Description
Celebrate the holidays with these festive Christmas Cheesecake Cookies, featuring a creamy cheesecake base, colorful marbled dough in red and green, and a refreshing hint of peppermint. These soft, fluffy cookies are perfect for holiday parties and gift-giving, with an easy make-ahead option and optional powdered sugar dusting for extra sweetness.
Ingredients
Scale
Main Ingredients
- 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
- 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 baking mats to prepare for baking.
- Cream Butter and Cheese: In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together at high speed for 1-2 minutes until the mixture is fluffy and smooth.
- Add Sugar and Eggs: Add the granulated sugar to the butter and cream cheese mixture and beat until fully incorporated and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes. Then, beat in the eggs and vanilla extract for 1 minute until combined.
- Combine Dry Ingredients: In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt to blend the dry ingredients evenly.
- Mix Dry with Wet: Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, stirring just until the dough is incorporated. Avoid over-mixing to keep the cookies tender.
- Divide and Chill Dough: Separate the dough evenly into three small bowls and refrigerate for 15 minutes to firm up the dough for easier handling.
- Color the Dough: After chilling, add red food coloring to one bowl, green food coloring and peppermint extract to another, and leave the third plain. Mix each dough to your desired color. If the dough feels too sticky, chill it a few more minutes.
- Form Cookies: Take ½ tablespoon from each color dough and roll together between your palms just enough to create a marbled effect—avoid over mixing the colors. Repeat with the remaining dough and place the formed balls on the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake: Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 11 minutes. The cookies should remain light in color with just slight browning on the bottoms.
- Cool and Finish: Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes to firm up before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Optionally, dust with powdered sugar before serving.
Notes
- Store the cookies in a tightly sealed container at room temperature for up to one week or freeze for up to 3 months for longer freshness.
- For a tangier cheesecake flavor, you can add a teaspoon of lemon juice or omit extracts altogether. Peppermint extract is optional and can be replaced with other flavors if preferred.
- Be careful not to overbake the cookies as this will create a drier, biscuit-like texture instead of soft and chewy.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 150 kcal
- Sugar: 10 g
- Sodium: 90 mg
- Fat: 7 g
- Saturated Fat: 4 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 18 g
- Fiber: 0.5 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 30 mg
