When we first opened Milk Bar, at 4 or 5 o’clock every morning we would make fresh cinnamon buns with liquid cheesecake rolled up into the dough instead of applying cream cheese frosting on top. Cinnamon buns are something I feel very strongly about, since my mother started a tradition of making (not-so-great) ones for breakfast on every holiday. (Sorry, Mom, but you can’t give a kid a Cinnabon and then expect her to be OK with cinnamon buns made with margarine and skim milk!) We’d make them before the crack of dawn so they’d be ready for breakfast . . . and then we’d sell most of them to people on their way home at night, ready to tuck in with dessert and some TV. So we decided to get smart and create something that was delicious, available, and fresh at any hour, and didn’t have to be made to order every morning: the cinnamon bun pie.

　　

Ingredients

Makes 1 (10-inch) pie; serves 8 to 10

　　1/2 recipe Mother Dough (page 222), proofed

　　30 g flour, for dusting (3 tablespoons)

　　80 g brown butter (see page 28) (1/4 cup)

　　1 recipe Liquid Cheesecake (page 149)

　　60 g light brown sugar (1/4 cup tightly packed)

　　1 g kosher salt (1/4 teaspoon)

　　2 g ground cinnamon (1 teaspoon)

　　1 recipe Cinnamon Streusel (recipe follows)

　　

Step 1

Heat the oven to 350°F.

　　

Step 2

Punch down and flatten the proofed dough.

　　

Step 3

Take a pinch of flour and throw it across the surface of a smooth dry countertop as if you were skipping a rock on water, to lightly coat the counter. Take another pinch of flour and lightly dust a rolling pin. Use the rolling pin to flatten the punched-down circle of dough, then roll out the dough with the rolling pin or stretch the dough out by hand as if you were making a pizza from scratch. Your end goal is to create a large circle that is approximately 11 inches in diameter. Keep your 10-inch pie tin nearby for reference. The 11-inch dough round should be 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.

　　

Step 4

Gently place the dough in the pie tin. Alternate between using your fingers and palms of your hands to press the dough firmly into place. Put the pie tin on a sheet pan.

　　

Step 5

Use the back of a spoon to spread half of the brown butter in an even layer over the dough.

　　

Step 6

Use the back of another spoon (you don’t want brown butter in your creamy white cheesecake layer!) to spread half the liquid cheesecake in an even layer over the brown butter. Spread the remaining brown butter in an even layer over the liquid cheesecake.

　　

Step 7

Scatter the brown sugar on top of the brown butter. Tamp it down with the back of your hand to help keep it in place. Then sprinkle evenly with the salt and cinnamon.

　　

Step 8

Now for the trickiest layer: the remaining liquid cheesecake. Stay cool, and spread it as gently as you can to achieve the most even layer possible.

　　

Step 9

Sprinkle the streusel evenly on top of the cheesecake layer. Use the back of your hand to secure the streusel.

　　

Step 10

Bake the pie for 40 minutes. The crust will puff and brown, the liquid cheesecake will set firm, and the streusel topping will crunch up and brown. After 40 minutes, gently shake the pan. The center of the pie should be slightly jiggly. The filling should be set toward the outer boundaries of the pie tin. If some of the filling erupted onto the sheet pan below, don’t worry—consider it a snack for later. If necessary, bake for an additional 5 minutes, until the pie meets the description above.

　　

Step 11

Cool the pie on a wire rack. To store, cool the pie completely and wrap well in plastic wrap. In the fridge, the pie will keep fresh for 3 days (the crust gets stale quickly); in the freezer, it will keep for 1 month.

　　

Step 12

When you are ready to serve the pie, know that it’s best served warm! Slice and microwave each slice on high for 30 seconds, or warm the whole pie in a 250°F oven for 10 to 20 minutes, then slice and serve.

　　

notes

Step 13

While I tried to have the recipes in this book build chapter-by-chapter on those that came before, sometimes that wasn’t possible. So jump ahead and read about the mother dough (page 218) before you get going on this pie.

　　Reprinted with permission from Momofuku Milk Bar by Christina Tosi with Courtney McBroom. Copyright © 2011 by MomoMilk, LLC. Published by Clarkson Potter, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.Christina Tosi is the chef and owner of Momofuku Milk Bar, called "one of the most exciting bakeries in the country" by Bon Appètit. As founder of the desserts programs at Momofuku, including Noodle Bar, Ssäat;m Bar, Ko and Má Pêche, Christina was most recently shortlisted for a James Beard Foundation Rising Star Chef Award. Christina and her confections have appeared on The Martha Stewart Show and Live! with Regis and Kelly, among others. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her three dogs and eats an unconscionable amount of raw cookie dough every day.