Perfect Cream Cheese Keto Pie Crust

This perfect cream cheese keto pie crust is soft and flaky, and flexible enough to make pretty pie crust designs. This recipe is for a double pie crust, but can be cut in half to make a single bottom crust.

Easy Cream Cheese Pie Crust Recipe

Are you tired of dealing with low carb pie crusts that easily break apart, taste bland or require super expensive ingredients?  Then this easy keto pie crust recipe is for you.  It uses a combination of cream cheese, eggs, almond flour and a few other ingredients to create the most tender, soft and flexible pie crust ever.

The great thing about this low carb pie crust is that it can be used to make savoury or sweet desserts. There are so many types of pie filling that you could add to this gluten free pie crust.

Whether you want to make a keto apple pie, a sugar free strawberry rhubarb pie, sugar free pumpkin pie, low carb chicken pot pie or a low carb meat pie, this keto pie crust recipe is for you.

This keto dough is ready in minutes, but does require a bit of chilling time to ensure the best results. This cream cheese pie crust recipe is actually a double pie crust recipe so you will have a bottom and top layer.

My almond flour pie crust recipe is only meant for a single pie crust so I really wanted to make a top layer crust that was easy to work with and didn't break apart that easily.

This cream cheese pie crust recipe is easy to work with, refrigerates fine and you can even freeze it with a filling or without one after baking it.

Other recipes to make with this keto dough recipe

This recipe is originally for a low carb pie crust, but don't let that stop you from making anything else.  It can be used to make fruit galettes, empanadas, calzones, mini pies, or even cookies (when sweetened).

How to Make the Perfect Keto Pie Crust

To make the perfect keto pie crust, you'll need a few common low carb pantry ingredients.  You'll need to have some blanched almond flour, baking powder, xanthan gum, coconut flour, salt, eggs, and cream cheese on hand.

In a large food processor, you'll add all of the dry ingredients and give it a good stir by pushing the pulse button a few times.  You want the xanthan gum to blend evenly with the rest of the ingredients.

Once the ingredients are evenly mixed, you'll add the fresh eggs and cream cheese to the food processor.  It's important that you separate the cream cheese into small pieces so that it's easier to mix.  If you add it as huge block, the cream cheese won't mix with the flour properly.

Turn on the food processor and mix for a good 10-20 seconds.  Don't over mix.  You just want the eggs and cream cheese to get absorbed into the flour and form a dough ball.

At first you'll notice that the dough gets separated into a thousand little pieces, but a few seconds later those pieces form a huge ball.  That's when you know to turn off the food processor.

Remove the dough from the food processor, add it to a plastic bag or ziploc, remove the air and seal it.  Place it in the refrigerator to chill for minimum one hour.  This is incredibly important.  You absolutely need to chill the dough before rolling, or else it just won't roll out, it'll be super sticky, crumbly and oily.

Once the dough has chilled for a minimum of one hour, your next step will be to roll it out. Remember that this recipe makes a double pie crust, so you'll want to separate the dough in half before rolling out.  While you roll one half out, cover the other half and put it back in the fridge to keep cool.

The chilled dough should look like this.

Place the dough over a large piece of parchment paper.  With your hands form a round even flat ball.  Cover it with a second piece of parchment paper.

Start rolling out the dough with a rolling pin from all sides until you have a circle big enough for a 9"/23cm pie plate.

Once the rolled out keto dough is large enough for your pie plate, peel off the top layer of the parchment paper.

Carefully place the dough over the pie plate, press onto it so that it sticks to the bottom and the outer walls of the plate.  Carefully remove the parchment paper.

Finally, trim the extra bits of pie crust hanging off the plate.

How to Make the Top Pie Crust

The top layer of this low carb pie crust uses the same technique as the bottom crust.  Except for the top crust, you can choose to do any design that you want to do.

You could take some cookie cutters and cut out some leaves, hearts, and so on. Or you could make a lattice pie crust like I did for my strawberry rhubarb pie.

For a lattice pie crust, cut 1"/2cm wide strips from the dough that you rolled out.  Remember to work quickly as this cream cheese pie crust works much better when cooled!  If the crust gets warm, the oil starts to leak out and the dough sticks to everything so you won't be able to make pie crust designs.

Roll each strips into little wheels that you can then transfer over whatever pie you're making. Add some horizontally and vertically. Roll out the wheels one at a time while putting each strip either over or under until you have a lattice pie crust.

The last step will be to add a simple egg wash over the entire crust to make sure it gets that nice golden brown crispy top.

Don't overmix!

You don't want to overmix the dough as it'll be much harder to work with.  Simply blend the ingredients together in your food processor until they're all combined together. You don't need to process it more than that.

Chill the Dough

You'll have to chill the dough for at least an hour before rolling it out.  If you have time to chill it longer, I definitely recommend doing that because it'll be easier to work with.

Work Quickly!

This low carb pie crust works better when it's cold.  It's really important that you work quickly once you take it out of the fridge.  If you work too slowly, the dough will become too oily and will start to stick everywhere and break apart.

My dough is too sticky to handle! What can I do?

If your dough is starting to get sticky, it's because it got too warm.  That's why you need to work quickly! As it gets warmer, it'll become more oily.  To fix it, just roll it back into a ball and put it back into the fridge to chill for minimum one hour.

My dough is breaking apart! What can I do?

If the dough is too oily, it's because it's too warm so it'll break apart easily.  To fix it, roll it back into a ball and put it back in the fridge to refrigerate for minimum one hour.

It's really important that you work quickly when you're cutting your top pie designs!

Do I need to use a food processor?

Yes.  It would be quite difficult to mix the cream cheese with the almond flour without one.

Can I Freeze this Pie Crust?

Yes, you can.  However, I don't recommend freezing it if you're making a wet dessert like a fruit pie.  Dry pies like low carb meat pies or cheesecake pies tend to freeze better as they don't make the pie crust extra wet.

Is the Xanthan Gum Absolutely Necessary?

No, it's not.  You can leave it out if you want, but the pie dough will be harder to handle, will stick to everything and will break easily.  If you're planning on making pretty pie designs or a lattice pie crust, then you'll definitely need it.

Is the Cream Cheese Necessary?

Absolutely.  Without it, this cream cheese pie crust will not work at all. Trust me. You need to add it for this recipe to work perfectly.

Can I use Butter Instead of Cream Cheese?

No, butter and cream cheese aren't the same thing.  You'll end up with an entirely different recipe that will most likely break apart.  The cream cheese in this recipe helps everything stick together.

Final Tips & Recap

To make sure your cream cheese pie crust is absolutely perfect, follow the following tips and substitution possibilities!

• Make sure to chill the dough for minimum one hour before rolling out.
• Make sure to work quickly as the dough will be harder to handle as it gets warmer.
• Don't forget the cream cheese, nor the egg, as they're both essential ingredients.
• Feel free to add whatever spices you want in the dough for a savoury pie.
• Instead of almond flour, you can use any other type of nut flour.
• Instead of xanthan gum, you can use guar gum.

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