…and made the now infamous Momofuku’s Crack Pie.

Crack Pie

With all the hype surrounding this pie I was really curious to give it a go, and when my husband sent me an email about a pie competition at his office (to celebrate the upcoming Pi Day on 3/14) I knew this would be my go to recipe. Then I started reading about people’s results with the recipes and got really nervous. Some people said it was the best pie they had ever eaten and completely worthy of the “crack” title status. Others reported total disasters and stories of pies going straight to the trash. Doubt started to seep in – could it really be all that it’s “cracked” up to be? (Sorry, couldn’t help myself.)

The ingredients are all amazingly simple and straight forward. The hardest part for me was determining when the pie was actually ready to come out of the oven. This was my first time baking a custard type pie, and I wasn’t totally clear on the concept of baking a pie until the filling is “slightly jiggly.” It was a bit of a guessing came when it came to determining if the pie had the appropriate amount of “jiggle.”

For those of you feeling adventurous and want to get in on this crack pie fever here is the recipe I used. I adapted the recipe from the LA Times recipe (which makes two 10″ pies) in order to make two 9″ pies. The only main difference is in the baking times of the final pies.

Crack Pie Recipe

Oatmeal Cookie for Crust
Ingredients
2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour
Scant 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
Scant 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup softened butter
1/3 cup light brown sugar
3 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
Scant 1 cup rolled oats

Directions
1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. Cream the butter, brown sugar and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Whisk the egg into the butter mixture until fully incorporated.
5. Stir in the flour mixture until fully combined. Stir in the oats.
6. Spread the mixture onto a 9-inch-by-13-inch baking sheet and bake until golden brown and set, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to the touch on a rack. Crumble the cooled cookie to use in the crust.

Crust
Ingredients
Crumbled cookie for crust
1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions
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)*. Divide the crust between 2 (9-inch) pie tins. Press the crust into each shell to form a thin, even layer along the bottom and sides of the tins. Set the prepared crusts aside while you prepare the filling.
*My food processor was too small to do this all at once so I divided the ingredients in half to process one full pie crust at a time.

Filling
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup plus a scant 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup plus 1 teaspoon milk powder
1 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup plus a scant 2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 egg yolks

2 prepared crusts

Powdered sugar to garnish

Directions
1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. 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. Divide the filling evenly between the 2 prepared pie shells.
5. Bake the pies, one at a time, for 25 minutes, then reduce the heat to 325 degrees and bake until the filling is slightly jiggly and golden brown, about 10-15 minutes (I did about 13 minutes). Remove the pies and cool on a rack.
6. Refrigerate the cooled pies until well chilled. Serve cold, and the filling will be gooey. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

And the verdict? Well, since the pies were going into a competition I can’t give you a first hand account of the taste (although the smell was divine!), but I can tell you that I heard back from the husband a little while ago and the pie actually won the People’s Choice Award, so I guess it really is all it’s cracked up to be! (I know, I can’t stop!)