My daughter resently challenged me to invent a Shoo-Fly Scone. My favorite food is Shoo-Fly Pie. I don’t tend to be the person to deal in superlatives or easily make lists, but this one is undoubtedly my favorite.
The pie was developed by the Pennsylvania Dutch, a vague term used for the German Anabaptist dissenters (like the Amish or Mennonites, as distinct from the Moravians) who settled in Pennsylvania in the 19th Century. I imagine that in late winter, after most of the previous summer’s fruit was gone, some farm wife somewhere decided to make a pie out of molasses. The result is wonderful–wet & gooey on the bottom, like a light spice cake in the middle, and posdery and sweet on the top. It is so sweet & sticky that it attracts flies (which is how it gets its name).
This adapts the flavor as a scone, which seems appropriate, since I consider Shoo-Fly to be the ideal tea or breakfast food.
An interesting side note: apparently, pronouncing scone as rhyming with cone as in the Coen brothers rather than con as in consanguinity will earn you a long rant from Wode Toad. If you walk in during the rant and mispronounce it, he will throw things. How is your head, Brandon?

Ingredients:

• 2 ½ cups flour (Whole wheat, white, both, as you wish)
• ¼ cup of sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 3 Tbsp cold butter
• ¾ cup plain yoghurt
• ½ cup molasses (or dark corn syrup, or a mixture)
• 1 egg

Step 1, Prepare Ye the way: Preheat the oven to 400°, assemble all the ingredients, run to the store because you are out of molasses, and grease a baking sheet.

Step 2, sifting the dry ingredients: In one bowl sift (mix if you don’t have a sifter) the flour, sugar, baking posder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Mix thoroughly.

Step 3, pastry cutting: Cut in the ice cold sliced butter, using either a pastry cutter or a knife. I suppose some processer thingy can do this, too, but I don’t own one. The result should be crumbly. Take out a quarter cup of this, mix it with a sprinkle of sugar, and set it aside for the crumble topping.

Step 4, mixing the wet ingredients: In another bowl, mix the yoghurt, the molasses and the egg.

Step 4, combining the big mess: Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and mix well. THe results might be a bit gloppy. Try not to overwork the dough.The consistency will be much firmer than batter, but a little more liquid than cookie dough, a little drier than raw muffin.

Step 5, baking: Flouring your hands, form little scone sized patties out of the dough and put them on the greased. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. See how they look. Stick a toothpick in one and see if it comes out battery.

Final Step, share and enjoy They do make a handy breakfast, which is much easier to eat in the car than the pie. To your left, they are pictured with my Rhubarb-Almond Scones. They are perfect for sharing over breakfast, or in the afternoon over tea, or for dropping by and giving to friends.