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!
I am happy to report that after discovering that the molasses weight measurement is off (closer to 1/2 cup than 1/3 cup) when my cookies were a very dark, they were still as delicious as the first time I made them with the correct amount of molasses. If not more. I almost threw out the batch, and I’m so glad I didn’t. They were a huge hit at Thanksgiving!
I made these once and found the filling was very difficult to work with and was barely noticeable in the final cookie. The dough was great and I might try these again without the filling. I brought these to a cookie exchange and the consensus was the filling wasn’t worth the hassle. However, I only tried the recipe once and maybe if I tried it again and the filling were more solid, the filling would be thicker in the baked cookie and more noticeable. *The filling wasn’t as solid as it looked in the video so it pooled on the tray. I froze it but then the pools froze solid so I couldn’t roll them into balls. So I put the tray in the fridge, only to have them become too soft, so I had to put them back in the freezer again. Like another commenter mentioned, the dough was very soft & sticky at room temp., so challenging to wrap it around the filling. I put the dough in the fridge for 15 minutes and that helped.
10/10! I was nervous about these working after reading the reviews but the recipe is perfect. A bit of work but not technical and so worth it. They look just like the picture and taste amazing. Wonderful contrast of chewy spicy cookie, creamy filling and a little crunch from the sugar coating.