You are going to swoon over these Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies. They’re made with 8 simple ingredients and come out perfectly chewy every time!
Chocolate Chip Cookies + Cream Cheese
Yes, this truly is as amazing of a match as it sounds! These cream cheese chocolate chip cookies are a new favorite over here with The Cheese Knees team, and we’re so dang excite to share them with you.
The ingredient list is simple and short, and the recipe itself is easy peasy, too. We’re talkin’ make a batch of these with the kids, easy. Oh, and did we mention that this is a great recipe to freeze for later?! Aka: cream cheese chocolate chip cookies on hand 24/7.
Ingredients – What You Need
Are you ready to make the most delicious cream cheese chocolate chip cookies you’ve ever tasted? Check out these simple ingredients:
- Butter: every cookie deserves a little butter and this recipe calls for an entire stick!
- Cream cheese: can’t have cream cheese cookies without the cream cheese! This gives these chocolate chip cookies the perfect tang. We recommend full-fat. Always.
- Light brown sugar: light brown sugar makes these cookies so soft and perfectly sweet.
- Egg: egg is used as a binder, we don’t recommend skipping it.
- Vanilla extract: vanilla helps warm up these cookies.
- All-purpose flour: we haven’t tested these cookies with any other flour, so we don’t recommend making substitutions here!
- Baking soda: we’re opting for baking soda instead of powder for our leavening agent for these cookies.
- Salt: a little salt goes a long way with bringing out the sweet flavors of these cookies.
- Chocolate chips: we love semi-sweet chocolate chips, but feel free to choose your own adventure and opt for whatever chips you prefer.
How to Make Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies
Start with the Wet Ingredients
Add the softened butter and cream cheese to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until well combined. Then, add the brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the egg and vanilla.
Whisk together Dry Ingredients
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda. If you used unsalted butter, add a small pinch of salt with the dry ingredients.
Add Dry ingredients to Wet
With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet. Once all of the flour has been incorporated, turn the mixer off and add the chocolate chips, and gently fold the chocolate chips into the cookie dough.
Scoop Cookie Dough
Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper and scoop out 2 tablespoon sized balls. Sprinkle the cookies with flakey sea salt.
Freeze Dough (briefly!)
Transfer the cookies to the freezer for 15 minutes. While the cookies chill, preheat your oven to 350°F.
Bake Cookies
Once the cookies have chilled, line another baking sheet with parchment paper and place 6-8 cookies on the sheet (as many as will fit!), making sure to place them at least 2” apart.
Bake for 10 minutes, then remove the tray from the oven and tap it on the counter a few times (this will sink the center of the cookies so they cook fully in the center). Return the cookies to the oven for an additional 3-5 minutes or until they are golden brown and set around the edges. Tap the tray again when you remove it from the oven to sink the cookies a final time.
How to Store Cookies
Keep these cream cheese chocolate chip cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, making sure they fully cool before storing.
Can you Freeze Cookies?
Absolutely! These cream cheese chocolate chip cookies will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Simply allow the cookies to cool completely, and then store in an airtight container (large Ziplocs work great for this!), and write the date you made the cookies + the name of the cookies on the bag before placing in the freezer.
To freeze cookie dough before baking: Unbaked cookie dough can be kept in an airtight container in the freezer for up to one month. Bake directly from frozen as directed.
To thaw: Thaw these cookies at room temperature overnight. Or if you’re in a pinch for a cream cheese chocolate chip cookie right now, remove from the freezer and place a cookie in the microwave for 1 minute on defrost, or until it’s chewy and delicious.
Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
- 4 oz. cream cheese softened
- 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar lightly packed
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Add the softened butter and cream cheese to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until well combined – about 1 minute.
- Next add the brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy – about 2 minutes on medium speed.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the egg and vanilla. Mix just to combine.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.
- With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet.
- Once all of the flour has been incorporated, turn the mixer off and gently fold the chocolate chips into the cookie dough.
- Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper and scoop out 2 tablespoon sized balls. Sprinkle the cookies with flakey sea salt (optional).
- Transfer the cookies to the freezer for 15 minutes. While the cookies chill, preheat your oven to 350°F.
- Once the cookies have chilled, line another baking sheet with parchment paper and place 6-8 cookies on the sheet (as many as will fit), making sure to place them at least 2” apart.
- Bake for 10 minutes, then remove the tray from the oven and tap it on the counter a few times (this will sink the center of the cookies so they cook fully in the center). Return the cookies to the oven for an additional 3-5 minutes or until they are golden brown and set around the edges. Tap the tray again when you remove it from the oven to sink the cookies a final time.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the tray before removing them to an airtight container. Store baked cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days.
- Unbaked cookie dough can be kept in an airtight container in the freezer for up to one month. Bake directly from frozen.
Holy moly! These are SO GOOD! I doubled the batch out of sheer laziness to not have to cut my cream cheese block in half and used the medium sized OXO cookie scoop which is a 1 1/2 tablespoon measure and got 54 glorious cookies! I did some with the flakey sea salt and some without and the addition of that salt makes the perfect salty & sweet combo – don’t skip this step! A must make recipe for sure!
54 GLORIOUS COOKIES is right! So glad you enjoyed these cookies as much as we do 🙂
YUM!! These cookies are REALLY good! We couldn’t get our hands on any Girl Scout cookies tonight and had all the ingredients for these. Definitely a recipe we will make again. My husband can’t stop eating them. Thank you!
So glad to hear you and your husband loved these cookies, Andrea!