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 Christmas 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.
HOW TO MAKE CHEESECAKE CHRISTMAS COOKIES
The recipe is based off of the viral Cheesecake Cookies that Kristin made, and 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 of these yummy Christmas cookies, but never want to share!
The dough comes together quite easy, using just a few ingredients:
- cream cheese
- butter
- sugar
- eggs
- vanilla extract
- flour
- baking powder
Once combined, I recommend refrigerating the dough for 30 minutes or so because it can get a bit sticky. Then comes the fun part – adding color to the Christmas cookies!
TIPS FOR MAKING CHEESECAKE CHRISTMAS COOKIES
- 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!
Here are some more festive Christmas cookies and other desserts to try:
- Fruit Pizza
- Chocolate Cheesecake Cookies
- Christmas Cookie Pinwheels
- 50+ Festive Christmas Cookies
- Easy Snowball Cookies Recipe (no nuts)
- Red Velvet Cookies
- Chocolate Peppermint Slice and Bake Cookies
- Peppermint Fudge
- Peppermint Cheesecake Brownie Parfaits
- Sugar Cookie Dough Dip
Tools used to make these Christmas cookies:
Silicone Spatula – Perfect for scraping the sides of the bowl.
AirBake Cookie Sheets – Air insulation prevents top sheet from overheating which prevents burning.
Silicone Baking Mat – Your cookies will slide right off of this perfect baking mat, no sticking!
Christmas Cheesecake 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!
Seriously adorable cookies! Very festive, dough was a tad temperamental. I’m curious – our yield was a lot less than 44 by using 1/2 tbsp of each colour for each cookie, did we do something wrong?
Hi Emily, the amount really can vary based on how much dough you had to begin with, and the size you make them.
I made a few batches of these last year after getting some at a Christmas cookie exchange. They were such a hit they are the number 1 request for this year! Even my mom asked for the recipe! They are delicious. Slightly finicky to make but not bad and worth it I think. If the dough gets sticky just pop it back into the fridge between batches. I made them both with and without the peppermint extra. Both great! And they are so pretty on a plate. Thank you for the great recipe!
You are so welcome Kerri! Thanks for stopping by.
Hi can I add a little bit more of cream cheese I made them once before came out good but just thought it needed more cream cheese.
Add a little bit of lemon extract instead of vanilla if you’re looking for a more intense flavor. Adding more cream cheese would make the dough too sticky.
I made these last night and they were a hit!! I’m making two more batches now. It wasn’t real easy to blend the colors by rolling in my palm but I could pull some from each color and just drop them on the cookie sheet and they came out fine. And we tasted the cream cheese unlike another post I saw. They were even better warm!! I left the peppermint out completely.
So glad you loved them! Thanks for taking the time to come back and share your positive experience.
Very dry, almost like sugar cookies without the frosting, which is a very sad cookie 🙁
Just made these! I’m not much of a baker but I think they were a success! Bringing them to an event tomorrow, hope everyone else likes them! 😀
Do they have to be stored in the fridge after baking because of the cream cheese?
Because they are baked, they can be stored at room temperature.
These cookies were pretty. But they were dry and bland. No cream cheese taste at all . I’m very disappointed
What can I use if I do not have parchment paper
A silicone mat works. But a nonstick cookie sheet is fine on it’s own. The parchment paper just makes it easier for the cookies to slide off.
I might have missed it but are the different bowls reserved for the different colors of the cookies? I didn’t see it in the recipe.
Yes each bowl is for a different color – one red, one green and one left plain.
Do you leave the cookies in a ball when you place them in the oven? or do you flatten them like a sugar cookie?
The dough is sticky so you can’t flatten. They will bake like puffed up balls.
What other things could be added instead of peppermint?
I’m making them with almond extract. The dough is delicious. I’ll let you know how they are once I get them finished.
I made them and they are very sticky you can’t even roll them let me know what to do I did put back in frig I was going to add more flour but wasn’t sure
The batter is very sticky but they will bake up just fine.
Can this dough be made a few days ahead of time and stored in the fridge?? Looking forward to baking this weekend!
You could store for a day or two in the fridge. Beyond that I would wrap tightly and refrigerate.
I want to make these!! How many cookies per batch?!?
Depending on the size of each cookie, this recipe will make 3-4 dozen.
I just waned to say GREAT recipe!!! One extra touch that you may or may not want to try is to dip just shy of 1/2 the cookie in melted chocolate and the sprinkle with crushed candy canes. Gives a bit of a crunch to those who like that and if not then always have some just beautiful on their own. Either way I love love love both. Thanks again and now I shall brows around and look at other recipes you have!!
Can you make this with Almond Flour?
I haven’t tried it so I can’t say whether it will work or not. Sorry!
They turned out great! We rolled each color into balls and placed them into paper plates. We then placed them into the freezer for a few minutes. Then, we sprayed our hands with non-stick cooking spray and rolled the cookies in our hands. Worked great! We also adjusted the temperature to 375 for 15 minutes as they were not cooking as well at 350. They are so pretty and puffy!
Thank you so much for sharing your experience, Teri! Glad you enjoyed the cookies.
Are you suppose to use unsalted or salted butter?
I use regular salted butter, but you could use either.
Just finished my first batch… Pros & Cons:
Pros:
Fun Christmas cookie
Hint of mint is awesome
soft and actually taste good
Cons:
My hands hurt from manipulating the dough
I had to keep putting the dough in the freezer for about 7-10 min every 6 cookies just so it wouldn’t be a muddled mess
Would I make them again? Yes
Would I make them with kids? No
I left them in the oven for about 15 min and they came out perfect.
Thanks for an awesome cookie recipe that I will keep in my Christmas Cookie rotation.
Thank you Leah! and Thank you for the great feedback.