Made after my viral cookie dough cheesecake and peanut butter cookie dough cheesecake, this velvety sugar cookie dough cheesecake has a christmas shortbread crust, silky vanilla bean sprinkle cheesecake batter, and is fully loaded with festive sugar cookie dough balls. Topped with a silky dairy free cream cheese frosting! You’ll never believe me when I tell you it’s all vegan- no eggs and no dairy required!

sliced sugar cookie dough cheesecake

After seeing how popular my vegan cookie dough cheesecake and vegan peanut butter cookie dough cheesecake are, I decided we needed to add to the mix- a festive sugar cookie dough cheesecake was next!

If you’re a lover of all things sugar cookie (have you tried my cut-out sugar cookies or drop-style sugar cookies!?) and cheesecake, then you must make this recipe.

It combines the best of two holiday classic desserts with a Christmas shortbread crust loaded with edible sugar cookie bites all baked in the silkiest vanilla bean sprinkle cheesecake batter. And topped with cream cheese frosting and more cookie dough?! I mean, this is a cookie dough fit for Santa if you ask me.

bitten sugar cookie dough cheesecake

How is this cheesecake vegan?

I’m so glad you asked! Well, I’m known for taking a traditional recipe and turning it unbelievably dairy free and eggless. So follow along as we go over the magic of how we’re doing this:

  • The cream cheese: the most crucial part of a cheesecake is obviously the cream cheese. Which is why I created my perfect vegan cream cheese from just 3 ingredients (and it really tastes like cream cheese because it’s using the traditional method!). Now, you can use store-bought, and I’ve tested it here- Kite Hill and Oatly are my favorites!
  • The “eggs“: Typically, a cheesecake uses eggs to bind the ingredients together. However, we’re using a combination of cornstarch and dairy free yogurt. The two together act like a perfect egg. Which is why I loveeee using them in all of my vegan egg substitutions!
  • The heavy cream: This is easy too- just swap in vegan heavy cream! The brand I use most is Silk. You can also use Plant Crock or quick homemade cashew cream works great here too.

The most important part of baking cheesecake: the cooling process

This is done in two steps: the initial cooling in the turned off oven, and then for at least 4 hours but preferably overnight in the fridge.

Allowing your cheesecake time to cool from super hot to super cold will ensure a) an even bake throughout the cheesecake and b) stop the cheesecake from cracking.

Now if your cheesecake still cracks (at times it does), no worries. It’s still baked properly and a smear of vegan cream cheese frosting on top will cover up any imperfections 😉

sliced vegan cookie dough cheesecake

Overview: key components to making this cheesecake recipe:

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.

shortbread crust
First we’ll make the shortbread crust. You only need a whisk and a silicone spatula!
shortbread crust
Press into our springform pan and bake. While the crust is baking, we’ll make the cookie dough balls.
cookie dough
Again, you just need a whisk and a silicone spatula!
cookie dough in balls
Form the cookie dough into bite size balls, and chill. Then we’ll make out cheesecake batter in just a food processor.
cheesecake before baking
To assemble the cheesecake, you’ll pour a layer of batter onto the baked shortbread crust, followed by cookie dough balls, more batter, and more cookie dough.
baked cheesecake
Bake for 65-70 minutes, then chill for 1 hour in the turned OFF oven. Finally, refrigerate overnight.
decorated cheesecake
Top with vegan cream cheese frosting and more cookie dough bites.
decorated cheesecake
Slice and serve!

Which Christmas sprinkles are vegan?

I’ve tested a few brands here so that you don’t have to.

While I love Go Supernatural and recommend them most often for their natural colors and minimal ingredients, I found that the colors instantly disappeared once baked. This may be a great option if you want to make this a no-bake cheesecake (in which case, you need to make sure all flour is heat-treated, and omit both the cornstarch and the dairy free yogurt from the cheesecake batter). But it doesn’t work for baked cheesecakes.

The next one that I tested, which is photographed here, are the Sweetapolita vegan Christmas sprinkles. Sweetapolita has a whole holiday section for vegan sprinkles, so you can choose any of those for your sugar cookie dough cheesecake.

I also tested this with Bake Time Club sprinkles, which are all vegan- another winner!

sliced cookie dough cheesecake

Absolutely! I recommend King Arthur measure for measure gluten-free baking flour.

You will still need to heat treat your flour, so don’t skip that part please! Everything is kept the same for the process 🙂 Only difference is that you’re using gluten free flour!

bitten sugar cookie dough cheesecake

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If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below. This helps others to find the recipes! As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there as well!

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sugar cookie dough cheesecake sliced

Ridiculously Creamy Sugar Cookie Dough Cheesecake – No eggs, no dairy!

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  • Author: Britt Berlin
  • Prep Time: 30
  • Cook Time: 65
  • Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
  • Yield: 12 1x
  • Category: Cheesecake
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: American
  • Diet: Vegan
Print Recipe

Description

This velvety sugar cookie dough cheesecake has a christmas shortbread crust, silky vanilla bean sprinkle cheesecake batter, and is fully loaded with festive sugar cookie dough balls. Topped with a silky dairy free cream cheese frosting, you’ll never believe me when I tell you it’s all vegan- no eggs and no dairy required!

Ingredients

Scale

Shortbread cookie crust:

  • 1 cup with 1 tbsp removed (115 g) all purpose flour*
  • 1/8 tsp sea salt
  • 1/4 cup (57 g) unsalted vegan butter, melted & cooled to room temperature
  • 1 cup (120 g) organic icing sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1–2 tbsp unsweetened vanilla almond milk, room temperature, as needed
  • 1/4 cup (40 g) vegan holiday sprinkles

Sugar cookie dough:

  • 2 cup (250 g) heat-treated all purpose flour or gluten free 1:1 baking flour , sifted and spoon & leveled*
  • 12 tbsp (170 g) unsalted vegan butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
  • 2 cups (240 g) organic icing sugar
  • 6 tbsp (90 g) dairy free yogurt or unsweetened applesauce, room temperature
  • 4 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1/3 cup (65 g) vegan holiday sprinkles

Cheesecake batter:

  • 24 ounces (720 g) vegan cream cheese, room temperature
  • 8 ounces (228 g) vegan dairy free yogurt (such as Forager Project), room temperature
  • 1 cup (240 mL) heavy vegan cream, cashew cream, or a thick  unsweetened dairy free milk, room temperature
  • 1 cup (200 g) organic granulated sugar
  • 8 tbsp (80 g) arrowroot starch or cornstarch
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp almond extract
  • 1/4 cup (40 g) vegan holiday sprinkles

Toppings:

Instructions

  1. Prep: Line a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Grease the edges of the pan with a bit of cooking or coconut oil as well, and line with parchment paper. This helps the cheesecake as it’s cooling from cracking too much.  Preheat the oven to 400F. Make sure the flour is heat-treated.
  2. Make the shortbread crust: In a large bowl, whisk together the vegan butter, icing sugar, salt, and vanilla extract. Add in the flour, and use a silicone spatula to fold the flour into the dough, adding 1-2 tbsp of dairy free milk to help if needed. Then fold in the sprinkles. Press the cookie dough into the springform pan, and place the springform pan into the oven with a baking sheet underneath it to prevent any drips. Bake for 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and reduce the heat to 350F. Keep the oven on. Set aside while you prepare the sugar cookie dough.
  3. Make the sugar cookie dough: In a large bowl, whisk together the vegan butter, icing sugar, dairy free yogurt, vanilla extract, and sea salt. Add in the heat-treated flour, and use a silicone spatula to fold into the dough. Then add in the sprinkles, and fold until evenly distributed.
  4. Make the cookie dough balls: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Divide the dough in half, and from one half of the dough, scoop the cookie dough into 1 tbsp sized dough balls. This half will be used for the filling. The remaining half will be to top the sugar cookie dough cheesecake. Place the baking sheet into the fridge to chill.
  5. Make the cheesecake filling: In a large food processor, add all ingredients, except for the sprinkles, for the cheesecake batter to the food processor and blend until creamy. Stop the food processor to scrape down the sides as needed. Remove the blade from the food processor, then pour in the sprinkles. Use a silicone spatula to fold the sprinkles evenly into the batter
  6. Assemble the sugar cookie dough cheesecake: You should have your baked shortbread crust, the cookie dough scooped onto the baking sheet, and the batter. Pour half of the cheesecake filling into the springform pan, and smooth the top. Sprinkle about half of the reserved cookie dough balls for the cheesecake on top of the filling. Spoon the remaining filling on top, and sprinkle with the remaining cookie dough balls (or save some for topping after!), gently pressing them down into the top of the cheesecake.
  7. Create the water bath: Be ready to move to the next step immediately after finishing this step. Make sure that you boil the 3-4 cups water prior to pouring the water into the pan. Place a baking sheet on the lowest rack of the oven. Then pour the water directly into that pan. Close the oven.
  8. Bake the cheesecake: Place the cheesecake onto a separate baking sheet (different from the water bath- the cheesecake will NOT sit in the water bath) and place that baking sheet onto the middle rack (so your oven should be lowest rack, water bath, then middle rack, cheesecake). Quickly close the oven to bake for 65-70 minutes, or until the the top of the cheesecake lightly golden. The center is set but still wiggly. Turn off the oven, and allow the cheesecake to sit in the oven for 1 hour. The water should also be completely dissolved.  The cheesecake should still be very wiggly. This is completely fine and should be that way.This cheesecake will not seem cooked at all when you first turn off the oven.
  9. Chill the cheesecake: Remove the cheesecake from the oven and allow the cheesecake to cool at room temperature for 15 minutes. Then place the cheesecake into the fridge to chill for 4 hours, preferably overnight.
  10. Serve and enjoy! When ready to serve, top with homemade vegan cream cheese frosting and the remaining cookie dough balls! Store any leftover cheesecake in an airtight container and in the fridge for up to 4 days.

Notes

See blog post for all tips & tricks!