Crack Pie

Remember when we made Momofuku's shrimp and grits? The our version photo is still Matt's screensaver. So you can imagine our excitement when this month's Bon Appetit arrived in our mailbox with a feature story on Momofuku's pastry chef, Christina Tosi. The Chocolate Malt Cake looked insane, but Matt was pushing hard to make the Crack Pie, so hard in fact, that he offered to make it. So this one is brought to us by Matthew.

Bon Appetit's version:

photo in magazine by Christopher Griffith

our version:

I must say that I really loved the food styling by Bon Appetit on this one. They've made the pie look kind of mangled and roughed up, as if the pie were saying: Hi. I'm CRACK PIE. I'm not the prettiest dessert you're ever going to make. But you know what? I'm good. Real good. AND I've got fork marks all up in me.

The good news is that making crack pie is fairly simple. The bad news is that it requires about 24 hours to make. So no fix can be immediately satisfied when cooking up some crack [pie].

Step one: Make a giant oatmeal cookie.

Step two: After cookie has baked and cooled, destroy it. While doing this, Matt turned to me and said: "I've destroyed something beautiful." Luckily, the crumbled remains of the giant, oatmeal cookie are repurposed into something equally beautiful—amazing pie crust.

Step three: Make the filling.

I actually think a key component to enjoying this is having someone else to make it for you. Let's just say the mere sight of how much sugar and butter goes into crack pie is enough to to start ruining the enjoyment of eating it later.

The pie comes out of the oven golden brown and bubbling. It smells amazing. The only problem is, once again, you cannot eat it right away. The final step has you cooling the pie overnight. (Why are you denying us hot/room-temp crack pie, Christina Tosi??)

The following afternoon:

Crack pie is good. Very good. Borderline amazing, and according to Matt, it's his new "favorite dessert of all time." It tastes a lot like pecan pie minus the pecans with a little of the St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake mixed in. The only problem with this dessert is the self loathing that comes with eating as much of it as we did over a three day period. My recommendation is to make this when entertaining, or even better, when you're going to a friend's for dinner so that you can leave the pie there with them. Kind of like what you do with crack cocaine. JUST kidding. Don't do drugs, people. Make pie.

p.s. Thanks, MATT!

RECIPE via Bon Appetit

Oat Cookie Crust
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
9 tablespoons (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon) unsalted butter, room temperature, divided
5 1/2 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar, divided
2 tablespoons 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 (generous) salt

Filling
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1 tablespoon nonfat 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)

Preparation

Oat Cookie Crust
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 13x9x2-inch metal baking pan with parchment paper; coat with nonstick spray. Combine 6 tablespoons butter, 4 tablespoons brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons sugar in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat mixture until light and fluffy, occasionally scraping down sides of bowl, about 2 minutes. Add egg; beat until pale and fluffy. Add oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and beat until well blended, about 1 minute. Turn oat mixture out onto prepared baking pan; press out evenly to edges of pan. Bake until light golden on top, 17 to 18 minutes. Transfer baking pan to rack and cool cookie completely.

Using hands, crumble oat cookie into large bowl; add 3 tablespoons butter and 1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar. Rub in with fingertips until mixture is moist enough to stick together. Transfer cookie crust mixture to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Using fingers, press mixture evenly onto bottom and up sides of pie dish. Place pie dish with crust on rimmed baking sheet.

Filling
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Whisk both sugars, milk powder, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Add melted butter and whisk until blended. Add cream, then egg yolks and vanilla and whisk until well blended. Pour filling into crust. Bake pie 30 minutes (filling may begin to bubble). Reduce oven temperature to 325°F. Continue to bake pie until filling is brown in spots and set around edges but center still moves slightly when pie dish is gently shaken, about 20 minutes longer. Cool pie 2 hours in pie dish on rack. Chill uncovered overnight. DO AHEAD Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover; keep chilled.

Sift powdered sugar lightly over top of pie. Cut pie into wedges and serve cold.