Description
This blueberry cream cheese pie is best made ahead so the filling and topping can set and the pie slices neatly. The blueberry topping is jammy and sweet and you can make it with frozen blueberries, so this is a wonderful year-round dessert.
Ingredients
Blueberry Topping
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 2 and 1/4 cups (around 315g) fresh or frozen blueberries (do not thaw)
- 2 Tablespoons (25g) granulated sugar
Graham Cracker Crust
- 1 and 1/2 cups (180g) graham cracker crumbs (about 12 full sheet graham crackers)
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 6 Tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, melted
Filling
- 1 cup (240ml) cold heavy cream
- 12 ounces (339g) full-fat brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (90g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- optional for topping: homemade whipped cream
Instructions
- Make the blueberry topping first so it can cool: Using a fork, mix the cornstarch and lemon juice together in a small bowl until the cornstarch has dissolved. Set aside. Warm the blueberries and sugar together in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook for 3 minutes stirring occasionally to help them thaw or break down some juices. Stir in the cornstarch mixture. Cook for 2 more minutes as the topping thickens and simmers, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and set aside at room temperature until step 5. (Must completely cool, so transferring to a bowl out of the saucepan helps speed that up. Feel free to refrigerate.)
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).
- Make the crust: If you’re starting out with full graham crackers, use a food processor or blender to grind them into fine crumbs. Stir the graham cracker crumbs and granulated sugar together in a medium bowl, and then stir in the melted butter. The mixture will be thick, coarse, and sandy. Try to smash/break up any large chunks. Pour the mixture into an ungreased 9-inch pie dish. With medium pressure using your hand, pat the crumbs down into the bottom and up the sides to make a compact crust. Do not pack down with heavy force because that makes the crust too hard. Simply pat down until the mixture is no longer crumby/crumbly. For more shaping technique tips, see the graham cracker crust recipe page. Bake the crust for 15 minutes, remove from the oven, and cool for just 15 minutes as you prepare the filling in the next step.
- Make the filling: Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the cold heavy cream into stiff peaks on medium-high speed, about 4 minutes. Set aside. Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk or paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a silicone spatula as needed. Add the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract, and lemon juice and beat on medium-high speed until combined. Make sure there are no large lumps of cream cheese. If there are lumps, keep beating until smooth. Using your mixer on low speed or a rubber spatula, fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture until combined. This takes several turns of your silicone spatula. Combine slowly as you don’t want to deflate all the air in the whipped cream.
- Assemble layers: Spread filling into slightly cooled crust. Use an offset spatula to smooth down the top. Spoon cooled blueberry filling evenly on top.
- Cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and refrigerate for at least 8 hours and up to 2 days. The longer refrigerated, the better the pie will set up. You could also freeze the pie for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator before serving.
- Feel free to garnish the pie with whipped cream right before or a few hours before serving (keep pie refrigerated after adding whipped cream). I used Wilton 1M piping tip for the whipped cream in the pictured pie. Using a clean sharp knife, cut into slices for serving. For neat slices, wipe the knife clean between each slice. Tip: The first slice is never pretty! Much easier to slice after that 1st piece is out.
- Cover and store leftover pie in the refrigerator or freezer for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: You can prepare the blueberry topping (step 1) 1–2 days in advance. Cover and refrigerate before using. It’s easiest to spread if it’s at room temperature, so bring to room temperature before spreading on top of filling. You can also freeze the topping for up to 3 months. Thaw, bring to room temperature, then use in the recipe. You can prepare the crust (step 3) up to 2 days in advance. Cover and store baked and cooled crust at room temperature. It must be slightly warm when you spread in the filling so the filling can adhere, so warm in a 350°F (177°C) oven for 1–2 minutes before adding the filling. You can prepare the filling (step 4) 1 day in advance before spreading into the crust in step 5. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Food Processor (for graham cracker crust) | Glass Mixing Bowls | 9-inch Pie Dish | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Silicone Spatula | Offset Spatula | Piping Bag (Reusable or Disposable) | Wilton 1M Piping Tip
- Cream Cheese: Make sure you are using brick cream cheese and not cream cheese spread. Bricks of cream cheese are typically 8 ounces (226g) each, so you need 1 and 1/2 bricks.
- Other Pie Crust: Feel free to swap the graham cracker crust for traditional pie crust. This is my favorite pie crust and I also have this all butter pie crust too. You will need to fully par-bake the pie crust shell.
- Other Fruit Topping: Feel free to make my strawberry cream cheese pie version instead. Or you can replace the blueberries in this recipe with quartered cherries. If using cherries, I recommend adding another 1/2 teaspoon of cornstarch. Raspberries and blackberries get a little too juicy, so I recommend avoiding those unless you do a mixed berry topping with those, blueberries, and strawberries.
- Non-US Readers: If graham crackers are not available where you live, we have also tested this pie with a crust made from digestive biscuits, and it turned out great. Use 200g ground digestive biscuit crumbs (about 2 cups; 13–14 biscuits), 1/3 cup (67g) granulated sugar, and 6 Tablespoons (85g) melted butter. Pre-bake the crust for a bit longer, about 16-17 minutes. And from what I understand, spreadable cream cheese sold in a tub in countries outside of the US is a little different from the spreadable cream cheese in the US. It’s thicker, sturdier, and more solid and should be OK to make this pie. I have no experience with it, but this is what I’ve heard from other non-US readers. If you try it, let us know how it turns out!