Cream cheese cookies are the most heavenly little bites of sweetness! They’re addicting; you’ve been warned!
Cream Cheese Cookies
If you have never tried cream cheese cookies, you’re in for a TREAT! Something magical happens when you add cream cheese to a cookie! You get this soft, moist, chewy cookie that feels like you’re eating a cloud. They puff right up, and they’re addicting!
I “fussed” quite a bit with this recipe to make it absolutely perfect. First, it was too dry and we can’t have that. Second, it wasn’t fluffy enough. Finally, I found the perfect combination of all of the ingredients! Let me let you in on a little secret, there are THREE secrets in these cookies. Three. Pay close attention.
The 3 Secrets to Cream Cheese Cookies
- The cream cheese. Naturally. It’s the “key” ingredient that makes these cookies so good! Don’t leave it out! Well, except out on your counter to come to room temperature before baking, of course. ;)
- Cake Flour. You can find in the regular flour section. I tend to buy Swans Down brand (red box). This is the key to making a soft cookie that feels like a cloud!
- Baking time! This will vary by a lot of factors for your oven from altitude to what type of pan you use but this trick will help you! Watch for the very edges of these cookies to begin turning a golden brown, then pull them!
Now that we have the two secrets out of the way, let’s get on with more reasons why I love these cream cheese cookies.
These cookies are not an overly sweet cookie so they do lend themselves to being glazed or iced. You can also keep it simple and just dust with powdered sugar. You don’t even have to do that, but if you want an extra touch of sweetness, go for it. You only live once.
My daughter helped me with this shoot, my little apprentice is home all summer. Not only did she help me bake these cream cheese cookies, but she stood over my shoulder to watch behind the camera so I could teach her about lighting and photography. She is also 4, so she was really doing all of this so she could get in on the “eating” action.
After we wrapped up the shoot, I let her frost some with buttercream frosting (and of course, her weight in sprinkles). I noticed that the flavor reminded me of the grocery store “Lofthouse Cookies”, do you know the ones I’m talking about? Heavenly. These cream cheese cookies take just fine on their own, but we enjoyed the frosting!
You’ll notice I used vanilla and almond extracts. This combination is my personal preference, but play around with your favorite extracts. Stick to all vanilla, all almond, add in a little lemon. You can’t go wrong.
Keep in mind that the dough DOES need to be refrigerated for at least an hour, so plan ahead! It’s worth the wait!
Cream Cheese Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, softened (1 stick)
- 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated white sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 3/4 cup cake flour
Instructions
- Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Cream together butter and cream with electric mixer.
- Add sugar and beat for 1 minute. Add egg and beat to combine. Add extracts and beat until combined. Add in baking powder and cake flour (in three sections), mixing to combine.
- Once incorporated, refrigerate dough for at least an hour. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Dough is sticky so use flour on your hands to roll out 1-2 inch balls. You can use the bottom of a cup/glass dipped in flour to gently flatten the balls. Don't flatten too much or the cookies won't puff up.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes. Important: Pull them out when you see the underside edges turning golden! This might vary for your oven and altitude. Watch these cookies carefully.
There you have it! Cream cheese cookies! The dough stores very well in the refrigerator so you can prep it a couple of days in advance if needed. I hope you enjoy these as much as my family does. I am already looking forward to the Christmas baking season so we can add these cream cheese cookies to the rotation this year!
If you’re looking for more dessert ideas, check out these other faves:
How many eggs? They’re not in the list
Look again. 1 egg
about haw many cookies will this make
It made 34 cookies for me
My recipe made 19 medium cookies.
I just made this recipe and made 42 cookies, but on the smaller size, like a two bite.
It seems delicious! I pin it for later. Thanks for the recipe. :-)
Salted or unsalted butter??
I used unsalted butter
I used salted and they were great.
Can u use flour instead of cake flour?
I wouldn’t. It’s easy enough to make cake flour if you don’t have any. Take a cup of flour, minus 2 Tbsp. and in place of the 2 TBSP add 2 TBSP of cornstarch. Mix it well and you have cake flour.
Great tip! Thanks! Does it work well with hot cake flour like Aunt Jemima for example? Although your tip for cake flour is great! I really want to try them…. they look amazing
These cookies are amazing. Make a double batch if possible because they won’t last long! If there are other ingredients in the hot cake flour, it won’t work for these cookies, I don’t think. You need regular flour to make the cake flour with the cornstarch. I am making a double batch this morning and will hide half of them in the freezer to have some for Christmas. Everyone in my family loves these cookies.
I just made these and used regular flour. They were not sticky at all to roll and were still fluffy inside. Had a little fun and did some with coloured sprinkles, some with different coloured sugars. Looked colourful for an entertaining platter. Too bad you can’t post pictures here.
These sound delicious! Can you tell me about how many cookies this recipe makes?
Hi Patricia! I’ll have to remake to get an exact count, but I believe it was not quite 2 dozen. I love any excuse to make these, haha, so stay tuned!
Is it possible ro not use the egg?
Jazmyne, that would change the make-up of the batter and it might not create the same type of cookie. I haven’t tried it without the egg, so I can’t say for certain. But it’s worth a try!
What could you use in place of the egg?
I used a tablespoon and it gets me a little over 30 cookies.
You forgot to account for the refrigeration time in your recipe card. My bad for not reading ahead, but it would have been nice to see that part at the beginning, and not get caught by surprise in the middle of everything…
Just a tip. All recipes should be read thoroughly before attempting. The instructions are part of the recipe and just as important;)
can I freeze these cookies?
Hi Diana! I haven’t tried to freeze them yet but I don’t see a reason why they wouldn’t freeze well!
For anyone without cake flour, remove 2 TB of flour, replace with 2 TB of cornstarch. It works (;
Hi, I was wondering if I could use this recipe to make thumbprint cookies?
Hand mixer or stand mixer? Does it matter?
I used a stand mixer. I imagine that you could use a mixing bowl with an electric hand mixer just the same though.
Do I have to wait to powder them with sugar once they come out of the oven or can I powder them right away?
You misread the recipe there is one cup of sugar listed
I sincerely apologize. I totally missed the cup of sugar in the recipe. Please delete my comment as it was my error. Thank you!
Thanks Ginnee, I appreciate it.
These look heavenly!! Can’t wait to try them out!
I agree. And it could happen tomorrow as I watch Bianca beat Serena!
If not using the almond extract, should I increase the vanilla or leave it at one teaspoon?
Barb, you can go either way. I’d likely increase because I love the extra boost of flavor.
If you wanted to give this a lemon twist, would you leave out the almond flavoring and use lemon zest?
Hi Janet! Yes, I’d leave out the almond, add lemon zest and perhaps lemon extract, depending on how “Lemony” you wanted it.
I didnt refrigerate dough and they still turned out. Very moist almond flavored cookie. Reminded me of the mexican wedding cookie….
Thanks Christine!!
These are delicious but mine came out skinny and flat. Not to mention the mess I had making them. They were delicious but the mess in my kitchen as incredible. I just found them impossible to roll in m hands. I had flour everywhere.
Mine also turned out flat. Yummy tho’. What can I do to make them puff and not flatten!
When i made these cookies Last weekend I increase the cream cheese to an 8oz block I added one and a half cups of sugar 2 eggs and 2 and 1/2 cups of flour. I also refrigerated it for a bit longer and had no problem rolling the dough into balls. I however did not flatten them out when I bake them and they turned out very nice thick soft pillowy delicious cookies
I flattened mine to about 3/8″. If you flatten too much they won’t be puffy.
Can this recipe be successfully doubled….does not look like one batch will suffice at our house!
Hi Nancy, I haven’t doubled it myself but I imagine it should work out just fine. :)
May I know if my top and bottom heating element should be on? I have an electric oven without fan
Great cookies, thanks for the recipe. I will be making more pretty soon…
GREAT COOKIES! Easy to make. Froze well. A new favorite!
Thank you Bridget, so glad you loved them!
These cookies, with out a doubt, are the best I’ve ever made. My whole family absolutely raves over them.
So glad you loved it, Jan! Thank you!
Can’t wait to make them
Have you tried sprinkling cookies with colored sugar, red and green for Christmas, orange for Halloween, red, white, and blue…..?
Just wondering if I need to refrigerate. By the way, awesome. I undercooked 1 batch but good even though the center is like a filling lol..
I didn’t believe you when you said these cookies are addicting. I believe you now. I just made a batch and will need to double it next time or no one else will get any. I love soft cookies and these are the best.
So glad you loved them!
ran out of the cookies this morning and my granddaughter needed more of them to take to school in her lunch. Thanks again for a wonderful recipe.
So glad you love it! ;)
Thank you so much for the great recipe i have already made twice and it’s just wonderful it’s easy to make and yummy to eat ????????????????
Great recipe, I don’t care for almond flavor so I substituted the almond extract with lemon. They came out perfect. Just the right amount of lemon flavor. Just and fyi for those who have commented on flat cookies. I rolled mine into balls, used a small glass coated in flour to flatten just a little. I also make sure the edges are not flat I shape them with the glass they come out with the right amount of puffiness and shape.
Thanks, Desiree! Love the idea of the lemon swap in!
BUENOS DÍAS QUE GALLETAS TAN LINDA SE VE BIEN RICA. LA HARÉ PARA LA CASA GRACIAS
This cookies are simply perfect!! I made it just a moment ago! Doesnt need even powder sugar!!!
Thank you, Maria! :)
I had a heck of a time with the baking time and am not sure I got them 100% right, but it was a fun experiment and they’re tasty nonetheless! Thank you for the fun recipe!
How do you “ roll “ dough into a “ball”? ?
You put a little in your palm and put your other palm over that and roll it around into a ball. Remember every playing with play dough and making balls?
Hi– sounds like a really great recipe. I’ve saved it to try. I have 2 questions- I see there is no salt in this recipe. Unusual for a cookie. Any reason why?
Also- If I roll them in colored sugar do you feel they will not puff up as much??
Thanks!!!
Hi Mary! Cream cheese has sodium in it, so I didn’t find it necessary to add extra, but you certainly could test it out with 1/2 tsp or 1 tsp. I haven’t rolled mine in colored sugar before, but looks like Linda left a comment that she did that and they puffed up just fine! :)
i didn’t use salt and they taste great. Last batch I made it put colored sugar on top of them and they puffed up just fine.
So glad to hear it, Linda!
Do these need to be refrigerated after baking or can they be stored on the counter?
My cookies haven’t lasted more than 3 days, so they’ve been fine on the counter. I think I would refrigerate if they lasted longer than that. I just doubled the recipe and think I will freeze half so they will last longer.
Excellent cookie recipe! And very simple to make. I gotta admit, i got quite the chuckle out of some of the “different” questions you got asked tho. Thanks for the great recipe!
I’m not a fan of almond extract can I use any other kind?
I love almond extract so haven’t used any other, but I think you could use whatever kind you wanted.
Hi Linda! So glad you love these cookies too! Thanks for the review!
I agree, I made these with the almond extract and I feel like it overpowered the flavors of the cookie. I looked up other cream cheese cookie recipes and most only call for vanilla extract so I will try again without the almond. Other than that these cookies are fabulous!
Hi Deborah! I’m a big almond fan, but you can absolutely use any extract you prefer.
I’m not crazy about Almond extract, either…but I am a huge fan of vanilla, so I doubled it rather than using almond or a different flavor, and if these aren’t the best cookies in the world, I don’t know what is! I’m serious. I almost regret making them because now nothing else is good enough for me & I want to replace every meal with just these cookies. I have people coming over for my birthday today, so I made these cookies…then I immediately hid them because I don’t want to share them. Let those peasant’s eat Oreos!
Shay, thanks so much for review! It gave me a good laugh. Glad you love them!
I am on my second go-round of making these cookies. They were a huge hit to the point I quadrupled the recipe to make sure everyone gets some. Thank you for this wonderful recipe!
Has anyone tried these with a sugar substitute? My diabetic mother-in-law is coming to stay with us so I’m searching for dessert recipes.
Wow, these are good!
I made these cookies and I think Courtney described them perfectly! They’re truly that good.
I didn’t have cake flour so I made some by combining 1 & 3/4 cup flour with 1/4 cup cornstarch, saving the extra. That worked just fine.
I also used kerigold butter,
subbed the almond extract for Simply Organic lemon flavor (1:1),
chilled the dough overnight,
rolled the dough-balls in finely ground graham cracker (used my food processor for this) creating a crunchy crust,
and put a (store-bought, premade) lemon curd thumbprint in the middle.
Easy-peasy! Like a lil cheesecake bite with amazing texture and lemon flavor!
Kerrygold*
That sounds delicicous. Can’t wait to try it, thanks.
I made these cookies and they were divine. Thank you so much for sharing the recipe.
Is it possible to make these with almond/coconut flour?
I haven’t tried that, Lori, but if I give it a shot, I will update with how it turned out.
I used a #40 scoop. Didn’t bother to flatten. Baked 10 minutes. Simple and delicious. Looking forward to trying with lemon extract in place of the vanilla (maybe a little zest in the dough).
how would these cookies do if i were to mail them. i’d pack them in an air tight container. just curious about how long before they might lose texture, flavor. thanks
Hi Sandra! I have never mailed them, and I prefer them eaten within 36 hours (usually they don’t even last that long, haha) so I’m not sure they would hold up, but you could always try!
i think it would all depend on how far you will mail them and how long it would take. I have frozen these cookies and they are delicious when they thaw. Maybe you could freeze them before you pack them and mail them off.
I forgot to add that if you wrap them in aluminum foil when you take them out of the freezer, it might help keep them fresh while in the mail
Hi! Can I add sprinkles and white choco chip to the recipe? Would it work?
Shiela – I haven’t tried either of those but I think it might make them less fluffy (especially) the chips but you could always give half a batch a try to see?
Thank you soooo much for this fabulous recipe. Everything that you said do I did it, and I added Lemon flavoring delicious!!! There cooling now!! The batter was scrumptious. Thanks again
I have a question. I don’t have cake flour. But I do have bread flour. Could I use that instead and it still be just as puffy?
If you have regular flour you can make cake flour. Put 2 TBSP in a 1 cup measuring cup and add enough regular flour to make 1 cup. Sift it together or mix it well with a whisk and you have cake flour. I don’t really know the difference between bread flour and cake flour, but you could google it and see if it will work.
I am so sorry, I forgot to say to use 2 TBSP of cornstarch in the measuring cup, then add the regular flour. It’s early yet and I’m not completely awake yet.
Joni – Bread flour is a different consistency. You’ll want to use cake flour.
Awesome. It’s easy to make and taste great. I invited my cousin, who doesn’t eat to sweet stuff. I found her eating more than two cookies. They are soft, tasty, fluffy, and delicious cookies. I will make more today to take to churcu tomorrow. Thank you for share the recipe.
So delicious!!! Thank you so much for the recipe.
I followed it exactly as written and it was perfect.
Light and fluffy! I love the almond.
It says to preheat the oven right away but then to refrigerate the dough for an hour. Just something annoying i noticed. I also did not have enough regular cream cheese so I used blueberry cream cheese for half of it and it turned out delicious. great recipe.
Using the blueberry cream cheese sounds like a great idea. Did you use the almond or vanilla flavoring or both for the cookies? I’ve found a few recipes that say to preheat the oven right away, but then to refrigerate the dough for an hour or longer. I never preheat until I start putting the dough on the cookie sheets. My oven takes 15 minutes to preheat some take longer.
Hi Ava! Thanks so much, I made that adjustment, definitely don’t want the oven sitting hot while dough is chilling. Blueberry cream cheese sounds like a delish twist!
Hello there, I’m just about to try this yummy-looking recipe. But my electric mixer is down, tho. Do you think it’ll work the same if I do it by hand or should I not bother?
Allie, I’ve never made it without a mixer so I can’t say for certain. I’d probably wait though unless you don’t mind trial and error if they don’t turn out exactly the same?
These cookies are right up there with my own Italian pizzelles, ricotta cookies and cannolis. Be.
Best easy delicious lite fluffy cookies I’ve found yet. Thank you. In fact made them this morning since I’m having company for a few days & these ALWAYS turn out beautifully
Hi Belinda! Thank you SO much!
I made these this evening. They are DELICIOUS! I followed the recipe exactly & they came out picture perfect. The dough is sticky, but I dipped a spoon in the flour to scoop out a portion & made sure I floured my hands each time I rolled a cookie. I made 2 inch balls & only flattened to about 3/4 inch, which made 20 cookies. I did have to bake longer, but followed the recipe suggestion of looking for the light brown edges. They came out puffy, soft & yummy. I had a cream cheese cookie from a local bakery that was very good & was wanting to make some since. This recipe made an even better cookie!
Great recipe!
I got 37 cookies out of this recipe. Next time I’ll double it. My grandchildren love them. Your instructions were perfect. Thank you so much.
Followed your recipe perfectly and these are about the best little cookies we’ve ever tasted! Thank you so much!!!
LOVE THEM VERY SOFT I DONT GET YOUR E-MAILS ANYMORE THIS IS A OLD ON E
Can u Ice these I want to try
First time baker and super disappointed, this is why I don’t bake ???? Not sure what I did wrong as I followed every step to a T, my dough is super super sticky, I couldn’t form balls with it. I took a picture, let me know if I could send it somewhere as I would like some feedback.
What’s cake flour? Thank you.
You can find it as your local supermarket as cake flour. The author posted a linked in the recipe.
Bonsoir,SVP est-ce qu’on peut remplacer le fromage par la crème fraîche le fromage je ne l’aime pas
merci pour la recette elle a l’ai bonne surtout après avoir lu les commentaires, je voudrais l’essayer mais j’attend votre réponse pour le fromage.
merci
I made these cookies taste testing for a charity bake sale next month. WOW…they were a hit and made the list for one of the twelve cookies I plan to bake. These will also be in my holiday gift boxes.
I doubled the recipe with no issues. I refrigerated the dough for the suggested time, but the dough was still a bit sticky/soft, so it spent another hour chillin’.
I decided to use a cookie scoop instead of rolling into balls, and not to flatten just to see the outcome. 90% of the cookies came out perfectly shaped.
I’ve made these cookies a few times and I always double the recipe so that my cookies are larger and so that I have plenty :-) The man, likes a “man sized” cookie LOL
I also do half plain, and put chocolate ganache on the other half once they cool. I haven’t actually tried the recipe with almond extract yet because I don’t have any but I’ve used vanilla each time I’ve made them and they are fantastic! Thanks for this killer recipe! :-)
Amie
In you recipe,#1, you say cream. Do you mean cream cheese?
How do you store these after they are baked?
I store mine in a covered container or in zip lock baggies. I do put some in a freezer bag and in the freezer so I don’t eat them all at once. They taste like fresh baked once they thaw.
I made these today, and we like them very much. They have just the right amount of sweetness, and the light texture is perfect. I wondered what they would be like if I didn’t flatten them, so on the first ones I left 2 of them in balls without flattening. When they came out of the oven, I couldn’t tell which ones had not been flattened with the glass! So I didn’t flatten any of the second batch. I used confectioners sugar on my hands instead of flour. And also I had to bake them much longer than 9 – 11 minutes. About 14 minutes I think but didn’t keep track, as I kept adding 1 minute at a time. I didn’t make them very large; I got about 34 cookies. Will double the recipe next time. Thanks for a great recipe!
Delicious cookies!!!! My husband calls them the deadly cookies. We can’t stop!
I made this today and they turned out wonderfully fluffy and light. I couldn’t see the sides turning golden, so when I took them out the first time, after 10 minutes, they were very dark on the bottom. I baked them for 9 minutes the next time. The bottoms were still darker than “golden” but they were light, fluffy and baked. Thank you for sharing the recipe. I love them!
Can these be “balled” and frozen to bake later?
Can dough be frozen and cooked later
I was really excited to try out this recipe. Sadly, like most recipes I see on Pinterest or Instagram, this is NOT a recipe that adapts well to high altitude baking :(
Rose, I live at 6580 feet and had no problem using this recipe. Cookies came out perfect for me. Are you up higher and what problem did you have?
Cookies came out perfect!! Thanks.
I have been looking for a vanilla cookie recipe & hadn’t really found any that looked like what I was after. A friend has a wonderful recipe for Strawberry Cream Cheese Cookies so, when I came across these, I had to stop in for a look. I haven’t tried these yet but, they will be the first ones I do & judging by the reviews, it might be the only one I try.
I made these cookies for Christmas! It came out delicious! They were gone in no time. Will be one of our favorite and I made it about 4 times already. Thank you for this recipe!!
Can you please let me know in grams how much is one stick of butter or half cup? I live in Mexico and I think butter sticks are different then in the US. One stick of butter in Mexico is 90 grams (most of them) and there is one brand which is 100grs….. Just to be sure I’m using the right weight….. Thanks in advance!
I enjoy this recipe as is but adding a little bit of lemon zest to this really brightens it up for spring time! Yummm!!
I’m a chocolate lover. Can i add choco powder in this recipe? How much?
Sounds like something I would try. I would just sprinkle some in until it looks like the right color. I would start by putting cocoa powder in 1/4 cup, then sprinkle maybe half of that in the dough and mix it. You can always add more, but can’t take it out. If you try it, let us know how it comes out.
Lovely texture but quite sweet
These are amazing!! Are they really supposed to have a cakey texture though? They look like cookies but are soft and fluffy like cakes!
I adapted these into chocolate cookies because I wanted to double the batch but make it easy for me to make my own cake flour.
3 cups AP flour – 6 tbsp + 6 tbsp corn flour = 3 cups cake flour
Divide into 1 3/4 cups homemade cake flour + 1 1/4 cups cake flour, then add 1/2 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder to make up 1 3/4 cups total
The cocoa ones turned out fudgey, like little light brownie bites. Delicious! Made total 42 per batch of cookies. I prefer them small.
Just made these, followed the recipe to a T , and they came out SOOOO good. Best cookie I’ve had for so long! Nice and pillowy and soft.
What did I do wrong?????
It all melted!!! Its one big flat cookie
I left tge dough over night but it was still very hard to work with it.
I thought if I put on Ziploc bag and make the ball out of the bag like to decorate you know with a hole on the bottom.
It look good when it went in the oven, they were spaced out!!!! Its just one big flat I don’t know what?! What did I do wrong??
Could you have accidentally used either too much butter or too much cream cheese? You would need to use real butter, too.
I mixed in about 1&1/2 tablespoons of lemon juice and the zest from one lemon and they were absolutely wonderful! The lemon wasn’t too overpowering, and they turned out perfect!
These are so delicious, I had to give some to my neighbor so I wouldn’t eat the whole batch. I don’t bake much, so everytime I do it’s like learning all over again. Thanks for the advice on knowing when they have cooked long enough. With my oven, I went 9 minutes and they were perfect.I didn’t have cake flour so I did the “-2 Tbs flour, +2 Tbs cornstarch” trick and it worked great. Thank you for such a little taste of heaven!
These cookies are AMAZING! I did not have any lemon extract so I used almond extract, and I’m glad I did. I did add a bit more lemon juice and zest to the icing. I love Paula’s recipes and this is my “go to” site for recipes.
SO DELICIOUS. I love this recipe! It’s my third time making them and I swear they get better each time!
Hands down, my favorite recipe to bake. I’ve baked these so many times I have so many family friends requesting these. Thank you!!