Cherry Cheesecake Cookies
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If you don’t have the patience for making (or the will power to not eat) a whole cheesecake, these cherry cheesecake cookies will do just the trick!
Dish Count :: 1 Mixer, 1 Small Bowl, Baking Sheet
Every spring the gardening bug hits, and it’s about the time again. This weekend it came and there was no stopping it. Yesterday morning I asked Ben if he wanted to go to the gardening store with me to pick up some more plants and potting soil – and so that I would avoid overbuying as I have a tendency to do when left unattended like a kid in a candy story. But he declined citing studying, with a dabbling of Boom Beach for his break time, only to have me come home and hour later with a Subaru packed to the gills with dirt and flora.
I guess that will teach him to not let me go to the store by myself anymore!
In the car, besides the three bags of dirt, were rosemary plants, thyme, chives, herbs of every variety, snapdragons, fushias for my hummingbird friends, and a hanging strawberry plant. Since we moved last fall to a south facing balcony apartment I decided it was the year I could give my poor little apartment garden a real chance. I still see the balcony of my old garden from across the way, but this year, it’s going to shine.
These cookies have absolutely nothing to do with gardening, but since I was utterly distracted getting dirt under my nails this weekend, I didn’t have time to whip up a batch of anything new to show up! These Cherry Cheesecake Cookies just happened to be a batch of cookies I made well before Christmas that I never showed off and they were so pretty, they needed a chance to shine now.
The guys at work proclaimed these the best cookies I had ever brought to work, as evidenced by their disappearance before the second pot of coffee had brewed that morning. Proof is in the cookie!
Cherry Cheesecake Cookies
- Prep Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 27 minutes
- Yield: 4 dozen 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Description
If you don’t have the patience for making (or the will power to not eat) a whole cheesecake, these cherry cheesecake cookies will do just the trick!
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 (8 oz) packages of cream cheese, softened
- 2 1/2 sticks butter (20 tablespoons), softened
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 8 whole graham cracker rectangles, crushed into crumbs
- 3 (20 oz) cans cherry pie filling, drained of juice
Instructions
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a mixer, beat cream cheese, butter and sugar until combined and smooth.
- Add eggs, one at a time, and vanilla and mix until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl if needed. Mix until uniform.
- Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add flour mixture in batches.
- Divide dough in half and wrap each ball of dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
- Roll dough into 1 1/2 inch balls, then coat completely in graham cracker crumbs.
- Place 2 inches apart on baking sheet. Using a rounded spoon, create an indentation in the center of each cookie and place 3 cherries in the center.
- Bake until cookies are cracked and set, about 12-13 minutes.
- Cool on sheets for 10 minutes, then transfer cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
Recipe from America’s Test Kitchen Holiday Cookie Cookbook.
Um, I expect a large pile of these cookies in front of my face on Thursday! xoxo
Um YES. I love cherry cheesecake in its original form and I KNOW I’d mow down a batch of these buttery-soft cookies!
We were going to go garden shopping this past weekend but it was “supposed” to rain. Looks like next weekend I get my garden again.
It weird be a nightmare if I went by myself. Way too many vegetables that wouldn’t actually fit in our space.
I need to get on the gardening game! Our front steps are looking PRETTY sad right about now.
Spring is in the air! Good luck with your garden this year 🙂
Spring is the best time of the year – and these cookies make spring time even more exciting than usual. Love it!
I’d better try about 20 of these, just to be sure they’re good enough for your readers. Ahem.
Do you have to refrigerate after they are baked?
No you do not have to refrigerate them 🙂
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So I am curious can you do something other then cherries my husband likes carmel and chocolate but not a big fan of cherries? Also is it ok if you refrigerate longer then 2 hours?
Hi Sarah! Sorry I am just seeing this now! You can definitely refrigerate these longer than 2 hours, but not longer than overnight. You can use something else. I haven’t tried with chocolate or caramel, so give it a try and let me know how it turns out!