Upgrade your favorite pie with a simple, beginner-friendly Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie Crust! A super soft, chewy, and thick chocolate chip cookie, buttery and rich, with a whole mess of mini chocolate chips, all in the shape of a pie crust. Fill it to the brim with your favorite no-bake pie filling!
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Aaaaaah, I have wanted to make a Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie Crust for FOREVER!
I tried a few iterations of this idea, and had a number of failures.
For example, I’ve purchased tubs and tubes of prepared chocolate chip cookie dough, a la Tollhouse or Pillsbury, thinking that it would be easiest not to make a crust dough from scratch. They don’t work though.
I tried pressing the dough into a pie plate, but it completely sinks and spreads. It loses all shape, and never really sets up.
It creates a pool of half-baked, droopy, cookie dough in a pie plate. Not altogether un-delicious, but certainly not functional as a pie crust.
I also tried a few standard, homemade chocolate chip cookie dough recipes, and they haven’t worked for similar reasons. Sinking and drooping, etc. While soft, gooey middles are amazing for regular chocolate chip cookies, it’s not awesome for a pie crust!
But it did occur to me that the dough for this tried-and-true Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake could probably be molded into a pie crust, and it was likely to keep its shape, no sinking sides. It works. The cookie dough that I use for a Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake actually makes an ideal pie crust.
It’s functional, and it isn’t a gimmick. The sides will not sink as it bakes, the center will set, and it will stay soft and chewy, but sturdy.
Here’s why it works:
The texture is pretty critical — the Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie Crust should be soft. It’s going to house a no-bake pie filling, and thus will likely be stored in the refrigerator, so a soft crust is necessary so that it won’t be rock-hard and brittle when chilled. It should be soft, but sturdy, and it is.
Cornstarch is the magic ingredient that keeps the whole cookie crust soft, puffy, and chewy. MUCH brown sugar also helps for moisture and softness, but the cornstarch is key.
This recipe also calls for an extra egg yolk. That additional fat adds richness and a “luxuriousness” while also keeping it soft. Rich, tender cookie crust.
Lastly, less butter here than traditional chocolate chip drop cookies, so less spreading, and more structure to the dough as a whole.
Here’s a helpful tip though — the crust doesn’t sink and slide, rather it does quite the opposite and it puffs up! It will deflate as it cools, yes, but when it’s still warm from the oven — like straight from the oven — use the bottom of a glass or the bottom of a measuring cup, and lightly press the bottom and sides of the crust. This helps reshape it again, and then it will hold that nice crust form.
How do you know when this Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie Crust is ready? The center should appear crackly, and mostly set. If you’ve baked it for 35 minutes or so, edges are golden, and a toothpick comes out clean, even if the center seems a little loose, that’s totally okay. It will finish setting as it cools.
All in all, this Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie Crust is simple and beginner-friendly. Even easier than traditional drop chocolate chip cookies, honestly.
It doesn’t require any inordinate ingredients, or have any advanced steps, and you’re off to the races with a thick, chewy, and soft-baked Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie Crust that won’t sink or spread. Fill it to the brim with your favorite no-bake pie filling!
Any filling from a no bake pie or cheesecake recipe — here’s a few ideas:
- Peanut Butter Pie
- Nutella Cheesecake
- Biscoff Cheesecake
- Why not Coconut Cream Pie filling?
- Or even no-bake Pumpkin Cheesecake filling?
- Chocolate Pudding Pie
Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie Crust
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup butter softened
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 large whole egg + 1 egg yolk at room temperature
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp. cornstarch
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and brown sugar until creamy.
- Add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract, beating until combined.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl, and beat until combined.
- Fold in semi-sweet chocolate chips.
- Spray a 9-inch pie plate with non-stick spray.
- Press dough evenly into the bottom and up the sides of the pie plate.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes, or until the edges and top are golden, the center appears crackly and set, and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
- Crust will have puffed and risen, this is normal. It will deflate as it cools. Remove the cookie crust from the oven, and while hot, carefully use the bottom of a glass or a measuring cup to lightly reshape the crust so that it's form and edges are nice and structured!
- Cool completely on a wire rack. Fill with your favorite no-bake pie filling!
Looking for other unconventional pie crust ideas?
- Pretzel Crust or Nutter Butter Crust
- Coconut Macadamia Crust (Key Lime Pie).
- Walnut Crust (Maple Walnut Cheesecake).
- Biscoff Crust (Cookie Butter Cheesecake).
- Gingersnap Crust (Pumpkin Cheesecake).
- I’ve used a Brownie Crust on MANY occasions.
Wow…Sarah..This is an amazing cookies pie crust and more easy to make as well…i can’t wait to try it this weekend…Thanks for sharing……!
Thank you so much!
My daughter had an idea for a dessert she wanted to try making this Thanksgiving: an ice cream pie with chocolate chip cookie crust. I said sure, I’d look for a recipe, but I had a hard time finding one that fit what she was envisioning (like a pie version of the Toll house cookie ice cream sandwich). This was one of the few recipes for a pie crust that looked like what we wanted, so I figured I’d give it a shot.
When it came out of the oven I was worried because it had puffed up into a giant cookie, no pie shape left! I left it to cool, took a shower, and when I came back the center had sunk down an inch. Since this recipe makes a soft cookie, I was able to smoosh it back into shape and fill it with vanilla ice cream. Then I trimmed the edges a little bit since they got slightly over cooked. It sat in the freezer for two days, and last night we cut into it. Success! I did have to pop the whole thing out of the pan to slice it with a cleaver since it was frozen, but the cookie crust was chewy, not rock solid as I feared. My husband said he was cool with us making this every year.
Thanks for doing all the experimentation and tweaking to this recipe so I didn’t have to! It was exactly what we were looking for.
Great!! Yes… it does lose some shape, but then it can be easily molded back into a pie crust shape. It’s a little imperfect as far as that goes, but ends up making a delicious, soft pie crust! I’m so glad you enjoyed!
Hey Sarah, this looks amazing. Quick question, I wanted to know how to store them. I intend to put the filling after 2 days. Should it be stored in the fridge? Or at room temp in a airtight box like we’d do with cookies. Do reply. Thanks
You’ll make the crust 1-2 days ahead of time, and then fill it later? I think I’d store it in the fridge til it’s filled in this case. If it was actual cookies, that’d be different, but for a crust that will be filled and will need to hold up better, fridge, I’d say!
Decent cookie crust, we used it for an ice cream cake. I think it could be sweeter, I’ll add more sugar next time & look forward to seeing what is like room temp.
Thank you for your feedback! I appreciate it!
Have you tried this with a spring form pan?
Yes, I have!
I made this crust for my chocolate cream pie and it was super delicious! It was definitely a hit! I wish this would allow me to post a pic.!
Hey I would like to know would it work with baked cheesecake?
It does, yes!
Hello,
If I were to use tapioca starch instead will a regular cornstarch to tapioca starch conversion work? I don’t often cook with either.
I am not sure! I think if there are reputable sources that say a cornstarch to tapioca conversion will work, then I hope you will be okay. But I’m just not sure! Happy Thanksgiving!