Righting the Balance the Only Way I Know How

Have you seen "Failure to Launch"? It was entertaining, but certainly not the best movie ever. If you saw it though, do you remember how Tripp disrupted the balance of nature and was therefore punished over and over? An otherwise peaceful dolphin bit him, so did a lizard, and I'm sure there was more, but the point is that I believe that something I've recently done, or haven't done, have tipped the scales against me too. Except instead of nature, I think I've angered the household gods. Is it because I'm finally getting time to sort through my mountains of stuff and things are finally starting to look organized? I don't know, but every time I step through the front door these days, I pause and take a minute to listen intently to the "noises" just so I know what disaster is waiting for me that day. I'll spare you the details, those that know me have already heard way more then I'm sure they wanted to about my problems, suffice it to say I'm ready to repent.

I offer this pie as a peace offering, and a not-so-subtle hint. And while it doesn't look like much, it was pretty tasty. The molasses flavor wasn't too strong and the texture was nice and moist. I'm ready to let bygones be bygones, just please please please, let things be back to normal again.



Shoo Fly Pie
via Martha Stewart
Makes one 9-inch pie

Crust:
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water

Pulse flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. With machine running, add ice water in a slow, steady stream just until dough holds together, no longer than 20 seconds. Wrap in plastic; refrigerate 1 hour to overnight.

Filling:
• 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
• 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• Salt
• 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1/2 cup unsulfured molasses
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten

- Roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface to 1/8 inch thick. Fit dough into a 9-inch pie plate. Trim edges to leave a 1-inch overhang; fold edges under, and crimp with your fingers. Freeze pie shell 30 minutes or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Whisk together flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Add butter, and work mixture through your fingers until it forms fine crumbs; set crumb topping aside.
- Stir together boiling water, molasses, and corn syrup in a medium bowl. Whisk in baking soda, egg, and a pinch of salt. Pour molasses mixture into prepared pie shell. Scatter crumb topping over filling. Place pie on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until filling is set and topping is deep golden brown, about 50 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack 30 minutes.

I thought I had a crust in the freezer when I started making this, but I think I used it up already, so in a rush I poured the filling into mini chocolate graham cracker crusts, and that worked fine, but next time I think I'll make it in the crust as the recipe stated.

Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and hope that tomorrow will bring sanity and peace of mind.