Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies Made with Cake Mix

Why You'll Love These Cookies

These are absolutely heavenly. With Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies, you'll get the sweet tang of strawberry on the outside with a creamy, cheesecake-like filling. It's such a great combination of two flavor profiles that tastes just like a bite of strawberry cheesecake!

They're also so unique. Who knew that making stuffed cookies could be so easy? The secret to making sure the cookies have a soft texture on the outside and creamy filling on the inside is freezing that cheesecake filling before baking. I'll show you how in this post.

How to Make Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies

Ingredients

For the strawberry cookies...

• 1 box strawberry cake mix - gives the cookies a pretty pink color and a perfect strawberry flavor
• 2 large eggs
• 1 stick salted butter - room temperature works best for blending
• ½ cup white chocolate chips - can be omitted if you're not into them
• 1 cup finely diced fresh strawberries - I recommend fresh strawberries as opposed to frozen ones. You'll get a much brighter flavor! You can add a crunchy element by using freeze-dried strawberries instead of fresh ones.

For the cheesecake filling...

• 6 oz cream cheese - Again, room temperature works best for blending. Light cream cheese will give you the same flavor with less fat if desired.
• ½ cup powdered sugar

Instructions

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the strawberry cake mix, eggs, and butter until smooth. Fold in white chocolate chips and diced strawberries. Refrigerate dough until ready to bake.

In another mixing bowl, beat together room-temperature cream cheese and powdered sugar. Spoon this mixture onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet in 1 tablespoon increments (about the size of a small cookie scoop). Freeze these spoonfuls for about an hour.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Scoop 2-3 tablespoon balls of cookie dough onto a baking pan lined with parchment paper (about 6 per cookie sheet works best; I cooked mine in two batches). With a spoon or your thumb, make an indent in the middle of the cookie dough ball.

Place a frozen cream cheese spoonful in the indent on each ball of cookie dough. Gently fold cookie dough over to surround the cream cheese mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees for 13-16 minutes, until cookies start to brown on top and around the sides. Cool on the baking sheet for at least 15 minutes before carefully transferring to a baking rack.

Recipe Video

Flavor Substitutions and Variations

While I've made these with a strawberry flavor, you can change the flavor to anything you'd like by changing the cake mix! A few popular variations...

• Lemon Cheesecake Cookies (lemon cake mix, omit diced fruit)
• Blueberry Cheesecake Cookies (blueberry muffin mix, frozen wild blueberries)
• Cherry Cheesecake Cookies (chopped cherries, cherry chip cake mix)

You get the picture. Sub any flavor of cake mix and chopped fruit you'd like. It would even be yummy to combine fruit flavors (think lemon/blueberry, strawberry/raspberry, etc.).

Not a cheesecake fan? These make great plain strawberry cookies. Just use the cake mix cookie batter and omit the cheesecake filling.

You can make this recipe non-dairy by using vegetable oil instead of butter and non-dairy or vegan cream cheese.

Leftover Storage/Freezing

Because of the cream cheese filling, you'll need to store these in the refrigerator after baking. They'll keep in a refrigerated airtight container for 3-4 days after preparation.

They freeze very well! Freeze flat on a cookie sheet and store in a gallon freezer bag or airtight freezer container. When you're ready to serve, thaw in the fridge for 12-24 hours, or until you can easily break a cookie in half.

Other Tips and Tricks

• Make sure your cream cheese filling spoonfuls are frozen well enough to not fall apart when transferring to the cookie. They will thaw and get ooey-gooey delicious while baking the cookies.
• This recipe makes roughly a dozen strawberry cheesecake cookies. I recommend cooking in two batches of 6; they are pretty large in the sizes I've mentioned.
• These cookies are on the cakeier side (which works really well with the cream cheese center). If you want more thick, chewy cookies, only use 1 egg and melt the butter before mixing with the cake mix.
• These are great served warm or cold!

FAQs