Video
Chewy Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookies
These Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookies that combine the delicious flavor of creamy pumpkin cheesecake with chewy, brown sugar pumpkin cookie dough and fragrant spice. Each dough ball has a rich cheesecake filling and then rolled in cinnamon sugar before baking.
Ingredients
Pumpkin Cookie Dough:
- ⅓ cup (80g) pure pumpkin puree (blotted with 3 half sheets of paper towel)
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter (melted and slightly cooled)
- ½ cup (110g) packed dark brown sugar
- ⅓ cup (65g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg yolk room temperature
- 1 teaspoon (5ml) pure vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups (180g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or make your own homemade pumpkin pie spice)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
Pumpkin Cheesecake Filling:
- 5 oz (142g) brick cream cheese, at room temperature
- 2 ½ tablespoon (32g) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon (15ml) reserved blotted pure pumpkin puree from above
- 1 teaspoon (3g) all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
Cinnamon Sugar:
- 1 ½ tablespoon (22g) packed light brown sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoon (18g) granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Prepare the pumpkin puree. This step removes excess moisture and helps keep the cookies chewy, not cakey. Spread ⅓ cup of canned pumpkin puree on a plate. Take a half sheet of paper towel and lightly press or blot the pumpkin puree with the paper to absorb the excess moisture. Repeat this step 2 more times so that you've used 3 sheets. The pumpkin should be dry enough that it goes from being ⅓ cup down to ¼ cup. It should be pliable like tomato paste. Reserve 1 tablespoon to make the cheesecake filling and use the rest to make the cookie dough.
- Make the cookie dough. Combine melted butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar in a large bowl and whisk to blend. Mix in egg yolk, blotted pumpkin and vanilla until smooth.
- Combine flour, pumpkin spice, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl and whisk to blend evenly. Add this to the bowl with the melted butter/sugar/pumpkin mixture and fold it in evenly. It will form a smooth dough. Cover well with plastic wrap so it doesn’t dry out and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Make the cheesecake filling. Combine soft cream cheese and sugar in a medium bowl and mix well until smooth using an electric hand mixer, a wire whisk or a wooden spoon. Mix in the reserved tablespoon of blotted pumpkin puree, flour, vanilla and salt until evenly combined. Use a teaspoon to portion out 1 ½ teaspoons of filling and transfer these dollops onto a parchment-lined tray or plate so they are spaced out as individual portions. Place the tray or plate in the freezer for about 20 minutes until firm.
- Make the cinnamon sugar. Combine brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and mix to blend evenly.
- Retrieve the chilled dough from the fridge and use a 1.35-oz cookie scoop to portion dough balls. Now, you can form the cookies two ways. Take the cheesecake filling portions from the freezer and press one into the center of the dough within the cookie scoop (before you’ve released the dough). Then, use your thumb and forefinger to push the dough over and around to cover the cheesecake. Release the cookie dough from the scoop and roll into a smooth ball.
- Alternatively you can scoop the dough, roll it into a smooth ball then flatten the dough ball out to about a 2 ½-inch round patty. Place a cheesecake portion into the center and then wrap the cookie dough around to fully engulf the cheesecake. Roll it into a smooth ball.
- Repeat with remaining cookie dough until you have 13 dough balls and roll each one into cinnamon sugar so they are evenly coated. Place them back in the fridge on a parchment lined baking sheet for 20 minutes while you preheat the oven.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Place dough balls onto prepared baking sheets, spacing them at least 3 inches apart and bake for about 12 minutes until lightly browned around the edges and golden on top. Note, you can choose to flatten the dough balls slightly before baking if you prefer thinner cookies where the cheesecake filling spans the length of the cookie. Or, leave them round so that there is a more distinct hump of cheesecake in the middle. Transfer trays to a wire rack and let cookies cool for 3 minutes on the trays before transferring to the rack to finish cooling.
