Saturday, April 7, 2012

crack pie

I've gooed and gaahed over the Momofuku Crack Pie recipe for ages (seriously, almost 2 years!).

This Easter weekend we are off to a friend's for a board-game-and-fiesta evening and then tomorrow off to the XHs house for Easter lunch with him and the Little Guy. So I decided to give it a go! The recipe makes 2 pies, so both of my "we'll bring dessert" promises could come true in one fell swoop. [By the way, I am such a terrible English-nazi - when I've seen "one foul swoop" I just cringe. Tell me I'm not alone?]

Anyway, they're in the oven cooking now and I'm pretty sure I've buggered up the recipe. Damn you Amnericans for using different names for ingredients. I thought "heavy cream" surely meant extra thick double cream (which is HEAVY). But after mixing it through my sugary filling I realised I may have erred. Chef-Google tells me that your heavy cream is my thickened, pouring cream. Which explains why my filling would not pour out of the bowl, but had to be scooped in and forced to spread.

The mix tasted ok though, so fingers crossed.

I think I also stuffed up the 'golden brown sugar' thing too. I used brown sugar...

...but I think I was suposed to use this, which is waaaaay lighter.


Oh well, it's looking ok as it comes out of the oven so hopefully it will taste good too.




Note to self: stop trying out brand-new recipes on other people. And this is my 200th post :)

Editing to add: it tasted amazing but I'll not be making that again unless I need dessert for a lot of people because Crack Pie is richer than the richest pie on Rich St in Richtown in Richworld.




Here is A Table for Two's Aussie conversion pie recipe

Momofuku Milk Bar's Crack Pie (Adapted from The Los Angeles Times)
Serves 6 to 8

Cookie for the crust
Ingredients
2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (3 ounces) flour
Scant 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
Scant 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) softened butter
1/3 cup (2 1/2 ounces) light brown sugar
3 tablespoons (1 1/4 ounces) sugar
1 egg
Scant 1 cup (3 1/2 ounces) rolled oats (or cornflakes crumbs)
Method
1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit (190 degree celcius).
2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat the butter, brown sugar and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Whisk the egg into the butter mixture until fully incorporated.
5. With the mixer running, beat in the flour mixture, a little at a time, until fully combined. Stir in the cornflakes until incorporated.
6. Spread the mixture onto a 9-inch-by-13-inch baking sheet and bake until golden brown and set, about 20 minutes.
7. Remove from heat and cool to the touch on a rack.
8. Crumble the cooled cookie to use in the crust.

Pie Crust
Ingredients
Crumbled cookie for crust
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1 1/2 tablespoons
(3/4 ounce) brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
Method
1. Combine the crumbled cookie, butter, brown sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse until evenly combined and blended (a little of the mixture clumped between your fingers should hold together).
2. Press the crust into tart pan shell to form a thin, even layer along the bottom and sides of the tins.
3. Set the prepared crusts aside while you prepare the filling.


Pie Filling
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces) sugar
3/4 cup plus a scant 3 tablespoons (7 ounces) light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup plus 1  teaspoon (3/4 ounce) milk powder
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted
3/4 cup plus a scant 2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 egg yolks
2 prepared crusts
Powdered sugar, garnish

Method
1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degree Celcius).
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, brown sugar, salt and milk powder. Whisk in the melted butter, then whisk in the heavy cream and vanilla.
3. Gently whisk in the egg yolks, being careful not to add too much air.
4. Fill the tin shell.
5. Bake the pie for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 325 degrees (160 degree celcius) and bake until the filling is slightly jiggly and golden brown (similar to a pecan pie), about 10 minutes.
6. Remove the pies and cool on a rack.
7. Refrigerate the cooled pies until well chilled. The pies are meant to be served cold, and the filling will be gooey.
Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

9 comments:

  1. Okay, first, that looks yummo!

    Second, you actually MAKE the cookies first that then makes the crust, yikes that's a lot of steps but kudos to you for complicated dessert!

    Third, it most definitely is NOT a ornitholigically inspired swoop. With you all the way there.

    Fourth, nice to hear from you again!

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  2. We LOVE that cookbook. We've made the brownie pie (yum) and the corn flak marshmallow chocolate chip cookies (also yum). Every recipe is so damn complicated, but worth it.

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  3. Yes. Full swoop is another one. I have also had people say "walla" instead of "voila."

    Delicious pie! I would envy those people you are trying this out on. Honestly, I think heavier cream would be fine, if not amazingly decadent, substitution.

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  4. I'll bet it tastes even BETTER with Devonshire-style cream - how could it not??? ENJOY! And Happy Easter!
    Love,
    Maddy

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  5. fowl swoop always makes me giggle. The pie looks amazing.

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  6. My favorite studentism is "friendzy."

    The pie looks amazing, and your inadvertent substitutions seem like actual improvements. No harm, no fowl! (Har!)

    For a variation, consider a maple syrup pie:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/magazine/02Food-t.html?pagewanted=print

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  7. My cholesterol shot up 100 points at the photographs alone. But it looks pretty divine. I'd have used brown sugar for golden brown sugar, as well. (I hope you had a Happy Easter...I know the eaters of this pie did).

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  8. I use to think it was "one fail swoop" (but a long time ago). My thing is the American use of the phrase "Could care less" whilst the English use "couldn't care less" to mean exactly the same thing. (I think we - English - is right).

    Crack Pie looks addictive.

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"Scout yonder's been readin' ever since she was born." I wasn't quite so precocious but I do love reading comments!