Milk Bar Pie is a dessert created by

Christina Tosi Christina Tosi (born 1981) is an American chef and cookbook author. She is founder and co-owner with Momofuku of Milk Bar and serves as its chef and CEO. ''Food & Wine'' magazine included her in their 2014 list of "Most Innovative Women in Foo ...

while working at

wd~50 wd~50 was a molecular gastronomy New American/international restaurant in Manhattan, New York City. It was opened in 2003 by chef Wylie Dufresne. wd~50 closed November 30, 2014. Awards and ratings It was listed among the S. Pellegrino World's ...

. It is the signature dish of Tosi's Milk Bar.

Development

Tosi first created the dessert as one of her offerings for

family meal A family meal or staff meal is a group meal that a restaurant serves its staff outside of peak business hours. The restaurant provides the meal free of charge, as a perk of employment. Typically the meal is served to the entire staff at once, with ...

while working at wd~50. She describes regularly making desserts from "whatever mise-en-place was left over from the previous night's service". Confronted one morning with "nothing interesting at all" to work with, she came across a recipe for chess pie in '' Joy of Cooking''; Tosi describes chess pie as something "the old gals of yesteryear made when there was nothing to really make pie out of". She substituted heavy cream for the called-for buttermilk to create a gooier consistency and corn powder and milk powder for the called-for flour to create a more interesting flavor. The pie, originally called Crack Pie, was a hit at family meals.

Milk Bar

When Tosi opened Momofuku Milk Bar in 2008, she revised the dish again to include an oatmeal-cookie crust. The dish became the bakery's signature offering; according to ''

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, or Habit (psychology), habit generally considered immorality, immoral, sinful, crime, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refe ...

'', "Tosi’s Milk Bar has been synonymous with the Crack Pie". ''Gourmet'' called it her "defining dessert". ''Bon Appetit'' called it her "most buzzed-about dish". New York Daily News called it "New York's Favorite sugar high." In December 2009,

Anderson Cooper Anderson Hays Cooper (born June 3, 1967) is an American broadcast journalist and political commentator from the Vanderbilt family. He is the primary anchor of the CNN news broadcast show '' Anderson Cooper 360°''. In addition to his duties a ...

appeared on

Regis and Kelly ''Live with Kelly and Ryan'' (or simply ''Live'') is an American syndicated morning talk show hosted by Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest. Executive produced by Michael Gelman, the ''Live with...'' show formula has aired under various hosts since ...

discussing the pie, at the time named Crack Pie. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' called the appearance a "seminal moment". ''

The Los Angeles Times ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

'' in 2010 called out the price of the pie, then $44, as "jaw-dropping"; it attributed the pie's having "taken New York City by storm" partially to the price. ''Axios'' in 2022 called the dish a "cult favorite".

Name change

Some food writers and others have criticized naming foods, including Crack Pie, after addictive substances as insensitive and offensive. In May of 2019, Devra First of the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' specifically called out Crack Pie, criticizing the pie's name in a column entitled "There's Nothing Cute About Crack Pie", for making light of addiction by alluding to the addictiveness of

crack cocaine Crack cocaine, commonly known simply as crack, and also known as rock, is a free base form of the stimulant cocaine that can be smoked. Crack offers a short, intense high to smokers. The ''Manual of Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment'' call ...

. The following month, Milk Bar changed the name to Milk Bar pie.

Cookbook

Tosi's first cookbook, ''Momofuku Milk Bar'' (2011), published by

Clarkson Potter Clarkson Potter (September 19, 1880 – October 4, 1953) was an American golfer. He competed in the men's individual event at the 1904 Summer Olympics The 1904 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the III Olympiad and also known as ...

, contains a recipe for the dish.{{cite web , last1=Andriani , first1=Lynn , date=November 9, 2011 , title=Baking Rules a Pro Says You Can Ignore , url=http://www.oprah.com/food/Christina-Tosi-Cookbook-Milk-Bar-Compost-Cookie-Recipe , access-date=July 16, 2014 , work=Oprah , publisher=Harpo, Inc.

References

Pies Desserts