Cream Cheese Pumpkin Pie

Cream Cheese Pumpkin Pie is a perfect blend of autumn flavors nestled in a flaky, all-butter crust. With swirls of sweetened cream cheese and velvety pumpkin custard, this Thanksgiving pie promises pure dessert bliss.

Welcome to the first Sunday in November, a day with more witchery than All Hallows’ Eve. Each year at the stroke of 3 AM time rewinds to 2 AM like a spell’s been cast on our clocks. In this case, the witch is Congress and it concocted this black magic back in 1818 by making Daylight Saving Time a law. Two hundred years later, we the people are still powerless to the demonry of DTS. For the next 5 months, it’ll be dark when we wake up, dark when we get off work and dark when we go to sleep. Most cope with their Daylight Saving depression by sleeping through the extra hour. Me, I make the most of those 60 minutes by baking pie.

In all honesty, falling back an hour is a moot point; the only time that matters is the time left between now and Thanksgiving dessert. And with less than 3 weeks until Turkey Day, my pie panic has set in. So while the rest of the country was still snuggled in their beds this morning, I was in my kitchen rolling pie dough. In the dark. Because my husband needed his beauty sleep. And things would’ve gotten ugly if I turned on a light.

As for me, I’ll sleep when I’m 6 feet under. Assuming, of course, that caskets are soundproof. If they’re not, the ticking of annual Thanksgiving countdowns will surly wake me from the dead. But whether it’s no sleep or no heartbeat, it’s no problem; nothing can stop my early-November stockpiling of pies. I won’t rest–in this life or the next–unless my freezer is full of enough pies to make the the pilgrims proud.

The pièce de résistance in my make-ahead amassment is Cream Cheese Pumpkin Pie. This beauty is next-level delicious. From the velvety pumpkin custard whisked with sweetened cream cheese to the swirled dollops of cream cheese on top and the flaky, all-butter crust, this pie is meant for the Thanksgiving dessert table. Plus, it tastes just as dreamy as it looks. Trust me, you won’t care about an extra hour of sleep when you can have an extra slice of this incredible pie.

Before sharing the Cream Cheese Pumpkin Pie recipe, here are a few tips to help you out:

Ingredient Tips

This recipe calls for canned pumpkin puree. Fresh puree will work in a pinch, but will yield a different consistency than canned due to its higher moisture content. Before baking with fresh puree, place it in several layers of paper towels and squeeze until the excess liquid is reduced.

If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, you can make your own by combining equal amounts of ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground cloves and ground allspice.

Preparation Tips

Cream cheese must be softened to room temperature before beginning. To speed up the process, place your sealed foil block of cream cheese in a bowl of warm water for 20 minutes or until softened enough to beat with an electic mixer.

Cream Cheese Pumpkin Pie is done baking when the fillling is set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Avoid overbaking or pie may crack.

How to Store Cream Cheese Pumpkin Pie

To store pie, cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 5 days.

This pie can be made ahead and frozen up to 3 months. After baked pie has cooled completely, wrap tightly with plastic wrap then with aluminum foil and freeze. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.

I hope you enjoy this Cream Cheese Pumpkin Pie! Please leave a rating and review below when you try it out. And, while you’re at it, sign up for my weekly Recipe Newsletter so you never miss a tempting recipe.

Finally, if you’re looking for more pumpkin recipes, check out these Pumpkin Banana Muffins. Super moist and perfectly spiced, these muffins blend the sweetness of ripe bananas, the warmth of pumpkin and the sugary crunch of crumb topping.

Cream Cheese Pumpkin Pie

Heather Wolf

Cream Cheese Pumpkin Pie is a perfect blend of autumn flavors nestled in an all-butter crust. With swirls of sweetened cream cheese and velvety pumpkin custard, this Thanksgiving pie promises pure dessert bliss.

5 from 13 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 35 minutes mins

Cool and Chill 4 hours hrs

Total Time 5 hours hrs 5 minutes mins

Course Pies and Tarts

Cuisine American

Servings 8

Equipment

• 9 inch pie plate

Ingredients

  

Pie Crust

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour unbleached
• 1/2 tsp sea salt fine
• 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
• 8 tbsp unsalted butter cold and cubed
• 2 tbsp ice cold water

Cream Cheese Filling

• 8 ounces full-fat cream cheese softened to room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract pure
• 1 large egg room temperature
• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour

Pumpkin Filling

• 15 ounces canned pumpkin puree
• 2 large eggs room temperature
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar packed
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Instructions

 

Pie Crust

• Grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie plate with butter or spray with nonstick baking spray. Set aside.
• Add flour, salt, and sugar to a food processor. Pulse to combine.
• Add chilled butter then pulse until butter is reduced to the size of small peas.
• Drizzle in ice cold water then pulse until mixture begins to clump.

  Note: if dough is too crumbly add a bit more water.
• Remove dough from food processor and place on a floured surface. Flatten into a disk then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour or up to 2 days.
• Remove dough from refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for 15 minutes.
• Roll out dough on a floured surface, rotating a quarter turn after each roll of the rolling pin until dough is 11-inches in diameter.
• Gently drape dough into pie dish then trim edges leaving a 1-inch overhang. Tuck excess dough under itself then pinch to crimp edges around the rim.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place pie plate in the freezer to chill for 30 minutes while the oven gets hot.
• Remove pie crust from the freezer and line completely with aluminum foil. Next, fill foiled crust to the top with pie weights (dried beans or dried rice also work well).
• Par bake the pie crust for 15 minutes.
• Remove crust from the oven then carefully lift aluminum foil by the edges to remove both foil and weights.
• Using a fork, prick the bottom and sides of the pie dough multiple times. This will help prevent the dough from puffing up as it bakes.
• Return pie crust to the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until bottom is dry and just begins turning golden brown.
• Place pie dish on a baking rack to cool while you prepare filling.

Cream Cheese Filling

• Beat cream cheese and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth and lump free. Approximately 3 minutes.
• Add vanilla and egg then beat until combined.
• Beat in flour then set aside while you prepare pumpkin filling.

Pumpkin Filling

• In a large bowl, whisk all pumpkin filling ingredients until combined.
• Add 1/2 cup of cream cheese filling to pumpkin filling then whisk until incorporated.

Assembly

• Pour pumpkin filling into pie crust.
• Using a large spoon, dollop remaining cream cheese filling onto pumpkin layer in randomly placed droplets.
• Gently swirl cream cheese into the pumpkin filling using a wooden skewer or knife tip to create a marbled pattern. Avoid over-swirling or cream cheese will completely blend in with pumpkin.
• Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until the filling is set.
• Place pie on a wire rack to cool at room temperature for 1 hour.
• Cover and refrigerate pie for 3 hours before slicing and serving.
• To store, cover and place pie in the refrigerator up to 5 days.

Keyword cream cheese, pie, pumpkin