Crack Pie from Manhattan Hot Spot.

Ok, here is the pie people are talking about all over the place, Crack Pie. My mother, who loves me greatly, sent me the article from the LA times that gave the coveted recipe. I had to try it. It is all the rage, Anderson Cooper even raves about it. So I bought myself some cream and raided our food storage for powered milk and set to work.

For this baking adventure I decided I would go Pioneer Women style...honestly I am yet to LOVE a single one of her recipes and sometimes having to look at pictures of every move she makes drives me insane!!!! Seriously, I know how to stir! But that is beside the point... I was so into what I was doing and how lovely an experience I was having I couldn't help myself. I wanted to capture all of it. It was fun. However, I do have to say I one-upped her. I had the cutest littlest assistant you ever did see by my side. Love him.

Here we go.First you make the cookie dough for the cookie crust. It is a basic cookie with oats added for flavor and texture. I do love them oats. Instead of forming cookies you spread the dough into a 9 x 13 pan and bake. When done you remove the cookie from pan and let cool on a rack until completely cooled...I broke mine up to speed things up.

Then you crumble the cookie pieces even more. Benjie enjoyed this part immensely. Don't you love my old school standing mixer? I do.

Once you have a nice crumb add brown sugar, salt and butter until you get a crumb mixture that holds it shape when you press it together in your palm. Like so,

Divided your crumb into two and press it into two 10 inch pie pans to make a thin crust. It is a shallow pie so the edges do not need to be high at all. Now at this point you are thinking you could fill the dang pies with nothing more then whipped cream and it would be great, you have a cookie crumb crust people! YUM!

Now here comes the triple bypass.

In a large bowl mix together white sugar, brown sugar, salt, and powdered milk. My mixture looked like this:

Then pour in two sticks melted butter, heavy cream, vanilla, and count them

EIGHT egg yolks. Can I say decadent?!?!?!
Mix well but don't let it get fluffy. Benjie was a pro at this.

Pour your yellow custardy mixture on top of your prepared pie crusts. I don't own pie pans thus I used circular cake pans, they did just fine.

At this point you bake them one at a time starting them out at 35o for 20 minutes and then lower the temp to 325 and bake for another 15 minutes adding on 5 minutes if you are using a 9 inch pan. When you take them out of the oven they will seem under cooked. It is perfect that way! If you cook them too long the cookie and the filling combine into one and lose their charming attributes. Trust me! I know from pie number two. :(

Let your little beauties cool on the counter until they are room temperature and then chill in the fridge. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before you sever them. This pie presents like a lemon bar but warn your tasters this tastes very different. Buttery, creamy, sweet, salty, and while very rich you find yourself eating bite after bite. It does have a butterscotch taste to it but creamy all at the same time. If butterscotch is your thing then you will be a fan.

Enjoy! Heaven knows I did.

Crack Pie
from Momofuku Bakery & Milk Bar, Manhattan

Cookie for Crust

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup light-brown sugar
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup old-fashioned oats
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

1.) Heat oven to 375 degrees.
2.) sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in medium bowl. set aside
3.) in bowl of a standing mixer beat butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until ight and fluffy. Then add your room temp egg and mix until well incorporated.
4.) With mixer running add the flour mixture a little at a time until incorporated and then add your oats.
5.) Spread in a 9 x 13 and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan and let cool on a rack.

Crust

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon light-brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt

1.) Break up your cookies into a bowl using hands or mixer to do the job until you get a even crumb mixture.
2.) then add you butter, sugar, and salt andm ix until when pressed it holds its shape.
3.) divide hte crumb evenly and then press into 10 inch pie pans. Set aside.

Filling

1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light-brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cups milk powder
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
3/4 plus 2 TB cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
8 large egg yolks
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

1.) Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.
2.)In a large bowl, whisk together sugars, salt, and milk powder, breaking up any lumps.
3.) Whisk in butter, heavy cream, and vanilla until well combined. Whisk in yolks until just combined.
4.) Pour filling into prepared pie crusts. Transfer pies to oven and bake until filling is set, about 15 minutes. Then reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees and continue baking until top of pie is golden brown ( 10 minutes) you want this pie to wiggle like crazy when you move it.
5.) Remove from oven and let cool. Transfer to refrigerator and refrigerate until cool. Dust with confectioners' sugar just before serving.

* One recipe I found had you bake at 325 for 15 minutes and then lower the temp to 315 until top is golden brown but the filling is still wiggly. Next time I will try this on the pies and see if I get a better result, you don't to want to over bake these pies!