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December 5, 2022 By Kathryn Donangelo 24 Comments

Strawberry Cream Cheese Cookies

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Stack of strawberry cream cheese cookies.

Last Updated on December 14, 2022 by Kathryn Donangelo

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Strawberry Cream Cheese Cookies are soft, buttery, chewy, and filled with strawberry jam. These little cookies are perfect for the holidays or any occasion! Made with simple ingredients and are easy to whip up!

PIN these Strawberry Cream Cheese Cookies to try later!

Strawberry Cream Cheese Cookies on parchment paper with fresh strawberries and jam.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Cookies

These Strawberry Cream Cheese Cookies also known as Thumbprint Cookies are the perfect cookies to make all year round! Your taste buds will love the buttery, sweet, and fruity flavors from these homemade cookies.

This recipe yields 44 cookies and they are the perfect size cookie for the holidays, cookie platters, parties, or any occasion. You can fill the center of these cookies with any jam or jelly you want- you can even do a combination if you want different flavors.

These cookies are different than your typical Thumbprint Cookies because we cream together butter and cream cheese in the cookie dough which adds richness and makes them extra flavorful, soft, and light.

Close up of Thumbprint cookie.

Ingredients

  • Flour: Spoon and level regular all-purpose flour when measuring it. Be sure not to scoop it out of the bag using the measuring cup. This way, you won’t accidentally measure out too much. 
  • Cream cheese: Full fat regular cream cheese is best because it has the most flavor but you could also use reduced-fat. Make sure the cream cheese is soft at room temperature.
  • Sugar: We just use granulated sugar to add sweetness and it helps create an extra chewy texture.
  • Baking powder & baking soda: Used to help make the cookies rise and form to get the perfect cookie shape.
  • Butter: You could use salted or unsalted butter. If you use salted butter, make sure to omit salt from the recipe. The butter will add a buttery flavor to the cookies.
  • Vanilla and almond extract: Enhances the flavors and a warm and sweet flavor.
  • Jam: The star ingredient! I love using store-bought jam or homemade with fresh strawberries.
How to make Strawberry Cream Cheese Cookies process photos.

How To Make Strawberry Cream Cheese Cookies

Mix dry ingredients: In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and whisk together.

Cream butter: In a large bowl with an electric hand mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium speed, cream together the butter, cream cheese, and sugar until light and fluffy. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. About 2-3 minutes.

Mix dry and wet ingredients together: Add in egg, almond extract, and vanilla extract and continue to beat just until incorporated. Slowly add in the flour mixture and reduce the mixer speed. Beat together until combined until cookie dough has formed.

Chill dough: Cover dough and place in the refrigerator and chill for 1-3 hours. Dough will firm up significantly.

Scoop dough: Heat oven to 350 degrees F and Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop the cookie dough into balls with a mini ice cream or small cookie scoop (equivalent to 2 tablespoons of dough), then cut the cookie balls in half to make 1 tablespoon cookie dough balls. Roll each dough ball in the palms of your hands to form the perfect round shape. You could also measure out 1 tablespoon cookie dough balls with a teaspoon.

Fill and bake: Place the cookies on prepared baking sheets. Use a 1/4 teaspoon spoon, the handle of a wooden spoon, or your thumb to gently press an indentation into the top of each cookie. Melt jam for 10-30 seconds and fill each hole to the top with melted jam. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until they are a light golden brown and cookies are set. Let cool for a few minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire cooling rack. Enjoy!

Strawberry Jam filled cookie with bite mark.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Soft and chewy texture: Strawberry Cream Cheese Cookies are extra soft, buttery, and has a chewy center from the jam.

Kids can help: Let the kids roll the cookie dough into balls, press their thumbprint in the center, or fill the cookies with jam They will LOVE doing this!

Easy recipe: This recipe is easy to follow, straight-forward and doesn’t require any special kitchen gadgets.

Holiday cookie: These are the perfect cookie to make during the holidays. Everyone looks forward to eating Thumbprint cookies, am I right?! Bring a platter of these to a holiday party, put them on your cookie tray, or add them to your Christmas dessert table.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Cookies on a white plate.

Pro Tips

Add sprinkles: Bake these cookies for any holidays! These are traditional Christmas cookies so add your favorite holiday colored sprinkles in the dough or roll cookie dough balls in sprinkles.

Perfect circle center: If you want to get a perfect shaped center, use the back of a wooden spoon or a 1/4 teaspoon. Using your thumbprint will make the centers more of an oval shape rather than a circle and the jam can leak our while baking.

Room temperature ingredients: For best results, it’s important that your cream cheese, eggs and butter are at room temperature. They incorporate with the other ingredients so much better when at room temperature. This will also help your cookies stay tender and soft.

Melt jam: When you melt the jam it makes it a lot easier to spoon into the center of the cookies. It will also give the cookies and smoother look.

Stack of Strawberry Cream Cheese Cookies on a plate.

Recipe Variations

Top Cookies: Top cookies with powdered sugar, a light vanilla or strawberry glaze, or drizzle with melted white chocolate chips.

Add crunch: Add your favorite nuts to the cookie dough or roll each dough ball into crushed nuts. Hazelnuts, pecans, almonds, and walnuts work great with this recipe. You could also add in freeze-dried strawberries for a crunchy strawberry flavor.

Switch up the jam: Use your favorite flavored jam to fill the center of these cookies. Some other favorite flavors are raspberry, grape, blueberry, apricot, and orange marmalade. You could also use homemade fresh fruit jam or jelly!

Strawberry Cream Cheese Cookies on a cooling rack.

Leftovers & Storage

To-store: Store cookies at room temperature in an airtight container or large ziplock bag. They will stay fresh for 4 days. After 4 days, they will store well in the refrigerator for 2-3 more days.

To-freeze: Allow the baked cookies to cool completely. Place the cookie sheet in the freezer for 30 minutes to flash freeze or harden. Once hard, place the cookies in a large freezer bag or stack in an airtight container. Store for up to 3 months- when ready to serve, remove from the freezer to thaw until softened

Freeze Cookie Dough: You can freeze cookie dough by refrigerating it for at least an hour (the dough will be very soft) and form a large cookie dough ball and wrap with plastic wrap, then place in a large ziplock freezer bag. When ready to bake cookies, let the dough defrost completely, then portion cookie dough balls, shape, fill, and bake accordingly.

Close up of Thumbprint cookie with bite mark on parchment paper.

Other Cookie Recipes

  • Strawberry Cake Mix Cookies
  • Pie Crust Cookies
  • Fruit Pizza Cookies
  • Cut Out Sugar Cookies
  • The BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe is part of The Sweetest Season, a virtual cookie swap! This year we are raising money for Cookies 4 Kids Cancer, a non-profit organization dedicated to funding research for new treatments for childhood cancer.

You can help us raise money for this amazing cause by donating through out fundraising page. Oxo will match every dollar raised through the end of 2022 up to $100K so whatever money we raise will automatically double!

Lots o Strawberry Cream Cheese Cookies on parchment paper.

Can’t Get Enough

Subscribe and I’ll send all my newest and FREE recipes to your inbox! You can also keep up with me on social media: Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook. If you make this recipe, please let me know how it turned out and leave a star rating in the recipe card! Leave a comment below and share a picture on Instagram so I can see and feature you!

Strawberry Cream Cheese Cookies

Strawberry Cream Cheese Cookies are soft, buttery, chewy, and filled with strawberry jam! These little cookies are perfect for the holidays or any occasion! Made with simple ingredients and are easy to whip up!
5 from 24 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: strawberry cream cheese cookies
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Chill Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings: 44 cookies
Author: Kathryn Donangelo

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour plus 2 Tablespoons
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup butter softened
  • 4 ounces cream cheese softened
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 whole large egg
  • 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1/2 cup strawberry jam

Instructions

  • In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and whisk together.
  • In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium speed, cream together the butter, cream cheese, and sugar until light and fluffy. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. About 2-3 minutes.
  • Add in egg, almond extract, and vanilla extract and continue to beat just until incorporated. Slowly add in the dry ingredients and reduce the mixer speed. Beat together until combined until cookie dough has formed.
  • Cover dough and place in the refrigerator and chill for 1-3 minutes. Dough will firm up significantly.
  • Heat oven to 350 degrees F and Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat mats. Set aside. Scoop the cookie dough into balls with a mini ice cream or cookie scoop (equivalent to 2 tablespoons), then cut each ball in half to make 1 tablespoon cookie dough balls. You could also measure out 1 tablespoon cookie dough balls with a teaspoon. Place the cookies on prepared baking sheets, be sure they are at least 2 inches apart.
  • Use a 1/4 teaspoon spoon, the handle of a wooden spoon, or your thumb to gently press an indentation into the top of each cookie. Melt jam for 10-30 seconds and fill each hole to the top with melted jam. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until they are a light golden brown and cookies are set. Let cool for a few minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire cooling rack. Enjoy!
Find Kathryn’s Kitchen Blog on Instagram!Mention @Kathryns.Kitchen.Blog or tag #kathrynskitchen!

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Filed Under: Christmas, Cookies, Holidays, Valentine's Day

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. patricia@azgrabaplate.com'Patricia says

    December 6, 2022 at 6:00 am

    5 stars
    Love that this is a “high-yield” cookie (more to enjoy)! What a great little cookie for sharing – they’re so soft, too!

    Reply
  2. tastytreatsandeatsliz@gmail.com'Liz says

    December 6, 2022 at 6:24 am

    5 stars
    Wow these look SO delicious! I love thumbprints but I’ve never made them with cream cheese. Can’t wait to try

    Reply
  3. debi@dw2.net'Debi says

    December 6, 2022 at 6:36 am

    5 stars
    I love that the base of these is made with cream cheese! It’s such a wonderful delicious flavor and makes for a great textured cookie!

    Reply
  4. veronika@thehealthfulideas.com'Veronika says

    December 6, 2022 at 2:05 pm

    5 stars
    Such a simple cookie but so delicious! The cookies were soft and buttery and the jam on top was a great addition!

    Reply
  5. lotusingrowth@yahoo.ca'Nicoletta says

    December 6, 2022 at 3:21 pm

    5 stars
    Thumbprint cookies, especially with strawberry jam, are my favorite holiday sweet!

    Reply
  6. thefoodblog.net@gmail.com'Colleen says

    December 7, 2022 at 10:36 am

    5 stars
    These thumbprint cookies are perfect. The cream cheese addition gives them a buttery richness. Thanks for the recipe!

    Reply
  7. sheila.thigpen@gmail.com'Sheila says

    December 7, 2022 at 4:37 pm

    5 stars
    So pretty and so tasty!

    Reply
  8. jami@anoregoncottage.com'Jami says

    December 7, 2022 at 4:59 pm

    I can’t wait to use my homemade jam in these cookies for Christmas gifts – what a great idea to add cream cheese!

    Reply
  9. minshien@joyousapron.com'Min says

    December 7, 2022 at 6:25 pm

    5 stars
    These are sooo delicious! It was gone in no time, and we are making it again this weekend!

    Reply
  10. meganmyers@gmail.com'Megan says

    December 8, 2022 at 6:36 am

    5 stars
    I love making thumbprint cookies but I had never used cream cheese before. It makes the cookies so good!

    Reply
  11. petitgourmetsd@gmail.com'Gaila Perez says

    December 8, 2022 at 11:17 am

    5 stars
    Cream cheese it’s such a wonderful flavor to make cookies! Loving this recipe!

    Reply
  12. erin.texanerinbaking@gmail.com'Erin says

    December 9, 2022 at 12:37 am

    5 stars
    Cream cheese cookies are the best! We loved this! My son asked me to make them again for Christmas, so I will. 🙂

    Reply
  13. megan@madcreationshub.com'Megan Ellam says

    December 9, 2022 at 2:13 am

    5 stars
    These look sensational. I have bookmarked the recipe and I plan on making them for Christmas. I am so excited to try them. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  14. smellycharley@gmail.com'Shashi says

    December 9, 2022 at 4:31 pm

    I think I am in love – with these cookies! I love how buttery and soft the base is and the tender balance of the strawberry jam! Delicious!

    Reply
  15. kathleen@thefreshcooky.com'Kathleen says

    December 10, 2022 at 3:26 pm

    5 stars
    I am watching my neighbors 8 year old this week, we are so making these together! Perfect cookie for kids to help with!

    Reply
  16. homecookedharvest@gmail.com'Tristin says

    December 11, 2022 at 8:18 am

    5 stars
    These will be our first Christmas cookies for the season! Making with my kids this weekend, can’t wait to dig in to them.

    Reply
  17. aforkstale@gmail.com'Katie Crenshaw says

    December 11, 2022 at 10:21 am

    5 stars
    These cookies turn out so pretty. They are absolutely delicious. Definitely include them on you Christmas cookie list!

    Reply
  18. wakinguptojoy@gmail.com'Ann says

    December 11, 2022 at 3:38 pm

    5 stars
    Wow, these sound delicious! I have not tried using cream cheese to make cookies before, but I bet they taste great! Excited to give it a try!

    Reply
  19. lori@thekitchenwhisperer.net'Lori | The Kitchen Whisperer says

    December 11, 2022 at 4:23 pm

    5 stars
    Loved the flavor combination! These are so delicious! I love that they make a lot too! More for snacking!

    Reply
  20. erin@thespeckledpalate.com'Erin says

    December 13, 2022 at 4:55 am

    I am OBSESSED with this combination of ingredients in a bite-sized cookie! What a fabulous recipe and an easy one to share with friends and family this season. I know my girls are going to be INTO the strawberry filling for sure!

    Thank you so much for participating in this year’s Sweetest Season! I am always blown away with the recipes shared and the generosity of its participants. Thank you for making this event such a success. I hope you and yours have a wonderful season and a happy new year!

    Reply
  21. nikki@soulfullymade.com'Nikki says

    December 13, 2022 at 5:02 am

    5 stars
    Absolutely delightful. A tender cookie filled with sweet strawberry jam. A match made in heaven.

    Reply
  22. sam@theculinarycompass.com'Sam says

    December 14, 2022 at 12:03 pm

    5 stars
    I’ve always thought thumbprint cookies were hard to make, but this recipe makes them so easy!

    Reply
  23. cheryl@pookspantry.com'Cheryl | Pook's Pantry says

    December 14, 2022 at 2:11 pm

    5 stars
    I love these sweet little cookies! They are so perfect! They would be perfect for a cookie exchange.

    Reply
  24. susannah@feastandwest.com'Susannah says

    December 14, 2022 at 6:36 pm

    5 stars
    I love thumbprint cookies! I’ve never tried a recipe that included cream cheese and now I can’t wait to try these! I’m so intrigued.

    Reply

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