Feed Me Fridays: The Experimental Pie Edition Part II (This Time On a Friday But Not Actually Pie. Just Roll With It Yo. Ok?)

So here's the thing about Momofuko Milk Bar's Crack Pie: it's utterly addictive (duh) and life-changing. Seriously. You know when you bake something and you cream together the butter and the sugar? And then perhaps you get a little bit on your finger and then you lick it off and then you are like: "OH SWEET NECTAR OF THE GODS COME TO MOMMA?" Well imagine if you took that heavenly concoction, added a little cream (cause - you know - it's not rich enough) and a little flour (to hold it all together), threw it in a crust and then baked it. Voila - Crack Pie.

Well seeing as these Momofuko desserts inspired me all kinds of ways, I decided to replicate Crack Pie only somewhere in the process I started thinking about breakfast and suddenly Crack Pie turned into Rise 'N Shine Bars. I think it may have had something to do with the oat crust, and then I started thinking about cereal - maybe because of those sick Momofuko cookies with the cornflakes and the marshmallows - and then I thought about a bunch of things you typically have in the morning and I decided to throw it all together, bind it with my version of a Crack Pie like filling (i.e. copious amounts of butter and sugar) and bake it. Here is the result.

Rise 'N Shine Bars

The ingredients:


Preheat the oven to 350.

Make the Toasted Oatmeal Nut Crust:

2 cups of rolled oats
6 Tbsp. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. instant espresso powder
2/3 cup chopped walnuts
1 stick unsalted butter, melted

Place the oats and the walnuts in a shallow pan and toast in the oven for 8 - 10 minutes or until brown. Careful not to burn.

In a large bowl mix together the oats, sugar, salt, espresso powder and walnuts. Add the melted butter and gently combine until fully incorporated.

Press the crust into a 12 x 8 baking pan.



Bake for 8 - 10 minutes until lightly set.

Make the Crack Pie Like filling:

1-1/8 cup brown sugar
1-1/8 cup white sugar
2 sticks of unsalted butter, melted
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup heavy cream
3 Tbsp. flour

In the bowl of a standing mixer combine both sugars, the butter and the salt. Stir on medium until fully incorporated and smooth. Add the cream and stir in on low. Add the flour and stir in on low.

Next comes the assembly. For this you will need 1 banana and assorted breakfast cereals. I used Corn Pops, Raisin Bran Crunch and Honey Nut Cheerios but you can use whatever is in your cupboard.

Slice the banana over the crust:



Then sprinkle 1 cup of cereal over the banana. I used 1/3 cup each of Corn Pops, Raisin Bran Crunch and Honey Nut Cheerios. Then pour in the crack filling. Then take 1 cup of cereal (I used Corn Pops), crush it and sprinkle over the top. See - looks kind of like a Crack Gratin:



Plunk the whole hot mess in the oven and bake for about 10 - 15 minutes. Then turn the oven down to 300 and bake for another 10 - 15 minutes until golden brown and the filling is just set. (Here's where I remind you that I am the proud owner of the world's most schizophrenic oven and so if my baking times seem a little off - that's why. Apologies in advance but trust me - these are so good you won't even notice).

When you pull it out of the oven, here's what it should look like:



It's time's like this I was wish we had Smell-O-Vision. Or Taste-O-Vision because Holy Hell y'all - that shit is awesome.

Let the whole thing cool for several hours. Seriously. I found that about 90% of my crack filling was set but that the outer edges were a little gooey. So yeah. Cool the bars. And once they are cool, stick them in the fridge to firm them up.

Then attempt to cut them into squares (mine did not cut neatly - they were more like weird, sticky, delicious piles) and serve.

Voila. You have a new addiction. You are welcome.