Blueberry Cheesecake Cookies

I want to start today with a confession: I have a sort of love/hate relationship with Pinterest. I love the idea of being able to collect and share all sorts of ideas and save them onto your own virtual bulletin boards. I hate that they keep trying to make it more than that and don't make it easy to leave feedback about what isn't working.  I can't be the only one frustrated with this new "home vs. following" thing, right? Now there are two separate feeds, one labeled "home" and one labeled "following." I thought the whole point of following a board or a person was so that their stuff would show up on your home feed. But I don't want this to turn into a great big rant about imperfect social media platforms. That's not why you're here. That's not why I'm here. We are here for cookies.

In between my fits of frustration, I do still browse Pinterest for recipes, crafty ideas, and funny memes, and even when I find recipes that aren't quite to my liking, they often inspire other great things, and as an added bonus, in modifying them, I make them my own to then share with all you lovely readers. Most often these imperfect recipes call for my arch-nemesis "whipped topping," but they also frequently rely on adding to a prepackaged box mix of some kind. I've ranted about that before, so I won't bore you with the repetition. During a recent perusal, I saw a pin for Blueberry Cheesecake Cookies, and they looked divine. I clicked through to the recipe and was disappointed to find that it required a blueberry muffin mix. I didn't want to do that. Cookies aren't so hard that you have to start with a mix for something else. I set out to invent my own Blueberry Cheesecake Cookies.  I will warn you, though: they are dangerous. I had to take them in to work to share with everyone to keep myself from eating them all (and I still ate more than my fair share). And if you manage to resist eating them all fresh out of the oven, they manage to get even better the next day. I always thought all cookies were best still warm from the oven. These babies change everything.

To capture that authentic cheesecake flavor, start by creaming together butter and cream cheese until they are smooth. It helps if the butter is at or near room temperature, but if your stand mixer is up to the job, you can use cold butter and cream cheese. Once those are smooth, add the brown and regular sugar. Normally I don't pay too much attention to the distinction between dark brown and light brown sugar; I buy whichever one I grab at the store, and enjoy the stronger flavor of dark brown sugar in most things that call for it. This recipe, if you can help it, really does better with light brown sugar. Because the flavors are light and subtle, dark brown sugar can overpower that cream cheese zing really quickly. I considered using all white sugar for this recipe, but just a little brown sugar was reminiscent of the graham-cracker crust typically found on cheesecake. 

After the sugar/butter/cream cheese mixture is smooth and fluffy, add in the salt and vanilla extract and mix thoroughly. Next add the eggs one at a time and mix until fully incorporated. The batter will look pretty thin at this point. You may start wondering if you've done something wrong.  You probably have. We all have. We're human. What's important is that we learn from our mistakes and improve upon them, making amends where necessary. As far as the cookies go, though, you're fine.

In a separate bowl, measure out your flour and baking powder and whisk them together.  Add this into the wet batter and mix thoroughly. See, what did I tell you? Everything looks fine again! If you're the type that lives dangerously and eats raw cookie dough, you'll find that this is pretty delicious at this point. To cover my own booty though, I cannot recommend that you do that. It's better when it has everything in it, and is, you know, cooked (but I won't tell if you lick the beater and/or spatula later).

Mix in your white chocolate and your blueberries. You may have a little trouble finding dried blueberries. I found some at Aldi with the other dried fruits and nuts, but they were in 3.5 ounce packages. We also have a Natural Grocers store in town that had a 4 ounce package, and I really think that extra half ounce was worth it. I tried making these with just the 3.5 ounce package, and I ended up with at least two cookies that were sans myrtilles ("without blueberries"), which made for a surprise triste ("sad surprise"). Make an effort to get at least 4 ounces in your batter. A little extra never hurts either. The Natural Grocers berries were also sweetened with apple juice rather than sugar or what-have-you. They didn't taste apple-y but if you're sensitive about where your sugars come from, that might be something to consider. I also want to note that while I was looking at Natural Grocers, we asked if they had any other dried blueberries (because I wanted a larger package of them), and were directed to some freeze dried blueberries. Don't get these. Well, get them if they sound good to you, but don't use them in this recipe. For the cookies, you'll want the ones that are more like raisins. ("Raisins: only good for describing the texture of other, better dried fruits!" This is why I didn't end up going into advertising)

Once you're happy with the dispersal of your ingredients, scoop your batter onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Even with the flour mixed in, this dough is considerably softer than the dough for my chocolate chip cookies, and you totally can use a cookie scoop for these. In fact, I recommend a 1 or 1 1/2 Tablespoon cookie scoop for doling these out. You'll also note that I didn't tell you to chill these, as I did with the chocolate chip cookies. I tried it for you and found no major difference in flavor. Skip it. 

The cookies go right into a hot oven (375° F, please) for 12-13 minutes. You'll want to make sure you watch the time because the cookies won't really brown. They'll spread just the teensiest bit, and if they have any funny little curls sticking off the tops, those might get the faintest tan, but over all, they will (much like me, even through the sunniest summer) remain pale. The best way to tell if the cookies are done is to, with a clean hand, lightly tap one. When it's done, it won't exactly spring back, but your finger won't go all the way through either. To say that the cookies have a "crust" is not quite accurate, and a "skin" is less than appetizing. It's more like, the outside will have dried nicely, and the inside is just about set. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool enough for you to move without mangling them. When you do move them, you may notice that they have tanned a bit on their bottoms (something I never do, but I'm not really upset about that...), and this is okay. It's further proof that the cookies are done. 

Man... These cookies. They are soft and sweet and so easy to make, no prepackaged mixes required! I couldn't stop myself stuffing my face with them. My coworkers gobbled them up with much oohing and aahing. My husband made a sad puppy face when he found out they were gone. I've been dreaming of them and drooling all over my pillow. You've got to try them. You'll be glad you did.



Blueberry Cheesecake Cookies
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup cream cheese
1/3 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon baking powder
10 ounces (about 2 cups) all purpose flour

1 cup white chocolate chips
4 ounces dried blueberries (about 1 cup)

Preheat oven to 375° Fahrenheit.

In a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together the cream cheese and butter until they are smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl if necessary. Add the sugars and beat until fluffy. 

Add the salt and vanilla. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating until the eggs are fully incorporated. 

In a separate bowl, whisk together the baking powder and flour and add to the wet ingredients, mixing just until fully combined. Add the white chocolate and blueberries and mix to evenly distribute.

Scoop dough into small balls, about 1 tablespoon each, and bake for 12 - 15 minutes, or until dough has set.