cheesecake filled pumpkin spice sugar cookies
soft, chewy and perfectly pumpkin spiced sugar cookies made even more decadent by filling them with sweet and tangy cream cheese. these cookies are sweet, spicy and chewy and creamy bites of fall flavors.
Equipment
- stand or electric mixer (with paddle or beater attachments)
- mixing bowl
- parchment paper
- baking sheet
Ingredients
pumpkin spiced sugar
- ¼ c granulated sugar
- 2 tsp pumpkin spice see notes for blend, sub with preferred "fall baking" spice
pumpkin spice sugar cookies
- 2 ⅓ c (290g) all purpose flour
- 2 tsp (5g) cornstarch
- 2 tsp (6g) baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tsp pumpkin spice
- 1 c (226g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 c (200g) light brown sugar
- ¼ c (50g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
- 2 tsp (10ml) vanilla extract
cream cheese (cheesecake) filing
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- ¼ c (50g) granulated sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp salt
Instructions
pumpkin spice sugar cookies
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, cornstarch, salt and pumpkin spice. Set aside.
- On medium high speed, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the egg, yolk and vanilla extract one at a time. Wait about 20 seconds before adding the next ingredient.
- On the lowest speed or by hand (my preferred way), add the dry ingredients to the wet ½ at a time. Cover the dough with plastic cling wrap and chill for 30-45 minutes. The dough is ready when the cookie firmly holds a ball shape. While the dough is chilling, make the filling, spiced sugar and preheat the oven to 350F.
cream cheese (cheesecake) filling and spiced sugar
- While the cookie dough chiils, make the filling. Using a spatula, spoon or electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla extract and salt until smooth and well combined. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes or fridge for 30 minutes. To make the sugar, mix the granulated sugar with the pumpkin spice in a shallow bowl until well combined. Set aside.
assembly
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Remove dough and filling from the fridge. Have the dough, filling and spiced sugar nearby for easy assembly.Scoop about 1 tablespoon of dough from the bowl. Flatten slightly into a disk. Scoop about a teaspoon of filling onto the center of the disk. Scoop another tablespoon of dough from the bowl. Flatten into a similar size disk.Place the second disk on top of the filling. Gently press the edges of the two disks together.Gently roll into a ball. Make sure the seems stay together and the filling isn't coming out from any part of the dough. Roll the filled cookie dough ball in the spiced sugar. Set on the prepared cookie sheet about 2" from the next cookie.Repeat for about 8-9 cookies per baking sheet. Keep any unused portion of the filling and dough in the fridge while the other batch bakes.
- Bake the cookies in the center rack for about 8-12 minutes. The cookies are finished when the tops are golden brown with cracks forming across the cookie.Remove baking sheet from the oven to cool on a cooling rack for 3-5 minutes. Remove cookies from the baking sheet to cool completely to room temperature on the cooling rack.
Notes
pumpkin pie spice: Feel free to use a store bought version if you have one you like. If you’d like to make a homemade version, here is my preferred version:
⅓ c ground cinnamon (32 g)
2 ½ tablespoon ground ginger (15 g)
2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (4g)
1 teaspoon ground allspice (4g)
½ teaspoon ground cardamon (1g)
Mix all ingredients together in a small mixing bowl. Store in an airtight container such as spice jar or small glass mason jar.
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