Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookies

This perfect fall cookie recipe is courtesy of The Butternut Bakery Blog!

Cheesecake Filling:

• 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

• 1/4 cup sugar

• 1 tsp. vanilla

Streusel Topping:

• 3 tbsp. butter, room temperature

• 1/4 cup sugar

• 1 tsp. cinnamon

• 6 tbsp. flour

• Pinch of salt

Pumpkin Cookies:

• 2 1/2 cups flour

• 3/4 tsp. baking soda

• 1/2 tsp. salt

• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

• 1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

• 1 cup butter, cold and cubed

• 1 cup brown sugar, packed

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1/2 cup pure canned pumpkin

• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

Make the cheesecake:

1. In a small bowl, mix together the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla. Your cream cheese should be soft enough to where you can mix it together with a spoon.

2. Use a small cookie scoop to scoop out the cream cheese onto a plate lined with wax paper. You should get about 16 scoops. Pop those in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour or until they’re frozen solid.

Make the streusel:

1. Add all of the ingredients to a medium sized bowl and crumble together with your fingers. Place this in the fridge while you make the pumpkin cookies.

Make the pumpkin cookie dough:

1. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.

2. In a bowl using an electric mixer, cream together the cold butter and sugars until smooth and well combined. When measuring out the pumpkin, make sure you don’t level it off to an exact 1/2 cup. If it’s over the top by a smidge, that’s OK! Add the pumpkin and vanilla to the butter and sugar and mix to combine. It might look a little curdled but the flour with smooth it out.

3. Slowly mix in the dry ingredients until just combined. Don’t over mix.

4. Using a large ice cream or cookie scoop to scoop out the cookie dough and prep for chilling. If you don’t have a large ice cream scoop, you can use a 1/3 measuring cup. You should get about 15 cookies. Place in the fridge for 1-2 hours to chill.

5. Preheat the oven to 325° F and line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper. Prepare about 4-5 cookies at a time and place everything back in the fridge or freeze in between bakes.

6. Take a cookie in your hand and push one of the cream cheese scoops into the center. Spread the cookie dough over the top to seal. It might get a little stick but just make sure no cream cheese is showing. Smooth it out the best you can and place on the cookie sheet. Top with a small mound of crumbled streusel.

7. Bake for 20-23 minutes or until the top is no longer shiny. The edges will not brown so make sure you don’t over bake them. Place the cookies on a cooling rack and assemble the next batch.

8. Store in the fridge and serve cold or at room temperature. Enjoy!

Love pumpkin + cream cheese? Try these Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins!