Raspberry Cheesecake Cookies Stuffed With Cream Cheese Filling

Raspberry Cheesecake Cookies (Stuffed!)

These raspberry cheesecake cookies are soft, buttery, and packed with real raspberry flavor. Crushed graham crackers go into the dough and get sprinkled on top for crunch, while a chilled cream cheese filling hides in the center of every cookie.

One bite and you get the tang of cheesecake wrapped in a tender cookie. Honestly, it tastes like dessert and a cheese plate had a very happy accident.

The recipe is adapted from a strawberry cheesecake cookie recipe, and it makes 20 cookies. If you have tried the raspberry cheesecake cookies at Subway, you already know the flavor I am chasing. I will say it plainly, this homemade version wins.

It is important to note that a separate white chocolate and raspberry cookie recipe is closer to the Subway cookie, because that one includes white chocolate and is not stuffed. This one is stuffed, and that is the whole point.

I brought a batch to a church potluck last spring and watched them disappear before the casseroles even hit the table. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good casserole. But when a cookie can make people stop mid sentence and ask who made them, you make that cookie again.

Ingredient Notes

You can make this recipe with regular dairy ingredients or with vegan swaps. Here is what matters most.

• Cream cheese. Regular or vegan both work. The type of vegan cream cheese you choose affects how quickly the filling freezes and how well it holds up in the oven. During testing, Violife gave the best results.
• Powdered sugar. If you use vegan cream cheese, reduce the powdered sugar to ¼ cup (30 g). Vegan cream cheese is softer, and less sugar helps the filling stay firm. The recipe card reflects this note.
• Butter. Regular butter or a dairy free and vegan butter both work fine.
• Raspberries. Fresh raspberries gave the best results. Freeze dried raspberries also work. Frozen raspberries are the trickiest option because they add water, which makes the dough stickier and causes more color to bleed into the dough.
• Graham crackers. You need about 4 to 5 crackers, chopped, plus a few extra for topping.

One more thing to keep in mind, whichever you choose, let the butter and the cream cheese come to room temperature first so they mix up smooth.

How To Make These Cookies

The process has a few stages, and each one matters. First you make the cheesecake filling and freeze it. Then you beat the butter and sugars, add the wet ingredients, mix in the dry ingredients, and stir in the graham crackers and raspberries.

Next you stuff each cookie with a piece of frozen filling, seal it with a second ball of dough, chill the assembled cookies, and bake. It sounds like a lot, but it is mostly waiting while the freezer and the fridge do the work.

If you have made stuffed cookies before, this will feel familiar. If you have not, take your time with the sealing step, because that is where the cream cheese stays put.

Recipe Developer Expert Tips

Small details make the difference between a good cookie and a great one. These are the tips I come back to every single time.

• Dry your raspberries. If you rinse them right before using, pat them dry so you are not adding extra water to the dough.
• Measure your flour properly. Use a kitchen scale or the spoon and level method. Scooping straight from the bag packs in extra flour and can leave you with a crumbly, dry dough.
• Do not preheat too early. Wait until your cookie dough balls are assembled and chilling in the fridge. The oven should heat while the dough chills.
• Do not skip the chill. This step firms up the dough after all that handling, and it is one of the most important steps in the recipe.
• Pull them at the right moment. Bake until the edges are just golden brown and the tops have a little golden color, but are not fully golden.

If the tops look set and the edges are barely golden, take them out. A slightly softer center keeps the cheesecake filling creamy.

Ingredients

This recipe makes 20 cookies and uses two parts, the filling and the cookie dough.

Cream Cheese Filling

• ¾ cup (170.25 g, 6 oz) cream cheese, softened, regular or vegan
• ⅓ cup (40 g) powdered sugar, also called icing sugar or confectioner’s sugar

If you use vegan cream cheese, check the notes below for the reduced powdered sugar amount.

Raspberry Cookies

• 1 cup (210 g) butter, softened, regular or vegan
• ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
• ¼ cup (55 g) light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1½ tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2⅓ cups plus 3 tbsp (320 g) all purpose flour
• ½ cup raspberries, roughly chopped
• ½ cup chopped graham crackers, about 4 to 5 crackers, plus more for topping

Instructions

Here is the full method, step by step.

1. Line a small baking sheet or plate with parchment paper. In a small bowl, whisk or beat the cream cheese with the powdered sugar until smooth and combined. Use a mixer if your cream cheese is still firm.
2. Place 20 teaspoons of the cream cheese mixture on the lined sheet or plate. Freeze for at least one hour, or until the filling is almost completely solid.
3. When the filling is almost frozen, line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set them aside. Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda in a separate bowl and set that aside too.
4. In the bowl of a handheld mixer or a stand mixer, beat the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy, about 1 to 2 minutes. Mix in the egg, the egg yolk, and the vanilla extract.
5. Add the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Do not over mix. Stir in the chopped graham cracker pieces.
6. Gently fold in the raspberries. If you work them in too much they will get squished and the color will bleed into the dough.
7. Scoop 20 balls of dough onto each baking sheet, about one tablespoon each. Half of the balls will become the bottoms and half will become the tops. Press the back of a teaspoon slightly into the top of half the dough balls to create an indent.
8. Take the cream cheese filling out of the freezer and place one piece into each indent. Place a second ball of dough over the filling and pinch the sides to seal the cream cheese inside, being careful not to squish the filling into the dough. You should end up with tall balls of dough. Sprinkle the tops with more crushed graham crackers.
9. Refrigerate the prepared dough balls and repeat with the second baking sheet and the remaining dough. Preheat the oven to 350°F and be sure to leave the dough in the fridge while the oven heats. This is important, because the dough needs to firm up after you have handled it, so do not skip this step.
10. Bake one sheet at a time for 9 to 11 minutes, until the edges are slightly golden brown and the tops are set. Remove from the oven and leave the cookies on the baking sheet for 10 to 15 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely.

A quick note on the shape. The stuffed dough balls are tall, and they stay tall in the oven. That height is what gives you a thick cookie with a creamy center instead of a flat cookie with a puddle of filling.

Notes

The type of cream cheese you use changes how the filling behaves. Vegan cream cheese is softer than dairy cream cheese, so it takes longer to freeze and can be slower to firm up in the oven. If you go vegan, reduce the powdered sugar in the filling to ¼ cup (30 g). Less sugar helps the filling stay firm.

Flour measurement is the other big one. Use a kitchen scale or the spoon and level method. This dough should feel a little more crumbly than a typical cookie dough, and too much flour will push it past that point.

Raspberries matter too. Fresh or freeze dried berries work best. Frozen raspberries add water, which makes the dough sticky and can bleed color through the dough, so work quickly if that is what you have on hand.

Store baked cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator and eat them within 3 to 4 days. They taste best fresh, and they soften over time because of the cream cheese filling.

For freezing, you have two options. Freeze the baked cookies in an airtight ziploc bag and thaw them in the fridge. Or freeze the dough balls without the filling and make the cream cheese filling fresh when you are ready to bake.

Because the filling freezes so well, you can also make it a day or two ahead and keep it in the freezer until you are ready to assemble and bake.

These cookies are at their best on day one. After that, the filling keeps them soft, so plan to share them quickly.

Here is the nutrition for one cookie, based on the source recipe.

Recipe details

One batch makes 20 cookies. Plan for the chill time, because the filling needs at least an hour in the freezer before you assemble the cookies.

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Raspberry Cheesecake Cookies (Stuffed!)

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Raspberry Cheesecake Cookies (Stuffed! ) These raspberry cheesecake cookies are soft, buttery, and packed with real raspberry flavor.

• Total Time: 0 min
• Yield: 20 cookies 1x

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Cream Cheese Filling
¾ cup cream cheese, softened
⅓ cup powdered sugar, icing/confectioner’s sugar

Raspberry Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
¾ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1½ tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
2⅓ cup + 3 tbsp all purpose flour
½ cup raspberries, roughly chopped
½ cup chopped graham crackers, 4-5 graham crackers

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Instructions

1-Line a small baking sheet or plate: Line a small baking sheet or plate with parchment paper. In a small bowl, use a whisk or mixer (depending how hard your cream cheese is) to mix the cream cheese with powdered sugar until smooth and combined.
2-Place 20 teaspoons of cream cheese on: Place 20 teaspoons of cream cheese on the baking sheet or plate. Freeze for at least one hour, or until frozen almost completely solid.
3-When the cream cheese is frozen almost: When the cream cheese is frozen almost solid, line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda then set aside.
4-In the bowl of a handheld mixer: In the bowl of a handheld mixer or standing mixer, beat the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy (about 1-2 minutes). Mix in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract.
5-Add in the flour, salt, and baking: Add in the flour, salt, and baking soda, and mix until just combined (don’t over-mix). Stir in the chopped graham cracker pieces.
6-Gently fold in the raspberries: Gently fold in the raspberries. You don’t want to mix them in too much or they’ll get squished and the color will bleed into the dough.
7-Scoop 20 tablespoon-sized balls of dough onto: Scoop 20 tablespoon-sized balls of dough onto each baking sheet. Press the back of a teaspoon slightly into the top of half the balls of dough to create an indent.
8-Remove the cream cheese filling from the: Remove the cream cheese filling from the freezer and place one into each of the cookies. Take a second ball of dough and place it over the cream cheese, pinching the sides to seal the cream cheese inside, but making sure to not squish the cream cheese into the cookie dough. You should have tall balls of dough. Sprinkle the cookies with more crushed graham cracker pieces.
9-Refrigerate the prepared cookie dough balls and: Refrigerate the prepared cookie dough balls and repeat with the second cookie sheet and remaining dough. Preheat the oven to 350°F and leave the cookie dough in the fridge while it preheats. This is important, as the dough needs to firm up after you’ve handled it, so don’t skip the refrigerating step!
10-Bake the cookies in the preheated oven: Bake the cookies in the preheated oven one sheet at a time for 9-11 minutes, or until the edges are slightly golden brown and the tops are set. Remove from the oven and leave them on the baking sheet for 10-15 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

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• Prep Time: 0 min
• Cook Time: 0 min
• Method: bake

Nutrition

• Calories: 156kcal
• Sugar: 13g
• Sodium: 203mg
• Fat: 11g
• Saturated Fat: 4g
• Carbohydrates: 14g
• Fiber: 1g
• Protein: 1g
• Cholesterol: 18mg