of circumference 2pi(e)r), done with live old-time music accompaniment.

Bill goes back for round 4

Do The Pie Walk

Molly, age 11, the youngest baker, made this video, documenting the day.

After the crowds departed and all the pie dishes were washed, the remaining few settled in for a relaxing porch sit, and viewing of hobo-movie Sullivan's Travels, which, though it had no hobo window sill-pie-snatching chase scene, did have two mentions of pie.

We did indeed have pie for breakfast the next day. 3.15, the (p)ides of March.

Thank you SO much to our team of bakers: Emily W, Chris, Lora, Shannon (who all also took photos), Ashley, Whitney, Brooke, Mary, Zans, Molly, Joe, and April with VERY BIG THANKS to Lora and Joe who really made the event possible.