Chewy cookies studded with fresh strawberries and filled with a decadent cheesecake center.
- 8 oz full-fat cream cheese softened
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon lemon juice
- ⅓ cup fresh strawberries diced
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup granulated white sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
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Make cream cheese filling by combining cream cheese, lemon juice and confectioners sugar.
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Whisk until thoroughly combined and scoop twelve 1 teaspoon balls on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. Freeze until it is properly frozen and hard.
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Toss diced strawberries with corn starch in a small bowl then set aside.
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In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and soda, and salt; set aside.
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Cream together butter and sugars in bowl of your mixer. Beat on low speed for 3 minutes until smooth and creamy.
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Gradually add egg and vanilla. Mix on low until combined.
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Stir in flour mixture.
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Fold in the diced strawberries.
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Freeze cookie dough for 30 minutes, or refrigerate for 1 hour.
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Once chilled, form the cookie dough balls with 2 tablespoons of dough each. These cookies will look tall.
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If the cookie dough balls lose their firmness while shaping all the dough, simply return them to the freezer to regain their solidity before proceeding.
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Preheat the oven to 350 F.
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Place the dough balls onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a baking mat, making sure to leave a distance of 2-3 inches between each ball, as these cookies tend to expand significantly while baking.
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Using a cookie scoop, extract approximately 1 to 1 ½ teaspoons of dough from the top center of each cookie dough ball, leaving the edges slightly raised. Place the extracted dough pieces adjacent to each ball for use in the following step. The cavity created should be sizeable enough to accommodate the frozen cream cheese balls.
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Remove the cream cheese balls from the freezer. Insert a frozen cream cheese ball into the indent of each cookie dough ball, then cover it with the previously removed dough, pinching the edges to secure the cream cheese inside. Note that the cookie dough may soften and become sticky during this process, so it may be necessary to refreeze the balls until they regain their firmness prior to baking.
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When ready, bake for 14-16 minutes (the time will vary from oven to oven). Allow the cookies to set and cool completely.
Be careful that the indentation in the cookies is not excessively deep or wide, as this could cause the cream cheese to spill out during baking. Try to aim for the middle part leaving enough space around the edges.
It’s important to chill the cream cheese balls for easier assembling of these cookies. Likewise, freezing the cookie dough will help reduce the stickiness of the cookie dough so that you can roll the dough into balls.
You can also use freeze-dried strawberries instead of fresh ones. In this case, the baking time should be less as these cookies won’t have that much moisture like from fresh berries. Bake for 12-13 minutes.
These cookies can be made with a gluten-free flour blend (with a thickening agent such as xanthan gum) however the cookies will look and feel more tender and may require maximum baking time to cook through and harden (depending on flour brand used).