Lancaster County Bakery Upholds Legacy of Pennsylvania Dutch Shoofly Pies

When you travel beyond Philadelphia into the heart of Lancaster County, you'll discover a beloved bakery that upholds the tradition of making a Pennsylvania pie appreciated worldwide: shoofly pie.

The Bird-in-Hand Bakery has been baking the traditional molasses crumb dessert, deeply tied to Amish and Mennonite culture, using a recipe passed down through generations.

"The original recipe for the shoofly pie came from my great-grandmother and my grandmother. They were both excellent pie bakers. They began to work with the ingredients for the shoofly pie, which had been in existence before. They were there, but they perfected it," said owner John Smucker in a statement shared with 6abc.

Core shoofly pie ingredients are flour, cinnamon, baking soda, lard, and brown sugar. There's no secret technique to making the pie; it's just proper recipe execution and pastry selection.

Shoofly pie is a non-refrigerated dessert. Several stories exist about the origin of its name. Still, one Bird-in-Hand Bakery employee has a theory: "When the cooks, the early cooks, the bakers, were putting shoo fly pies together — it's such a sweet pie — and so when you put it out there, it just attracts flies. And they were always shooing the flies off the pies as they were cooling."

According to 6abc, the Bird-in-Hand Corporation, which operates the Bird-in-Hand Bakery, began in agriculture and expanded into hospitality and baking. Its hospitality arm has remained active for 55 years and includes a team of six bakers, plus seasonal help, to produce a range of sweets.

While whoopie pies are popular, shoofly pie remains the flagship item and a key driver of customer loyalty.

The pies are popular not only locally but also internationally. The bakery even ships pies to Hong Kong.

The shoofly pie is more than a dessert; it's a part of Pennsylvania culture.

"We have a pie that's really indicative of the culture. And it's been that way for a long, long time. It comes out of the culture, and so we can share that cultural aspect with out-of-town guests," Smucker added.