Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies

Jump to Recipe

I’m not what you would call a cookie person. I know, I know. I must be some kind of reverse Cookie Monster. It’s not that I hate cookies; hate is far too strong a word. It’s just that I’m underwhelmed by cookies. I don’t find them all that interesting in terms of flavor or appearance. I should also probably mention I don’t have the biggest sweet tooth in the first place. So maybe I’m not the person to ask for hot dessert-related takes. But now and then a cookie idea wanders into my head and I am instantly smitten. And that was precisely the case with these Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies. These blushing beauties are so compelling that they’re capable of converting a reverse Cookie Monster like me. 

The idea for these cookies came from a grocery store visit. I was wandering the baking aisle, as I am want to do, and I came across cream cheese flavoured Chipits. I didn’t know they made them, so I got a little, um, over-excited. Some freeze-dried strawberries were waiting for me at home, so my brain naturally put two-and-two together and these Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies were born. 

I am a freeze-dried fruit fanatic. I think they are a marvelous ingredient. They allow you to enhance dishes and baked goods with natural concentrated fruit flavors, without introducing liquid. So you can keep the ratios of your favorite recipes as they are and still have fun with fresh new flavors. I love a bit of effortless experimentation. And while freeze-dried fruits can be a pain to track down, they are well worth the effort or the Amazon order because they keep forever and they are ridiculously fun.

Now, I’m not going to go into much detail on how to put the cookie dough together because it’s essentially chocolate chip cookie dough. Most of us know our way around cookie dough. Now, of course, once the dough comes together we’re not going to add chocolate chips, we’re going to add cream cheese chips and freeze-dried strawberries to the mix. And while you can put this dough together with nothing more than a hand mixer, a stand mixer does make it easier to evenly disperse the mix-ins. But a little elbow grease and a rubber spatula will get you there as well. 

Okay, let’s talk about the icing on the cake. Well, more like the dusting on the cookie. When I pulled these cookies from the oven, the word I would use to describe them is “underwhelming”. Were they gorgeously golden? Yes. Could they be cajoled into a perfectly round shape? Yes. Did they smell amazing? Double quadruple yes! But they were just beige discs. And I just can’t get down with beige. I look terrible in beige – that’s not particularly important when it comes to cookies but it is a fact. 

To combat the drab appearance of my cookies, I blitzed a pack of freeze-dried strawberries and dusted the cookies with the resulting powder. And it enhanced the cookies in two ways. The first is the obvious visual improvement. Pink over beige any day. But the second was a surprise. The powder gives the surface of the cookie a wonderful tartness that cuts through the sugary richness of the rest of the cookie. And it delivers full-volume strawberry flavor. The best food enhancements are garnishes that the ones that serve both the look and the flavor of the dish. And the strawberry powder did just that. 

And that’s everything you need to know about these Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies. While they’re unlikely to dethrone chocolate chip cookies as the world’s favorite, they do offer a delicious and fruity change of pace. 

Enjoy!