Red Velvet "Crack Pie" with Chocolate-Oat Cookie Crust + Whipped Cream Cheese

Red Velvet "Crack Pie" with Chocolate-Oat Cookie Crust + Whipped Cream Cheese

It's finally Christmastime, and I have nearly missed another week :( But, the good news is that I have felt well enough to be cleared to head back to Savannah!! Jumpin' for joy, here. It's so much easier to cook in your own home, ya know? I mean, you know where everything is, what dishes to use, how hot the oven is, who will eat all of my creations before I can style them for a picture, etc. You know, REAL BIG LIFE PROBLEMS. Ha, that's debatable. So, don't worry, I have a bunch of recipes coming your way because I am actually hosting my First Annual Friendsgiving-Christmas Party. And yes, I realized Thanksgiving as come and gone, but I didn't get to eat all of the yummy food, so I'm going to be that slightest bit selfish and make my friends have a "Friendsgiving" with me... with some Christmas thrown in there too!! I'm making a Porchetta, my new favorite "bread pudding" dressing, southern sweet potato casserole, pan fried brussels sprouts with vanilla-pecan butter + pomegranate reduction, eggnog, a very special White Russian recipe, and too many pies to count. The first pie that will be featured is Red Velvet Crack Pie with Chocolate-Oat Cookie Crust + Whipped Cream Cheese. Y'all have all heard of "Crack Pie" right? Well, if not it a sugary-sweet pie from the famous Momofuku Milk Bar in NYC. I bought their cook book, and I just knew I had to make it. The classic is fabulous and please if you're going to make a pie, definitely make that one. But, I couldn't help myself in making my very own variation... Red Velvet. I mean, I turn everything into red velvet, it's actually unhealthy. I started off by making the oatmeal-cookie crust, chocolate, very chocolatey, since that's an important piece of the whole pie. I substituted in buttermilk, some buttermilk powder, and red dye for coloring. Lastly, I made a whipped cream cheese for garnishing the top of the pie, like a cake would have frosting. All of these components come together to make one heck of a Red Velvet "Crack Pie" y'all. And man, this pie is sweeeeeeet, but I think that's what the Milk Bar was looking for... so it would be like crack to kids!! Enjoy :)

For the Chocolate-Oat Cookie Crust:

8T + 4T Unsalted Butter, 8T at Room Temperature & 4T Melted

1/3C + 1T Light Brown Sugar, Packed

3T Sugar

1 Egg Yolk

½C AP Flour

¼C Unsweetened Dark Cocoa Powder

1oz Unsweetened Baker’s Chocolate, Finely Grated

1½C Old Fashioned Rolled Oats

1/8t Baking Powder

Pinch of Baking Soda

½t + ¼t Salt

For the Red Velvet Crack Pie Filling:

1 ½C Sugar

¾C Light Brown Sugar, Packed

¼C Milk Powder

¼C Corn Powder

2T AP Flour + 1T Buttermilk Powder

1T Cornstarch

1 ½t Salt

2 Sticks of Unsalted Butter, Melted & Cool Slightly

¾C Buttermilk, Well-Shaken

½t Vanilla

Red Dye, To Your Liking

8 Large Egg Yolks

Confectioners’ Sugar, For Dusting

Unsweetened Whipped Cream or Whipped Cream Cheese, For Serving

Directions:

1. For the Oat Cookie Crust: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray with Pam. In the bowl of a standing mixer, combine 8T room temperature butter, 1/3C light brown sugar, and sugar in medium bowl. Beat the mixture until light and fluffy, occasionally scraping down sides of bowl, about 2 minutes. Add egg yolk; beat until pale and fluffy. Add oats, flour, cocoa powder, finely grated chocolate, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and beat until well blended, about 1 minute. Turn the oat cookie mixture out onto prepared baking sheet; press out evenly to almost the edges of pan. Bake until light golden on top, 15-18 minutes. Transfer baking pan to rack and cool cookie completely. Using hands, crumble oat cookie into a food processor and process until it becomes wet sand, and then add melted butter, salt, and brown sugar. Pulse until mixture is moist enough to stick together. Transfer cookie crust mixture to two 9-inch-diameter glass pie dishes. Using fingers, press mixture evenly onto bottom and up sides of pie dishes. Place pie dishes with crust on rimmed baking sheet.

2. For the Crack Pie Filling:Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Combine both sugars, milk powder, corn powder, AP flour, buttermilk powder, and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer. Add melted butter and beat for 2-3 minutes until all the dry ingredients are moist. Add buttermilk, vanilla, and red dye (to your liking), and then continue mixing until well blended. Scrape the sides of the bowl. Beat in the egg yolks until just combined, do not aerate the mixture. Mix on low speed until glossy and homogenous. Pour filling into the two crusts evenly.

3. For Baking: Bake the pies for 15 minutes only. Open the oven door and reduce oven temperature to 325°F, and then close the door when the temperature has reduced. 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 10-20 minutes longer (this strongly depends on the temperature of your oven at home, you will need to check back on the pie until it reaches the just barely-shaken consistency). Cool pie 2 hours in pie dish on rack. Refrigerate uncovered overnight. Once chilled, wrap with plastic wrap to store.

4. Serve the pie cold with sifted confectioners’ sugar over the top and a dollop of whipped cream cream!!