These vegan cookies are make with a butter base, creamy tangy and sweet cream cheese center and topped with a zesty glaze.
What’s in Lemon Cheesecake Cookies?
Ten simple vegan + delicious ingredients is all you’ll need to make this recipe:
– vegan butter
– granulated sugar
– plant-based milk
– pure vanilla extract
– all-purpose flour
– baking powder
– lemon juice + zest
– salt
– dairy-free cream cheese
– powdered sugar
how do I make cheesecake cookies?
These cookies have a bit of a step-by-step process but the outcome is COMPLETELY worth it.
Start by making the cream cheese filling. To do so, you’ll whisk together the cream cheese with powdered sugar. Next, you’ll want to dollop six spoonfuls of the mixture onto a parchment lined dish of your choosing and let it freeze – this step is SUPER important. I would recommend leaving the cream cheese mixture in your freezer for at least 2 hours up to overnight.
Next, you’ll make the cookie dough and let it chill. This step and the step prior can be done in advance!
Once the both the cream cheese filling and cookie dough have had proper chilling – you can form your cookies. To do so, you’ll divide the dough into 12 even parts. Taking two of the dough balls, you’ll make a sandwich with one of the cream cheese filling dollops. You will then press the dough around the cream cheese filling to it to make one big cookie dough ball. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling to make five cookies.
After that, you’ll bake the cookies, let them cool completely, top the cookies with glaze and enjoy!
What if I don’t have lemons?
No lemons, no problem! These Lemon Cheesecake Cookies are named so for the simple reason that I used lemon but you could use key lime, orange, grapefruit, mashed raspberries, blackberries, marionberries… the world is your plant-based oyster!
Or more appropriately… your cookie.
How do you store these lemon glazed cookies?
To store glazed cookies, wait until the glaze has completely set before carefully placing them in an air tight container. If you stack them, you can expect the glaze to get a bit disturbed. I would recommend placing a layer of parchment paper in-between the cookies.
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Lemon Cheesecake Cookies
Ingredients
Lemon Cookies:
- 1/2 cup dairy-free butter
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar sugar packed
- 1/4 cup plant-based milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
Cream Cheese Filling:
- 1/2 cup dairy-free cream cheese
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
Lemon Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp dairy-free milk
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tbsp lemon zest
Instructions
Make the cream cheese filling:
- Start by whisking together the cream cheese and powdered sugar. On a parchment lined plate or baking sheet, drop heaping tablespoons of the mixture onto the parchment paper – making 6 dollops in total. Place the plate/baking sheet in your freezer to freeze for at least 2 hours to overnight.
- While the cream cheese filling is freezing, in the bowl of your electric mixture, cream the butter and sugar together until smooth. Add in the plant-based milk and vanilla extract and whisk once more. Next, add in the flour, baking soda, lemon zest and salt. Stir to combine. Cover your bowl with a clean kitchen towel at place the bowl in your fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes to overnight.
Make the cookies:
- After at least two hours, preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
- Prep a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper. Divide the cookie batter evenly into 12 parts, using your hands, roll the dough into balls and place them on the baking sheet. Using the palm of your hands or the bottom of a glass, smash the cookies so that they have a flat top.
- Next, you’ll grab your frozen cream cheese filling out of the freezer and place the dollops onto 6 flattened cookies before covering the dollop with another cookie. You should have 6 cookie "sandwiches" in total.
- Take each cookie sandwich and working quickly, mold the dough to close up the edges and form one big cookie dough ball. Repeat with the remaining 5 cookies.
- Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes. Let the cookies cool completely before glazing.
Make the glaze:
- Whisk together the glaze ingredients until no lumps are present.
- Spoon the spoon glaze onto the cooled cookies.
- Let the glaze set before enjoying!
