Cheesecake Cookies

Ok I had a genious idea when tweaking this recipe!! I'm going to try adding pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice to both the cookie and filling. I'm also going to make into bars. But for now here we go..


2 1/2 cups finely crushed nilla wafers
2 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 sticks butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs, separated
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
dash of cinnamon x 2
dash of kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.


In a large bowl, stir together the nilla wafer crumbs, flour, baking powder and cinnamon. In a medium bowl, beat together the butter with the brown sugar using an electric hand mixer. Add the egg white and beat until well combined. Add to the crumbs and blend until just combined.



In a separate medium bowl, beat together the softened cream cheese with the granulated sugar, egg yolks, lemon juice, dash of cinnamon, dash of kosher salt and vanilla until well combined. Set aside.



Using a small ice cream scoop, scoop out the cookie dough and place on a nonstick or parchment lined baking sheet. Flatten slightly, pressing your thumb in the center of the ball to create a small bowl shape.


Repeat with the remaining dough. Spoon the filling into the indents in the cookies. It's about 1/2 TSP.



Or you can use a regular ice cream scoop and then fill with 1/2 TBS of filling.



Bake until the filling is set and the cookies are lightly golden, exactly 12 minutes.

Transfer to wire rack. At this point you can add a pie filling topping or leave plain.