Milk Bar’s Crack Pie
I made crack pie for the first time in college. I made this two Christmases ago for my fiance and his parents, along with that deep dish honey apple pie galette. It keeps really well and becomes almost pudding-like in the fridge. The homemade oat cookie crust becomes crispy and candied, while the chewy center tastes like custard and chess pie.
Ingredients
Oat Cookie Crust
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
9 tablespoons (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon or 127 g) unsalted butter, room temperature, divided
5 ½ Tablespoons (70 g) packed light brown sugar, divided
2 Tablespoons (25 g) granulated sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons old-fashioned oats
½ cup (62 g) all purpose flour
⅛ teaspoon baking powder
⅛ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon generous salt
Filling
¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
½ cup (100 g) packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon nonfat dry milk powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick or 113 g) unsalted butter, melted, cooled slightly
6 ½ tablespoons heavy whipping cream
4 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Oat Cookie Crust (make ahead)
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 13×9 cookie sheet (rimmed) with parchment paper and coat with nonstick spray. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer (or using a hand mixer), combine 6 Tablespoons butter, 4 Tablespoons brown sugar, and 2 Tablespoons sugar. Beat mixture until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add egg and beat until pale and fluffy, about 2 more minutes. Add oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and beat on medium speed until well blended, about 1 minute.
Turn oat mixture out onto prepared baking pan; press out evenly to edges of pan. If the dough is sticking to your fingers, wet them with water and continue pressing oat mixture out evenly. Cookie layer should be about 1/4-inch thick.
Bake until light golden, about 12 to 14 minutes (don't overbake). Transfer baking pan to rack and cool cookie completely.
Using hands (or a food processor), crush oat cookie into small crumbles and place in a 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.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or you can whisk vigorously by hand), combine 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 combined and mixture is pale in color.
Pour filling into crust. Bake pie at 350° F for 20 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 15 to 20 minutes longer. Cool pie 2 hours in pie dish on rack. Chill uncovered overnight.
Cut pie into slices and serve cold.
I think I loved the look of this pie raw (and cooked) so I took a bunch of pictures. I actually think the homemade version comes out even better than the storebought Milk Bar crack pie slices. This sounds weird, but there’s something off about the texture where it feels like there’s paper stuck at the bottom even when there isn’t.
