These rhubarb cookies have swirls of strawberry rhubarb jam and cheesecake. The cookies have crisp edges and soft, chewy middles. They're tart, buttery, and sweet - and are the perfect spring and summer cookie! They're also quite easy to pull together and you don't need to wait for the cookie dough to chill. Since the homemade rhubarb jam and cheesecake filling get swirled into the cookie dough, you don't need to worry about stuffing the cookies and the fillings oozing out.
These cookies are perfect to make in the spring and summer when strawberries and rhubarb are in season! You could make them using fresh or frozen strawberries and rhubarb.
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🍓 Why you'll LOVE this recipe
- Loads of tart rhubarb and creamy cheesecake flavor: Sweet, tart, with buttery crisp edges. It's the perfect summer cookie.
- Crisp buttery edges and soft, chewy middle: Typically rhubarb cookies end up soft and cakey but not these! These rhubarb cookies have that classic, chewy chocolate chip cookie texture.
- Easy swirled cookie dough: No fiddly stuffing cookies. The filling gets added into the cookie dough and when you scoop it, it forms beautiful swirls.
📝 Key ingredients
Read through for all the tips you will need for success!
Full steps and ingredients in recipe card below.
- Rhubarb: Fresh or frozen rhubarb both work great! Slice it into ½ inch pieces so that it breaks down faster as you cook it. If you have rhubarb left over, my rhubarb muffins are a crowd pleaser.
- Strawberries: frozen or fresh strawberries will both work great! You could also use raspberries or even blueberries.
- Lemon juice: Adds life and freshness to the rhubarb strawberry sauce. It also helps the bright red color develop as the sauce cooks down.
- All purpose flour: Weigh the flour to get the most accurate results. If you don’t have a scale, measure properly by stirring the bag and spooning gently into a measuring cup. Scrape the excess off the top with the flat edge off a knife without packing it into the cup.
- Baking soda: Helps the cookie spread and get those beautiful crisp edges.
- Cream cheese: Full fat, brick style cream cheese works the best because it is lower in moisture and won't make your cookies soggy. You do need to mix the cream cheese with sugar and vanilla extract in the recipe because if you just keep it plain, it doesn't taste very good and stays in firm chunks. By mixing the cream cheese with sugar and vanilla, the filling becomes flavorful and creamy and tastes exactly like cheesecake.
- Egg yolk: You only need one yolk for this recipe. There's no egg white in this recipe because egg whites have a high moisture content and can make the cookie soggy - since we're already adding cream cheese and a strawberry rhubarb swirl which is high in moisture as well.
- Butter: Softened butter makes for the base of the cookie dough. You could use salted butter, just omit the added salt in the cookie dough or the cookies may turn out too salty.
👩🍳 How to make rhubarb cookies
Strawberry rhubarb sauce and cheesecake step by step
Rhubarb filling: Combine cut rhubarb and strawberries in a medium saucepan. Add sugar and lemon juice. Cook, stirring, until thickened and broken down.
Cheesecake filling: Combine cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla. Mix with an electric mixer.
Freeze: Scoop dollops of the rhubarb and cheesecake fillings onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Freeze for at least 30 minutes.
Cookie dough
Step 1: Combine softened butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Mix well until creamy with an electric mixer.
Add yolk, vanilla, and salt. Mix until combined.
Step 2: Into the bowl, add flour and baking soda. Mix just until combined.
Step 3: Remove half of the dough from the bowl. Arrange half of the rhubarb filling and cream cheese on top. Add the remaining cookie dough back and arrange the remaining frozen fillings on top.
Step 4: Use a medium (2.5 tablespoon) scoop to scoop the cookie dough. Bake with 2-3" in between, on parchment lined baking sheet, in an oven preheated to 355°F (180°C). They're ready after 12-14 minutes when the edges are golden.
✔️ Expert rhubarb cookie tips
- Cook down the strawberry rhubarb sauce: This ensures that it stays thick and doesn't make the cookies soggy. It will look like a thick sauce when it's finished cooking in the pan, and when cooled it will thicken even more.
- Freeze the sauce and cream cheese mixture for at least 30 minutes: The longer you freeze the fillings the better. This ensures beautiful swirls and makes the cookie dough easier to scoop.
- Don't mix the butter and sugar too much: You don't want the butter and sugar to be too light and creamy in texture because this will make your cookies spread too much. I like to stop mixing when the butter and sugar has lightened in color slightly, and everything is combined and homogenous. This takes about 2 minutes.
🥄 Make ahead and storage
Freeze the strawberry rhubarb and cheesecake fillings in advance: You could make and scoop the fillings, then freeze them on the baking sheet for up to a few days if you like to prep ahead of time.
Make and portion the cookie dough in advance: You could scoop the cookie dough with the rhubarb and cream cheese fillings and store the cookie dough in the fridge for up to 24 hours or in a bag or container in the freezer for up to 2 months. Bake them when you're ready! You will need to add an extra minute or two to the baking time if you bake them from frozen.
Store any baked cookies that you don't eat right away in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. You will need to store these cookies in the fridge because they contain cream cheese which will spoil at room temperature.
📖 Recipe FAQs
Substitute the all purpose flour with 1:1 gluten free flour mix.
Yes you can. Substitute the strawberries with more rhubarb. You may need to add an extra tablespoon of sugar because plain rhubarb can be very sweet!
This could happen because of two things: You mis-measured the flour (it's best to use a scale), or you over creamed the butter and sugar. Stop mixing the butter and sugar as soon as it becomes creamy and lightens slightly in color. You don't want it to be too light and creamy because your cookies will spread too much and be very thin and crispy.
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📖 Recipe
Rhubarb cookies
Ingredients
Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce
- 1 cup strawberries fresh or frozen
- 1 cup rhubarb fresh or frozen
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 lemon juiced (2 tablespoons)
Cheesecake filling
- 4 oz cream cheese full fat, brick style, softened
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Cookie Dough
- 1 cup butter softened
- ½ cup light brown sugar or golden sugar, packed
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 2 ¼ cup all purpose flour 270g
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce
- Combine rhubarb (cut into ½" pieces) and strawberries in a medium saucepan. Add sugar and lemon juice.1 cup strawberries, 1 cup rhubarb, ¼ cup granulated sugar, 1 lemon
- Cook the jam on medium-low heat, stirring frequently until the fruit releases their juice. Once it comes to a simmer, stir frequently to prevent it from burning. Mash the strawberries and rhubarb with your spatula as it cooks to help it break down.
- Continue cooking until it thickens and you can draw a line through the center of the saucepan with your spatula and the line doesn't fill up for at least 5 seconds.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop two tablespoons of the filling at a time onto the parchment paper, leaving space in between to help it cool down. I like to leave space for the cheesecake filling on the same pan because it also needs to go in the freezer. Place the tray in the freezer for at least 30 minutes to help it set up. You can even do this the day before.
Cheesecake filling
- In a medium bowl or stand mixer, combine cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla extract. Mix until combined, scraping down the bowl in the middle.4 oz cream cheese, 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Dollop tablespoons of cheesecake filling onto a parchment lined baking sheet, I just add it onto the same baking sheet as the strawberry rhubarb sauce. Freeze for at least 30 minutes.
Cookie dough
- Preheat the oven to 355°F (180°C).
- In a large bowl or stand mixer, combine butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Mix well to combine, scraping down the bowl halfway through to ensure even mixing. Stop mixing as soon as it becomes creamier and lighter in texture. Don't overmix until the butter is very light and fluffy because then your cookies will become too thin and spread too much.1 cup butter, ½ cup light brown sugar, ½ cup granulated sugar
- Add one egg yolk, vanilla extract, and salt. Mix until just combined and creamy.1 large egg yolk, 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract, ½ teaspoon sea salt
- Add flour and baking soda into the same bowl. Mix just until combined.2 ¼ cup all purpose flour, ½ teaspoon baking soda
- Remove half of the cookie dough from the bowl. Spread the remaining dough on the bottom of the bowl. Arrange half of the rhubarb filling and cream cheese on top. Add the remaining cookie dough and arrange the remaining rhubarb filling and cream cheese mixture on top.
- Use a medium (2.5 tablespoon) scoop to scoop the cookie dough. I like to try to ensure that there is a bit of both fillings in each scoop.
- Arrange 6 pieces of cookie dough on a large, parchment lined baking baking sheet. Leave 2-3" in between each cookie to allow them enough space to spread.
- Bake the cookies in batches, in the middle of your oven, for 12-14 minutes. The edges will be crisp and lightly golden. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes so that they can set and don't fall apart when transferring them onto a cooling rack. Use a spatula to carefully transfer the cookies onto the cooling rack to continue cooling. Continue baking the rest of the cookies in batches.
Notes
- Cook down the strawberry rhubarb sauce: to ensure the swirl is thick and gooey, not gloopy.
- Freeze the sauce and cream cheese mixture for at least 30 minutes. The longer, the better
- Don't overmix the butter and sugar too much.
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