Ginger Cheesecake Cookies
Updated Oct. 17, 2025
- Total Time
- About 2 hours
- Prep Time
- 5 minutes
- Cook Time
- About 2 hours
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 6ounces/170 grams cream cheese, chilled
- ½ cup/62 grams powdered sugar
- 1large egg yolk
- 2teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2½ cups/320 grams all-purpose flour
- 1tablespoon ground ginger
- 2teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1teaspoon baking soda
- ½teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
- 10tablespoons/141 grams salted butter, at room temperature
- 1cup/200 grams granulated sugar
- 1large egg
- ½cup/62 grams crystallized ginger, finely chopped
- ⅓cup/113 milliliters unsulphured molasses
- 2tablespoons finely chopped fresh ginger (no need to peel)
- White sanding sugar or granulated sugar, for rolling (optional)
For the Filling
For the Dough
Nutritional analysis per serving (18 servings)
261 calories; 10 grams fat; 6 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 40 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 25 grams sugars; 3 grams protein; 162 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Prepare the filling: In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium-high, beat together cream cheese, powdered sugar, egg yolk and vanilla until smooth. Transfer mixture to a piping bag or resealable plastic bag.
- Step 2
Set a sheet of parchment on a rimmed baking sheet. Snip off a ¼-inch opening from the bottom corner of the bag. Pipe equal-size dollops of the filling — you should have at least 18 — onto the prepared sheet. Using a spoon, smooth down any sharp edges. Freeze until completely firm, at least 1 hour. Line 2 more rimmed baking sheets with parchment.
- Step 3
Prepare the dough: In a large bowl, whisk together flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, pepper and salt. In a second large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium until pale and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Beat in egg, crystallized ginger, molasses and fresh ginger, scraping the sides as you go. With the mixer on low, beat in the flour mixture until well combined.
- Step 4
Scoop dough into 2-inch/45-gram balls. (To portion the dough without a cookie scoop, form it into a rectangle, then use a sharp knife to cut the block into 18 equal pieces.) Working with one at a time, flatten a dough ball in the palm of your hand, then add a piece of frozen filling to the center. (Keep the rest of the filling in the freezer as you work.) Bring the dough up and around the filling, encasing it completely. Roll the dough ball between your hands to form it into a smooth sphere. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. If the dough feels very soft, chill it for about 15 minutes.
- Step 5
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Roll each chilled ball in sanding sugar to coat, if you like, then place on the prepared sheets, at least 3 inches apart (they will spread). Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until the center of each cookie is just set, 15 to 17 minutes. Repeat with any remaining cookies. Let cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes, then move to wire racks to cool completely. Cookies will keep, stored in an airtight container at room temperature, for up to 3 days.
Private Notes
Comments
A simple alternative to dollop thing the cream cheese would be to put them in a Ziploc baggie and let them freeze into a log, then cut the log into slices similar to how you cut a roll of cookie dough. Just portion it so that your log is going to freeze in a similar diameter to the dollop, you may need to do more than one bag.
Dear lord, you’ve finally added the metric system to the recipes!
These cookies are delicious. Lovely, strong ginger taste that counterbalances the sweetness of the filling. Filling them was tedious, and it would have been helpful to have the weight of the filling. I made a test cookie and went with 8 grams. After my first batch went into the oven, I put the remaining dough and filling in a baking dish and made bars. Equally delicious! The cookies are large, and you could downsize them by half for a holiday cookie plate. The gingerbread dough is a winner!
Just made these and believe it or not I wish the ginger flavor was even stronger. The video describes them as spicy cookies but I thought they were rather mild and sweet. Modifications for next time: 1. I used American cream cheese but a locally made brand (Tillamook) that only contained cream, milk, skim milk, and sea salt. Too sweet, however. I would cut back on the sugar and maybe half the vanilla. I wanted the filling to be tangier. The consistency was perfect if you let it freeze properly. As the video mentions, keep the balls in the freezer and only take out a few as a time as you roll the cookies. 2. Add 1 more tablespoon of fresh ginger, 1 more teaspoon of ground ginger, 1/4 more teaspoon of black pepper. 3. The dough was quite sticky so I sprinkled in a little more flour and combined until it looked more like the video. 4. Because these were sweeter than I expected, I would not roll the whole ball in sugar next time but rather just touch the tops into the bowl of sugar.
@Jacksavvy I made about 24 cookies and weighed the dough balls at about 40 grams each (before combining with the filling).
I had to bake them longer. I made 18 cookies total, 6 balls per each tray. 1st batch 15 minutes they came out undone (I could see the filling peeking out). 2nd batch 16 minutes, (undone as well) and the last batch (about 20-22 minutes)—the better looking ones but they are crunchy instead of gooey and soft.—Maybe they were not undone but the batter looked raw in the center when I took them out before 17 minutes. Next time I'll just do 17-18 minutes, even if they look raw I'm just gonna let them cool. (What I did to fix them was to put the 2 first batches in the oven for another 6-8 minutes to fully bake them because the bottom AND the filling of the cookie were falling apart through cooling rack so, since I couldn't take them out, I put them on a baking sheet, I baked them as they were—on top of the rack—and it was a mess but they still tasted delicious. After they slightly cooled I flipped the rack upside down carefully pushed the "top"—or whatever was left of the cookies— through the tack and took them off, picked each topped-off cookie carefully—bcs they still were gooey falling apart—and joined it with its respective gushed-out filling and bottom part of the cookie, gently pressing like play-dough. Let fully cool and voila! Not the prettiest cookies ever but I managed to fix that mess.) I hope I helped someone, my oven never bakes with the mentioned time on the recipe!
Holy cow, these cookies are SCRUMPTIOUS! I definitely recommend watching the preparation video, I feel like figuring out the cream cheese filing would have been so much harder if I hadn’t watched her method. I will absolutely be making these again! Thank you!