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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!

You’ll definitely find these cookies on our round-up of deliciously quick and easy Christmas treats.

Christmas Cheesecake Cookies are creamy and tender, with just a hint of peppermint. The red, white and green swirls make them Santa's favorite cookie, too!

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 Christmas Cheesecake 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!

Christmas Cheesecake Cookies are creamy and tender, with just a hint of peppermint. The red, white and green swirls make them Santa's favorite cookie, too!

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!
Christmas Cheesecake Cookies are creamy and tender, with just a hint of peppermint. The red, white and green swirls make them Santa's favorite cookie, too!
Christmas Cheesecake Cookies are creamy and tender, with just a hint of peppermint. The red, white and green swirls make them Santa's favorite cookie, too!
Christmas Cheesecake Cookies are creamy and tender, with just a hint of peppermint. The red, white and green swirls make them Santa's favorite cookie, too!

More Festive Christmas Cookies

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!

Recipe
These Christmas Cheesecake Cookies are the perfect, festive cookie to feed to Santa!

Christmas Cheesecake Cookies

4.53 from 40 votes
These Christmas Cheesecake Cookies are the perfect, festive cookie to feed to Santa!
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Servings 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 ½ 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. 

Nutrition

Calories: 88kcalCarbohydrates: 11gProtein: 1gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 18mgSodium: 82mgPotassium: 18mgFiber: 1gSugar: 6gVitamin A: 144IUCalcium: 19mgIron: 1mg
Keyword cheesecake cookies, cream cheese cookies

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!

Stack of cheesecake cookies
Christmas Cheesecake Cookies are creamy and tender, with just a hint of peppermint. The red, white and green swirls make them Santa's favorite cookie, too!

Sam

Sam is the blogger behind The Culinary Compass where she loves to try new dishes and ingredients from around the world. She hopes to bring experiences of new cultures to her readers without having to leave their home!

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Comments

  1. Hi, I was wondering if the dough could be frozen just before the baking stage? I do a cookie bar and this would be a fantastic addition.

    1. I haven’t tried freezing the dough, but I think it would work. I would shape them into balls and then freeze them on a cookie sheet before putting them into a more permanent container. Then let them thaw before baking. You could always shape the colors into small balls and freeze like that too, but I’d worry about the colors running when you bring them together.

  2. Made these yesterday for Halloween.. they looked great but tasted horrible.. no cheesecake flavor to them at all.. they tasted like flour.. used ingredients correctly

    1. We can’t be the only ones… the people here saying they’re delicious Definitely did something else to them. They have no flavor at all

  3. Love this recipe and technique–I see so many beautiful color options–for Easter, birthday parties, baby showers, etc. etc. Thank you so much. They look yummy.

  4. Are you supposed to taste more of the peppermint then the cheesecake? I made these tonight and all I taste is the mint.

    1. Peppermint is definitely a stronger flavor. You can try just using 1/4 or even 1/8 of a teaspoon if it’s too strong for you.

  5. These are so cute! One place I’m not sure about; do I roll the doughs into a BALL between my hands? Do I place a BALL of dough on the cookie sheets? Does the dough get flattened at any point before baking?

  6. These look and sound delicious! I think I’m going to use the recipe this weekend to make them, but instead of plain, green and red I am going to do black, orange and purple for Halloween!

    1. Not being in the kitchen with you, it’s hard for me to say what went wrong. Did you make sure to use all of the ingredients?

  7. So I am thinking about having orange and white dough, and orange extract (or maybe peel?) in the orange dough. Dip finished cookies’ bottom in dark chocolate. Halloween cheesecake cookies! 🙂

  8. Can I on it peppermint substitute lemon and use yellow food coloring and swirl. Or swirl with flavor a portion of the dough with cocca powder and swirl.

    1. I do have a recipe for chocolate cheesecake cookies linked at the bottom of the post. But you can substitute any extract that you like.

  9. What would I do to make these gluten free? I know it requires gluten free all purpose flour, and probably xantham gum, but would you know the measurements?
    Thanks!! I can’t wait to try them!!!

    1. I recommend using a measure for measure flour like King Arthur or similar product. Made them today with King Arthur measure for measure GF flour and they turned out great!

    1. Absolutely! If you’re not a fan of peppermint, just leave it out. You can also add a bit of vanilla or almond in it’s place.

      1. Do you have the nutritional facts for these cookies? My daughter would love them she is a type 1 diabetic and I would need to know so she could do the right amount of insulin thanks!!

    1. I would not store anything mint flavored with other foods, or in a plastic container. Mint will over take the other foods.