These cupcakes take me back to my Pennsylvania childhood. Yes, I was raised in Pennsylvania Dutch country where most “traditional” food is considered “comfort” food elsewhere. Fried food and carbohydrates were staples along with pies, cakes, and various other baked goods. Healthy food it was not. But I have to admit I was sort of thrilled to see a cupcake version of the much beloved Shoofly Pie from The Cupcake Project. While the recipe calls for “syrup” that can vary by where you live. We grew up using King Syrup which is a rich, dark molasses. I can’t find it where I live now much to my dismay. I would recommend finding a dark syrup – one that is thick and substantial – to make the syrup filling as close to traditional as possible. Comfort food at its finest.
Shoofly Pie Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the crumbs
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 3/4 cup syrup (I used Lyle’s Golden Syrup)
- 3/4 cup hot (but not boiling) water
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 tablespoons crumbs (from above)
- 2 tablespoons sugar
Instructions
- In a small mixing bowl, mix all of the crumb ingredients together. I do this part by hand. The crumbs will be small and loose, like fine breadcrumbs.
- Set two tablespoons of crumbs aside to use in the whipped cream.
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together all of the syrup filling ingredients.
- Preheat oven to 400 F.
- Fill the cupcake liners one third full with packed down crumbs.
- Pour about 3 tablespoons of the syrup over the crumbs. I used four tablespoons on mine and some of them overflowed in the oven.
- Top the syrup with another layer of crumbs.
- Bake for 10 minutes.
- Lower heat to 350 F and bake for another 20 minutes.
- Whip heavy whipping cream until it looks like whipped cream.
- Mix in crumbs and sugar.
- Pipe on warm cupcakes and enjoy!