Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookies
These soft and chewy Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookies are cinnamon sugar pumpkin cookies filled with cream cheese and baked until they are gooey and perfect.
Servings: 12 cookies
Ingredients
Pumpkin Cookie Dough
- 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 2/3 cup pumpkin puree* (once strained, it will be 1/3 cup pumpkin puree)
- Cinnamon Sugar (1/2 cup sugar + 2 tsp cinnamon)
Cheesecake Filling
- 8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Cheesecake Filling
- In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add in sugar and vanilla, and mix until combined. Using a small cookie scoop (about 1 Tbsp), scoop the cheesecake filling into 12 balls and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Freeze the cheesecake balls for about 30-45 minutes.
- Pumpkin Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. This recipe makes 12 large cookies, and I suggest baking only 6 on a cookie sheet. Set aside.
Pumpkin:
- Using a tea towel, cheesecloth, or paper towels, strain the pumpkin puree until all of the water has been removed (gently squeeze until no more liquid comes out). The measurement should be about 1/3 cup of pumpkin puree now. (If you don’t strain the liquid from the pumpkin puree, the cookies will be way too liquidy.)
Dough
- Beat the butter until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add in the brown sugar and sugar and mix until combined. Add in the egg, and mix until combined.
- Add in flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. Mix until combined.
- Lastly, add in the 1/3 cup strained pumpkin puree and vanilla extract.
Assembly:
- Scoop cookies in 12 large dough balls (each cookie dough ball will be about 3 - 4 Tbsp in size).
- Remove the cheesecake balls from the freezer.
- Gently flatten the cookie dough in your hand. Put the cheesecake in the middle, and then wrap the cookie dough completely around the cheesecake. Repeat for all 12 cookies.
- Then, roll each cookie in cinnamon sugar and place 6 on each cookie sheet, evenly spaced apart.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly golden brown and the tops look set.
- Allow the cookies to cool at least 15 minutes before serving. The cookies can be eaten slightly warm, at room temperature, or cold.
Notes
*The measurement you need for the cookie dough is 1/3 cup strained pumpkin puree. To get that measurement, you will need 2/3 cup pumpkin puree and you’ll squeeze all of the moisture out by using a tea towel, cheesecloth, or a few paper towels.
**Due to the cheesecake filling in these pumpkin cookies, I suggest refrigerating any leftovers.
***If you don’t want to bake two cookie sheets at once, I suggest only assembling 6 cookies at a time. While the first batch is baking, put the remaining cheesecake balls back in the freezer. The cookie dough can sit at room temperature.