Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies
These strawberry cheesecake cookies are soft, buttery, filled with real strawberry flavor, then stuffed with a cream cheese filling!
Servings 12 cookies
Calories 420kcal
Equipment
- handheld mixer or Standing Mixer
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 cup butter (regular or vegan), softened
- ¾ cup white sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2¾ cup all-purpose flour * SEE NOTES
- ½-⅔ cup fresh strawberries, diced small* SEE NOTES
Cream Cheese Filling
- ¾ cup cream cheese (regular or vegan)* (6 oz) SEE NOTES
- ¼ cup powdered sugar* SEE NOTES if using regular (not vegan) cream cheese
Instructions
- This recipe makes 12 LARGE cookies. See NOTES below for instructions to make smaller cookies** Line a small baking sheet or plate with parchment paper. In a small bowl, use a whisk or mixer (depending how hard your cream cheese is) to mix the cream cheese with powdered sugar until smooth and combined.
- Place 10-12 heaping teaspoons of cream cheese on the baking sheet or plate. Freeze for at least one hour, or until frozen almost completely solid.
- When the cream cheese is frozen almost solid, line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda then set aside.
- In the bowl of a handheld mixer or standing mixer, beat the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy (about 1-2 minutes). Mix in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract.
- Add in the flour, salt, and baking soda, and mix until just combined (don't over-mix).
- Dice the strawberries and gently fold them in. You don't want to mix them in too much or they'll get squished and the color will bleed into the dough.
- Scoop 12 heaping tablespoons of dough onto each baking sheet. They should be fairly big - if measured they'd be about 2 tbsp-sized (these are big cookies!). Press the back of a teaspoon slightly into the top of half the balls of dough to create an indent.
- Remove the cream cheese filling from the freezer and place one into each of the cookies. Take a second ball of dough and place it over the cream cheese, pinching the sides to seal the cream cheese inside (see picture in post above), but making sure to not squish the cream cheese into the cookie dough. The dough may start to get sticky and a bit crumbly, and a bit harder to work with because of the strawberries, but just go with it! Wipe your hands clean before moving on to the next cookie. You should have tall balls of dough.
- Refrigerate the prepared cookie dough balls and repeat with the second cookie sheet and remaining dough. Preheat the oven to 350°F and leave the cookie dough in the fridge while it preheats.
- Bake the cookies in the preheated oven one sheet at a time for 13-17 minutes, or until the edges are slightly golden brown and the tops are set. Remove from the oven and leave them on the baking sheet for 10-15 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Video
Notes
PLEASE NOTE: I highly recommend using a kitchen scale to weigh your dry ingredients. Metric measurements are found above under the "Metric" tab.
CREAM CHEESE: depending on what kind of cream cheese you use, the amount of time it takes to freeze the filling may vary.
FLOUR: It is very important that you measure your flour properly! The dough should be slightly more crumbly than a typical cookies dough, but if you use too much flour your dough will be very, very dry. The right way to measure your flour is to weigh it, or use the scoop and level method.
STRAWBERRIES: These cookies work best with fresh strawberries. If you must use frozen, be aware that frozen strawberries hold water so you'll have to work really quickly when assembling the cookies so that the dough doesn't get too sticky, and color may bleed into the dough.
POWDERED SUGAR: If you are using regular (not vegan) cream cheese, increase the powdered sugar to ⅓ cup. It's firmer than vegan cream cheese so more icing sugar will make the filling softer.
TO MAKE SMALLER COOKIES: This recipe makes 12 big cookies. To make smaller cookies, reduce size of cream cheese filling balls to just under 1 teaspoon (instead of 1 heaping tsp). Make each ball of dough 1 tablespoon (instead of 2 tbsp). The assembled cookie will have around 2 tablespoon of dough total. Bake for 10-13 minutes.
Note: Be sure to cover the top and bottom of the cookie dough balls with enough dough - if you have leftover dough after 12 cookies, then the cookies will be too thin to hold the cream cheese filling inside (causing the filling to come out of the bottom). Add all the remaining dough to the bottom and tops of the assembled cookie dough (rather than trying to stretch it further and make more cookies).
Storage Instructions: The cookies are best enjoyed fresh, but you can store them in an airtight container for 3-4 days in the fridge. You can also freeze them in a ziploc bag and let thaw in the fridge when you're ready to eat them.
Note: this recipe was updated on 07/02 with 1 egg yolk added to the recipe ingredient list. The egg yolk helps the dough to not be as sticky, but doesn't change the flavor of the cookies. If you prefer to make the original recipe, simply omit the extra egg yolk from the recipe.
Nutrition
Calories: 420kcal