Blueberry Cream Cheese Cookies – Soft & Chewy
These soft and chewy blueberry cream cheese cookies have the best creamy cheesecake middles! The cheesecake is swirled with a homemade blueberry sauce and the cookies have graham cracker swirls in them. They’re topped off with crushed graham crackers for some extra cheesecake flavour.
The best part is that the cookies are a one bowl recipe made with melted butter. You only need a wire whisk or just a fork if you don’t have one. This gives the blueberry cream cheese cookies the best crispy buttery edges and soft chewy centers. The cookie dough is swirled with some graham cracker crumbs for extra cheesecake oomph. I like to scoop the cookies before I put them into the fridge to chill completely. It’s so much easier to scoop the dough while it’s still soft.
The cheesecake centre is also very easy to make. I get the cream cheese super soft and whisk in the rest of the ingredients with a wire whisk until completely smooth. And that’s it!
I prefer to make the blueberry sauce before getting started with the cookies – that way it has time to cool down completely. You can even make it a few days before. Just throw everything into a saucepan and let it simmer until it thickens.
Key Ingredients
Full ingredients and recipe are in recipe card below but please read through this for all the tips, tricks, and substitutions.
Blueberries: you can use fresh or frozen blueberries. I used frozen wild blueberries. You don’t need to defrost the frozen blueberries before using them.
Lemon juice: Lemon juice will give the blueberry sauce a bit of extra tang and complexity.
Cornstarch: I added a bit to thicken the blueberry sauce. You can add some all purpose flour instead if you prefer not to use cornstarch.
Butter: Use a good quality real butter for the best flavour and texture. It needs to be melted (in a microwave or on the stovetop). You can use it when it’s still pretty warm.
Brown + granulated sugar: The brown sugar gives the cookie its gooey center and deep flavour. The granulated sugar gives the cookie perfectly crispy edges. Gotta have a bit of both!
Egg: Use one large egg at room temperature so that it incorporates smoothly.
All purpose flour: Weigh the flour for the best and most consistent results. If you don’t have a scale, use a measuring cup properly: mix the flour with a spoon to fluff it up and carefully spoon it into the measuring cup. Scrape the rest off without packing in the flour.
Baking soda: Baking soda will give the cookie a bit of lift and its beautiful chewy texture. Don’t replace it with baking powder.
Graham crackers: The cookie dough has graham cracker crumbs folded into it at the end to make a graham swirl. I also topped the cookies with some broken graham cracker pieces as soon as they came out of the oven for some extra texture.
Cream cheese: Use a full fat cream cheese for a thick and creamy filling. Don’t skimp out on the fat content! Low fat cream cheese will end up very watery.
Egg: The recipe uses half an egg because a full egg would make it too watery. Whisk one egg to break it up and add half into the filling.
FAQ
These cookies come out super chewy even if you over bake them, just as long as you measure the flour properly. Weigh the flour for the best and most consistent results. If you don’t have a scale, use a measuring cup properly: mix the flour with a spoon to fluff it up and carefully spoon it into the measuring cup. Scrape the rest off without packing in the flour. Underbake the cookies a bit for extra chew.
Pop the dough back into the freezer to firm up a bit before scooping it out. If you measured the flour correctly (see above paragraph) then you shouldn’t add any more. The cookie dough is very soft right after mixing but will firm up quite a bit!
You make an indent in the middle of the cookie with the back of your cookie scoop or fingers for the cream cheese mixture. If some pours out while adding in the blueberry that’s ok! Most of the filling will stay in the center of the blueberry cream cheese cookies.
Do not skip this step! You need the gluten to relax and the butter in the cookie to firm up again. That way you get the best chewy texture in your cookie. Your cookie will look and taste completely different if you don’t chill it! Chill for longer than 30 minutes or overnight for even better flavour and texture. The longer it chills, the deeper the flavours get!
I wouldn’t add fresh blueberries instead of the blueberry sauce because they didn’t give any blueberry flavour the first time I tried it. The sauce gets swirled perfectly into the cheesecake mixture for a pop of blue colour and more flavour. You can dip the cookie into the remaining blueberry sauce when serving.
The key to get perfectly round cookies is to scoot them right after baking. Use a bowl or cookie cutter that’s a little larger than the cookie and place it over the cookie – upside down. Shake it in a circular motion to push in the cookie’s irregular edges. This method makes them perfectly round and gives them the best crinkly tops ever!
Happy baking! xx
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Blueberry Cream Cheese Cookies – Soft & Chewy
Ingredients
Blueberry Sauce
- ½ cup blueberries fresh or frozen
- ½ tbsp lemon juice
- 3 tbsp water
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp cornstarch
Cookies
- 1 cup butter melted
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 ⅛ cup all purpose flour (260g)
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ cup graham cracker crumbs (60g)
- 2 graham crackers to crush on top
Cream Cheese Filling
- 6 oz cream cheese softened
- 4 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ large egg room temperature, beaten lightly with a fork
Instructions
Blueberry Sauce
- To make the blueberry sauce, combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Simmer until thick and immediately transfer to a non-metal heat safe container to cool and refrigerate until cookie assembly.½ cup blueberries, ½ tbsp lemon juice, 3 tbsp water, 2 tbsp granulated sugar, 1 tsp cornstarch
Cookies
- In a large bowl combine sugars, salt, and melted butter, whisking with a wire whisk until well combined.1 cup butter, ¾ cup brown sugar, ½ cup granulated sugar, ½ tsp sea salt
- Add the vanilla and egg. Whisk until mixture lightens in colour and falls off the whisk in ribbons.1 large egg, 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Sift the flour and baking soda right into the bowl. Fold just until there are no dry streaks. Add the graham crumbs and fold a few times to form ribbons.2 ⅛ cup all purpose flour, ½ tsp baking soda, ½ cup graham cracker crumbs
- Chill the dough for 5 minutes in the freezer so it’s easier to scoop. Scoop or roll into 12 large even balls onto a sheet lined in parchment paper. Use the back of the scoop or your fingers to press an indent into the middle of each dough ball.
- Chill the cookie dough for at least 30 minutes or overnight. Meanwhile, make the cream cheese filling.
Cream cheese filling
- Whisk the cream cheese and sugar together until completely smooth. Add vanilla and egg, whisking until smooth. Refrigerate until use.6 oz cream cheese, 4 tbsp granulated sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract, ½ large egg
Assembly
- Preheat oven to 355°F (180°C)
- To assemble the cookies, lay the chilled cookie dough out on parchment lined or greased baking sheets, leaving a few inches space in between. Drop cheesecake mixture into the middle. Of each cookie.
- Add a ½ tsp blueberry sauce into the dollop of cheesecake and swirl with a toothpick. It’s ok if some pours out.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes or until the bottoms are slightly golden brown. You don’t want to overbake because you want them to stay soft inside.
- Let them cool on the cookie sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely because they are very gooey and fragile right out of the oven. Break the graham crackers over the top while still warm so they stick to the tops. Enjoy!2 graham crackers
Notes
2 Comments
Emily and Tiara
These cookies were so good!! It was like eating a cheesecake with extra biscuit base – yum! We don’t have graham crackers in Australia so used Marie biscuits instead and they turned out great. Thanks so much for the wonderful recipe Mary!
Mary
I’m so glad you loved it! That’s really good to know about substituting the graham crackers, thank you! And thank you so much for making the recipe and leaving a review 😀