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The cream cheese pie crust recipe calls for cream cheese and butter which creates a tender and flaky crust. This is my go-to recipe for pie crust. It bakes beautifully and doesn’t become soggy. It can be used for any kind of pie and also works well for a woven lattice top.
For the Cream Cheese Pie Crust:
makes 2 (9-inch) pie crusts (top & bottom for 1 pie)
2 cups plus 4 Tbsp all-purpose flour *measured correctly
2 tbsp white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks (12 tbsp) COLD, unsalted butter, cut into 1/4″ cubes
6 oz (3/4 package) COLD cream cheese, cut into 1/4″ cubes
3 to 5 Tbsp cold heavy whipping cream
*Watch our easy video tutorial on how to measure correctly
How to Make the Perfect Flaky Pie Crust:
1. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar and salt.
2. Cut the COLD butter and COLD cream cheese into 1/4-inch pieces. Using a Pastry Blender or a food processor with blade attachment, cut the butter and cream cheese into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs with pea-sized pieces. Note: you could use a knife, but that would take forever.
3. Drizzle 3 Tbsp cold heavy cream over the dough and cut into the dough with a spatula, adding more cream as needed until the dough forms moist clumps. I didn’t get much of a drizzle trying to take of picture of this step at the same time. Your drizzle will be better 😉
4. Divide the dough into 2 pieces, press into flat disks, cover each piece tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour. It stores well in the fridge up to 2 days.
Credits: This recipe was modified from the Flaky Cream Cheese Pastry Dough in The All New All Purpose: Joy of Cooking (1997 version) (pg. 864). I think it’s a cookbook that every household should have. It’s an incredible resource on all things food.
Flaky Cream Cheese Pie Crust Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups plus 4 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 2 Tbsp white sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 sticks, 12 tbsp COLD, unsalted butter, cut into 1/4" cubes
- 6 oz 3/4 package COLD cream cheese, cut into 1/4" cubes
- 3 Tbsp to 5 Tbsp cold heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar and salt.
- Cut the COLD butter and COLD cream cheese into 1/4-inch pieces. Using a Pastry Blender or a food processor with blade attachment, cut the butter and cream cheese into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs with pea-sized pieces. Note: you could use a knife, but that would take forever.
- Drizzle 3 tbsp cold heavy cream over the dough and cut into the dough with a spatula, adding more cream as needed until the dough forms moist clumps.
- Divide the dough into 2 pieces, press into flat disks, cover each piece tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour. It stores well in the fridge up to 2 days.
Omygoodness this was an exceptional pie crust. It was so easy to work with and came out really delicious and flaky! Only recipe I plan on using ever again!
Cream cheese pie crust calls for heavy whipping cream. Is there a substitute?
Thank you!
Hi Greta! We prefer it with heavy cream but one of my readers did mention it works well with Half & Half. I hope you love it.
Can I make this ahead and freeze the discs ok? I’ve never tried freezing a dough made with cream cheese. Thanks!
Hi Janie! I think it would work fine to freeze it.
I’m trying to cut calories. Would this recipe work using fat free or lowfat cream cheese and the same in milk, instead of heavy whipping cream? Thanks!
Hi Brenda, we prefer it with heavy cream but one of my readers did mention it works well with Half & Half. I hope you love it.
How many grams of flour would 2 cups and 4 tablespoons weigh?
This recipe looks so good!
Hi Jane! It would be about 281g (125g per cup).
I have my disks in fridge and peaches prepped! Looking forward to closing the deal in time for a late night dessert. Thanks for all you do, Natasha!!
A standard in our home along with the butter and cream cheese crust! So good!
Do I need to increase this recipe for a deep dish double pie crust? I’m making your deep dish peach pie. Thank you.
Hi Maria, I use this pie crust for a deep dish pie crust. Another option that I think is a little easier to make which I use for my cookbook deep dish peach pie with our Butter Pie Crust.
I’ve heard about cream cheese pie crust, but in all the years I’ve been making pie crust I’ve never tried this until now. It is not only tasty but deliciously flaky! It can be used for sweet and savory. It held up to beef pasties, and I have some blackberries that will be meeting it very soon! Thank you for sharing, Natasha, your recipes are always keepers!
Thank you so much for your excellent comments and feedback, Lauren. I appreciate it!
I am GF and have tried making pie crusts with King Arthur Measure for Measure. I can never get the crust to roll out. I will try this one. I wish you would make a GF pie crust recipe for all of us who love pie but are GF.
Hi Marcia! I don’t have much experience baking with GF flour. I did read through the comments and see that one person left this reply, “I’ve used this recipe with Bob’s Red Mill gluten free 1:1 baking flour (one that contains xanthan gum) and it came out just as good as when I’ve tried it with regular flour! Thanks for this recipe, goes great with cherry as well as peach pie.” I hope that helps.
Hi Natasha
Just trying to convert the recipe to UK measurements.
How many grams of butter in total would it be?
Is it the equivalent of 1 1/2 sticks plus 12 tbsps (350g) or 180g total?
Thanks!
170g would be correct.
This has become my ‘go-to’ pie crust recipe…or anything pastry, really!
It has never failed to produce the must delicious flaky, buttery results and is so simple to make. It is easy to handle and is perfect for doing latticework or similar.
Just brilliant!👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
I’m so glad you love this recipe! Thank you for the feedback.
Hi Natasha!
You provide recipes for several, or more, different pie crusts!
Which fillings do you recommend with the different pie crust recipes?
I know they are pretty similar but they must have different ingredients for some reason!
Any opinions?
ken
Hi Ken, to be honest, I have adopted the butter pie crust for all of my recipes. I used to make the cream cheese crust more but the butter one is easier to work with and turns out flakier so we’ve been using that for all of our sweet and savory pie recipes.
Hi! I am wanting to use this crust for a pecan pie for thanksgiving. Do I need to blind-bake the crust? If so, for how long and what temp would you recommend? Thanks!
Hi Roxanne! I have not tested that to provide specific instructions. It should work fine to pre-bake it. Typically for pies with a wet/custard center, it’s recommended to pre-bake but for our fruit pies, we do not. Lately, we have been using the all butter version because it is easier to make and easier to roll out, plus more tender and flaky and we do not pre-bake it unless we’re making pumpkin pie.
After pie crusts are in the fridge for a day, do I take them out and let sit for 15-30 min before rolling it out? First time using this recipe!!
Hi Jean, yes you will want to let them sit out for at least 30 minutes or until it’s easy to roll out.
I tried this pie crust recipe last week with your peach pie recipe. It was delicious.
How is this recipe with cream pies, like banana cream or Lemon.
Hi Teresa! I have not tested it but some of my readers have reported using it for tarts with lemon filling.