Description
These Christmas Cheesecake Cookies are a festive and delicious treat featuring a creamy cheesecake base blended into a soft, buttery cookie dough. Marbled with red and green colors and infused with peppermint extract, these cookies bring holiday cheer with every bite.
Ingredients
Scale
Base Dough
- 8 oz cream cheese room temperature
- 1/2 cup butter room temperature
- 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Coloring and Flavoring
- Red food coloring
- Green food coloring
- 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
Optional
- Powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat Oven: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats to prepare for baking.
- Mix Cream Cheese and Butter: Beat the cream cheese and butter together at high speed for 1 to 2 minutes until the mixture is fluffy and smooth.
- Add Sugar and Eggs: Add the granulated sugar to the cream cheese mixture and beat for another 1 to 2 minutes until fully incorporated and fluffy. Then beat in the eggs and vanilla extract for 1 minute.
- Combine Dry Ingredients: In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add these dry ingredients to the wet mixture and stir until just combined to avoid over-mixing.
- Divide and Chill Dough: Separate the dough evenly into three small bowls and refrigerate for 15 minutes to firm up.
- Add Colors and Flavor: After chilling, add red food coloring to one bowl of dough, green food coloring and peppermint extract to another, and leave the third plain. Mix until the colors are evenly distributed. If dough feels sticky, chill again briefly.
- Form Cookies: Take 1/2 tablespoon of each colored dough and gently roll them together between your palms to create a marbled effect. Be careful not to blend the colors too much. Repeat to form all cookies and place them on the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake: Bake cookies at 350 degrees F for 11 minutes. Look for cookies that are light in color with just a slight browning on the bottom, avoiding overbaking for a soft texture.
- Cool and Finish: Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. Optionally, dust with powdered sugar before serving.
Notes
- Store cookies in a tightly sealed container for up to one week or freeze for up to three months.
- For a more tart and cheesy flavor, substitute the vanilla extract with 1 teaspoon of lemon juice or omit extracts altogether.
- Peppermint extract is optional and can be omitted or replaced with other flavorings according to preference.
- Do not overbake the cookies as they can become dry and biscuit-like; watch for light color and slight browning on the bottoms.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 140 kcal
- Sugar: 10 g
- Sodium: 110 mg
- Fat: 7 g
- Saturated Fat: 4 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 18 g
- Fiber: 0.5 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 30 mg
