Cream cheese and strawberries – I think that this is likely as close to heaven as we can hope to get here on earth. And combining them in a cookie is just yum. This is a Tia creation that really turned out so well I had to share. I was watching a cooking show the other night and the chef was making a cinnamon cream cheese dough for cookies and my mouth started drooling as I thought of all the things I could do with that. I tried to blend strawberries in with the dough, but it didn’t firm up well in baking like I had hoped. So using the thumbprint method, I filled the cream cheese cookies. I also avoided adding in any spices to the dough because I think the cream cheese is plenty flavourful enough to not need any help when it arrives to the taste buds.
I used preserves because, well, in my house we don’t like jelly and jam as well. In case you don’t know the difference:
- jelly is a fruit spread that usually just has juiced fruit, pureed beyond belief
- jam is a fruit spread that typically still has some recognizable fruit bits, but it is usually not much more than a pulp
- preserves are a fruit spread that has large chunks of fruit, broken up only slightly.
I wanted to try raspberry, but not everyone in my home is as crazy about raspberries as I am, but strawberries – well who doesn’t love strawberries?
Ingredients
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature *
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
2 cups flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup strawberry preserves
* not whipped, but the block style
Directions
- Cream butter and cream cheese together until well blended.
- Fold in sugar and flour, one cup at a time until smooth.
- Add in baking soda and vanilla, blend well.
- Pack into plastic wrap or waxed paper and chill for thirty minutes in the fridge.
- Roll one spoonful into a ball shape and place onto a well greased cookie sheet or a cookie sheet lined with paper.
- Gently create a well in the top of the cookie with your finger.
- Pack preserves into a plastic baggy, kneading for a minute to break up larger chunks of fruit.
- Snip the end of the baggy and pipe into the hole of each cookie, allowing it to create a peak.
- Bake for ten minute or until golden brown.
- Finished cookies will have the texture of a drop style biscuit.
- Store in an airtight container until ready to serve.
