Shoe Fly Cupcakes, Take 1
My friend, Gretchen, is hosting Homegrown Gourmet 5 this month. (Can I call you my friend? I think your my friend so Im sticking with it..) The theme is Quick Breads. WOOHOO, I LOVE QUICK BREADS!
The deal with Homegrown Gourmet is:
“Homegrown Gourmet was created by Bean’s Bistro to represent one’s home region: town, state, or area by featuring a local ingredient or a traditional dish or a creative twist on something from your region.”
I hail from Pennsylvania Dutch territory. And my Pop-Pop’s family is full blown PA Dutch. I immediately started googling the heck out of PA Dutch or Amish recipes for quick breads. It didnt take long before I thought I had found it. Shoe Fly Cupcakes! A cousin to the Shoe Fly Pie.. and said by my Grandma to be an actual recipe. I double checked with her to make sure it wasnt some wackadoo made up thing.
The recipe I tried today came from here. I ended up tweaking it a bit. Because after I mixed the flour, sugar, shortening together, I realized I only had 1/2 cup of molasses. So, I had to half the recipe. After I had it ready to go, the batter seemed way too thin to me. I ended up using 3/4 of the flour, sugar mixture anyway.
They dont look like much. And they fall under the no frosting cupcake. Which some would call a muffin. But as my Gram has told me many, many times. (She was a home-ec teacher for a gazillion years, so she knows everything.) “A muffin should crack on top, a cupcake should not.” These did not crack. Frosting or no frosting a little cake is a cupcake to me. I dont discriminate.
With that said, they taste even worse than they look. Awful. Not enough sugar. And the crumbs on top are so bland. I smothered the rest in butter to choke it down. And even sweet butter could not redeem them. I call my Gram to tell her how bad they are. She says to me “I dont really like them Laurie. My friend makes what they say are excellent Shoe Fly Cupcakes, but I think they taste flat. Its not like the pie, with that layer of molasses goo on the bottom to give it the extra sweetness.”
There you have it. Thats exactly it. They do taste flat. I dont think its the recipe, I think they may just be an acquired taste? Im on the prowl for another recipe. My Gram said she may have one in one of her cookbooks. Shoe Fly Cupcakes, Take 2 coming up soon. First, I need more molasses.
I’m a dutch baby as well. I was so excited when I read the caption to your post. I was hoping you had a great recipe for Shoe Fly Pie cupcakes. I think that the lack of a molasses layer is probabaly why they tasted flat. Good luck with the second try! I can’t wait to see how they come out!
Of course you can call me your friend Laurie!
I am looking forward to your next go around. Never tasted shoe fly anything and this may just give me the push to do it. The only problem? I have never found molasses here! Maybe I will Peruvianize the recipe!
Paula- Glad there is another Dutchie around! Im going to give them another go this coming week. Hope it goes better. Im gun shy after that last batch. Bleh.
Gretchen- Im hoping the next batch is entry worthy. If not, Ill go to plan b, and im not sure what that is yet.