Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies (VIDEO)

Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies are the ultimate chewy, gooey cream cheese-filled cookies that are bursting in natural strawberry flavor! Besides how amazing they taste, the best thing about these Strawberry cookies is that no special equipment is needed to make them and they come together surprisingly easily following my step-by-step baking guide!

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• Why this is the best recipe
• Ingredient notes
• 6 Expert Baking tips
• Recipe FAQs
• More cookie recipes
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• Easy Strawberry Cheesecake cookies (VIDEO)

Why this is the best recipe

1. Perfect chewy texture – The secret behind chewy cookies is 1. resting them before baking 2. right proportion of wet and dry ingredients with just enough fat (butter) 3. not to overbake them
2. Irresistible gooey cream cheese center – The cookies are loaded with cream cheese filling! There is a small trick during the preparation to fill them with as much cream cheese as possible. Keep on reading my Baking tips!
3. Delicious natural strawberry flavor – I never compromise on taste! The combination of cream cheese and natural strawberry flavors (due to the fresh strawberries added to the cookie batter) will blow your mind! This is hands down the most delicious Strawberry cheesecake cookies recipe ever!
4. Quick & easy to make - Last but not least, it is hard to find a more delicious recipe with so minimal effort. Even if you are a beginner in the kitchen, you can comfortably try this Strawberry Cheesecake cookie recipe

Ingredient notes

1. Butter: Use always unsalted as you want to be in control of the quantity of the salt. I am using European-style 82% fat content butter in all my recipes. In this Strawberry cream cheese cookies recipe, the butter needs to be at room temperature so soft enough to be able to cream with the rest of the ingredients
2. Sugar: Simply granulated sugar is totally fine for this cookie recipe. If you want to learn about the different types of sugar and how to use them in baking, please read my article in here
3. Egg: Room temperature as always, 1 egg+1 yolk is enough as we do not want a cake-like texture
4. Flour: The best chewy cookies are made using high protein content bread flour however simple all-purpose flour should be also fine in this cream cheese-filled cookies recipe. If you want to be a Pro when it comes to deciding what type of flour to use in your baking, please read my article in here
5. Salt: An essential ingredient in most dessert recipes. Balances flavor and enhances other ingredients
6. Baking soda and Baking powder: Makes to cookie slightly risen, tender and chewy
7. Cream cheese: I prefer to use full-fat Philadephia cream cheese in most of my recipes where Cream cheese is stated. It has a lovely taste and perfect texture for baking, perfect to make this Strawberry Cheesecake cookies recipe
8. Powdered sugar: We will use a small amount of powdered/icing sugar for the cream cheese filling part
9. Strawberries: Fresh strawberries are used in the cookie batter providing natural strawberry flavors in the cookies. Do not use frozen strawberries as that can make the cookies way too moist/watery. Freeze dried strawberries tend to brown during baking, so in this recipe, I really encourage to use fresh strawberries only

The exact Ingredient quantities can be found at the end of this post, in the RECIPE CARD!

6 Expert Baking tips

1. How to make the cream cheese mixture

Start with making the cream cheese cookie filling as it needs to be frozen. Why? Because we want to fill the Strawberry cookies with as much cream cheese as possible and it is impossible to fill the cookie dough unless the filling is frozen.

But don´t worry, the process is super simple;

• Whip cream cheese and powdered sugar for a few minutes
• Pipe or spoon 12 equal-sized balls on a parchment paper or silicone baking mat
• Then, flatten the top so the cream cheese filling looks sort of round but a bit more on the flat side
• Freeze for 30-60 minutes

Freezing might seem like an extra step, but it is the only way to ensure a neat cream cheese filling within the cookie dough balls. Please do not attempt to fill the cookie dough unless the cream cheese is completely frozen.

Regarding the shape and size of the cream cheese filling, remember, you will have to seal the frozen cream cheese filling into the cookie dough so you have to be mindful of that. If you want to make the filling larger, you will have to make the cookie part also bigger.

2. Step-by-step process of making cookie batter

While the filling is in the freezer, making the strawberry cookie dough is extremely easy and quick but there are a couple of key steps you have to get right to achieve the right texture;

1. With an Electric hand mixer cream together room temperature (!) butter and sugar for a few minutes (no need to use Stand mixer)
2. Mix in the egg, just until combined
3. Sift the dry ingredients; flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together. Sifting is necessary to avoid lumps later
4. Fold the flour mixture in with the help of a Rubber spatula just until combined. Make sure you fold it only until the mixture comes together, literally 30 seconds. Do not use a mixer and do not over mix the cookie butter. Over mixing ingredients would result in incorporating too much air and gluten into the mixture in which case the strawberry cheesecake cookies might get a crumbly, cake-like texture and we do not want that!
5. Finally, fold in chopped strawberries. Leave some strawberries to place on top of the cookies at a later stage. Tip: Once you chop the strawberries, it is worth soaking them with a paper towel so they won´t make the cookie dough too wet
6. Chill the dough for about 30 minutes to be able to handle it better (so it won+t stick to your hand)

3. Assemble the cream cheese-filled cookies

Once the cream cheese filling is frozen and the strawberry cookie dough is rested, it is time to assemble our cookies;

1. Line 2 trays with parchment paper or baking sheet and with the help of a Digital scale divide the cookie batter into 24 equal portions
2. Take one cookie dough portion, place it onto the parchment paper and gently flatten the top. The diameter of the cookie dough should be bigger, than the diameter of the frozen cream cheese filling
3. Now, take one frozen cream cheese filling and place it on top of the cookie dough, and sort of press it into the cookie dough gently
4. Take another cookie dough portion and gently but firmly seal the frozen cream cheese filling with the bottom cookie dough
5. Continue with the rest of the cookies, you will make 12 altogether
6. You might need some practice but once you assemble a few, it will go super quick. The key is to seal the cream cheese filling into the cookie dough balls

Pro tips: 1. Make sure the cream chees filling is frozen, only take 1 out of the freezer at once 2. Always work with a cookie dough that is cold enough to be able to handle (so it does not stick), but not too cold and firm (so you can comfortably seal the two parts around the cream cheese filling). If needed, pop the dough back into the fridge for a few minutes, then continue

4. Why chill the Strawberry cream cheese cookies before baking

After assembling the strawberry cheesecake cookies, just like when baking any other cookies, you will have to chill the dough. Either 1 hour in the fridge or 20 minutes in the freezer is sufficient enough, and the main reason behind it is to avoid over-spread, sad-looking, flat cookies.

You might come across "no chill cookie dough" on the Internet, I can almost guarantee that the dry vs wet ingredients are unbalanced in any "no chill cookie" meaning when they are baked, they will be dry. The warmer the dough, the easier it will spread in the oven and our aim is to achieve thick, fudge Strawberry cookies.

5. How to bake

First of all, never bake any dessert without properly pre-heating your oven first, so start with that. The cookies will be baked at 175 C / 347°F so preheat the oven +20C / 68F as the oven temp drops when you open the door. Always use Digital oven thermometer to avoid over-baked crumbly or under-baked cookies.

The recipe will make 12 large bakery-style cookies, I recommend baking 6 at once in a tray.

I bake these cookies in the following way: 15 minutes at 175 C / 347°F (no fan). After 15 minutes cookies should already be somewhat spread and that is when I place even more strawberries on top. It is also a perfect moment to slightly shape the cookies and make them perfectly round, see tips further below in the next section. After, I bake them for another 10-15 minutes at again 175 C / 347°F.

These cookies require a longer baking time than your usual chocolate chip cookie because of the filling, and because of the fresh strawberries in the dough, however, please note, that each oven is different so you might need to adjust the times slightly.

The cookies are ready when the edge looks sot of baked and the middle slightly gooey but not raw. Do not overbake your cookies! Leave the cookies on the baking pan while they are still hot as they will further set as they cool. Move them to a cooling rack when they are already partly set, like 5 minutes after they are out of the oven, then let them cool on the rack.

These strawberry cheesecake cookies are best eaten fresh or within the same day.

6. How to achieve perfectly round cookies

Apply the circular trick:

After the tray banging, grab a large cookie cutter or any round shape thing in your kitchen (slightly larger than the size of the cookies in the oven). Hold the cookie cutter and make circular movements around the almost baked cookies which will slightly tighten the cookies, make them perfectly round shape and the movement also encourages crinkle forming on top. Incredible easy trick and works like charm!

Recipe FAQs

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