Looking for the perfect holiday pie? This Caramel Cream Pie is delicious, and has an easy homemade crust! Creamy caramel cheesecake filling, topped with whipped cream and dulce de leche.
Love dulce de leche? Try our easy alfajores cookies (filled with dulce de leche)!! Give our cherry pie recipe a try next when you’re looking to bake up something perfect.
Table of Contents
Why This Pie is Best
If you’re looking for something different to bring to the holiday table this year, you’re going to LOVE this caramel cream pie. It just might become a new tradition!
- Dulce de leche pie – Caramel and cream cheese come to make the sweet, tangy cream filling.
- Flaky pie crust – This super simple recipe takes the guesswork out of making great tasting flaky pie crust from scratch.
- Make ahead dessert – Make it the day before and let it chill in the fridge overnight. You can spend more time with your guests and less time in the kitchen.
Ingredient Notes
- Crisco baking sticks – One of the secrets to tender, flaky pie crust! You can use any brand of all vegetable shortening but we like the convenience of premeasured baking sticks.
- Ice cold water – The cold temperature keeps the shortening from melting before it goes into the oven resulting in the flakiest possible crust.
- Dulce de leche – A thick caramel sauce that comes in cans. It’s mixed into the filling for a rich caramel flavor, then drizzled on top for a beautiful presentation.
- Cream cheese – This gets blended with the dulce de leche and heavy cream to provide the structure, richness and tang that enhances the caramel flavor.
Confession time: It took me a long time to master making pie crust from scratch.
For years, I relied on refrigerated pie crusts. I still use them for recipes like cherry hand pies and mini apple pies.
But for today’s dulce de leche pie, it’s well worth the little bit of extra effort it takes to make your own pie crust!
How to Make Pie Crust
STEP 1. Combine flour and salt in a bowl. Use a pastry blender or fork to cut shortening into the flour mixture until it forms coarse crumbs.
STEP 2. Stir in the water a tablespoon at a time just until the dough holds together.
STEP 3. Shape the dough into a ball. Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or until you’re ready to make your pie.
STEP 4. Roll dough into a circle that’s about 2 inches larger in diameter than your pie plate.
STEP 5. Transfer dough to the pie plate. Trim edges of dough hanging over the edge of the plate and fold over to form an edge. Use a fork to poke a few holes in the bottom center of the crust.
STEP 6. Bake crust in a 425 degree oven on a lower rack for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown.
Remove from oven and cool completely before adding the caramel filling.
Tips and Tricks
- Test the dough for moisture. Pinch off a section of dough in your hand. If it holds together firmly, you’re good. If it crumbles, add more water, a bit at a time, until the dough holds together in a ball.
- Use a cold mixing bowl when making the caramel pie filling. This helps the cream form stiff peaks as you beat it for perfect consistency.
- Heat leftover dulce de leche in the microwave. It will soften to an ideal consistency for drizzling over the top of the finished caramel cream pie.
Recipe FAQs
Dulce de leche is a milk caramel made by slowly heating milk and sugar together over a long period of time. It is a typical component of desserts in Latin America and gives this pie it rich, creamy caramel flavor.
Yes, you can make the dough for the pie crust and store it in the refrigerator for up to 2 days before baking.
Once the pie crust is baked, we recommend adding the filling and enjoying the pie within a day for best flaky consistency and fresh flavor.
You can, but I find it is a little trickier to work with. Check out my classic pie crust recipe for my tips for making pie crust with butter!
Keep this caramel cream pie covered in the refrigerator when not eating. It tastes delicious cold straight from the fridge!
More Pie Recipes
Caramel Cream Pie
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1 ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup chilled Crisco Baking Sticks all-vegetable shortening
- 3-6 Tablespoons ice cold water
For the filling:
- 1 can dulce de leche caramel (divided) 13.4 ounce
- 8 ounce cream cheese softened
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 2 ½ cups heavy whipping cream
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
Instructions
For the crust:
- Blend flour and salt in a large bowl. Cut shortening into flour mixture using a pastry blender (or fork). Stir in water, by tablespoon, until dough holds together (I used 4 Tbsp)
- Test dough for proper moistness by squeezing a marble sized ball of dough in your hand. If it holds together firmly, you’re good. If it crumbles, add more water (tablespoon at a time) until dough is moist enough to form a smooth ball.
- Shape dough into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (up to 48 hours).
- Roll dough from center outward into a circle on a lightly floured surface. You want the circle to be about 2 inches larger than your pie plate. Transfer dough to pie plate. Trim edges of dough, folding the edge under to flute dough as desired. Prick bottom of crust with a fork.
- Bake crust in a 425 degree oven (in the lower third of the oven) for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown.
- Remove from oven and cool completely.
For the filling:
- In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese with 1/2 cup of dulce de leche and powdered sugar. Set aside. In a clean and COLD mixing bowl, beat heavy cream with granulated sugar for a couple minutes until stiff peaks form. Remove about 1/2 cup of the whipped cream and reserve it for the garnish.
- To the remainder of the whipped cream, fold in the caramel cream cheese mixture until fully blended. With the remaining dulce de leche, reserve about 1-2 Tbsp for garnish. Spread the remainder in the bottom of your cooled pie crust. Top with caramel cream mixture. Top with reserved whipped cream. Melt dulce de leche in microwave and drizzle over pie. Refrigerate pie for 4 hours or overnight. Slice and enjoy!
Notes
- Test the dough for moisture. Pinch off a section of dough in your hand. If it holds together firmly, you’re good. If it crumbles, add more water, a bit at a time, until the dough holds together in a ball.
- Use a cold mixing bowl when making the caramel pie filling. This helps the cream form stiff peaks as you beat it for perfect consistency.
- Heat leftover dulce de leche in the microwave. It will soften to an ideal consistency for drizzling over the top of the finished caramel cream pie.
Nutrition
Creamy dulce de leche filling inside a homemade pie shell. The perfect caramel pie for the holidays or any special occasion!
Hi Aimee, I’m dying to make this recipe for my parents 50th anniversary – they love caramel! But I need to know what size can of the caramel you used and also is it 2 cups of finished whipped cream that gets folded in? Thanks in advance!
Hi Aimee, I’m dying to make this recipe for my parents 50th anniversary – they love caramel! But I need to know what size can of the caramel you used and also is it 2 cups of finished whipped cream that gets folded in? Thanks in advance!
Can you make this crust with butter instead of crisco?
I’m not an experienced pie maker so forgive my ignorance.
How could i make the filling more dense?
It’s a good consistency but i would like to make it more like a cheesecake. Maybe not quite so dense, but just a little more. Thanks!