Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookies
These homemade pumpkin cheesecake cookies are soft baked, gooey, and delicious! They taste like biting into a warm pumpkin pie. They are perfect for the fall season, but enjoyable all year long. My friends and family go crazy for this cookie recipe. These cookies are warm, perfectly spiced, and the ultimate fall dessert. Be sure to try this Pumpkin Cheesecake Bread too!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- These pumpkin cheesecake cookies are perfectly flavored.
- They are soft baked and gooey.
- These cookies are not dry or boring.
- They taste like a pumpkin roll cookie!
- They are not overly sweet.
- The pumpkin and cream flavors work so well together. So does chocolate and cream like these Chocolate Cheesecake Cookies!
- These easy cheesecake cookies are perfect for fall or any time of the year.
- The flavors are warm and cozy.
- These cream cheese filled cookies can be made with regular all purpose flour or gluten free 1 to 1 flour.
- If using gluten free flour, this recipe is both gluten free and nut free.
- Check out these Gluten Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies for another great dessert!
Ingredients & Substitutions
These are the main ingredients and substitutions for pumpkin cheesecake cookies. Scroll down to the recipe card for full ingredients list and instructions.
Room temperature cream cheese and powdered sugar make up the cheesecake filling. Allow the cream cheese to come to room temperature before using. Beat cream cheese and powdered sugar until creamy.
For the cookies, use cold butter straight from the fridge. Do not use softened or melted butter. For this recipe, use 1 cup which is 2 sticks.
Tightly pack brown sugar. In addition, granulated sugar adds sweetness. I have not tried this recipe using a sugar alternative.
Use pumpkin purée, not pumpkin pie filling.
Only one egg is needed. For an egg free pumpkin cookie, check out these Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Vanilla extract adds a delicious warmth.
Use either all purpose flour or gluten free 1 to 1 flour. Both work equally well.
Baking soda helps these cookies rise slightly.
Both cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice add the best flavor. If you cannot find pumpkin pie spice, substitute with more cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg.
Add in a pinch of sea salt if desired.
Taste & Texture
These pumpkin cheesecake cookies are warmly spiced. They taste mostly of pumpkin, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice. The filling is reminiscent of vanilla cheesecake.
These cookies are soft baked. They do not get crispy or chewy. These cookies are gooey, creamy, soft and fragile. They melt in your mouth!
How to Make
Step 1
First, make cheesecake filling. Add room temperature cream cheese and powdered sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix on high until fully creamy.
Step 2
Scoop out ½ inch balls of cheesecake filling. Place on parchment lined pan. Place pan in freezer for 30 minutes.
Step 3
Then, make pumpkin cookie dough. Add cold butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar to a clean bowl of a stand mixer. Mix until no clumps of butter remain.
Step 4
Add in pumpkin purée, egg and vanilla extract. Stir to combine.
Step 5
Add in flour, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and sea salt. Stir until a thick cookie dough is formed.
Step 6
Place bowl of cookie dough in the fridge for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
Step 7
After 30 minutes, remove cookie dough from fridge and remove cheesecake balls from freezer. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking pan with parchment paper.
Step 8
Scoop out ball of cookie dough. Place on lined pan. Flatten with hands.
Step 9
Then, place a frozen cheesecake ball in the center of the cookie dough. Place another flattened ball of cookie dough on top of cheesecake.
Step 10
Then, use hands to fully enclose the cheesecake ball with cookie dough. Continue for remaining dough, baking the pumpkin cheesecake cookies in 2 batches.
Step 11
Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until cookies look set in the middle.
Step 12
Finally, remove the pumpkin cheesecake cookies from oven. Allow cookies to cool on pan for 15 minutes before carefully removing to a cooling rack.
Expert Tips & Tricks
For best results, carefully measure all ingredients.
Follow the step by step photos above for the best pumpkin cheesecake cookies.
Use room temperature cream cheese. Do not use cold cream cheese.
The cheesecake filling balls do not have to look perfect. Make them roughly ½ inch in size.
For the cookies, use cold butter straight from your fridge. This helps prevent the cookies from spreading too much while baking.
The cookie dough may be slightly sticky, even after chilling. It should not be very sticky, only slightly so.
Chill the cookie dough for 30 to 60 minutes. Do not skip this step.
Handle these spiced pumpkin cheesecake cookies carefully. They are large, soft, and gooey.
How to Serve & Store
Serve pumpkin spice cheesecake cookies once cooled. They are soft!
These cookies pair well with milk or coffee.
For the ultimate dessert, warm up cookies and serve with vanilla ice cream. In fact, drizzle maple syrup on top!
Store cookies in the fridge. Due to the cream cheese filling, they are safest in the fridge.
Freeze pumpkin cheesecake cookies for up to 1 month.
Frequently Asked Questions
These cookies are large! They are about 3 inches in diameter.
Use either all purpose flour or gluten free 1 to 1 flour. Both work well.
Use gluten free flour to make gluten free pumpkin cheesecake cookies.
Sure! Replace with more cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg.
Yes, this step is mandatory. This helps these pumpkin spice stuffed cookies maintain their shape while baking.
You May Also Like
- Healthy Pumpkin Cookies
- Mini Cheesecakes
- Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
- Edible Pumpkin Cookie Dough
- Vegan Snickerdoodles
If you make these pumpkin cheesecake cookies, I would really appreciate a review! You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. I would love for you to follow along! For more ideas, check out these Dessert Recipes.
Get the Recipe: Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookies
Ingredients
Cheesecake Filling
- 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- ½ cup powdered sugar
Pumpkin Cookies
- 1 cup unsalted butter, cold
- 1 cup brown sugar, tightly packed
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup pumpkin purée
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 ⅔ cups flour, all purpose flour or gluten free
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
- pinch sea salt
Instructions
- First, make cheesecake filling. Add room temperature cream cheese and powdered sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix on high until fully creamy.
- Scoop out ½ inch balls of cheesecake filling. Make 12 small balls. Place on parchment lined pan. Place pan in freezer for 30 minutes.
- Then, make pumpkin cookie dough. Add cold butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar to a clean bowl of a stand mixer. Mix until no clumps of butter remain.
- Add in pumpkin purée, egg and vanilla extract. Stir to combine.
- Add in flour, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and sea salt. Stir until a thick dough is formed.
- Place bowl of cookie dough in the fridge for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- After 30 minutes, remove cookie dough from fridge and remove cheesecake balls from freezer. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking pan with parchment paper.
- Scoop out ball of cookie dough. Place on lined pan. Flatten with hands.
- Then, place a frozen cheesecake ball in the center of the cookie dough. Place another flattened ball of cookie dough on top of cheesecake.
- Then, use hands to fully enclose the cheesecake ball with cookie dough. Continue for remaining dough, baking the cookies in 2 batches.
- Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until cookies look set in the middle.
- Finally, remove from oven. Allow cookies to cool on pan for 15 minutes before carefully removing to a cooling rack.
Notes
- Use room temperature cream cheese. Cold cream cheese will not cream well.
- Scoop out ½ inch balls of cheesecake filling. They do not have to look perfect.
- Use cold butter right from the fridge. Do not use softened or melted butter.
- Both gluten free 1 to 1 flour and all purpose flour work well.
- The cookie dough will be slightly sticky before chilling.
- Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes up to 1 hour. This alleviates the sticky dough.
- See photos within the blog post for how to assemble cookies.
- These cookies are soft baked and fragile. Handle with care.
- For best results, store cookies in the fridge.
- These cookies are large!
- They freeze well.
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9 Comments on “Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookies”
Is there a way to make the filling and dough a day before you prepare to bake them? I can’t prep the cookies and bake them in the same day and was wondering if leaving them for a day in the fridge (dough) and the freezer (cream cheese filling) would throw off the baking process and consistency of the Cooke???
Hi Leslie! It is definitely possible. Just take the filling out of the freezer maybe an hour before you are going to bake. Then I would take the cookie dough out of the fridge about an hour before baking. That way, the filling is not rock solid when you go to bake. Enjoy!
Very yummy cookies but beating cold butter with sugar made a huge, huge mess. Next time I’ll soften the butter just slightly so it mixes easier with the sugar, then leave the batter in the fridge for 1.5-2 hours to chill.
Hi Kathy! Thank you for the feedback. Glad you enjoyed the flavor. Good idea with softening and then chilling the butter!
These are AMAZING. I got 13 cookies from this, 13 HUUUUGE cookies. They are very rich. I don’t even really like pumpkin, but I loved these.
Mine were a little more dense then pictured, but absolutely no complaints were heard. I think next time I would actually make them smaller and pinch the dough around the filling instead of sandwiching it. I experimented with one this way and it was a little prettier and more bit sized.
All that being said, this is a great recipe. While this is a little more labor intensive than some cookie recipes, it was a million percent worth it!
Hi Hailee! I am so thrilled that you enjoyed these cookies! They are completely worth every second. Thank you SO much for taking the time to rate and comment. Enjoy those cookies!
You had me at cream cheese filling! Pumpkin is a nice bonus!
Is your mouth watering? Just think how amazing these will taste in your mouth! Incredible!
Can’t wait to try! We are cheesecake fanatics!