Cream Cheese Pie Crust. Half cream cheese, half butter, all delicious goodness. Stays flaky and tastes so much better than using all shortening or butter!
¾cup (1.5 sticks)salted butter, coldcut or grated into small pieces
6ozcream cheese, coldcut into small pieces
½-3/4cupcold water
Instructions
In a large mixing bowl combine cold flour, sugar, and optional spices. and Add chilled butter and cream cheese (cut into small pieces beforehand for easier mixing).
Using a fork or pastry blender, work cream cheese and butter into dry ingredients until there are pea-sized chunks (chunk size is important for flakiness) and the mixture resembles very coarse sand.
Add cold water ¼ cup at a time and mix until the dough is combined and workable, with a stiff play dough texture. Depending on the temperature of the ingredients, more or less water may be needed. Try not to work dough too much (this makes it tough), just enough to not be crumbly.
Divide into two discs and use immediately or wrap in plastic wrap for a later use. Before rolling out, smooth and press the edges of the disc until there are no cracks. This helps prevent any big cracking while rolling out the pie crust.
Roll out dough to about ⅛ inch (¼ cm) thick and transfer to 9 inch pie pan. Trim edges of dough from pan with butter knife and crimp edges by pinching pointer and thumb fingers together into a V shape and pressing dough between them.
If making a cold fruit or pudding pie (fully baked crust):
Line with parchment paper or foil and fill with 2 cups dried beans, rice, or baking weights. Bake at 400 F for 20-25 minutes or until light golden brown. Remove parchment paper/foil and bake for another 10-12 minutes, until crust is golden brown. For pies that need to be baked after filling, the second bake will be only 5-10 minutes (i.e. pumpkin pie or quiches).
Notes
Use dough immediately or refrigerate up to 5 days. Rest at room temperature until dough is workable but still cold. Freeze for up to 3 months and thaw at room temperature until dough is workable but still cold. If baking a no bake pie, let crust cool completely before filling. For pies that will go back in the oven (i.e. for quiches or pumpkin pie)the crust can be warm when adding filling.