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Meet your new favorite cookie recipe: soft and sweet strawberry cookies filled with a gooey cheesecake center. These golden-brown morsels of goodness will be devoured as soon as they’re out of the oven!
Craving cookies, but don’t want something chocolatey? Fruit-filled cookies are the answer! Try these strawberry cake mix cookies, lemon ricotta cookies, or blueberry cookies next!
Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies Recipe
When it comes to desserts, you can’t go wrong with cheesecake. Especially when it’s stuffed inside a golden brown cookie made with strawberry pieces. Honestly, I think that these are some of the best cookies I’ve ever tried. The soft and buttery cookie base combined with tangy cheesecake and sweet strawberry… it’s dreamy.
This is the perfect summer potluck dessert and trust me when I say, they will fly off the table. It’s no surprise why when they’re soft and buttery with an ooey-gooey cheesecake core! The good news is, unlike making a homemade cheesecake, these cookies are super simple to whip up. Easy to make, and even easier to devour! Once you get a taste, you’ll want to keep the whole pan for yourself.
Ingredients for the Cookies and Cheesecake Filling
These ingredients combine to create a dessert that’s the perfect blend of cheesecake and cookie! I love this recipe because it uses a lot of standard baking ingredients. Just make sure you have some freeze-dried strawberries on hand! The sweet strawberry pieces bring all of the flavors together. Note: all measurements can be found below in the recipe card.
Cheesecake Filling
- Cream Cheese: This acts as the base of the filling and makes it smooth and creamy. I used regular full-fat cream cheese.
- Powdered Sugar: Helps to stabilize the filling and also adds sweetness!
- Vanilla: Adds a warm, sweet taste to the cheesecake filling. For the best flavor, use pure vanilla extract or make your own blend.
Cookies
- Unsalted Butter: It’s best if your butter is at room temperature so it mixes together smoothly with the other ingredients.
- Sugar: I used both brown and white sugar here for a deep sweetness.
- Large Eggs: Bind all of the strawberry cheesecake cookie ingredients together!
- Vanilla: Adds warmth and enhances all of the cookie flavors.
- Flour: For giving the cookies structure. All-purpose flour works great!
- Baking Powder: A must-add so your cookies rise properly.
- Salt: Just a pinch to make everything taste better.
- White Chocolate Chips: Add melty, creamy goodness to the cookies!
- Freeze-Dried Strawberries: For sweet strawberry flavor in each bite. Fresh strawberries can also be used. I would avoid using frozen strawberries because they release liquid as the cookies bake, making them soggy.
How to Make Strawberry Cookies Filled With Cheesecake
It’s not difficult at all to make these strawberry cheesecake cookies. If anything, it’s kind of fun to put them together and then see how perfectly they turn out! This has quickly become one of my favorite cookie recipes and I know you will love it just as much. Especially if you’re a fan of both strawberries and cheesecake like me!
To Make the Cheesecake Filling:
- Preheat Oven, Prepare Pans: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Cream Cheese Filling: In a medium bowl beat together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla on medium speed until smooth. Be sure to scrape down the bowl to make sure it is all well combined. Scoop teaspoon sized dollops of the cream cheese mixture onto a parchment lined baking sheet and place in the freezer while you prepare the dough.
For the Cookies:
- Sugar Mixture: In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar for 3-4 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until combined
- Mix Dry Ingredients: Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt just until combined. Fold in the white chocolate chips and freeze dried strawberries by hand.
- Scoop: Using a larger cookie scoop, about 3 tablespoons, scoop the cookie dough onto the baking sheets and flatten out.
- Fill: Add one dollop of the chilled cheesecake filling in the center of the flattened cookie dough and form the cookie dough up around the filling. Make sure to pinch the edges so the dough seals the filling inside. I found that a few cookies needed a pinch or two of additional cookie dough to fully seal the filling inside.
- Bake: Place the stuffed cookie balls on the baking sheet leaving 2 inches between them. Bake for 12-14 minutes, until the edges of the cookies are just barely starting to brown and the center still look underbaked. The cookies will still be light in color, they won’t brown very much. Remove strawberry cheesecake cookies from the oven and let cool for 2-3 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a cooling rack.
Tips for Making the Best Cookies
To get bakery-worthy cookies, here are a few simple tips to keep in mind! Strawberry cheesecake cookies are seriously so good, you’re going to want to make them all the time.
- Chill Cheesecake Filling: Take the time to really chill the cheesecake centers. This will prevent the cheesecake filling from melting into the cookie dough as it bakes.
- Strawberry Pieces: When crushing the freeze dried strawberries, I left some pretty chunky pieces, but also crushed some into powder. This gives the cookie dough a nice strawberry marbled look and makes sure every bite is packed with strawberry flavor. For more strawberry flavor, you can also add a teaspoon of strawberry extract to the cookie dough.
- Leave Out the Chocolate: The white chocolate chips can be omitted if desired.
- Don’t Overbake! These strawberry cheesecake cookies will look underbaked when they come out of the oven, but they will continue to bake as they cool. Trust the process.
- Using a Smaller Cookie Scoop: Smaller cookie scoops will work, but the amount of filling for each cookie will need to be reduced in order to allow the cookie dough to form a seal all around it.
Storing Leftover Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies
These creamy cookies never last long whenever I make them. If by some slim chance you have leftovers, here’s how you can keep your cookies fresh.
- In the Refrigerator: Store in an airtight container for 4-5 days.
- Reheating: For that just out of the oven freshness, pop your cookies in the microwave for 10-15 seconds until warm and melty.
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Preheat the oven to 350° and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
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In a medium bowl beat together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla on medium speed until smooth. Be sure to scrape down the bowl to make sure it is all well combined. Scoop teaspoon sized dollops onto a parchment lined baking sheet and place in the freezer while you prepare the dough.
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In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar for 3-4 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until combined
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Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt just until combined. Stir in the white chocolate chips and freeze dried strawberries by hand.
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Using a larger cookie scoop, about 3 tablespoons, scoop the cookie dough onto the baking sheets and flatten out.
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Add one dollop of the chilled cheesecake filling in the center of the flattened cookie dough and form the cookie dough up around the filling. Make sure to pinch the edges so the dough seals the filling inside. I found that a few cookies needed a pinch or two of additional cookie dough to fully seal the filling inside.
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Place the stuffed cookie balls on the baking sheet leaving 2 inches between them. Bake for 12-14 minutes, until the edges of the cookies are just barely starting to brown and the center still look underbaked. The cookies will still be light in color, they won’t brown very much. Remove from the oven and let cool for 2-3 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a cooling rack.
Serves: 24
Calories320kcal (16%)Carbohydrates45g (15%)Protein3g (6%)Fat14g (22%)Saturated Fat8g (40%)Polyunsaturated Fat1gMonounsaturated Fat4gTrans Fat0.3gCholesterol45mg (15%)Sodium142mg (6%)Potassium219mg (6%)Fiber2g (8%)Sugar29g (32%)Vitamin A385IU (8%)Vitamin C121mg (147%)Calcium46mg (5%)Iron3mg (17%)
All nutritional information is based on third party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods and portion sizes per household.