Lemon and cheesecake are two of my favorites. These lemon cheesecake cookies are two delicious desserts in one! Whoa, lemon cookies with a lemon cheesecake filling, oh yeah, to die for!
Ever since getting home from my daughter’s wedding, I’ve been baking treats like these fall cookies, in between getting back to work and trying to get back into the groove after being away for 3 ½ weeks. 3 ½ weeks is a long while to be away from home and my normal routine.
The wedding was beautiful! Such a beautiful couple. My daughter is in the Navy, and she married a Marine.
Let me introduce you to Mr. & Mrs. J. Bentley!
Anyway, since being back, I’ve needed to get back to baking, and these delicious cookies are just one of the many things I’ve been baking. They combine the delicious flavor of lemon cheesecake with soft, chewy cookies to create a bite-sized treat the whole family loves.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Basic Ingredients: Both the cookies and the filling are made with ingredients you likely have in your kitchen or can buy at the grocery store.
- Easy Recipe: The filling and cookies are easy to make, requiring only a few minutes of prep and about 20 minutes in the oven. That’s it!
- Sweet and Citrusy: Both the cheesecake filling and soft cookies are loaded with bright, tangy, and sweet lemon flavor.
- Versatile: These cookies are great for any season or special occasion. There’s never a bad time for lemon!
Key Ingredients
I’ve listed the most important ingredients right here, but you’ll find a complete list and amounts in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Cream Cheese: Cream cheese gives these cookies a super-soft texture and tangy note. It also creates the rich, tangy base for the cheesecake filling.
- Lemon Zest and Juice: Lemon zest and juice add a bright citrus kick to the sweet, soft cookies.
- Graham Crackers: The dough is rolled in finely crushed graham crackers to add a graham-cracker-crust-like flavor to the cheesecake cookies.
- Sour Cream: Sour cream adds more tang and richness to the cheesecake filling.
- Lemon Zest: Lemon zest adds a bright lemon flavor to the filling.
Variations
- Orange Cheesecake Cookies: Use orange zest and juice to make an orange version.
- Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Cookies: Top each cookie with fresh blueberries after baking to make lemon blueberry cheesecake cookies. Any of your favorite berries will work, as well.
- Graham Crackers: Any flavor of graham cracker will work, each giving the cookies a unique flavor.
How to Make Lemon Cheesecake Cookies
I’ve included an overview of the recipe for you here, but you’ll find the exact instructions in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Beat the butter, cream cheese, and sugar until combined. Then, beat in the remaining wet ingredients.
- Whisk the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Then, mix them into the wet ingredients. Cover and chill.
- Mix the cheesecake filling ingredients until well combined.
- Roll the dough into 1-inch balls. Then, roll them in crushed graham crackers and make an indentation in the center of each ball.
- Fill the indentation with the cheesecake mixture and bake at 350°F until golden.
- Transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely and enjoy!
Expert Tips
- Fully soften your cream cheese and bring your eggs to room temperature for easy, complete cookie dough mixing.
- Mix your cookie dough until just combined to avoid tough cookies.
- It’s important to chill your cookie dough to control its spread. You want thick, chewy cookies!
- Remove your cookies as soon as they are lightly golden to avoid overbaking them.
Lemon Cheesecake Cookies FAQs
Lemon cheesecake cookies are soft, tender thumbprint cookies rolled in crushed graham crackers and filled with cheesecake mixture in the center before being baked until golden.
The two most likely reasons your cookies were flat are that you used expired baking powder or didn’t chill the dough long enough. This is a very soft dough, so if it isn’t adequately chilled, the cookies will spread far too much.
These cookies are done as soon as they’re a light golden color. Be careful not to overbake them.
More Delicious Cookie Recipes
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Lemon Cheesecake Cookies
Ingredients
For the Lemon Cookies
- 1 cup butter
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 ½ tsp grated lemon peel
- 1 Tbs fresh lemon juice
- 2 ¼ cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ⅓ cup graham crackers, finely crushed
For the Cheesecake Filling
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- 2 Tbs sugar
- 1 tsp grated lemon peel
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 Tbs sour cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°
For the Lemon Cookies
- In a medium mixing bowl, beat butter, cream cheese and sugar together until well incorporated.
- Add egg, lemon peel, lemon juice and mix well.
- Using a separate bowl, whisk flour and baking powder together and then add to cream cheese mixture and mix well.
- Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.
- Roll dough into 1 inch balls, then roll in the graham cracker crumbs and place on ungreased cookie sheet.
- Using your finger, make an indentation in the center of the cookies.
For the Cheesecake Filling
- Beat cream cheese, sugar, grated lemon peel, egg yolk, and sour cream together in a small mixing bowl until smooth and creamy.
- Fill each cookie with ½ tsp of filling.
- Bake for approximately 20 minutes. Remove from oven and place on wire racks to cool.
Notes
- Fully soften your cream cheese and bring your eggs to room temperature for easy, complete cookie dough mixing.
- Mix your cookie dough until just combined to avoid tough cookies.
- It’s important to chill your cookie dough to control its spread. You want thick, chewy cookies!
- Remove your cookies as soon as they are lightly golden to avoid overbaking them.
Have Pinterest?
Here are a couple pics that are the perfect size for pinning to Pinterest.
Enjoy, Terri
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Is that supposed to be 4oz cream cheese and not 4 oz cream
Yes it’s 4 oz of cream cheese as the recipe states. :)
Congrats! Your daughter looks like your mini me!
Thank you so much Marianne! It was a beautiful wedding.
Yum! These cookies look delicious. Thank you for sharing the beautiful photos of Justin and Nikki. She looks stunning.
Thank you so much Christy! Oh my, she sure did. So beautiful! <3