Candy Cane Pie is a sweet & creamy dessert with some peppermint spice to it. An easy no bake holiday pie recipe you need this Christmas! Make it with a homemade Oreo Pie Crust to make this an easy from scratch Christmas dessert.

 

With Thanksgiving behind us, it’s time to look forward to Christmas and the New Year! We’ve had our fix of all sorts of tasty pumpkin desserts but going into December, a lot of us have cravings for all sorts of Christmas and holiday flavors. This Candy Cane Pie is perfect for the upcoming holiday season.

Peppermint treats like Peppermint White Hot Chocolate, Peppermint Bark or Peppermint Truffles are always some of my favorite peppermint recipes. But, my No Bake Peppermint Cheesecake and this No Bake Candy Cane Pie are perfect for holiday dessert.

The No Bake Oreo Pie Crust in this recipe is a perfect foundation. The chocolate flavors in the crust work perfectly with our no bake pie filling as well: the slight tang of cream cheese and that rich sweetness you can only get from sweetened condensed milk. Add in a nice touch of peppermint flavor and a little snowfall of crushed peppermint candy cane pieces on top and you’ve got a delicious No Bake Christmas Pie recipe that’s a winner!

Why you’ll love this Easy Candy Cane Pie recipe

• This easy holiday dessert recipe takes a lot of shortcuts without sacrificing any of the flavor. Oreo Pie Crust is way easier to prep than any from scratch pie crust you can make and that cream cheese pie filling? Couldn’t get much easier!
• This Christmas Pie recipe really checks all the boxes for any holiday flavors you’re craving this winter. Rich chocolate in the pie crust, creamy and tangy sweetness in the pie filling, and a good touch of peppermint flavor to boot? It’s the perfect holiday party dessert!
• The recipe can be made with a store bought chocolate pie crust, making it even easier to prep.

Candy Cane Peppermint Pie Ingredients

This Candy Cane Pie is so great: even though it packs tons of holiday flavor, you don’t need any weird or exotic ingredients to make it. Here’s all you’re going to need- you’ll probably have a lot of this in your fridge, freezer, or pantry already:

• Oreo Cookies and Butter – These are the two ingredients that make up our Oreo Pie Crust recipe. Feel free to save this recipe for any other no bake pies and desserts you want to make down the line!
• Cream Cheese – Let this soften before starting the recipe.
• Sweetened Condensed Milk
• Red Food Coloring – This isn’t totally necessary, but a few drops of red food coloring gives the finished pie a nice pink color.
• Peppermint Extract
• Cool Whip – Or any other frozen whipped topping you can find. Make sure you’ve allowed it to thaw before using it. Consider topping with homemade whipped cream if you would like.
• Candy Canes – We’ll be crushing these up for a topping. Obviously, any sort of pre-crushed candy canes or “peppermint snow” will work too.

See recipe card for quantities.

How to make Candy Cane Pie

You don’t have to worry at all- this Easy Candy Cane Pie is so simple to make! Here’s all you have to do:

1. Pulse Oreos in food processor until crushed into fine crumbs before adding melted butter and pulsing to combine. Press Oreo crust mixture into bottom and sides of a greased 9″ pie pan. Let set in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
2. Add cream cheese to a large bowl and beat until fluffy. Add sweetened condensed milk, peppermint extract, and food coloring to the cream cheese mixture before beating to combine. Fold together with half of the Cool Whip. DO NOT OVER MIX!
3. Transfer mixture to pie crust and spread evenly. Top with remaining Cool Whip before sprinkling crushed candy cane pieces over top for garnish. Let freeze for 2 hours and remove from freezer 15 minutes before you are ready to serve.

Substitutions

This Candy Cane Peppermint Pie is pretty easy to make and is pretty forgiving when it comes to substituting ingredients. In case you’re missing a few ingredients, here’s a few easy substitutes you can make:

• Oreo Pie Crust – Of course, if you already have any store bought Oreo pie crust on hand, feel free to use that instead of making one from scratch. You can also go with other no bake pie crusts if you’d prefer! Try making this pie with our Homemade Nilla Wafer Pie Crust or No Bake Graham Cracker Crust next time.
• Sweetened Condensed Milk – If you ended up grabbing evaporated milk instead of sweetened condensed milk, don’t worry. You can make sweetened condensed milk with evaporated milk by simply combining it with an equal measure of sugar on the stovetop. For something more off-the-shelf, cream of coconut could work too if you don’t mind the extra coconut flavor.
• Peppermint Extract – You can sub in other mint extracts like spearmint extract and wintergreen extract if those are all you’ve got. Another surprising peppermint extract substitute might be sitting on your bar-cart: peppermint schnapps or creme de menthe! Either of these mint liqueurs can be subbed in for peppermint extract- you’ll probably want to use 2-3x the volume you’d use for extract though.

Variations

While we’re sure you’re going to love this No Bake Candy Cane Pie as it is, you might want to add to it or change it up! We’ve got a couple ideas you try out:

• Layered Candy Cane Pie – In a way, this is already a sort of layered no bake pie- with our cream cheese peppermint pie filling and the Cool Whip topping. You could easily add more layers to a pie like this if you wanted: the easiest way, we think, would some Jello chocolate pudding on the bottom.
• Loaded Chocolate Candy Cane Pie – We sprinkled some crushed candy canes over the top of the pie, but what if we added some into the filling too? You could do this along with some mini mint chocolate chips to get a bit of extra peppermint or chocolate flavor into each bite.
• Add additional toppings like shaved milk or white chocolate for a fancy pie.

Storage / Freezing

Storage: Once your pie has set, you can keep it in the fridge for 4-5 days.

Freezing: Freezing is another solid option, especially for long-term storage. You’ll want to wrap your No Bake Pie in a layer of plastic wrap and then a layer of foil before keeping in the freezer. Keep frozen for up to 3 months and let thaw in the fridge overnight before enjoying.

Other Peppermint Recipes

Looking for other peppermint recipes? Try these:

More Cream Pie Recipes

Here are some more of our favorite cream pies: