Soft Vegan Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies – No eggs, No dairy!
These soft baked vegan strawberry cheesecake cookies are swirled with a fresh strawberry jam and stuffed with a creamy vanilla bean cheesecake batter- and they’re made entirely without eggs and dairy!
The best cheesecake stuffed cookies around:
Today, we’re taking two of my favorite recipes- cheesecake and sugar cookies, and we’re combining them into the ultimate treat: strawberry cheesecake stuffed cookies.
Inspired by my pumpkin cheesecake cookies, these ones took a bit of testing. At first, I thought to use freeze-dried strawberries, which tasted okay-ish. Not as punch-y of a strawberry flavor (which is shocking because I love my strawberry crunch cheesecake!). Then I tried diced strawberries, and…no dice.
The final test of these was absolute perfection! Swirls of tart, homemade strawberry jam throughout a soft and chewy vanilla sugar cookie stuffed with a tangy yet creamy vanilla bean cheesecake filling. It’s everything you’d want in a cookie and more.
They’re beautifully “buttery” without any dairy, and have the most gorgeous crisp edges- all without eggs. But don’t worry- these strawberry cheesecake cookies are SO easy too. So let’s bake them!
Why don’t I need eggs in these strawberry cheesecake cookies?
If you somehow stumbled upon these strawberry cheesecake cookies and aren’t vegan, you might be wondering…where the heck are the eggs? And why aren’t you using them?!
Well, first, I’m a vegan baker- and have been baking vegan for nearly a decade so I understand how to turn a conventional recipe into a vegan one without missing out on flavor and texture.
Second, you really don’t need eggs in cookie baking! Now hear me out- dairy free yogurt, when combined with baking soda, acts VERY similarly to eggs in cookie baking. You don’t need as much baking soda and when it reacts with the dairy free yogurt, you get the perfect soft, chewy texture you love in a cheesecake stuffed cookie.
Trust me, you won’t even miss the dairy or the eggs in these vegan strawberry cheesecake cookies!
Overview: How to swirl the jam into vegan strawberry cheesecake cookies step-by-step
For the full written instructions and ingredient measurements, see the bottom of this post in the recipe card. You can also hit the “jump to recipe” button at the top of this post! Here, we’ll go over a brief overview of the steps, along with providing visuals for a better understanding of the recipe.
What if my cookie dough is too sticky?
If your cookie dough is too sticky, don’t worry- chill it for longer (closer to 40 minutes) before scooping the cookie dough and shaping the cookies.
Which is the best vegan cream cheese?
So in my testing of these strawberry cheesecake cookies, I found that Kite Hill, Tofutti, and my homemade vegan cream cheese (using pea milk) are the best options.
Violife will quite literally disappear into the cookie, and my gut is telling me the same thing with Oatly. I have not personally tested Oatly yet, but I sort of think it might. Just be cautious because I don’t want you to get too far into these cookies only for your cream cheese filling to disappear!
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Soft Vegan Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies – No eggs, No dairy!
- Prep Time: 60
- Cook Time: 15
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 10 1x
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These soft baked vegan strawberry cheesecake cookies are swirled with a fresh strawberry jam and stuffed with a creamy vanilla bean cheesecake batter- and they’re made entirely without eggs and dairy!
Ingredients
Strawberry Reduction:
- 1 pint strawberries, chopped
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 1–2 tbsp lemon juice
Cheesecake Filling:
- 1/2 cup (113 g) vegan cream cheese, room temperature* (see notes on cream cheese brand)
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla paste or vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot starch
Strawberry Cheesecake Cookie Batter:
- ½ cup (113 g) vegan unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (57 g) dairy-free yogurt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot starch
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour or gluten-free 1:1 baking flour
- 5 tbsp sugar, for rolling
Instructions
- Prep: Gather your ingredients. We’ll first make the strawberry reduction, followed by the cream cheese filling and then the cookie dough.
- Make the strawberry reduction: Puree the strawberries, maple syrup, and lemon juice in a blender or food processor until smooth. Then pour the strawberry puree into a saucepan, and heat on high heat until boiling. Reduce the heat to a simmer, and simmer the mixture for 45 minutes, until thickened (while the reduction is cooking, you can move onto the cream cheese section and make that while you’re waiting). You should yield about 1/3 cup of reduction. Once thickened, pour into a jar and set aside to cool while we make the cookie dough.
- Make the cream cheese filling: In a small bowl, use a hand mixer or a whisk to cream together the room temperature cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and cornstarch.
- Chill the cream cheese in balls: Use a teaspoon to measure 10 heaping teaspoon scoops of cream cheese and dollop them onto the parchment paper, spaced apart. Once you’ve scooped all of the cream cheese into little dollops onto the baking sheet, place the baking sheet into the freezer to chill while you finish the reduction.
- Make the strawberry cookie dough: In a large bowl, use a whisk to mix together the vegan butter, sugar, dairy-free yogurt, and vanilla extract. Add in the baking soda, cornstarch, and sea salt, and whisk again until evenly distributed. Then add in the flour, and use a silicone spatula to fold the flour into the wet mixture just until mixed.
- Fold in the strawberry reduction: Scoop 4 teaspoon sized dollops dropped randomly into the dough, and fold the dough a few times to mix. Then scoop another 2-4 teaspoons of strawberry reduction and fold again randomly into the dough. Repeat another time until you’ve used the reduction, being careful not to over-mix so that you get streaks of strawberry jam throughout the dough rather than fully mixed in.
- Chill the cookie dough: While the cookie dough is chilling in the fridge for 20 minutes (or more if too sticky), preheat the oven to 350F, and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. You can also use the parchment paper lined baking sheet from the cream cheese dollops once you begin scooping the dough. Put the sugar for rolling in a small bowl and set aside.
- Shape the strawberry cheesecake cookies: Remove the cream cheese from the freezer. Use a 2 tbsp cookie scoop or scoop 2 tbsp of cookie dough, and form one cookie dough ball. Scoop the dough into your palm and press it flat between your palms. Then take a piece of the cream cheese and place it into the middle of the flattened cookie dough. Then form the dough around the cream cheese and roll gently into a smooth ball. Place the cookie into the sugar and roll it around to evenly coat. Place the cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Repeat this for the remaining strawberry cheesecake cookies, creating about 10 cookies.
- Chill the cookies: Place the cookies into the freezer to chill for 10 minutes.
- Bake the cookies: Place the baking sheets into the oven, and bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden (I baked for exactly 13 minutes). Remove cookies from the oven, and gently push any edges to be rounded. Allow the cookies to cool for 10-15 minutes on the baking sheet.
- Enjoy! Enjoy your vegan strawberry cheesecake cookies after cooling or store them in an airtight container and in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Notes
Vegan cream cheese brands: PLEASE NOTE! I discuss this in the blog post, but please please do not use Violife here. The brands I have tried here are Kite Hill, Tofutti, and my homemade vegan cream cheese (which uses pea milk- so soy and nut free). Violife does NOT work here- it will disappear into the cookie. I’m not sure about Oatly, but part of my gut thinks it might so please be cautious!
Gluten free: I like King Arthur measure for measure gluten-free flour.
Strawberry reduction: To save time, you can use store bought strawberry jam/preserves instead!
Not interested in strawberries? Swap in blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries 🙂
These sound delish! Wondering if frozen strawberries would be okay too, and if that would require adaptations? Or if you think that would be just too watery to work.
Also, noted – no more Violife or Oatly lol
Oh absolutely you can use frozen!! Just will be a little bit longer to cook because there’s more moisture to reduce 🙂 But works wonderfully the same! And haha yes definitely stick away from those for now 😂Testing Oatly this week so we’ll know the results then!
I made these and have a few comments to share…
My strawberries (fresh) were very very bland so I think they didn’t have the intended impact; I would argue that showing (in pictures) how thick the jam/reduction should look would be more helpful than giving a set cooking time – I don’t think I reduced mine enough. It’s true that it later says it should yield 1/3 cup and that’s great info to keep in mind – unfortunately I missed that while prepping.
Another thing I noticed – you mention a vanilla bean cheesecake filling but there is no vanilla at all listed for the cream cheese mix! I’m wondering if it should be there indeed, because I also found my filling to be lacking a bit. Not sweet enough and it just tasted mainly like the cream cheese.
The cookies still tasted good (and look very cute), but didn’t wow me. This could all have been due to user error, or the fact I didn’t have the greatest ingredients available.
Hi Glenda! Thank you SO much for the feedback! We definitely made a mistake and have updated the recipe to include vanilla in the cream cheese filling. SO sorry about this and hope it makes all the difference if you make them again! 🙂
I made these today and they turned out great! My dough was drier but didn’t affect the bake. I used the kite hill almond milk cream cheese and it worked fine. Not quite as gooey as the pictures but definitely still works.
I made these last night and they turned out great! My dough was a bit dry but it didn’t affect the bake. I used the kite hill almond milk cream cheese and it turned out fine. Maybe not as gooey as the pictures but still worked. Thanks for the recipe!