Butter Brown Sugar Milk Bar Pie Recipe

This Milk Bar Buttery Ooey Gooey Pie is an original 🧈 🥧

It’s hard to describe the filling: Think of brown sugar, buttery, fudge-like filling with an oat cookie crust. Sound strange? 🥣 Well, this is not your 20-minute dessert to satisfy that craving, but it is WELL worth the wait 😋

All credits go to Christina Tosi for this smashing recipe! 😄🙌🏼

Keep scrolling for her fabulous recipe 🥳🥳🥳

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Ingredients for the Oat Cookie (makes 2 pie crusts)

• 115 g unsalted butter, a room temperature (1 stick) 75 g light brown sugar
• 40 g granulated sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 80 g all-purpose flour
• 120 g old-fashioned rolled oats 2 g kosher salt (1/2 tsp)
• 0.5 g baking powder (1/8 tsp) 0.25 g baking soda (a pinch)

Ingredients for the Milk Bar Pie filling

• 150 g granulated sugar (3/4 cup)
• 90 g light brown sugar (1/2 cup)
• 10 g milk powder (2 Tbsp)
• 12 g freeze-dried corn powder (2 Tbsp) 3 g kosher salt (3/4 tsp)
• 115 g unsalted butter, melted (1 stick) 4 egg yolks
• 80 g heavy cream (1/3 cup)
• 1g vanilla extract (1/4 tsp)

Ingredients for pie assembly

• 1 recipe Oat Cookie (see above)
• 27 g unsalted butter, melted (2 Tbsp), plus an additional 7-14g as needed (1/2 to 1 Tbsp) 7 g light brown sugar (1 Tbsp tightly packed)
• 1 g salt (1/4 tsp)
• 1 recipe Milk Bar Pie filling (see above)
• Confectioner's sugar (for dusting)

What to Do
Make the Oat Cookie (25 minutes, makes enough for 2 pie crusts)

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F (177° C).
2. If you're using an oven thermometer, check to make sure that your oven is at the correct temperature, and adjust as needed.
3. Let your butter reach room temperature, either by leaving it out for 30-60minutes or by microwaving it in 5-second increments (remember, you should not use melted butter for cookie dough).
4. Combine the butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and cream together on high speed for 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula halfway through. When the mixture is fluffy and pale yellow in colour, stop the mixer and scrape down the sides one more time.
5. Crack your egg and separate your egg yolk from the white using two containers.
6. We recommend you follow Christina's method for separating the egg whites and yolks by hand. Be sure to wash your hands after handling raw eggs. You can save your egg whites for other recipes. 
7. Add the egg yolk and mix on high speed for 1 to 2 minutes until the sugar granules fully dissolve and the mixture is a glossy, very pale tan.
8. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and if you see any lingering pockets of butter or sugar, cream for 1 more minute.
9. Combine the flour, oats, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a separate bowl or container and stir together to combine. Add this dry mixture to your creamed wet ingredients and mix just until your dough comes together and you start to see all of the flour disappear, no longer than a minute.
10. Finish incorporating the dry ingredients by hand with a rubber spatula, scraping down the sides of the bowl as you go.
11. The dough will be a fluffier, fattier mixture than your average cookie dough.
12. Spray a quarter sheet pan with non-stick cooking spray in an X across the diagonals, line with parchment, then spray the parchment completely (you can also line the pan with a non-stick baking mat like a Silpat instead).
13. Plop the cookie dough in the centre of the pan and, with a spatula or leftover butter paper, spread it out until it is about 1/4 inch thick (the dough might not cover the entire pan).
14. Bake for 15 minutes, checking after 12 minutes and rotating the pan if the cookie is browning unevenly. Continue to bake until the cookie mixture is caramelized on top and slightly puffed, but set firmly. Cool completely before using.
15. Wrapped well in plastic, the Oat Cookie will keep fresh in the fridge for up to 1 week.

While the cookie is baking, you can begin making the Milk Bar Pie filling if you're planning on making it immediately afterwards.

Checkpoint 1: You can pause here if you’d rather continue later today or tomorrow

Make the Milk Bar Pie filling (15 minutes)

1. Combine the sugar, brown sugar, milk powder, corn powder, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
2. Meltyourbutterintoliquidform, using either a microwave or a stove.
3. Add the melted butter and paddle at the lowest possible speed for 2 to 3 minutes until all the dry ingredients are fully moistened. Then scrape down the sides of the bowl. 
4. Add the egg yolks one at a time as the mixer runs on the lowest speed for about a minute. Be careful not to aerate the mixture, but be certain the mixture is glossy and homogeneous. Scrape down the sides of your bowl.
5. Combine the heavy cream and vanilla in a small container and slowly stream it into the yolk mixture, continuing to paddle on low for 2 to 3 minutes until any white streaks from the cream have completely disappeared.
6. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle with a spatula and mix for a final minute or two.
7. Use the filling right away, or store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.

Checkpoint 2: You can pause here if you’d rather continue later today or tomorrow 

Assemble and bake your pie (15 minutes assembly + 30 minutes baking + 1-3 hours of freezing)

1. Heattheovento350°F(177°C).
2. PuttheOatCookieinafoodprocessorandpulseitonandoffuntilthecookieisbrokendown into a wet sand-like texture (less than a minute).
3. If you don’t have a food processor, you can crumble the Oat Cookie with your hands.
4. Transfer the crumbs to a bowl, and add your salt and light brown sugar.
5. Add the melted butter, and toss the mixture together with a spatula until it is moist enough to hold together when squeezed in your hands.
6. If it is not moist enough yet, add more butter until it holds together when squeezed.
7. Using your fingers and hands, press half of the Oat Cookie mixture firmly into the pie tin, making sure the bottom and sides of the tin are evenly covered.
8. Use the pie shell immediately, or wrap well in plastic and store at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
9. You can save the other half of the Oat Cookie mixture in an airtight container at room temperature for 5 days, or in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
10. Pour in the Milk Bar Pie filling, which should fill the crust three-quarters of the way. Bake for 15 minutes until the pie is golden brown around the outside and light brown in the centre but still very jiggly.

If the pie isn't brown yet, add up to 5 more minutes until you've reached the right colour.

7. Reducetheoventemperatureto325°F(163°C)andbakethepieforanother15minutes.
8. You can keep the oven door open (no longer than a minute) if you want to cool it down to 325° F more rapidly, but you don't have to.
9. When done, the pie filling should have a deep golden brown colour, and should jiggle only in the centre when you gently shake it.
10. Transfer the baked pie to a rack and cool to room temperature.
11. You can speed up the cooling process by carefully transferring the pies to the fridge or freezer if you’re in a hurry).
12. Transfer the pie to a quarter sheet pan and freeze for at least 1-3 hours, or overnight, to condense the filling for a dense final product—freezing is the signature technique of a perfectly executed Milk Bar Pie.

Checkpoint 3: You can pause here if you’d rather continue later today or tomorrow

 Defrost and serve your pie (5 minutes of prep)

1. To release your pie from the tin, carefully flip it onto a cutting board and peel the tin off the bottom.
2. If you used a glass baking dish, you can pop the pie out the same way, using a spatula to help get the pie out.
3. Decorateyourpiewithconfectioners’sugar, either passing it through a fine sieve or sprinkled by hand.
4. Cut your pie into 8 pieces with a sharp chef's knife, and put the pie back in another tin, on a platter, or wrap the pieces individually to distribute to some very lucky friends and family.
5. If not serving the pie right away, wrap well in plastic wrap. In the fridge, it will keep fresh for 5 days; in the freezer, it will keep for 1 month.
6. Serve the pie cold from the fridge, and eat it with your hands like a pizza if you truly want to do it Tosi-style!