When I was home last month I stopped by
Momofuku Milk Bar for some special treats and totally fell in love with crack pie. I decided to bring it back with me. I googled a recipe and found this blog that had the
crack pie recipe. I made variations but this is the one I liked most. You don't have to brown the butter, but I love the nutty flavor of browned butter and oats.
cereal milk ice cream and frosted flakes is amazingggg
and i love nekked cakes.
crack pie.
Pie Crust
4 - 9" cake pans
1/2c butter, softened (room temperature)
1/3 c brown sugar
3 Tbsp sugar
1 egg
2/3 c + 1 Tbsp all purpose flour
1/8 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 c Trader Joes Low Fat Vanilla Almond Granola
When creaming butter and sugars, the butter temperature is very important. the butter should cream and emulsify with the sugars instantly. beat until the butter and sugars look light and fluffy. Add the egg and be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl. mix the dry ingredients and sift them into the butter mixture. add the granola last. bake the dough on a sheet pan as one big cookie until it is evenly browned at 350.
Crust
Granola Cookie crust
1/4 c butter
1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
1/8 tsp salt
Combine all ingredients in a food processor until blended and a semi fine crumble forms. divide the crusts up into the four greased cake pans. i made my crust shallow because i wanted my pies to be shallow (not a lot of filling as well).
Filling
3/4 c brown sugar
1 c sugar
1 c browned butter (just let it slowly boil until it starts changing color then take it off the heat because it continues to brown so you dont want to burn it!)
1/3 c + 1 tsp dry milk
3/4 c heavy cream
8 egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla extract
whisk together the sugars, salt and milk powder. add melted butter. then whisk in heavy cream and vanilla. whisk in egg yolks, scraping down sides of bowl often.
divide the filling into cake pans.
bake pies about 10-12 minutes at 350.
I serve mine cold with vanilla pastry cream and fresh berries and the flavors compliment each other perfectly :)
Vanilla Pastry Cream
1 quart milk
8 oz sugar (split)
3.5 oz cornstarch
2 eggs
8 egg yolks
4 oz butter
3 tbsp vanilla extract
Boil milk and half of sugar. Add the other half of sugar to the egg mixture but not until milk is simmering. Sift in cornstarch and whisk until fully incorporated and there are no clumps. To temper the egg mixture with the milk mixture, very slowly and steadily add the other half the hot milk with the egg mixture. the stream needs to be slow and steady as you whisk it into the egg mixture. even heating is very important when tempering eggs because you don't want to end up with scrambled eggs. add the egg mixture to the milk while continually whisking and put the pot back on a medium heat. whisk the mixture constantly and be sure to get the sides and corners of the pot. when the mixture starts to thicken up take it off the heat while mixing and add the butter and vanilla. pour into a clean bowl or a plastic wrap lined sheet pan. be sure to cover the surface of the pastry cream with plastic wrap or a skin will form over it and will make your pastry cream clumpy. let it cool and then refrigerate. Rewhip before using and plating to smooth it out.
Variation: Fold some fresh whipped cream into the pastry cream to make a lightened pastry cream or add other extracts or flavorings when/if you add the vanilla.
