I love everything with cream cheese from Carrot Cake to Red Velvet Cupcakes and Homemade Red Velvet Cake so it will come as no surprise that I am OBSESSED with these cookies. So soft, like clouds and the flavor is just on point, not too sweet, just right with lovely notes of cream cheese and vanilla.
How to Make Cream Cheese Cookies
1. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt and set the bowl aside. You can always sift the dry ingredients out (I do) but it’s not a must for this recipe.
2. Cream the butter and cream cheese together in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or in a large bowl using an electric hand mixer.
3. Add sugar to butter mixture and beat until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract then scrape the bowl down and mix once more.
4. Dump the flour mixture into the bowl and beat until just combined. You can use a spatula to give one final mix, scraping the bottom and making sure there are no unmixed bits hanging around. Cover bowl and chill for at least an hour.
5. Preheat oven to 375F and portion out pieces of dough about two tablespoons in size. Dampen your clean hands and roll into a ball. The cookie dough will be sticky and you may need to wash your hands halfway through but they will bake perfectly!
6. Place each ball about two inches apart on a parchment paper or silicone-lined baking sheet. Transfer cookie sheet to the middle rack of you oven and bake for approximately 10 minutes. The cookies are done when the edge is set and just starts to turn color. The cookies will continue to set as they cool so just let them come to room temperature before enjoying.
Pro Tips for this recipe
- Measure your flour correctly! Adding too much flour to the recipe is the most common mistake. The best, and easiest way to measure flour is by using a scale. If you don’t have one then fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle it into your measuring cup, and use a knife to level it off.
- Scrape the bowl down before beating the dry mixture in, you want a nice homogenous mixture without beating for too long.
- These balls of dough will be sticky but worth it! Dampen your hands before rolling and take a wash up break if they get too caked with cookie batter.
- You can dust cookies with powdered sugar after baking or drizzle lightly with melted white chocolate for a bit of visual interest.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do they need to be refrigerated?
This type of cookie can be stored in a sealed container at room temperature for two days. Things with lots of cream cheese like cheesecakes and baked goods with cream cheese frosting should definitely be refrigerated.
Can you freeze them?
These cookies can be frozen just like other cookies. Wrap well and keep in an airtight container. I will say like all other cookies there taste best warm out of the oven.
Can you use cream cheese instead of butter in cookies?
Cream cheese will work instead of butter in most cookie recipes! You can even sub in some cream cheese in pie crusts. I would recommend a subbing in half of the butter for cream cheese but in a pinch you can do a full swap out. Keep an eye on the oven as bake times will differ.
If you love this recipe try these out!
If you’ve tried this Cream Cheese Cookies recipe then don’t forget to leave a rating and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
Cream Cheese Cookies
Video
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter 113g, room temperature
- 4 ounces cream cheese 113g, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar 200g
- 1 egg room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract 10mL
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 210g
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder in a medium bowl and set aside.
- Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or an electric hand mixer, cream the butter and cream cheese together. Add the sugar in and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla in and mix until combined. Scrape the bowl down and mix one more time to combine.
- Add the dry mixture into the wet and mix on low until just combined. Use a spatula to scrape the bottom and give the mixture one last mix then cover and chill for at least an hour.
- Heat oven to 375F then portion out roughly two tablespoon-sized pieces and roll into a ball. The dough will be sticky so It's best to dampen your hands a bit and just wash them when they get a bit covered. Place about two inches apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat and bake for 10 minutes or until the edges are set and just turning golden.
Notes
- Measure your flour correctly! Adding too much flour to the recipe is the most common mistake. The best, and easiest way to measure flour is by using a scale. If you don't have one then fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle it into your measuring cup, and use a knife to level it off.
- Scrape the bowl down before beating the dry mixture in, you want a nice homogenous mixture without beating for too long.
- These balls of dough will be sticky but worth it! Dampen your hands before rolling and take a wash up break if they get too caked with cookie batter.
- You can dust cookies with powdered sugar after baking or drizzle lightly with melted white chocolate for a bit of visual interest.
sciobi says
did it today and they are amazingly soft. added some lemon zest and got lemon drop cookies. yum!
Tammie says
I left a comment on the video but wanted to do so here too. These are delicious. Easy ingredient list, easy to make and worth the 1 hr plus till the dough can be baked. I made TWO batches yesterday. Because I wasn’t sure if doubling the recipe would turn into over worked dough I made them separately. I was also going to add orange extract to my last dough but I forgot. In a way I’m glad I did. I’m now wondering if it would have taken away the cream cheese flavor? If anyone did add an extract can you please tell me which one and if it messed with the cream cheese flavor? Thanks for another great recipe John. Almost every bake I do I share with my family. They loved these. Oh, as for the sticky issue. I used gloves to roll them out. Not going to say there wasn’t any stickiness happening because there was. It was just far less. My hands are on the warm side. So I know I would have melted that dough even more had I not used gloves, lol….
Amanda says
hello Tammie! Would suggest not to add the orange extract. I added some fresh lemon juice to the cookie batter and it kind of took away the cheese flavour 🙁
John Kanell says
You could try orange blossom water 🙂
Baran says
Super delicious. We really loved them.but they are somewhat fattening 😁.I used less sugar and it tasted amazing. Thanks for the recipe
Keerthi Gaddam says
Okay so I just noticed the feature where YOU CAN ADJUST THE MEASUREMENT DEPENDING ON HOW MANY COOKIES YOU WANT AND I KID YOU NOT I WAS EXCLAIMING OUT LOUD I LOVE YOU OMFG I watch your videos and they always put me in a good mood thanks for existing
John Kanell says
LOLOL, my pleasure!
Jazlyn says
I love all of your recipes and this one is so fun to make and to eat!
Tatiana Selner says
Happened to just stumble across your video of this recipe and immediately wanted to try it out.
The cookies are absolutely delicious. Couldn’t keep my husband and kids from fighting over these
Ayisha says
I am baking these cookies now. I usually make chocolate chip cookies and I usually make really big ones. I weigh them out 60g per ball of dough and I get 9 jumbo cookies.
I did the same for these cookies and got 10 cookies. How much should one cookie weigh in grams to get 24 cookies? A Virgo needs to know.
John Kanell says
LOL, I will need to re-weigh those dough balls!
carmen says
Such a great cookie! If you have a small cookie scoop, portioning is a breeze. No sticky mess whatsoever!
Aileen Romero says
Love all your recipes!!
Tried some and turned out all amazing, delicious and must repeat everytime. The best recipes ever I did was Cheesecake & Fudgy Brownie!!
Thanks a lot & more power to you🙂
Megan K says
Delicious! Made the recipe exactly as listed and they came out perfectly. Thanks for the sweet treat! 🙂