Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies

These little guys are the softest most angelic little cookies I have ever made. They are also way too pretty and I may be a little jealous of their beauty. The combo of the cream cheese and the strawberries with the saltiness from the graham crackers makes them *chefs kiss* ahmahzing.

what you need:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh strawberries
• 4 oz cream cheese, cold
• 3 tablespoons crushed graham crackers

what you need to do:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Prepare 2 – 3 cookie sheets with parchment paper or a baking mat.
• In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar, at least 5 minutes. Stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl a few times throughout.
• While the butter and sugar are going, in a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and cornstarch. Sifting it will make the cookies light and fluffy, but if you don’t have a sifter its okay to skip this. Just make sure to stir the dry ingredients together well.
• Back to the butter and sugar. Once it is done, add the egg and both extracts. Mix until fully FULLY combined. Make sure that egg is good and mixed in there.
• Scrape the sides of the bowl, and on low speed, add the dry mix a little at a time until it all incorporated.
• Add the strawberries and mix for a few seconds until they are mixed in.
• Scrape down the sides of the bowl, making sure to get the bottom where some dry mix may have settled.
• Put the bowl with the dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
• While your dough sits in the fridge, grab your cream cheese and divide it into about ~24 pieces. Roll those little pieces into little balls and put back into the fridge.
• Put your graham cracker crumbs into a little bowl and set aside.
• After at least 30 minutes, remove your dough from the fridge and scoop it into equal pieces and put dough balls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet (I used a 1.5 in scoop), you should have about 2 dozen cookies.
• Now, take one cookie dough ball, and one cream cheese ball. Push the cream cheese ball into the center of the dough ball and roll around until the cream cheese is as covered as you can get it. This will be a bit sticky but just power through!!!! Also, it is fine if some of the cream cheese sticks out.
• Roll the dough ball in the graham cracker crumbs and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
• Continue rolling every cookie like this until they are all rolled.
• Space each cookie about 2 inches apart.
• Using your palm, gently push down each dough ball just slightly to make them slightly more flat.
• Bake for about 8 – 10 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned.
• Remove from oven and place cookies on a cooling rack and enjoy!!