RMJcar's eatings: Crack Pie

Crack Pie

I finally did what I said I would do, bake crack pie!! While crack pie itself if pure evil, I baked two crack pies for charity. I have friends and family members who are survivors of breast cancer. One of them organized an awareness event at my gym, but I was out of town. Since this recipe can be frozen ahead of time for up to a month, I made two and gave them to my friend to auction off the day of the event. Please support my friend's charity by visiting http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/. While you are there, inform yourself about breast cancer and consider donating to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Crack pie is probably Christina Tosi's Momofuku Milk Bar's most famous product. If you taste it, you can see why. I am scheduled to go to her book signing in 1.5 weeks. Let's hope I meet my favorite baker.

See the original recipe here: http://milkbarstore.com/main/menu/recipes-and-how-tos/#crackpie

Day 1

This recipe can be made all at once, but I find it much easier to make the oatmeal cookie crust and separate the eggs one day, then make the filling and bake the pie another day.

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Prep your ingredients. That includes putting

8 tablespoons of unsalted butter, 75 grams of brown sugar, and 40 grams of granulated white sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer.
80 grams of all purpose flour, 120 grams of rolled oats, an 1/8 of a teaspoon of baking powder, a pinch of baking soda, and 1/2 a teaspoon of kosher salt in a bowl
1 egg yolk in a very small bowl.

3. Cream the butter and sugars in your stand mixer with the paddle attachment on medium high for 2-3 minutes. The mixture should get lighter and fluffier. Scrap the sides with a spatula.

4. On low speed, add the egg yolk and continue mixing for 1-2 minutes until all of the sugar is dissolved and the mixture lightens even more. At this stage, don't worry about over mixing. Scrape the sides.

5. Also on low speed, add the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Do not over mix!! If some of the mixture is uncombined, mix by hand.

6. Line a baking pan with parchment paper or a Silpat pad.

7. Spread the mixture out on the baking pan to 1/4 of an inch thickness with a spatula. Bake for 15 minutes.

8. Let the giant oatmeal cookie cool and either use it right away, or wrap it up and put it in the fridge. Do not eat it, you need it all for the pie!

9. Separate 8 eggs. You'll need the yolks for the filling. The whites can be used for something else. See http://rmjcarseatings.blogspot.com/2015/09/double-remix.html for the pavlova I made with the whites.

Day Two

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and prep your ingredients which includes:

Melting two sticks of unsalted butter
Bringing the 8 egg yolks from day one to room temperature
Putting 300 grams of granulated white sugar, 180 grams of light brown sugar, 20 grams of milk powder (non-fat milk powder is usually found in the baking aisle of most grocery stores), 24 grams of freeze dried corn powder (amazon!), and 1.5 teaspoons of kosher salt in your stand mixture.
Putting 3/4 cups of heavy whipping cream and 0.5 teaspoons of vanilla in a small bowl

2. Mix the contents of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment on low speed until everything is combined.

3. Mix in the butter on low speed until all the dry ingredients are wet, which should take 2-3 minutes. Don't forget to scrape the sides with a spatula

4. Mix in the cream and vanilla on low speed for 2-3 minutes when you shouldn't see the white streaks of the cream anymore.

5. Mix in the egg yolks on low until they are incorporated. Like step 5 of day one, be careful not to over mix. Christina Tosi intended crack pies to be dense. Over mixing will add air into the mixture. You can refrigerate the filling while you quickly prepare the crust.

6. Melt an additional 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter. In a food processor, place the oatmeal cookie, 1 tablespoon of tightly packed brown sugar, and a 1/4 of a teaspoon of salt. Process until the mixture resembles wet sand.

7. Put the mixture in a bowl and combine it with the butter until you can squeeze the mixture and it holds together into a mass when you squeeze it. You can add a little more butter if needed.

8. Divide the mixture among 2 10" pie tins. 10" pie tins can be harder to find than 9" pie tins, but some grocery stores have them. Press the mixture into the tins until you have an even layer of crust that also lines the sides of the tins.

9. Divide the filling evenly between the two pies. Smooth the tops with a spatula and place the pies in the oven for 15 minutes.

10. After 15 minutes, the pies will still be jiggly. I probably overcooked them because I thought they were too jiggly, but they should of been. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and keep the oven door slightly ajar.