I’ve been watching Chef’s Table with a friend of mine (quite a foodie too), and we went drooling when we saw what Christina Tosi is baking… I couldn’t get over the genius behind cereal milk panna cotta, compost cookies or birthday truffles. There was one treat that got our attention and curiosity even more – a crack pie. Impossible to resist sweet, sugary, oat cookie based pie. I knew I had to try making it.
I wouldn’t be myself if I didn’t want to tweak original recipe a little… so although not complete replica of Christina’s Crack Pie (now called Milk Bar Pie due to some controversies), it has the same spirit of sweet, irresistible goodness that you can’t stop eating.
Crack Pie
Irresistible, mind blowing, gooey sweetness. You really need to work on self control when this pie is around…
Ingredients
For the oat cookie crust
- 90 g unsalted butter at room temperature
- 70 g organinc coconut sugar
- 25 g caster sugar
- 1 egg
- 75 g porridge oats
- 65 g plain flour
- 0.5 tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
For the filling
- 100 g demerara sugar
- 150 g caster sugar
- 1 tbsp milk powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 110 g unsalted butter melted
- 100 ml cream
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 tsp vanilla paste
- icing sugar for dusting
Instructions
To make the oat cookie crust
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Preheat the oven to 180C, line a baking tray with the greaseproof paper.
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Mix 60 g of butter with caster sugar and coconut sugar (reserve 1.5 tbsp of it for later)
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Beat the mixture until light and fluffy.
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Add egg, beat again until pale.
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Add oats, flour, baking powder and salt. Beat until well combined.
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Spread the mixture on the prepared baking sheet, pressing it down properly.
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Bake for 17 min until golden. Leave to cool completely before doing the next step.
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Crumble the oat cookie by hands. Add remaining 30 g of butter and reserved 1.5 tbsp coconut sugar.
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Rub with your fingers until all well combined and wet.
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Transfer crust to the tart/pie tin.
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Press the cookie mix evenly to the bottom and up the sides.
To make the filling
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Preheat the oven to 180C
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Combine sugars, milk powder and salt.
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Add melted butter and whisk it until fluffy
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Add the cream, egg yolks and vanilla and whisk until well combined
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Pour the filling into the crust and bake for about 30 min. You can notice bubbles forming on the surface, this is fine.
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Reduce the temp to 160C and bake for another 20 min until top is golden brown. It may look as if it is burnt, but it is not.
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Cool the pie for about 2 hours and then transfer to the fridge for another couple of hours (or overnight) before dusting with the icing sugar and stuffing your face.