Momofuku Crack Pie

This pie was nominated best pie in New York City in 2009, which is when I ran across it at pieloveyou and thought certainly I will have to make this pie for myself. How could you not make something called a crack pie if you are living in San Francisco? I mean really? Except that it requires that you first make cookies, and then crust, and then pie... and you know that all is too much even if your name is Momofuku. I put it off and put it off and put it off until finally in a bit of residency whatnot stress-relief I needed to be heroic in my pie making and vowed to make it. I only made half the recipe for the cookie and the pie, which I will record here, but the original recipe makes two pies. This pie is actually as delicious as people make it out to be-- I would call it salted caramel in a pie more than a pie-- and worth the effort but very rich. Don't bother whipping cream or getting icecream to serve with it, it packs all the punches on it's own!

Originally printed in the LATimes but comes to me from PieLoveYou:

http://pieloveyou.blogspot.com/2010/05/momofuku-crack-pie-22.html

Ingredients for the cookie:

1/3 C. all-purpose flour

1/16 tsp. baking powder

1/16 tsp. baking soda

1/8 tsp. salt

1/4 C. softened butter

1/6 C. light brown sugar

1 1/2 T. white sugar

1/2 beaten egg

1/2 C. rolled oats

 

Directions for the cookie:

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat the butter, brown sugar and sugar until light and fluffy.

4. Whisk the egg into the butter mixture until fully incorporated.

5. Stir in the flour mixture, a little at a time, until fully combined. Stir in the oats until incorporated.

6. Spread the mixture onto a 9-inch-by-13-inch baking sheet and bake until golden brown and set, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to the touch on a rack. Crumble the cooled cookie to use in the crust.

 

Ingredients for the crust:

1 crumbled cookie recipe

2 T. butter

2 tsp. brown sugar

1/16 tsp. salt

 

Directions for the crust:

1. Combine the crumbled cookie, butter, brown sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse until evenly combined and blended (a little of the mixture clumped between your fingers should hold together). 

2. Press the crust into a 10" pie plate to form an even layer along the bottom and sides. Set the prepared crust aside while you prepare the filling.

Ingredients for the filling:

3/4 C. sugar

1/2 C. light brown sugar

1/8 tsp. salt

1/6 C. milk powder

1/2 C. butter, melted

1/2 C. heavy cream

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

4 egg yolks

 

Directions for filling and pie assembly:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, brown sugar, salt and milk powder. Whisk in the melted butter, then whisk in the heavy cream and vanilla.

3. Gently whisk in the egg yolks, being careful not to add too much air.

4. Scoop the filling into the prepared pie crust gently.

5. Bake the pie at 350F for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 325 degrees and bake until the filling is slightly jiggly and golden brown (similar to a pecan pie), about 10 minutes. Remove the pies and cool on a rack.

6. Refrigerate the cooled pie until well chilled. Serve the pie cold.