Anderson Cooper and Crack Pie

The winter weather was getting me down. How many chilly, rainy days were there left to count until summer? For several weeks, I had read about Momofuku Bakery and Milk Bar's Crack Pie. Even the most mainstream Martha Stewart had visited David Chang for some of that infamous pie and filmed it on her show. Anderson Cooper got his mom hooked on this pie. He tells Kelly Ripa that her diet is wack. Here is my Anderson Cooper tangent: he loves Battlestar Galactica, lives in a renovated firehouse, eats Crack Pie and has silver hair. My list is longer, but listing it would make me look like a crazy. Back to the pie, the pie is primarily made of milk, butter and sugar; very common ingredients on my grocery list. It was sweet, crunchy and caramely. I first made the cookie crust.

I crumbled the cookie and placed it into a pie crust, similar to what you would do to make a graham cracker crust.

Mixed the Crack filling together.

And out came the pie.

Momofuku Crack Pie

Cookie for crust

2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (3 ounces) flour

1/8 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) softened unsalted butter

1/3 cup (2 1/2 ounces) light brown sugar

3 tablespoons (1 1/4 ounces) sugar

1 egg

1 cup (3 1/2 ounces) rolled oats

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Beat the butter and the sugars in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes on medium speed. Beat in the egg. Slowly beat in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the oats.

Spread the batter about 1/2″ thick on a lined baking sheet. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until golden brown. The cookie will be slightly puffed.

Crust

Crumbled cookie for crust

4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

1 1/2 tablespoons (3/4 ounce) light brown sugar

1/8 tsp salt

Process the cooled cookie until crumbs in a food processor or crumble in plastic bag. Mix in the melted butter, sugar, and salt. Use half of the mixture and press the mixture into a 9″ pie plate to form an even crust along the bottom and sides. This recipe is intended to make two pie crusts. For a thicker crust, use more of the mixture and eat the rest of the buttered crumbs.

Filling

2/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 cup + 1 tbsp milk powder

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup + 1 tbsp heavy cream

6 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Whisk all the ingredients together and pour into the pie crust.

Bake the pie for 25 minutes, then turn off the oven. Let the pie rest and firm up slightly in the residual heat for an additional 10-15 minutes. Jiggle the pie slightly–the outer edge should be set, but the middle should be slightly wobbly. Let it cool in the fridge for at least 2 hours. Dust lightly with icing sugar before serving.