Cream Cheese Dough is super simple to make and a great recipe to have in your repertoire. It’s tender, flaky and rolls beautifully. This is my go-to hand pie dough because it is tasty yet sturdy.

Have I ever told you about my love affair with all things pie? Ha, ha! Of course I have.

I believe that a really great pie is impossible without a really great crust. Of course, once you master the Perfect Pie Crust you could use it for every pie you make.

Me? I like to choose a specific crust for the type of pie I’m baking. That super tender and super flaky Perfect Pie Crust is exactly what I want for Glazed Maple Apple Pie.

But if I’m making a savory galette or pasties I prefer to use an awesomely delicious Rye Pie Crust .

This dough is made with cream cheese and butter and it’s my go-to hand pie dough. I use it to make Glazed Blueberry Hand Pies, Sour Cherry Almond Hand Pies, Roasted Strawberry Hand Pies and Fried Tequila Peach Hand Pies.

Why Cream Cheese Dough is a great hand pie dough:

Why is cream cheese dough the perfect dough for hand pies? Because this recipe makes a crust that is not too tender or too flaky.

Yes, Yes, tender and flaky is generally exactly what we want in a pie dough. But hand pies are, you know, “handled” a bit more.

• A super tender crust might crumble apart as you pick up and eat a hand pie.
• A super flaky crust can be a bit brittle and break apart when rolling. This can be a problem when you need to roll, cut and shape individual pies.
• Instead of a mixture of all purpose and cake flour, this recipe uses only all purpose flour. This makes a dough with a more sturdy structure that can stand up to the rolling, cutting and shaping required for hand pies.
• A little sugar is added for flavor, browning and tenderizing
• Instead of all butter, or 1/2 butter and 1/2 shortening, this recipe uses 1/2 cream cheese and 1/2 butter.
• The cream cheese adds flavor from the milk solids.
• The cream cheese has protein so the crust will brown better. Since hands pies are in the oven for much less time than regular pie, faster browning is needed for a golden crust.
• Because cream cheese is less brittle than butter, the dough rolls easily without cracking.
• There is some butter in the dough for flavor and flakiness.

Scroll through the step by step photos to see how to make Flaky Cream Cheese Dough:

If you love this recipe as much as I do, I’d really appreciate a 5-star review.