Because I am on Pinterest and Pinterest loves an ooey-gooey pie, I have been aware for some time that something called “Crack Pie” exists. It’s served at Momofuku Milk Bar in NYC for $5.25 a slice or $44 for a whole pie. Forty-four dollars! 
That’s a lot of dough.
Cost aside, the last time I was in New York was something like 25 years ago, and I probably won’t be going back anytime soon. So I was intrigued to see that the much-heralded Crack Pie was one of the three options for this month’s Daring Bakers Challenge. The other two were a chocolate and caramel tart and a crostata, both of which sounded great but neither or which had “crack” in the name. And they also looked like the pastry/crust would be harder to make, and I’m kind of scared of pastry-making. So in retrospect I guess I didn’t exactly nail the “challenge” portion of this challenge, did I? I did make a creamy blueberry pie this month, but I bought the pastry for that. I also played a lot of Candy Crush Saga this month. So there’s that.
Anyway, back to the crack.
The Crack Pie recipe looks pretty long and involved, but it isn’t difficult at all. You start by making a giant oatmeal cookie, which you then crumble completely and turn into your crust. That’s the most involved part; after that, it’s just mixing a few things together and baking it.
It’s a very rich pie, so make sure you have a glass of milk on hand when you’re ready to try it. I’m not sure it really earns the “crack” rating — I haven’t had an overwhelming desire to make another one, and I’m pretty sure when they called it that they didn’t mean that the top of it might crack even though that’s what I told Poppy when she asked — but it is pretty tasty.
- 9 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, divided
- 5 1/2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar, divided
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- 1 large egg
- 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons old-fashioned oats
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon dry milk powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon dry milk powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, cooled slightly
- 6 1/2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Powdered sugar for dusting
- Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Line a 13x9x2-inch metal baking pan with parchment paper. Lightly spray or butter a 9-inch pie dish.
- Combine 6 tablespoons of the softened butter, 4 tablespoons of the brown sugar and the white sugar in medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg and beat until pale and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and beat until well blended, about 1 minute.
- Dump oat mixture into prepared baking pan and press out evenly to edges of pan. Bake until light golden, 18 minutes. Transfer baking pan to wire rack and cool cookie completely, about an hour.
- Using your fingertips, crumble the cookie a into large bowl; there should be no identifiable pieces of cookie remaining. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons butter and 1-1/2 tablespoons brown sugar. Rub in with your fingertips until the mixture is moist and sticks together when pressed between your fingers.
- Transfer cookie crust mixture to pie dish. Using your fingers, press mixture evenly onto bottom and up sides of pie dish — about 1 inch up the sides if your pie dish is deep. If your pie dish is shallow, place it on a baking sheet in case of overflow.
- Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350 degrees. If possible, use bottom-only heat, or the filling may brown too quickly.
- Whisk both sugars, milk powder and salt together in a medium bowl. Add melted butter and whisk until blended. Add cream, then egg yolks and vanilla and whisk until well blended. Pour filling into crust.
- Bake 30 minutes (filling may begin to bubble up). Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Continue to bake until filling is brown on top and set around edges but center still jiggles slightly, about 20 minutes longer.
- Cool pie completely in pie dish on wire rack. Chill uncovered overnight. Sift powdered sugar lightly over top of pie. Cut pie into thin wedges and serve cold.
Rachael from pizzarossa was our lovely June 2013 Daring Bakers’ host and she had us whipping up delicious pies in our kitchens! Cream pies, fruit pies, chocolate pies, even crack pies! There’s nothing like pie!
This is the one pie I didn’t make this month, and seeing all these delicious-looking iterations of it is killing me! And I agree – cookies make the best crusts 😉
Nicely done. The challenge is over but the crostata isn’t fiddly, should you want to give it shot still. I like your layout.
nice photos! do try the other pies, especially the chocolate tart!
I tried to make this once and it was pretty much a disaster. However, everything else I’ve made from my Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook has been amazing. Glad yours turned out better than mine did!
Stunning crack pie!!! I love cookie crumb crusts too. Thanks so much for baking with me this month 🙂