milk bar crack pie - Everyday Annie

If you are into food and have not been in a coma or living under a rock, chances are that you have heard of the infamous crack pie from the genius Christina Tosi and team at Milk Bar in NYC. I’ve heard about it for years, readers have been asking me to post about it for years, but it took me a while to get around to it. I first tried it when I visited Milk Bar a few years ago and it was pretty good, but maybe not quite all it was…cracked up to be. (Aaaaall the sheepish blushing – I HAD to!) Don’t get me wrong, it was good, but other things we tried there were better. As most of you know, I’ve been diving deep into the milk bar cookbook for the past few years and, though I haven’t counted, I’m confident I have made about three quarters of the recipes. It was time to make crack pie myself and give it another shot.

So, last fall, I made it. And, as you probably guessed by the fact that it is appearing here now, I loved it. It’s a bit tough to describe exactly what it is – an oat cookie crust with a custardy, caramel-y amazing slice of pie. Sweet and salty with a perfect texture, it is best understood by trying it for yourself. I believe I may have underbaked mine a couple of minutes and I honestly think that may have been the difference. The slice I tried at the physical bakery was similar, but mine had this oozing bit of caramel goodness that you could scrape up with your fork and it was out of this world. Great on its own but even better with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, give it a try in your own kitchen and see what you think!

Yield 2 9-inch pies

Ingredients

For the oat cookie mixture:

115 grams (8 tbsp.) butter, at room temperature
75 grams (1/3 cup) light brown sugar
40 grams (3 tbsp.) granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
80 grams (½ cup) all-purpose flour
120 grams (1½ cups) old-fashioned oats
0.5 grams (1/8 tsp.) baking powder
0.25 grams (pinch) baking soda
2 grams (½ tsp.) kosher salt

To complete the crust:

15 grams (1 tbsp.) light brown sugar
1 gram ( tsp.) salt
55 grams (4 tbsp.) butter, melted

For the filling:

300 grams (1½ cups) granulated sugar
180 grams (¾ cup) tightly packed light brown sugar
20 grams (¼ cup) milk powder
24 grams (¼ cup) corn powder*
6 grams (1½ tsp.) kosher salt
225 grams (16 tbsp.) butter, melted
160 grams (¾ cup) heavy cream
2 grams (½ tsp.) vanilla extract
8 egg yolks

Directions

01
To make the oat cookie, heat the oven to 350˚ F. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter and sugars. Cream together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. With the mixer on low speed, add in the egg yolk. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat for 1-2 minutes, until the sugar granules fully dissolve and the mixture is pale white.
02
With the mixer on low speed, add in the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix briefly, until the dough comes together and any remnants of dry ingredients are incorporated. The dough will be slightly fluffy and fatty. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Line a quarter sheet pan with parchment, put the cookie dough in the center of the pan and spread it out until it is ¼-inch thick. (It won’t cover the entire pan.) Bake for 15 minutes or until it resembles an oatmeal cookie, puffed slightly but firmly. Cool completely before proceeding.
03
Heat the oven to 350˚ F. Put the oat cookie in a food processor with the brown sugar and salt. Pulse until the mixture is broken down into something resembling wet sand. Transfer the crumbs to a bowl, add the melted butter, and mix until moist enough to form a ball. (If necessary, use an additional tablespoon or two of butter.) Divide the oat crust evenly between 2 (9-inch) pie plates. Using your fingers and the palms of your hands, press the oat cookie crust firmly into each pie plate so that the bottom and sides are covered.
04
To make the filling, combine the sugar, brown sugar, milk powder, corn powder, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix on low speed until evenly blended. Add the melted butter and mix for 2-3 minutes until all of the dry ingredients are incorporated. Add the heavy cream and vanilla and continue mixing on low speed for 2-3 minutes until any white streaks from the cream have disappeared. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add in the egg yolks, mixing just until combined. Be careful not to aerate the mixture, but be sure it is glossy and homogenous. Mix on low speed until it reaches this point.
05
Put the pie plates on a baking sheet. Divide the filling between the two pies. (The pie shells should be about three quarters of the way full.) Bake for 15 minutes. The pie should be golden brown on top but still very jiggly.
06
Open the oven door a crack and lower the temperature 325˚ F. Once the oven reaches 325˚ F, close the door again. Bake 5 minutes longer. The pies should still be jiggly in the very center but not around the edges. If necessary, bake 5 minutes more if the pies haven’t reached this point.
07
Gently transfer the pan with the pies to a cooling rack. Let cool to room temperature. Then freeze for at least 3 hours or overnight to condense the filling.
08
If not serving right away, wrap well in plastic wrap. The pies will keep 5 days in the fridge or 1 month in the freezer. Defrost in the refrigerator a minimum of 1 hour before slicing and serving. Serve cold with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar.
09
*Notes:
- The original recipe is meant for two 10-inch pies. However, I know of almost no one who has 10-inch pie plates. I made mine in 9-inch plates and disposed of the leftover filling.
- Hey, what’s corn powder?! It’s ground up freeze dried corn. This may sound odd but I’m actually obsessed with it and you’ll be seeing more recipes that use it on these pages in the future so you might want to be like me and just order it in bulk. You can use a food processor or spice grinder to pulse it into a fine powder.

Source

Momofuku Milk Bar