Cherry Cheesecake Cookies

Cherry cheesecake cookies have all of the flavors of conventional cheesecake – in cookie type. They’ll be a brand new household favourite for years to return!

A number of years in the past, Elle and I had been choosing up some vacation baking necessities on the retailer whereas I had a huuuuge yearning for cherry cheesecake. However we had been proper subsequent to a bunch of cookie-baking provides, and it struck me. 

Cherry cheesecake COOKIES.

You guys know that my household adores cheesecake. We’ve it for birthdays as an alternative of normal cake, and it’s at all times on our vacation tables.

 From my nana’s simple cheesecake to lemon cheesecake, my household has a cheesecake for almost each event. 

We even flip our cupcakes into cheesecake with cherry cheesecake cupcakes. So in fact we might love these cookies, too!

What are cherry cheesecake cookies?

These cherry cheesecake cookies are just about a cheesecake model of thumbprint cookies.

You’ll whip up a cookie dough and cheesecake filling individually. Then, mildew the cookie dough right into a bowl-like form, with somewhat indentation. Spoon or pipe the cheesecake filling into every little indentation, and bake ’em up.

The cookie dough has graham cracker crumbs in it, so that you get the flavour of a graham cracker crust.

As soon as they’re baked, you’ll prime every one with some cherry pie filling (as a result of what’s cheesecake with out cherries?!), and there you’ve it. Cherry cheesecake in an cute cookie type!

Tips on how to make my cherry cheesecake cookies

These candy little bites may look sophisticated, however they’re truly tremendous simple to make. And the components are fairly fundamental, so that you may simply have all the things readily available already!

Elements you’ll want

To make these candy little cookies, you’ll want:

• 1 ¼ cups finely crushed graham crackers 
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 12 tablespoons softened unsalted butter 
• ½ cup packed gentle brown sugar
• 1 egg, white and yolk separated
• 4 ounces softened cream cheese 
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• do-it-yourself cherry pie filling

Earlier than you begin baking, ensure you know the way to measure flour appropriately. This may assist your cherry cheesecake cookies to return out good each time.

You should buy graham cracker crumbs from the shop or crush entire graham crackers to make your personal. You’ll want about 1 sleeve of graham crackers for 1 1/4 cups of crumbs.

Brown sugar provides a richness and chewiness to the cookie dough. In case you are out of brown sugar, attempt making a easy brown sugar substitute.

In case your brown sugar hardened within the pantry, take a look at my methods for softening brown sugar.

Do-it-yourself cherry pie filling is at all times my go-to for topping these cookies, however be at liberty to make use of store-bought if that’s simpler for you. I attempt to purchase the “further fruit” pie fillings so there’s numerous cherries in it.

Making these cookies

Begin by making the graham cracker cookie dough. Whisk collectively the graham cracker crumbs, flour, and baking powder.

In a separate bowl, use a mixer to cream the butter and brown sugar till gentle and fluffy. This may take about 3 minutes. Add the egg white and blend till properly mixed.

Stir the dry components into the butter combination till simply mixed.

Now make the cheesecake filling. In one other bowl, beat collectively the cream cheese and granulated sugar till mixed. Add the egg yolk and vanilla extract and blend till the filling is easy.

Use a medium cookie scoop (about 1.5 tablespoons) to scoop the cookie dough onto lined baking sheets. Press your thumb or a spherical measuring spoon till the middle of every ball to barely flatten and create a bowl form within the middle.

Spoon or pipe the cream cheese filling into every indentation. 

Bake the cookies at 350°F for 12 minutes; the filling needs to be barely set and the cookies will likely be flippantly golden once they’re carried out.

Let the cookies cool for five minutes on the baking sheets earlier than transferring them to a wire rack to chill utterly.

Earlier than serving, prime every cookie with a spoonful of cherry pie filling.

Storing these cookies

Retailer cherry cheesecake cookies in an hermetic container within the fridge for as much as 3 days. Retailer the cookies with out the cherry pie filling; wait to prime them with the filling till simply earlier than serving.

You’ll be able to freeze the cookies in an hermetic container or zip-top freezer bag for as much as a month. Let the cookies thaw within the fridge in a single day or at room temperature for a few hours.