Description
Soft cookies stuffed with frozen cream cheese and swirled with thick homemade strawberry jam.
Ingredients
For the Cheesecake Filling
- 6 oz (≈ 170 g) cream cheese, cold
- 3 tablespoons (≈ 38 g) granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Strawberry Jam
- 12 oz (≈ 340 g) fresh strawberries, hulled and finely diced
- ¼ cup (≈ 50 g) granulated sugar
For the Cookies
- 2 ¾ cups (≈ 344 g) all-purpose flour, spooned & leveled
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (≈ 200 g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (≈ 227 g) unsalted butter, very softened
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ cup (≈ 50 g) granulated sugar (for rolling dough)
Instructions
Line a small baking sheet with parchment. Beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until smooth – about 2 minutes with my mixer. Scoop 18 little portions onto the sheet, about 2 teaspoons each. Flatten them into thick discs with your fingers. Stick them in the freezer until rock hard. This part’s crucial – learned that the messy way!
Dice your strawberries really small – big chunks make lumpy jam. Cook them with sugar in a saucepan over medium heat for about 45 minutes, stirring now and then. Halfway through, I mash them up with a spoon. You’ll know it’s ready when you drag a spoon through and it doesn’t immediately fill back in. Let it cool in the fridge while you make cookie dough.
Heat oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets with parchment. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Set aside. Cream your super soft butter with sugar until fluffy – takes about 2 minutes. Don’t rush this step, it matters for texture.
Add egg and vanilla to your butter mix and beat until pale and fluffy, maybe 1-2 minutes. Then add your flour mixture and mix just until combined. Don’t overmix or you’ll get tough cookies.
Here’s where it gets interesting. Push most of your dough to one side of the bowl. Flatten some dough on the bottom, add some jam. Add more dough, more jam. Keep layering like this until all jam is mixed in. Then cut through with a spatula and fold gently. You want jam streaks, not pink dough.
Scoop dough into 18 portions – I use about 2 tablespoons each. Flatten slightly, then put one frozen cream cheese disc in the center. Wrap dough around it completely – no gaps or it’ll leak. Flatten just a little, then roll in that extra sugar.
Bake 6 cookies at a time for 11-12 minutes. They should look set but still soft. I sometimes use a round cutter to reshape them while warm. Let them sit on the pan for 10 minutes, then move to cooling racks. Don’t skip the cooling time – the centers need to set up.
Notes
Don’t worry if your cookies aren’t perfectly round – mine never are and they taste just as good. Some jam might leak out while baking – that’s normal and actually makes crispy caramelized edges. The dough doesn’t need chilling unless you’re making it ahead. If you do chill it, let it come back to room temperature before scooping.
Your butter should be so soft you can easily poke holes in it, but not melted. Room temperature eggs mix better – I take mine out an hour before baking. Don’t overmix that jam – those little pockets are what make each bite different. I use a cookie scoop to make them all the same size. Press the seams where you close the dough so nothing leaks out.
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 11 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American