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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
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.
Flaky Cream Cheese Pie Crust Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups plus 4 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 2 Tbsp granulated 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.
Natasha, I have the Joy of Cooking cookbook and you doubled all of the ingredients properly (as the Joy of Cooking recipe is for 1 crust), but you forgot to double the cream. The original recipe says to use 2-3 Tbsps of heavy cream, but in your doubled recipe, you only state 3 Tbsps. That is why several people said they couldn’t get the recipe to come together, or they figured out that they needed to add more. Heavy cream is great for adding to the crispy, flaky texture.
Thank you so much for pointing that out!! I updated the recipe 🙂
We used this pie crust to make Persimmon with Pecan Streusel topping Pie and my daughter took a second place among 16 pies! The crust was judged too! I had to prebake it (you need to put dry beans in the crust to keep the form). I never use Crisco but almost always have cream cheese and cream on hand. This recipe is perfect for us! Thank you, Natasha!
You’re welcome Anya! I’m glad to hear how much you enjoy the recipe! Thanks for sharing your fantastic review!
What temperature and for how long should the pie shells bake?
Hi Holly, this is just the recipe for the crust. You wouldn’t want to bake it unless you were using it in a pie recipe. I would suggest our apple pie or our peach pie, which both have baking instructions if you would like to reference those and make a different filling 🙂 I hope that helps! 🙂
I was wondering if you could make this and freeze it in the pie shells?
Hi Angela, I haven’t tried that, but I think it would work to freeze it.
Hello Natasha
Will this crust work with both peach cobbler and pecan pie?
Hi Alecia, I think those should both work well 🙂
Why use unsalted butter?
Hi Marilyn, I use unsalted butter in nearly every one of my recipes so I can control the amount of salt in the recipe.
Hi Natasha
Do you think this crust would work for a banana cream pie? I’ve never heard of a pie crust made with cream cheese but I’ve failed miserably at making pie crust (from other sites) and your recipes have never failed me!
Hi Lilly, this should work fine for a banana cream pie – just be sure to prebake it. You should get 2 single pie crusts with this recipe 🙂
Your pie crust recipe is amazing! I’d never made homemade pie crust until this time last year when I found this recipe. It never fails me! Today I almost blew it! I nearly forgot the heavy cream and was thinking, “Something is not right!” Fortunately, I figured it out. (I once baked a cake with no sugar. I can tend toward Anne Shirley in the kitchen on occasion!)
LOL! Well, I am glad you love the recipe Jana! Thanks for sharing your exciting review 😀
I am quite the baker…except for pies! My crust never, ever works! I decided to try this one, and have it all mixed and in the refrig to chill. However, it’s all crumbly and not coming “together” what so ever! I’m anxious to see how it does once it chills for an hour, but I can’t imagine it coming together. It just doesn’t seem like enough liquid??
Hi Donna, the dough should form pretty easilly into 2 disks as shown wiht maybe some minor crumbing. If it doesn’t come together, there is likely not enough liquid or too much flour. The way flour is measured can make a big difference also – if you push the measuring cup into a flour container and compact the flour into the cup, it will weigh substantially more than just spooning it into the cup and scraping off the top. I hope that helps for next time!
I don’t have cream cheese, will it affect the recipe if I omit that?
Hi Sveta, you will have to swap it out for something different. I don’t think the recipe would work properly without it…
Can I refrigerate this for 3 days?
Hi Alexis, I think it works best if its refrigerated up to 2 days. You might be able to stretch it to 3 days.
I have been making this crust every year since 2013 for Thanksgiving, Christmas or whenever I need a pie for an occasion! It gets rave reviews every time. My husband (who is that person that prefers crust to filling) loves it! It comes out flaky and amazing every time!
I’m happy to hear that Sasha! Thanks for sharing your wonderful review!
Hi Natasha, I don’t know if I’m missing it, but I’m wondering what the baking instructions are for this? What temp?
Thank you
Hi Carolyn, this is just the recipe for the crust. You wouldn’t want to bake it unless you were using it in a pie recipe. I would suggest our apple pie or our peach pie, which both have baking instructions if you would like to reference those and make a different filling 🙂 I hope that helps! 🙂
What a glorious pie crust recipe! I’m not that experienced with making crust, but the flavor and texture is amazing and I’m glad I persevered after a few nervous moments. I have a few tips that may help others who’ve had problems:
– Re: the dough remaining “crumbly” after adding the heavy cream – don’t freak. Divide the ball in two as directed, and gently press the crumbs into each disk. I never got a completely solid disk but wrapped each section with crumbs up super-tight in plastic wrap and it coalesced into one in the fridge.
– To simplify cutting the cream cheese, place the block in the freezer for about 15 minutes to firm it up, then use a cheese grater and shred it. MUCH easier than cutting, and you end up with glorious strings of cheese that mix in easily with the butter chunks.
– Finally, to avoid overworking the dough – after chilling, make sure the dough sits out at room temperature long enough to soften and make it pliable BEFORE attempting to roll it out (10-15 minutes.) My rolling leaves something to be desired, so I gently pressed the dough out with lightly floured hands from the center to keep the thickness consistent when the dough began to stick. It took extra time, but the results were perfect.
Natasha, thank you SO MUCH for this recipe! I look forward to experimenting with it throughout the holidays! P.S. – I tried to leave you 5 stars, but was only able to leave 2 – please notify your computer people!
Thank you so much for the wonderful review and for sharing your many awesome tips! Can you let me know which browser and which device you were using (phone, computer, etc?) Thanks again!! 🙂
You bet: I use an HP desktop computer with Chrome browser (I’m a technology dinosaur – I forget my cell phone 50% of the time when I leave the house xD) BTW, I took a picture of my pie before it was joyously devoured this past weekend, and will post it if you ever add a feature for pics. Thanks again and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Thank you so much for sharing that with me. I really appreciate it! Also, do you have the latest Chrome browser installed? It may be due to an old browser but I’m not sure. We’ll see what we can do to fix it. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas as well!
(Sorry for the late reply – crazy week!) Hubby assures me I have the most up-to-date Chrome version, but gently suggested I probably had too many windows open and that may have compromised the app response for leaving ratings. Strangely, I’ve noticed my prior comments all have 5 stars now – let’s just chalk this up to me being a “window hog” and call it a day! xD
Hi Natasha, I’m from germany and would love to make this apple pie for thanksgiving ( I moved from California so I MADE It a holiday here haha) but I just realized something, we don’t have blocks of cheese cream like in the states we only have the spreadable kind. What to do?!!
Christina, that should still work as long as you’re adding the correct amount called for in the recipe. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!
Hi Natasha, I would like to give this pie crust a try for my thanksgiving pumpkin pie. What temperature and how long should I bake the pie crust? Will this pie crust work for a pumpkin pie?
Hi Katerina, I do think it would work well for pumpkin pie. 🙂 I can’t really give you baking instructions without knowing which pie filling you are using. I don’t usually pre-bake the pie crust before making pie crust if that is what you are asking.
My family loved it! Measure carefully and don’t overwork and you will love it too! I only had half& half so used it and no problems. Will have cream next time for I suspect even better results.
Karen, thank you for the nice review on the pie crust and for the tip as well 😀.
What exactly is the cream cheese you use? In England cream cheese is spreadable, you can’t cut it into chunks.
Thanks. x
Hi Maria, that is interesting. I don’t know if this helps but our cream cheese is also referred to as: Neufchâtel cheese.
That’s great, thanks for the info. I can buy that at Sainsbury’s. x
Hi, Lovely pie recipe, my granddaughter 9 and I made this and all loved it, can I freeze the pie crust for later use ?
Thanks,
I’m so happy to hear that! It’s easiest to work with after refrigeration. You can refrigerate it up to 2 days, but I think it would be fine to freeze it for later use.
I used half-and-half instead of cream just because I already had some around. It took 4-1/2 tablespoons of it to get the consistency shown in your photo. Otherwise, everything was perfect! I made a cranberry apple walnut pie with a lattice crust and it was beautiful. I think this crust recipe will be my new standard plan for fruit pies.
I’m so happy you enjoyed it and thanks for sharing the substitution you used! I’m sure it will be so helpful to others who have the same question. 🙂
I’ve made this crust over a dozen times now, and my advice to others is to totally avoid overworking the dough. If you aren’t careful, it ends up hard as a rock. But if you are careful, it can be perfect!
That’s a great tip! Thanks Dave 🙂