I know I’ve mentioned on here a few thousand times that my husband loves cheesecake. Have I ever mentioned that he also loves cookies? In fact, he eats them for breakfast almost every morning. Well, every evening, I mean. He works third shift, so he wakes up not too long before we eat dinner. He always grabs a couple of cookies and a glass of milk to hold him over until dinner time though. He’s obviously very concerned about eating healthy.
Cheesecake cookies are the perfect breakfast for him and they are so simple to make! You mix up the dough, which is full of butter and cream cheese, and then form into a log and roll it around in the graham cracker and pecan crumb crust. Ooh, it’s good.
I even added mini chocolate chips to one of the logs of dough, just for fun. Everyone loves a little chocolate, right?
The dough wraps right up in a piece of wax or parchment paper, chills in the freezer for 30 minutes, and then slices into perfect little cheesecake cookie rounds. I sliced mine about a half inch thick.
These bake in just 10 minutes and are so yummy. They look like they’d be hard, but they stay nice and chewy. They aren’t as creamy as real cheesecake, but they do have a nice soft texture.
The original recipe called for quite a bit of lemon juice and zest, and I halved that, but it was still too much lemon flavor for me. I don’t generally like lemon in baked goodies, so next time I’ll leave the lemon out entirely.
Cheesecake Cookies
Recipe adapted from Chickens in the Road
- 3/4 cup butter, softened
- 3 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 4 teaspoons lemon zest (omit or reduce this if you don’t like lemon)
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice (omit or reduce this if you don’t lemon)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup finely chopped pecans
- 1/3 cup graham cracker crumbs
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips, optional
In a large bowl, beat together butter, cream cheese, and sugar. Add in the lemon zest and juice if you are using. Mix in vanilla. Stir in the flour until well combined and refrigerate dough for 30 minutes so that it is easier to handle.
Mix together the pecans, graham cracker crumbs, and cinnamon to make the crust. Pour half of the crust mixture onto a large sheet of wax or parchment paper. Form a log with half of the cookie dough and roll it in the crust mixture. Place log of dough on a new sheet of parchment paper and wrap the ends up. Repeat with the remaining dough and place both dough logs in the freezer for 30 minutes.
Slice dough into half inch thick rounds and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake in a pre-heated 375 degree oven for 8-10 minutes. The bottoms should be only lightly browned. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes and then transfer to a wire rack. Store in an airtight container.
| Tags: baking, chocolate, cookies, desserts 21 comments »
January 11th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
What an amazing cookie! Super idea to mix cream cheese and chocolate chips. I bet the cookie has the same texture as kolacky, a Polish cookie made with cream cheese. I love them. Think I would also try some dried red cherries in one log.
January 11th, 2010 at 4:40 pm
These look SO good! I love your site, everything looks delicious!
January 11th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
You are genius! Making cheesecake cookies? That sounds so sweet and delicious. Something that I need right now…
January 12th, 2010 at 7:25 am
i don’t like lemon either, but i LOVE the idea of a cheesecake-y cookie! a coating of crumbs and pecans on a cookie is a stroke of genius and it’s an idea i fully intend to implement myself. frankly, these could be my breakfast, lunch, and supper.
January 12th, 2010 at 1:15 pm
OMG, these look fantastic! I love everything and anything cream cheese! i’d totally omit the lemon and add the chocolate chips!!!! How many do you normally get in one batch? I’d love to make these for work but I know my parents and bf would really want to try them too!
January 12th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
Cheesecake cookies??!! I have got to try this recipe!!
January 12th, 2010 at 5:41 pm
I love lemon, but I just don’t want it in everything! It seems like every recipe calls for a little of it – so I’m with you, just leave it out! I can’t wait to try these!
January 12th, 2010 at 11:31 pm
I need some of those!
I love cheesecake and I love cookies. Perfect!
January 13th, 2010 at 8:10 am
Made these, and like them pretty darn well. I think I’d leave the lemon zest in, but not use the lemon juice. That’d take care of the overwhelming lemony flavor…
January 13th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
These look DELICIOUS. And DANGEROUS. I could live on cheesecake alone, but a cookie variety might add a little spice to my life…
January 13th, 2010 at 8:34 pm
how unique! I never would have thought to put cheesecake and cookies together! These sound so good though. I bookmarked the recipe, I’ll let you know when i get a chance to try it!
January 15th, 2010 at 9:08 am
They sound like the perfect breakfast (or lunch or dinner) to me!
January 18th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
I asked my g/f to make these – they look great! She made them Saturday, but left them in the oven for 25 minutes instead of 10 (she didn’t hear the timer)… they ended up being like Mandel bread or biscotti, but still tasty! She felt bad, so made another batch yesterday, and baked them right this time — WOW, great cookies. Now you post the chocolate peanut butter cookies, you’re not giving her much of a break!
January 19th, 2010 at 12:49 pm
I have to try these cookies! I love them! Beautiful pictures too!
January 19th, 2010 at 3:08 pm
These look great. Beautiful textures! I happen to love lemon, but I’m not sure if it seems quite right in this recipe, so I’d probably reduce it, too. I’ll have to try these soon.
January 20th, 2010 at 6:06 am
These look absolutely divine! They are going on my “to make” list very soon.
January 21st, 2010 at 7:55 pm
Ooo do these ever sound good! I love that they’re rolled in graham crackers. I think I’d just omit all the lemon and enjoy the cream cheese/chocolate/pecan flavours!
January 24th, 2010 at 3:56 pm
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by DiannesDishes: Oh my! Yum! RT @Buns_In_My_Oven: Cheesecake cookies…need I say more? http://bit.ly/5eHJMK #fb…
February 19th, 2010 at 10:54 am
Yum. I omitted lemon zest just used 2 tsp juice. Very tasty! Mine chilled for a long time. Left em in freezer for a while too. They taste kinda like short breads, but cheesecake shortbreads. Like if you were to marry the cake to the crust of a cheesecake. They taste better after they’ve sat, as well, imho.
February 25th, 2010 at 8:28 am
I made these last night for my boyfriend, whose favorite dessert is cheesecake, preferably with a fruit topping. So, to put a hint of fruit flavoring in them, I omitted the chocolate chips and lemon juice, and used strawberry flavored cream cheese instead of plain. They came out great!
Next time I think I’ll try to do a “swirl” cookie by making half the batch with plain cream cheese, and half the batch with strawberry. Then I’ll flatten the two flavors of dough out on top of each other and roll them up together into a log before freezing.
June 26th, 2010 at 10:00 am
Mmmmm… these look great! I’ve never made a slice and bake cookie, but this sure looks easy and tasty!