Authentic Mennonite-Made Pies

By Kevin Williams

I featured this a month or so ago on my "Amish Etsy" feature, but I wanted to do a little more.   Now, let me get a few things out in the open right now:

Authentic Mennonite-made Shoofly Pie

This sounds absolutely mouth-wateringly amazing to me...you see strawberry-rhubarb all the time, but BLUEBERRY-RHUBARB? Oh, wow, oh wow....

This is not an Amish365 affiliate, I don't get a dime (or a penny or anything) if you order from this place, I simply think it sounds like something everyone here would find interesting.

On the flip side, I've not tasted any of her products.  I hope to soon, but I haven't, so I can't personally vouch for them, but I have corresponded with Susan Weaver, who's mother,Ruth, bakes the pies and I can comfortably vouch for their Plain provenance.

Here is a little of Susan's backstory as she tells it to me:
     I've been baking ever since I was a little girl starting at 8 or 9 
years old, with my Mothers supervision. As time went on I got married 
and had 11 children. Then I was busy baking for my own family. Now most 
of the children our on their own so I have time to pursue this.

     I sold a few items to neighbors and friends as they ordered, then a 
local Mennonite store asked if I could supply them. So  I got the 
inspection done to be legal to supply them. I have a few restrictions, 
with the biggest one being no milk products allowed. Butter is allowed 
though, and most recipes I fine tuned to allow for that.  Unfortunately 
at this point, that means, no pumpkin pie. I am hoping to find a recipe 
sometime, that I can legally sell.

     These pies are made completely from scratch. The pie filling gets 
made fresh for each batch of pies. There is no bought canned pie 
filling. The crust also gets made from scratch. Some bakeries buy the 
pie crusts in. So I feel this pie is superior in taste to most bakery pies.

     The whoopie pies are also from scratch from each individual cookie 
to the frosting that is inbetween each cookie.

Does that not sound AMAZING?   My mouth-waters reading it because you simply can't beat quality, scratch-made and many bakeries, even some large Amish ones, now truck in pie crusts, fillings, etc.   Now, they ARE expensive. I almost ordered a pie this morning but with shipping the price came to $35 and I thought Rachel would not be happy with me for ordering a $35 pie, so I'll talk it over with her.  That said, if you aren't limited by spousal discussion first and want a true, authentic Plain experience and you live somewhere where you just won't get it otherwise, sure $35 is worth it, I think, because you aren't just paying for the pie but the experience.   Now I will say one of the other things about the pies, the fruit ones, is she uses clear-gel.  This is a thickener popular with the Amish and Mennonites so having a chance to order a pie with clear-gel as the thickener instead of cornstarch makes it that much more authentic to my eye.

Susan and her mother, Ruth, are part of the Weaverland conference of Mennonites and as such she wears the traditional Plain clothing of the more conservative Mennonites.  Susan also shares some of her sewing talents by offering hand-sewn dresses on her Etsy shop, again, a great opportunity.

So if you you want to order a pie, she has a 15 percent off code for Amish365ers if you spend $20 or more. So my $35 pie would have been less than $30...that makes it more palatable.  But, again, you have to pay for quality....

A Mennonite barn-raising in the Weaver's rural Upstate New York area