Prep: 20 minutes · Freezing and chilling: 1 hour · Bake: 11 minutes · Cooling: 10 minutes · Total: 1 hour 40 minutes · Makes: 10 large cookies · Equipment: stand or hand mixer, small tray or plate that fits in the freezer, baking sheet, parchment paper
Gluten-free cookies have a reputation: they spread into thin, greasy discs, or they bake up dry and sandy, or they fall apart the moment you pick them up. Add a soft cream cheese filling and fresh blueberries, both of which bring moisture, and it seems like there are even more ways for a batch to go wrong.
These blueberry cheesecake cookies avoid all three problems with two simple habits: a gluten-free flour blend that already contains a binder, and cold, which runs through the whole recipe. The cream cheese filling is frozen into small balls before it goes inside the dough, and the dough rests in the refrigerator before baking. The result is a thick, soft cookie with whole blueberries and a creamy cheesecake center that stays inside instead of leaking onto the tray.
Ingredients
For the cheesecake filling
- 4 oz (115 g) full-fat cream cheese, softened – block cream cheese, not the spreadable kind in a tub, which is too soft to freeze into firm balls.
- 1/4 cup (30 g) powdered sugar – dissolves straight into the cream cheese without graininess.
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract – rounds out the cheesecake flavor.
For the cookie dough
- 1/2 cup (113 g) cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes – cold butter gives the cookies more height than melted butter would.
- 1/4 cup (50 g) granulated sugar and 1/2 cup (100 g) packed light brown sugar – the brown sugar keeps the cookies soft and chewy.
- 1 large egg, at room temperature.
- 1 tsp vanilla extract.
- Finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon, optional – brings out the blueberries and the cheesecake flavor.
- 1 3/4 cups gluten-free 1-to-1 baking flour – a blend made to replace wheat flour cup for cup. It must contain xanthan gum or another binder; if yours does not, add 1/2 teaspoon of xanthan gum.
- 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1/4 tsp salt.
- 1/4 cup (about 40 g) fresh blueberries, rinsed and patted completely dry.
How to Make It
1. Make and freeze the filling – 5 minutes, then at least 1 hour
Beat the softened cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Scoop 10 rounded teaspoons onto a parchment-lined plate or small tray and freeze for at least 1 hour. The balls should be firm enough to pick up without losing their shape.
2. Cream the butter and sugars – 3 minutes
In a large bowl, beat the cold butter with the granulated and brown sugars on medium speed for about 3 minutes. The mixture should look lighter in color and fluffy, with no large lumps of butter left.
3. Add the egg, vanilla and zest – 1 minute
Beat in the egg, vanilla and lemon zest until combined. Scrape down the bowl.
4. Add the dry ingredients and blueberries – 2 minutes
Whisk the gluten-free flour, baking soda and salt together, then add them to the bowl and mix on low just until no dry flour remains. Fold in the blueberries by hand, gently, so they stay whole. The dough should be thick and soft, a little stickier than a regular cookie dough.
5. Chill the dough – 30 minutes
Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes, while the filling finishes freezing. Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment for the last 10 minutes. Chilled dough should be firm enough to scoop and shape without sticking to your fingers.
6. Stuff the cookies – 5 minutes
Scoop the dough into 10 equal portions. Flatten each one into a round in your palm, set a frozen cream cheese ball in the center, then fold the dough up around it and pinch to seal completely. Roll gently into a ball and place on the baking sheet, about 2 inches (5 cm) apart. No white filling should be visible through the dough.
7. Bake – 350°F (175°C), 10 to 11 minutes
Bake on the middle rack for 10 to 11 minutes. Take them out when the edges are set and very lightly golden and the centers look puffed and only just set; they will still seem slightly underdone.
8. Cool on the sheet – 10 minutes
Leave the cookies on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then move them to a wire rack. Gluten-free cookies are fragile while hot and firm up as they cool. They should hold together when lifted with a spatula.
Why Cold Matters So Much
Wheat flour gets its structure from gluten. Gluten-free blends do not have it, so the binder in the blend, usually xanthan gum, has to do that job, and the fat in the dough has more influence on how far the cookies spread. Starting with cold butter and chilling the dough before baking means the butter melts more slowly in the oven, giving the cookie time to set before it spreads.
The filling depends on cold even more. Soft cream cheese wrapped in dough tends to push its way out as the dough expands. Frozen into a firm ball, it stays in place long enough for the cookie to set around it, then softens into a creamy center as the cookies bake and cool.
Moisture is the third thing to watch. Blueberries release juice as they bake, which is part of the appeal, but wet berries in the dough streak it purple and soften the crumb. Drying them well after rinsing, and folding them in at the very end, keeps most of them whole.
Choosing a Gluten-Free Flour
Use a blend sold as a 1-to-1 or cup-for-cup replacement for all-purpose flour, and check the ingredient list for xanthan gum. Blends differ in weight per cup, so spoon the flour into the measuring cup and level it rather than scooping straight from the bag, which packs it down and makes the cookies dry.
If you bake for someone with celiac disease, the flour is not the only ingredient to check. Vanilla, baking soda and powdered sugar are usually gluten-free, but look for a gluten-free label on each one. In the United States, a product labeled gluten-free must contain less than 20 parts per million of gluten under the FDA’s gluten-free labeling rule. Clean your mixing bowls, beaters and baking sheets well, since traces of wheat flour from earlier baking can transfer to the dough.
Storing and Freezing
Because of the cream cheese filling, keep the cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator and eat them within 3 days. Let them sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving, or warm one for a few seconds in the microwave for a softer center. Baked cookies can be frozen for up to a month in a freezer bag; thaw them in the refrigerator.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use frozen blueberries?
Yes. Fold them in straight from the freezer, without thawing, so they do not bleed into the dough. The dough will firm up faster around the cold berries, which is not a problem here.
Can I make them with regular flour?
Yes. Replace the gluten-free blend with the same amount of all-purpose flour and leave out any added xanthan gum. The method stays the same.
Why did the filling leak out?
Usually because the filling was not frozen long enough or the dough was not sealed all the way around it. Check that the balls are firm before you start shaping, and pinch every seam closed.
If you are baking more fall treats, try the pumpkin cookies or the cinnamon roll cookies (both made with regular flour), the flourless oatmeal apple cake, or the apple pie pull-apart bread. You can find them all among the dessert recipes.
Gluten-Free Blueberry Cheesecake Cookies
Ingredients
Method
- Beat the cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Scoop 10 rounded teaspoons onto a parchment-lined plate and freeze at least 1 hour, until firm.
- Beat the cold butter with the granulated and brown sugars on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the egg, vanilla and lemon zest.
- Whisk the gluten-free flour, baking soda and salt, add to the bowl and mix on low just until combined. Gently fold in the blueberries.
- Cover and refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes. Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment.
- Divide the dough into 10 portions. Flatten each, place a frozen cream cheese ball in the center, wrap the dough around it and pinch to seal completely. Set 2 inches (5 cm) apart on the sheet.
- Bake 10 to 11 minutes, until the edges are set and lightly golden and the centers are just set.
- Cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then move to a wire rack.