Preheat oven to 400°F and line a pie dish with the single crust pastry. Or you can use store bought, but isn’t there something lovely about rolling out the dough yourself? Therapeutic even? No?
Combine all the ingredients for the crumbs in a bowl and cut the butter into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or fork until it resembles coarse crumbs.You can also use a food processor but it hardly seems worth the cleanup effort.
In a small bowl dissolve the baking soda into the boiling water then mix in the molasses and then the egg, whisking to combine completely.
Layer the molasses filling and crumbs in alternating layers ending with the crumbs. I did three layers.
Bake pie in preheated oven for 10 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 350°F
Continue baking about 20 minutes or until the filling feels like jello when pressed. It should be firm but still have some give.
Just remember it will get harder as it cools!
Cool at room temperature.Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Notes: Store room temperature. I brought my pie to work for the guys (and Chef, obviously) and the two slivers that were left the next day were even better.The spices and molasses flavors intensified overnight!
