Saturday
Jan292011
Crack Pie (via Momofuku Bakery & Milk Bar) | Pie Month
Saturday, January 29, 2011 at 9:44PM 
This is the 13th entry in our Month of Pie. Pie Month is a celebration of things we love. Because life is hard, and there should always be more pie. Have a look at the other entries. Really.
Pie #1 - Lemon Cream Icebox Pie
Pie #2 - Malted Crisp Tart
Pie #4 - Peanut Butter Cream Pie with Chocolate Whipped Cream
Pie #5 - Butterscotch Cream Pie with Gingersnap Crust and Cashew Brittle
Pie #6 - Banana Cream Pie with Chocolate Chip Cookie Crust
Pie #7 - Chocolate Kahlua Pie
Pie #8 - Bacon and Egg Pizza
Pie #9 - Pork Confit Pie with Creme Fraiche Potatoes and Puff Pastry
Pie #10 - Raspberry Pie and the Perfect Pie Crust
Pie #11 - Lime Pie with Gingersnap Crust
Pie #12 - Bourbon Sweet Potato Pie + Bourbon Whipped Cream and Warm Bourbon for Dipping
In Indiana, where I grew up, the ubiquitous pie is Old Fashioned Cream. I love this pie. It is simple, unadorned, oozing Shaker and Quaker simplicity, with a healthy dose of Amish and Mennonite reserve. The recipe is basic: butter, sugar, eggs, cream. With the right quality of ingredients, it is a revelation.
But then there is chess pie. Which the name alone threw me. As a Midwesterner, I’d never heard of it (shoo-fly, yes; chess pie, no). From what I gather, it is in the same vein as Old Fashioned Cream, with the focus on a pie made of pantry items. And several of our friends on Twitter were urging us to make chess pie for this Month of Pie. I was torn. If we weren’t making Old Fashioned Cream, how could I make chess? A terrible quandary, of course.
Leave it to the David Chang empire to resolve the issue for us. We’ve already written of our love from Chef Chang, his steamed buns (not a metaphor) and Brussels sprouts. The most famous pie of the last couple of years from the research we did is Momofuku Bakery & Milk Bar’s Crack Pie. A combination of old fashioned cream combined with chess pie at its soul, it cranks it up with a homemade oatmeal cookie crust. This pie retails for over $44 a pie. Which makes me incredibly happy that pie is in such demand. But immediately, our hype sensors go on alert.
To be honest, we were skeptical. The pie comes out brown. And low-slung. And the tiniest bit sad. This pie gets a rating of “looks 2, taste 10.” And, thankfully, the hype lives up to reality and to its name.
I took the first slice/bite of the crack pie on an empty stomach while standing over the kitchen sink. The first taste was happy, pleasant. A thin piece, it was gone in a matter of seconds. I thought, “Well, that was nice. Maybe we’ll post it, maybe we won’t.” Then three minutes later, the sugar rush kicked in. I felt like I was flying, the surge of power and happiness coursing through my veins.
I needed more pie. Immediately. I cut a bigger piece and really paid attention this time. The brown sugar is what pops first. Then the cream. Then the vanilla. Then the crunch of the oatmeal cookie crust. I could taste every single ingredient. There’s something brilliant about pie and being able to single out every ingredient separately and tasting them all at once, bouncing off your tongue, then waiting for the surge to kick in, again, a fix of pie.
I waited 10 minutes for my third piece, this one a little bigger.
And as I write this, I want to make another Crack Pie.
While it’s not as pretty as the other pies in the Month of Pie, its the one I think about the most. And the one I want to make first next month.
Make it for yourself. Test the hype. Become a believer. Don’t make this pie for a fancy dinner party. Make it for someone who already loves you, or you want to make love you. One slice, and they’re yours.
Reader Comments (12)
hmmm...i think i'll have to give this crack pie a try...
Crack Pie, eating it over the sink, sugary high, sounds like potential addiction to me!
Pechy, you and the Mrs. are going to need a 12 step after this month of pie craziness.
You're hilarious, too!
I believe this is a dangerous pie. It's not a gateway pie, it's full blown pie-addiction. Gail's got a point. 12-step for you two!
nope. gonna step away from this one . . . backing up, slow and easy-like . . . Sugar Cream is already an addiction so i only make it during the holidays . . . anything w/'crack' in the title would surely be my undoing . . . nope. not gonna. but i trust yuh . . . sorta . . .
Safest way to inject this is with a clean fork...lots of them!
Ha. I love that the sugar rush brought you back for more.
OMG, I've had this pie! It's nothing short of the most amazing pie I've ever eaten! And I've put off making it because I just know I'll eat the whole thing!
This pie sounds amazing. I've never had this kind before....this must change. ;)
As if you don't have us all strung out on pie already, you had to go and post this one! Yum! You'd better have something pretty fantastic in mind for February to distract me, or else I'm going to have some serious pie withdrawal.
I love your blog! so fabulous, and you clearly have great taste and humor! This just made me think of another great pie (or tart) that is totally addictive. It is the canadian butter tart. Saveur mag had a great recipe many years back and I have been making it for years now. I love it and they are a huge hit. they are more of an individual tartlet, baked in a muffin pan, so maybe they won't qulaify for pie month status, but still worth a bake. http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Canadian-Buttertarts
I have pics of mine on my blog for thanksgiving.taganskitchen.blogspot.com
I made a combo of the crack pie and the baltimore bomb pie. So ugly...but so yummy.