Strawberry cheesecake cookies recipe
Fans of strawberry cheesecake will love these cookies! Delicious strawberry cheesecake cookies are made from scratch with a few pantry basics. They get their strawberry flavor from freeze-dried strawberry powder – no cake mixes here. The cookies are tossed in sugar before baking for a bit of extra sparkle.
I’ll give you variations and substitutions where I can, plus helpful tips and tricks for success. Read on for this info as well as the recipe. If you’d like to skip straight to the recipe, use the jump to recipe button at the top of the post.
You may also be interested in my triple chocolate cookies and my classic sugar cookies recipes. For ease of browsing, you can find all of my cookie recipes in one place.
Pook’s Pantry participates in affiliate programs. If you make a purchase through one of my links, I may earn a small commission. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.
Why you should make this recipe
- Quick & Easy – The recipe is done, from start to finish, in under an hour.
- Make Ahead – You can make the dough ahead of time and bake them later.
- Versatile – I’ve included variations at the bottom of the post for ways to change up the recipe.
Strawberry cheesecake cookies
These strawberry cream cheese cookies are crispy on the the outside and tender inside – exactly what you want in a cookie.
Instead of stuffing the cream cheese inside the cookie, I mixed it directly into the dough. This gives the cookies extra flavor and makes for a delightfully tender cookie. They are bursting with strawberry flavor and are the prettiest pale pink color.
Ingredients
To make this strawberry cream cheese sugar cookie recipe, you’ll need some pantry basics.
- Sugar – Regular, granulated sugar adds sweetness to our cookies. I also roll them in sugar before baking for extra sparkle and texture.
- Butter – Unsalted butter, so you can control the amount of salt in the recipe.
- Freeze-dried strawberry – I recommend strawberry powder. I tested the recipe with both sliced freeze-dried berries (that I ground into a powder) and freeze-dried strawberry powder. The powder worked much better.
- Egg – Provides structure and moisture.
- Cream cheese – Gives the cookies extra flavor, moisture and a bit of tanginess.
- Baking powder & baking soda – Helps the cookies rise and spread just the right amount.
- Salt – All baked goods need salt.
- Vanilla – Provides another layer of flavor for the cookies.
- All purpose flour – The backbone of the recipe, this gives the strawberry cheesecake cookies structure.
This is the strawberry powder that I use in my recipes. It is an intensely-flavored strawberry powder that works really well in baked goods.
I've used it in cookies, muffins and frostings.
How to make
Full of strawberry flavor, these cookies are a mix between a sugar cookie and a cream cheese cookie.
- First, whisk the dry ingredients together, then set aside.
- Next, cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar together until light and fluffy.
- Then add the flour mixture to the butter and beat to combine. Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula and fold a few times to incorporate everything.
- Scoop strawberry cheesecake cookie dough onto parchment-lined baking sheet, then cover with plastic and chill for about 30 minutes.
Using a cookie scoop keeps all of the cookies the same size. This helps them bake at the same rate and maintains a nice shape as well.
After the cookies have chilled, toss them in granulated sugar, if you like, and bake until just barely starting to take on color.
I didn’t add any food coloring to the dough, so you could see the true color. They are a very pale pink, but if you would like them to have a deeper pink color, add a drop or two of gel color.
For a light pink, I’d go with this pale pink gel paste food color. If you want a deeper pink color, this deep pink gel paste is really pretty and one I use all the time.
This is the scale that I own and use daily. It is easy to use, plus it measures in pounds, ounces and grams.
Measuring ingredients by weight, ESPECIALLY in baking, is much more accurate than cup measurement.
Strawberry cheesecake cookies FAQ’s
Resting cookie dough allows the flour to fully hydrate, plus it allows the flavors to develop. This gives you better tasting cookies.
Yep! Store the cookies in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Absolutely. Baking chilled dough reduces the spread. When dough is not chilled, it tends to spread more.
Store in an airtight container in a cool place for up to 5 days. After that, they start to dry out a little bit.
Variations and substitutions
To make taller, fluffy cookies – omit baking soda and add additional baking powder. See the notes in the recipe card for details.
As you can see, when I was recipe testing these strawberry cheesecake cookies, I used sliced freeze-dried strawberries that I blitzed up in my mini food processor. It worked fine and tasted good, but it didn’t really give the cookies the color I was hoping for.
I bought freeze-dried powder, added a little baking soda to the mix and got a much different result. The cookies were a lovely shade of pink, had a more pronounced strawberry flavor and had crispy edges.
Do you like a little chocolate with your strawberry cheesecake? Add 1/2 cup of your favorite chips – white, milk or dark chocolate.
Helpful tools and equipment
- Organic, freeze-dried strawberry powder – This is the brand that I use. It is intensely strawberry-flavored. Perfect for baked goods and frostings.
- Small cookie scoop – This scoop holds one tablespoon. The perfect amount for small cookies.
Please share
If you love this recipe, please give it 5 stars!
I hope you love this strawberry cheesecake cookie recipe as much as we do! Please consider rating and/or commenting.
Your shares help this site to grow and I appreciate it so much. Do you know someone who would like this? I’d love it if you would share it on Facebook or pin it to your favorite recipe board.
Strawberry cheesecake cookies recipe
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour // 180g
- 2/3 cup freeze-dried strawberry powder // 93g
- 1/4 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened // 1 stick // 113g
- 2 tbsp. full fat cream cheese softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar // 198g + extra for rolling if desired
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk flour, freeze-dried strawberry powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.
- In a separate mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, beat the butter, cream cheese and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 – 4 minutes.
- Add egg and vanilla, then beat until fully combined.
- Add flour mixture and beat just until combined. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl, then fold the cookie dough a few times to incorporate everything fully.
- Using a small cookie scoop, portion dough out into 30 balls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350°F / 325°F with convection / 180°C / Gas mark 4.
- Place 12 cookie dough balls on parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 12 – 14 minutes. Cookies should barely take on color – do not bake until brown. Rotate pans halfway through baking time to ensure even baking. Repeat until all the dough has been used.
- Let cookies cool on sheet pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
To make tall, fluffy cookies:
Omit baking soda and increase baking powder to 3/4 tsp.To use sliced freeze-dried strawberries:
Place sliced berries into a food processor and grind into a fine powder. *I have made plenty of baked goods doing this, but I've found that the ground berries get sticky and clumpy pretty quickly. If possible, use the strawberry powder instead – it works much better and doesn't get clumped up.Nutrition
Thanks for stopping by! Have a delicious day 🙂
Questions? Send me an email, I’m happy to help. I’d love to send you weekly tips and recipes, so you can get updates about what’s happening in the kitchen!
Hello! All photos and content are copyright protected. Please do not use my photos or recipe (other than for personal use) without prior written permission. Thank you!