Cheesecake Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies are the flavor combination you didn't know you needed! These cookies are soft, gooey, and filled with a cream cheese center. They’re the ultimate melt-in-your-mouth treat with just the right balance of sweet and tangy.
Why This Recipe is the Best
These Cheesecake Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies take classic cookies to a whole new level. With a soft and chewy cookie exterior and a rich, creamy cheesecake center, they’re the ultimate indulgent dessert.
We love how the tangy filling balances the sweetness of the chocolate chips, giving every bite a delicious contrast. They're showstoppers for parties, and they freeze beautifully, making them a make-ahead favorite, too!
Try our other variation of this recipe, Churro Cheesecake Cookies. We also love everything from a classic Chocolate Chip Cookie to a brown butter chocolate chip cookie.
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Key Ingredients
These Cheesecake Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies are loaded with flavor and texture! Follow these tips to get the best results:
- Cold Cream Cheese – We usually love softened cream cheese, but not for this recipe! Keep it as cold as possible—it helps the filling stay intact inside the cookie. Be sure to use Philadelphia cream cheese for the best results.
- Slightly Softened Butter – Your butter should give a little when pressed but still hold its shape. Too soft and it’ll throw off the texture.
- All-Purpose Flour – Avoid dense cookies by fluffing the flour first, spooning it into the cup, and leveling it off. No scooping!
- Chocolate Chips – We love semisweet or dark chocolate chips for a rich contrast to the sweet filling.
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How to Make Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cookies
Follow these step-by-step directions for cookies that are soft on the outside and creamy in the middle:
- Stir together cold cream cheese and sugar until just combined. Scoop into small balls and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Freeze while making the dough.
- Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, but before it’s fully mixed, toss in your chocolate chips and stir the rest with a spatula. This prevents overmixing!
- Scoop dough, flatten slightly, and wrap around a frozen cream cheese ball. Seal and roll gently into a ball.
- Bake at 350°F for 10–12 minutes or until the edges are golden and the centers are just set.
Hint: These cookies are best slightly underbaked. Let them cool on the pan for 5 minutes to set before transferring.
Common Mistakes
To prevent the cheesecake filling from leaking out during baking, it’s important to seal the dough around the filling tightly. Make sure the dough fully wraps around the cream cheese ball with no gaps. Chilling the filling before wrapping it in the dough helps it stay firm, keeping the creamy center intact while the cookies bake. It makes for a perfect bite every time.
Top tip
The cream cheese must be cold and the cookie dough should be soft but not sticky. If your kitchen is warm, chill the dough for 10–15 minutes before wrapping the filling. Also, these cookies are amazing slightly warm, so don’t be afraid to pop one in the microwave for a few seconds!
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Recipe
Cheesecake Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
For the Filling:
- 6 ounces cream cheese cold, cut into cubes, see note 1
- ⅓ cup powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
For the Cookies:
- ¾ cup butter salted, slightly softened, see note 2
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg large
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour fluffed, then spooned into the measuring cup and leveled off. See note 3
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup chocolate chips we like semi-sweet best
Instructions
For the filling:
- Beat the cream cheese on high with an electric mixer until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and beat until well combined and smooth. Make rough balls with the cheesecake filling about 2 teaspoons in size. Place them on a large plate or dish lined with parchment paper then immediately put them in the refrigerator. Refrigerate at least 20 minutes and up to 60.
For the Cookies:
- After the filling has been refrigerating at least 15 minutes, preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Leave the filling in the refrigerator.
- Beat the butter, brown sugar and sugar together in a bowl on high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes or so. Add the vanilla and egg and beat for another minute. Whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder) in a separate bowl. Add the the wet ingredients and mix until about 90% incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand with a spatula. See note 4.
- Grab a lump of dough about 1 ½- 2 Tablespoons in size and flatten it out to about ⅛" thickness or so. Lay your flattened dough out on a parchment lined baking sheet. Remove the filling from the fridge and place the cheesecake balls in the center of each flattened dough ball. Fold the edges of the cookie up and over the cheesecake filling, sealing any holes that may appear. See photos above for a visual. I like to turn them over so the squished together side is down. Feel free to press in a few more chocolate chips to the top for a more aesthetically appealing look.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes until the tops are matte and the edges are set. We love warm cookies as much as the next one, but with these we Highly Recommend waiting for them to cool to room temperature to enjoy.
Notes
- Generally I prefer to use softened cream cheese because it is so much smoother, but with these, we want to keep the cream cheese as cold as possible. It works much better in the cookie when we do it this way!
- The ideal "softness" for butter when making most cookies is slightly softened. It should be soft enough you can make an ident in it when you press on it with your finger, but it should always hold its form and it should never be mushy.
- The most common cookie making mishap is to get too much flour when making cookies. For this recipe, to get the correct amount we highly recommend fluffing the flour, spooning it gently into the measuring cup, then leveling it off.
- Another common cookie mistake is to over mix the dough after adding the dry ingredients. To prevent this from happening, we like to add in the chocolate chips before the dry ingredients are fully incorporated, then stir with a spatula. This will keep your cookies from turning out tough.
- Officially, we recommend storing these in the refrigerator after baking due to the cream cheese. Unofficially, I have a large family who always eats them up in less than 24 hours, and I don't want to ruin the texture of the cookie so I keep them on my counter.
Nutrition
Substitutions and Variations
Customize your cookies with some of our favorite twists!
- Pumpkin Cheesecake – Mix 1–2 tablespoons canned pumpkin and a dash of pumpkin pie spice into the cream cheese filling for fall flair.
- Oreo Crumble – Roll the dough balls in crushed Oreos before baking for a cookies-and-cream twist.
- Keto – Try using a low-carb flour and sweetener blend to make them fit your lifestyle.
- White Chocolate Raspberry – Use white chocolate chips in the dough and add a dab of raspberry jam.
Storage
Because of the cream cheese filling, we officially recommend storing these cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3–4 days.
Unofficially? We leave them on the counter because they never last more than a day in our house! The texture stays perfect at room temp, but use your best judgment.
Andrea says
We love these chocolate chip cookie stuffed cookies!