Death by Sugar Lovin pie

It's probably never a good idea to try and put two sweet things together that you've never made before.  But I really, really thought that these might taste good, which they did, they just happened to send the eater into a sugar lovin high. To give you a description of the Death by Sugar Lovin pie:  it began with an oat cookie crust that was lined with chocolate ganache, filled with a no bake cheesecake and topped with peanut brittle.

I know.  My teeth hurt just thinking about all that sugar in one place.  It was highly decadent and it was an experiment that was successful the fact that it taught me a few things and it gave me a couple of new techniques to share.

We'll start with the oat cookie crust:


In Bon Appetit's September Restaurant issue, they revealed the recipes of Christina Tosi, the pastry chef at Momofuku Milk Bar and the Momofuku restaurant empire (for more on the Momofuku family of restaurants, visit www.momofuku.com or read Anthony Bourdain's Medium Raw).  Tosi is known for being incredibly inventive and her desserts are known for being very addictive.   What caught my eye in all of her desserts was the recipe for Crack Pie.  You can find the whole recipe here, but today, I am focusing on the crust.


The oat cookie crust is very unique to me.  While it resembles a graham crust or any crushed cookie crust, what's unique about this crust is that rather than starting with already crushed cookies, or buying a package or oreos, you make an oatmeal cookie bar, crumble it and create the crust completely from scratch.  The oat cookie crust technique inspired me to start thinking about other types of cookie crusts you could make from scratch and the number of delicious fillings you could pair with them to make a truly unique pie.  See your basic recipe here and get ideas on how to make it your own.

But for my first try, I followed Tosi's recipe.  The oat cookie crust came out perfectly.  The only thing I did differently was blind bake the crust without the filling for 17-18 minutes after pressing into the pie pan because I wanted to fill the crust with a cheesecake and ganache filling that couldn't be baked.  


Now for thoughts on a cheesecake & ganache filling.  Some key items to remember.


1.  You won't need as much ganache as you think.
2.  You won't need as much cheesecake filling as you think.
3.  When in doubt, let it chill longer.


Ganache is a very basic pastry item that everyone can make.  You just need chocolate and heavy cream.  See the recipe here.  The beautiful thing about ganache is that you can adjust your ratio of cream to chocolate to create a thicker or thinner ganache.  The consistency you are looking for here is equal parts cream to chocolate for a thin glaze effect.

This particular cheesecake filling was a no-bake filling, which means there aren't any eggs.  The bonus is that it comes together quickly.  The downside is that it never reaches a true cheesecake density.  It depends what you like in your cheesecake.  I decided to go a slightly tangy and sweet route.  My filling recipe can be found here, but for quick reference it had cream cheese, greek yogurt, goat cheese, honey, sugar and a touch of heavy cream.

And finally, the topper- peanut brittle.

I had never made candy or brittle before this little experiment.  A few things I learned:

1.  When in doubt, opt for a bigger pan.
2.  Understand that you need to spend the whole time at the stove with the peanut brittle mixture.  
3.  Corn syrup is kind of flavorless.


My peanut brittle ended up being very thick.  It still tastes good, but for brittle of any kind, thinness is key for breaking it up and eating it.  When it's too thick, it doesn't break well and it gets stuck in your teeth, giving you the flavor of peanut brittle constantly.   

I thought since my candy thermometer was going to gauge the temperature for me, I could watch TV and check on it every once in a while.  Nope, nope, and nope.  Peanut brittle needs to be stirred, and often.  In addition, you have to watch the pan to make sure the brittle mixture doesn't overflow while boiling.


Also, corn syrup has absolutely no depth of flavor.  So the original recipe I made tastes like peanut brittle, but in the future, I'll be making it this way, courtesy of Sir Emeril, minus the chili powder.


So when you assemble this Death by Sugar Lovin pie, it goes:


Crust
Ganache
Cheesecake filling
Broken peanut brittle pieces

Then it has to chill overnight.  It does taste really good.  It's just so decadent that you need to take a very small slice.  Or, do this....try making all of these fun pastry items, just not in the same dessert!