These Christmas Cheesecake Cookies are creamy and tender, with just a hint of peppermint. The red, white and green swirls are sure to make them Santa’s favorite cookie and the star of your cookie exchange!
Hey guys! Sam back from The Culinary Compass! I love a festive cookie and couldn’t resist to recreate these Patriotic Cheesecake Cookies with Christmas colors! It was a no-brainer to create these Christmas Cheesecake Cookies with red, white, and green! The best part is the hint of peppermint that really brings in the holiday season.
MY LATEST VIDEOSThe recipe is based off of the viral Cheesecake Cookies that Kristin made! They’re SO easy to throw together and incredibly delicious! The cream cheese makes them light and fluffy. I’m always excited to make a batch, but never want to share!
The key to getting the dough to swirl easily without muddying the colors is to chill the dough. I can’t stress that enough! The dough will be sticky and turn brown as soon as you mix colors together if you allow it to come to room temperature. So if you find yourself getting frustrated with how sticky the dough is, throw the dough into the freezer for 5-10 minutes and it’ll be a lot easier to work with!
I also didn’t want to overwhelm the cookies with too much peppermint so I only included peppermint extract in the green dough. It’s enough to give a hint of peppermint while still allowing the cheesecake flavor to shine through.
They would probably be delicious dipped in chocolate too if you like that combination! I wanted to leave the swirls showing so I didn’t powder them with powdered sugar, though, that is definitely an option too!
Try this Fruit Pizza or these Classic Peanut Butter Cookies for another great festive dessert!
How to Make Christmas Cheesecake Cookies:
Christmas Cheesecake Cookies
These Christmas Cheesecake Cookies are the perfect, festive cookie to feed to Santa!
Prep
Cook
Total
Yield 44 cookies
Ingredients
- 8 oz cream cheese (room temperature)
- 1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
- 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Red and green food coloring
- 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
- Optional: powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.
- Beat cream cheese and butter together at high speed until fluffy and smooth; 1-2 minutes. Add sugar to the butter mixture and beat until fully incorporated and fluffy; 1-2 minutes. Beat in the eggs and vanilla; 1 minute.
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and stir just until incorporated. Do not over-mix.
- Separate the dough into three small bowls. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
- Once chilled, add in food coloring and incorporate into the dough until your desired color is reached. Add the peppermint extract to the dough you'll be adding the green food coloring to. Dough will still be sticky, but easier to work with! If you find it's hard to work with, put back in the refrigerator for a few minutes.
- To create a cookie, take 1/2 tbsp of each color dough into your hands and roll together between the palms of your hands to create the marbling effect of your choice. Be careful to not over incorporate to avoid mixing the colors too much. Repeat for the rest of the dough and place on prepared baking sheets.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 10-11 minutes. Cookies should be light in color, not browned, and just starting to brown on the bottom. *Length of baking time may vary from oven to oven.
- Cool cookies on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Optional: Dust with powdered sugar!
Notes
- Store in a tightly sealed container for up to a week, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- The vanilla smooths out the flavor, but for a more tart, cheesey flavor, add a teaspoon of lemon juice or no extracts at all. The peppermint can also be left out or replaced.
- Do not overbake. This can cause the cookies to come out more dry and biscuit like.
Be sure to try our original Cheesecake Cookie recipe! They are light and fluffy, creamy and tender! Be sure to read through all the tips and tricks to make the perfect Cheesecake Cookie!
For more Christmas cookie recipes, be sure to try these:
Overall these cookies were pretty good. I taste-tested them with my nephew and brother-in-law, and both liked them. To me, the cookies didn’t flatten and remained overall lumpy. I probably should have left the dough in the fridge longer than the recommended 15 minutes because it was very hard to swirl the three colors together. Perhaps I should have tried to shape and flatten the cookies before putting them in the oven. As for taste, I didn’t find the mint overpowering at all, but I did find the cookies to not be very sweet. They also have a “not quite baked” texture to them, and I kind of worry that my relatives will fear I’m giving them semi-raw cookie dough!
If I make these again, I will try to flatten and shape the cookies and perhaps leave them in the oven longer than 11 minutes. They are SO soft and doughy.
I have a question. Do you still use the tspn of Vanilla Extract if you use a tspn. of lemon juice?
No, the lemon would replace the vanilla flavoring.