Ingredients
Equipment
Method
Cheesecake Filling
- Into a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or with an electric whisk, cream together cream cheese, sugar and vanilla paste. Start on a low speed until the ingredients have come together before gradually turning up to a high speed and beating until smooth and sugar has dissolved. after 2 minutes scrape the side and bottom of the bowl and continue mixing for another 2 minutes.
- Once the cream cheese has smoothened, with the mixer off add in the whipping cream, start mixing on low and once the cream is incorporated turn the mixer up to a medium-high speed and mix until the mix thickens, around 1-2 minutes.
- Transfer the batter to your prepared baking tray. Using a palette knife, work the mixture into the edges and corners, levelling it off to achieve an even thickness.Place the tray into the freezer for 2-4 hours, or overnight.
Cookie Dough
- Start by taking the cheesecake filling out of the freezer and chopping into large chunks, 3-4cm in width and length and set bake in the freezer to stay firm until it needs to be added to the cookie dough.
- Then sift flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and ground cinnamon into a mixing bowl and set aside for later.
- Either with a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or an electric whisk, cream together brown butter, light brown sugar, caster sugar and vanilla paste.After 1-2 minutes scrape the sides of the bowl and continue mixing until light, pale ad fluffy. This should take around 5 minutes total.
- Next incorporate the eggs, one at a time, allowing the egg to completely emulsify before adding the next.
- Gently fold in the dry ingredients in 2-3 parts. Allow each part to completely combine before adding the next.
- Lastly that the chunks of cheesecake mix out of the freezer and using a spatula fold into the cookie dough until evenly distributed.Using a ice cream scoop, portion out the dough onto a pre-lined 40x30 cm baking tray and roll between your hands to smoothen the surface. Place into the fridge for 60 minutes to set firm.
Coating & Baking
- Preheat the oven to 170℃ (338℉) and line a second 40x30 cm baking tray with greaseproof paper.
- Into a mixing bowl add caster sugar and ground cinnamon, whisk together until all the cinnamon is dispersed and the are no lumps of sugar.
- Take the chilled cookie from the fridge and individually coat each dough ball the the cinnamon sugar, placing onto the tray leaving enough space between them (6 per tray)
- Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes, until the edges are firm but the centre is still soft. Leave to cool in the tray for 10-15 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
Notes
- You can cut the cheesecake mix into any size you like, however I recommend keeping them fairly large as some pieces will break into smaller pieces when folded through the cookie dough.
- I highly recommend folding the cheesecake mix in by hand, using a stand mixer is going to break the pieces down completely and the heat will cause the cream cheese to melt into the cookie dough. If you wish to use a stand mixer to do this, cut the mix into larger chunks.
- I have used browned butter for this recipe but you can simply substitute an equal weight of room temperature unsalted butter cut into 1cm cubes.
- My ice cream scoop portions the cookie dough into 90g pieces. You can portion them smaller to get more out of the recipe but keep in mind baking times will vary.
- This cookie dough doesn't take long to set firm since the inclusion is already frozen. Though I still recommend a minimum of 45 minutes but the longer you leave it, up to 48 hours in the fridge, the better the flavour will develop. You can also freezer the cookie dough for up to 3 months.