Description
Tender gingerbread cookies filled with a hidden center of vanilla cheesecake filling and rolled in aromatic spiced sugar for the ultimate holiday treat.
Ingredients
Cheesecake Filling
- 6 oz cold cream cheese
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Spiced Sugar Coating
- 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
Gingerbread Cookie Dough
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
- 2½ teaspoons ground ginger
- 2½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 2 egg yolks, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup unsulphured molasses
Instructions
Mix that cold cream cheese with sugar and vanilla until it’s smooth. Don’t overmix or it gets weird and grainy. Scoop into 18 little balls – about 2 teaspoons each. Freeze them overnight if you can. I learned this lesson the hard way when they leaked all over my oven.
Dump all those spices with the sugar in a bowl and mix. Smells incredible, doesn’t it? Set it aside but don’t walk away without taking a big whiff first.
Heat your oven to 350°F and get those baking sheets ready with parchment. Mix all the dry stuff in one bowl – flour, spices, baking soda, salt.
In your big bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Takes about 3-4 minutes. Add egg yolks, molasses, vanilla and mix till combined. Slowly add the flour mixture. Don’t go crazy here – just mix till it comes together.
This part’s fun but messy. Scoop dough into 18 balls, flatten each one, stick a frozen cheesecake ball in the middle, then wrap the dough around it. Seal it up good – no cheesecake peeking out! Roll each one in that spiced sugar.
My kitchen counter looks like a flour bomb went off during this step. Totally worth it.
Space them out on your baking sheets – about 6 per pan. Bake 11-12 minutes till the edges are set. They’ll smell amazing and look slightly cracked on top.
Let them sit on the pan for 10 minutes before moving. I know you want to eat them right away, but they need to cool so the filling sets up properly.
Notes
Make filling 3 days ahead – it actually gets better sitting in the freezer. Use a cookie scoop for even sizes. Room temp ingredients mix easier, so pull butter and eggs out an hour early.
If your dough’s too soft, stick it in the fridge 30 minutes. Don’t skip parchment paper – learned that lesson the hard way when half a batch stuck to my pan.
Oh, and keep your hands cool when assembling. Warm hands make sticky dough that’s impossible to work with.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes (plus 2+ hours freezing time)
- Cook Time: 11-12 minutes per batch
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American