Shoo-Fly Pie

I haven't been baking a lot of puddings recently, just a few cakes every now and then, so my blog has been a bit devoid of sweet treats. This is starting to be remedied with my latest offering, and we are dipping our toes into the world of pastry at the same time.

Shoo-Fly Pie is perhaps my favourite non-chocolate pudding and this recipe has been passed down through my family for some generations. It is a cross between a pie and a crumble, with a dried fruit filing squeezed between a pastry base and a crumble topping. To make it you will first need to have some shortcrust pastry, perhaps the simplest form of pastry, which you can either buy or, as you have lots of flour in your house and it only takes a minute, just follow my simple instructions.

Both these recipes use the 'rubbing in' technique, where the fats and flours are usually rubbed together using fingertips. If, like me, you don't like this method because it gets under the nails, the fats melt from your warm hands or it's just a pain and strain on the fingers, then you can work the two together with a fork (or even in a food processor) which is much easier. It may take some time for you to get used to the quantity of water needed to make a good pastry, but you can't go far wrong, adding flour or water as necessary to make a workable consistency will always provide a perfectly edible pastry. I use self-raising flour because I think it is slightly more forgiving and makes a lighter pastry than the plain variety, but either is acceptable. Leaving it for a few minutes in the fridge always improves it's performance, especially after lining trays, and prevents it shrinking too much during baking.

Once you've got the pastry everything is reasonably straightforward and according to the recipe, my most common error is forgetting to add the spices to the dry flour, which makes it difficult to mix them in later. I'm sure you will not be disappointed with the results, it always goes down well with visitors to my house, many of whom have never heard of/tasted it before.

Sweet.