This Cream Cheese Pie Crust is made with both butter and cream cheese to make for a super tender, delicious and easy-to-make pie pastry.

A cream cheese pie crust made into a lattice.

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In both my savory cooking and sweet baking, I'm a big fan of adding cream cheese (like in this Key Lime Pie or Spinach Artichoke Quiche). Incorporating cream cheese not only enhances the taste but also contributes to the texture of whatever it is you are adding it to, and that is definitely the case with this Cream Cheese Pie Crust.

It not only improves the flavor by adding a creamy tang to it, but it makes the dough easier to work with, especially when it comes time to rolling it out. You'll find the dough to be slightly softer than an all-butter crust because cream cheese has more liquid in it than butter does (This is also the case with Sour Cream Pie Crust, too). If you struggle to roll out all butter crust, than this one might just be the perfect one for you.

This cream cheese pie crust was one of the first recipes I added to this website many years ago. Back when I made pies in bakeries, a butter cream cheese hybrid crust was my go-to recipe. This recipe is inspired by one by Rose Levy Beranbaum that includes the use of cream cheese. My own pie baking is greatly influenced by her work, especially from The Pie and Pastry Bible.

Over the years, this recipe has shifted, culminating in the one featured here that is a flavorful, tender and easy-to-work-with pie dough, perfect for both beginners and more experienced bakers.

So, let's get to making it, shall we? The article below is jam packed full of useful information. You can jump around using the menu below, or skip to the end of the article for the full recipe.

Jump to:

Ingredients Needed and Substitutions
Step-By-Step Recipe Overview
Kelli's Best Tips
Storage Information
What Pies Work Well With this Crust
Baking Cream Cheese Pie Crust
More Pie Crust Recipes
Pie Recipes That Pair Well
Full Recipe

Ingredients Needed and Substitutions

Here is a brief overview of the ingredients needed for this recipe. The full recipe with quantities is listed below this text in the recipe card.

all-purpose flour
butter
sugar (just a touch)
cream cheese (make sure to use "block" cream cheese and not whipped cream cheese)
ice water

Step-By-Step Recipe Overview

This is a quick visual overview of the steps needed to make this recipe, and not intended to be the full recipe. The full recipe is located towards the bottom, keep scrolling!

Flour and cream cheese in a food processor.

Step 1: Add the dry ingredients and the cream cheese.

Processed flour and cream cheese in a food processor.

Step 2: Pulse until the cream cheese is blended into the flour.

A hand adding butter cubes to flour and cream cheese in a food processor.

Step 3: Add the butter.

Crumbly pie crust in a food processor made with cream cheese and butter.

Step 4: Pulse until the butter is broken down into small pieces about the size of a pea. Stream in the water, then stop once all the water is added. Don't let the dough gather around the blade.

Step 5: Gather the dough together.

Step 6: Divide in half and wrap tightly in plastic. Let it rest, ideally overnight.

Kelli's Best Tips

Using a food processor for making pie crust takes a lot of guesswork out of this infamously tricky task. Pie pastry made in a processor doesn't result in the flakiest crust, but it does result in tender pie dough that is simple to make with just the push of a button. The dough hydrates easily so you won't have to add any extra water and it's not as messy as making it by hand. Here are some tips for success:

Mise en place: Get all of the ingredients ready and have a clear a work surface. This is a pretty important step when making pie dough because you want to move quickly while you are actually making the dough. Gather all of your ingredients and prep anything that needs to be prepped (such as cutting the butter/cream cheese). Make sure the butter, cream cheese and water is cold, especially if your kitchen is warm.
Make sure not to over-process the dough. The dough shouldn't quite look like dough at this stage. The photo above is what it should look like: crumbs.
Once you dump the dough onto your work surface, if you do find any unhydrated spots of flour, use a kitchen-safe spray bottle to spritz them (or drip on a bit of water. My food processor often hides a bit of flour underneath the blade, so I always have to hydrate that bit.
Divide the dough in half, place in plastic wrap and wrap tightly. Roll out the dough in the plastic wrap to create an airtight seal and let rest for at least 2 hours, but overnight is even better.

Prepared cream cheese pie crust wrapped in plastic wrap.

Storage Information

Store the tightly wrapped pie pastry in the refrigerator for about 2-3 days. It can be frozen for 3-6 months. Thaw out frozen dough in the refrigerator the night before you plan to use it.

What Pies Work Well With this Crust

This pie is perfect for classic fruit pies or savory pies that will be served at room temperature or warm. I don't typically recommend pairing butter pie crusts with any filling recipe that needs to be served cold, like a cream pie, but this butter cream cheese pie is my one exception. This pie isn't super flaky, so it will work ok with a refrigerated pie dough. Though, I still contend there are better options for pies meant to be served from the refrigerator, like this Pâte Sucrée (Sweet Pie Crust) recipe or this Pâte Sablée (Sweet Tart Dough).

An unbaked pie with a lattice on a sheetpan.

Baking Cream Cheese Pie Crust

Almost as important as how you prepare pie pastry is how you bake it. A butter cream cheese pie crust should be thoroughly chilled before baking, and baked at a high temperature, ideally around 425ºF. However, not all pie fillings can be baked at that high of a temperature, which means that sometimes the pie crust will need to be partially or fully blind baked. On this website, each pie recipe indicates how the pie crust should be baked, so reference those directions for pies using this flaky pie crust.

A baked blueberry pie with cream cheese pie crust.

More Pie Crust Recipes

Pie Recipes That Pair Well

I am so honored when you make a recipe from my site! If you make this Cream Cheese Pie Crust, please leave a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating with your experience! If you have any questions about this recipe, feel free to comment here, and tag me on instagram!

Full Recipe

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4.8 from 4 reviews

Cream Cheese Pie Crust

Recipe by Kelli Avila

This Cream Cheese Pie Crust is made with both butter and cream cheese to make for a super tender, delicious and easy-to-make pie pastry.

Print Recipe

Total Time00:15 plus chilling time
Yield2-9" dough disks

Ingredients

3 cups (360 grams) all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
½ teaspoon (2 grams) coarse kosher salt
8 tablespoons (113 grams) chilled unsalted butter chilled, diced
8 tablespoons (90 grams) full-fat brick cream cheese
½ cup ice water, plus more as needed

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Add the flour, sugar and salt to the bowl of a food processor.
Pulse until combined.
Add in cream cheese and pulse 5 times. Add in cold butter and pulse 5-7 times.
With the motor running quickly pour in the water. It should look crumbly!
Empy the dough onto a work surface. Divide the pile into two, and shape each dough into a disk.
Place in a piece of plastic wrap and wrap tightly.
Using a rolling pin roll the dough out until until it stretches to the corner of the plastic wrap.
Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, but preferably overnight

Notes

Have a question or looking for tips? The text written above the recipe is always a great first place to start! This recipe was developed with love, and I always include loads of explanations, tips, step-by-step photos and technical advice shared before the recipe.

Weighing your flour is the most accurate way to measure. If you aren't going to weigh it, make sure to spoon it into the cup, and then level it off. If you scoop the flour out with the measuring cup and then level, it could change the outcome of the final product.

This recipe was tested using Diamond Crystal coarse kosher salt. If you use Morton's kosher salt or fine salt decrease by about half for volume, or use the same amount by weight.

Recipe inspired from Rose Levy Beranbaum

Prep Time: 00:15
Category: Pie Crust
Method: Food Processor
Cuisine: American

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