It’s 12am, Do You Know Where Your Cookies Are?
You're awoken by the sound of distant thunder. Flashes of heat lighting stream through the drapes and reflect off the wall. Restless, you lay awake in bed, a thin sheet your only protection against the crisp night air. The heavy blanket long since set aside for colder weather. The scent of imminent rain filters through the open windows and a new breeze disturbs the curtains.
Curiously drawn, you carelessly throw off the sheet and pad downstairs in your bare feet. The light from the refrigerator floods the kitchen and you squint, you're eyes not accustomed to the sudden brightness. You snatch a midnight snack and welcome the darkness back.
Blindly, you find your way to the window. The storm rolls in, clouds of violet and black blanket the sky decorated with intermittent shimmers of silver and gold. You nibble idly on your Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Cookie as the rain falls in an impetuous torrent.
These cookies are fresh, sweet and quickly disappearing. Just like Summer. Best enjoyed with an accompaniment of thunder and lighting.
Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Cookies
Makes about 3 dozen cookies.
Source: My imagination.
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 eggs
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 cup flour
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 pkg cream cheese, cut into 1 tsp cubes
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and position a rack in the center. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper and set them aside.
In a large bowl with an electric mixer cream together the butter and sugar until it's light and fluffy. Blend in the lemon zest, juice and eggs. Make sure to scrape off any bits of zest that stick to the mixer paddle.
In a separate bowl whisk together the baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour then mix it into the wet ingredients. Gently fold in the blueberries so as not to burst any. Refrigerate the dough for about 15 – 20 minutes to make it stiff enough to roll.
For each cookie, roll 1 heaping tbsp of dough into a ball then flatten it slightly into a disc shape. Place a 1 tsp cream cheese cube into the center and form the dough around it creating a ball again. Bake them for about 10 - 14 minutes until the edges brown slightly. Transfer them to a cooling rack and enjoy!
July 21st, 2012 - 16:08
Though it was a bit of a pain to form the dough into a disk, position the cream cheese and seal it (3 dozen times), I must say the results were very good. A couple of things I will/may do next time. I had very large ripe blueberries, making it difficult to fold them into the dough without breaking so I took the entire ball of dough into my hands and tried to more evenly distribute the BB’s manually. Next time I will freeze the BBs so they will not rupture and let them sit to thaw once formed, before baking. I found these to be more “cake-y” or “scone-ish” than cookie, but they very closely resembling some of my wife’s Swedish Christmas treats. Next time I will add some almond extract for additional flavor complexity. Last, if you want to make it special, my wife suggested the finishing touch: 1Tbl Butter, 1 cup Powdered Sugar, 1/2 tsp almond extract, and any cream needed to make it “drizzling” consistency. Then use a spoon to Drizzle icing onto the cookies/cakes/scones (whatever these are). Thanks for the recipe. It was fun and I look forward to playing with my intended add-ons!
July 21st, 2012 - 17:03
That glaze sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing and I’m glad you enjoyed the cookies!
November 10th, 2012 - 19:04
I am going to try with dried blueberries. Thanks for recipe and ideas.
August 3rd, 2012 - 20:26
These cookies were delicious! I must admit I left out the cream cheese because I’m not a cheesecake fan so I guess it kind of cheated but they were still amazing! Thanks for the recipe.
August 3rd, 2012 - 20:43
Your secret is safe with me, Katie.
August 9th, 2012 - 15:58
I made these yesterday and they were awesome!
I had alot of dough left though, so today I’m deciding to cream the cream cheese with some sugar just to make the cheese a little less bitter, (requested by the little ones who said they like sweet cheese cake)
And I’m hoping it will turn out just as good!
August 9th, 2012 - 18:13
Sounds delicious! Good luck, Jessica!
August 10th, 2012 - 17:49
I made them a couple of days ago and I they were delicious! I may have made the “balls” too big though and I probably should’ve left them in the oven a little longer. My husband said they were too “doughy”. Although the kids and I loved them! They were really really soft, and that is probably because I made the portions too big
August 10th, 2012 - 18:07
They are kind of a cakey cookie, but they shouldn’t really be doughy. Glad you liked them at least!
August 12th, 2012 - 20:54
This looks delicious! I was wondering if I could substitute the flour and blueberry with self-raising flour and raisins? Just asking ‘cos I still have some remaining self-raising flour and raisins that I do not want to go to waste. Thanks.
August 12th, 2012 - 20:57
Hi Sarah! You could definitely use self rising flour and raisins, just make sure to leave out the baking soda and baking powder. Have fun!
August 21st, 2012 - 09:48
Can these be frozen?
August 21st, 2012 - 10:01
Yes, definitely!
August 25th, 2012 - 08:57
Do they need to be refrigerated bc of the cream cheese? I want to try them but I don’t want to ruin them by storing them incorrectly.
August 25th, 2012 - 11:05
Hi Caitlin! They should be stored in the fridge, yes.
September 2nd, 2012 - 22:35
1/2 pkg cream cheese — how many oz/grams? How big a pkg?
Thanks for your help!
September 2nd, 2012 - 23:07
1/2 a 250g pkg of cream cheese which is 4 oz or 125g. You’re welcome!
September 15th, 2012 - 03:40
What would need to be changed if I used whole wheat flour? I need to reduce the glycemic index.
September 15th, 2012 - 10:41
Hi Kim! You can substitute all purpose flour for whole wheat flour cup for cup. To avoid dense cookies, you might want to sift the whole wheat flour a few extra times to incorporate a little more air. Have fun!
September 15th, 2012 - 23:37
I just made these cookies and they smell great! I did find the dough sticky & a little hard to work with despite chilling for at least an hour. It was a little difficult working with thawed blueberries so I may try them not as thawed so they won’t split & smush. They are cake-like which I love. The last few batches were stained but no big deal to me.
September 21st, 2012 - 23:16
Found this floating around on Pinterest and made the cookies tonight to share with friends and family tomorrow in NYC. It took about 4 hours to finish the 3 dozen cookies but it was all worth it. They are so fluffy and delicious, I know everyone will enjoy them tomorrow! Instead of parchment paper I did use PAM spray and they didn’t burn or undercook. I must say creative recipe and job well done! Thank you for sharing!
September 21st, 2012 - 23:41
Omg 4 hours! I sure hope your friends and family appreciate all your hard work Mallory!
September 21st, 2012 - 23:30
These were fun to make, I love the bright lemon flavor. I used frozen blueberries. They froze the dough and made it a challenge to form. After reading others comments about the blueberries, I think I will add them individually when I add the cream cheese to prevent bursting and blueing the cookies.
I’m totally making these again as a thank you present for a friend next week!
September 24th, 2012 - 00:02
Hello!
I followed it step for step, ingredient for ingredient and I am quite pleased with the results!
Thanks for sharing this! <3 I have a new favorite cookie. 
September 24th, 2012 - 10:28
You’re very welcome Cassie! Thanks for letting me know!
November 10th, 2012 - 23:08
I made these today using dried blueberries, soaked in hot water for 5-10 minutes then drained and stirred in last step. I didn’t do the cream cheese middle, and they still were tart, sweet and flavorful. Love the combination!
November 13th, 2012 - 12:18
Very labor intensive, but love the flavor and ‘cheesecake-like’ texture. Tip: Frozen blueberries don’t work with these cookies even if you mix it in last with the dough. When I was at the stage of folding in the cream cheese, the frozen blueberries began to defrost making the dough too wet. I think fresh blueberries work best and next time, I’m going to try inserting the blueberries during the step of folding in the cream cheese. Overall, excellent recipe! Will be making these again, but only for special occasions!
December 14th, 2012 - 15:02
THEY ARE DELICIOUS!!!!HI!!!!FROM GREECE!!!!
December 18th, 2012 - 10:18
I tried them out this weekend and they taste AWESOME! Not as sweet as many other American Cookies; simply perfect! I used thawed blueberries and didn’t have any problems.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe, I will keep it for next summer when I will have lots and lots of blueberries!
December 20th, 2012 - 16:27
The cream cheese was not really melted in when the cookies came out the oven. Also, these did not have much of a lemon taste, but they were flavorful. I liked the soft texture and moistness, but thought they tasted almost like blueberry biscuits.
December 23rd, 2012 - 20:50
My cookies are blue and I’m perfectly happy with that. Yum. They taste like mini-scones with a surprise cream cheese filling. Thank you for sharing the recipe
January 18th, 2013 - 23:12
Okay, so I made a half batch. I didn’t have 3 cups of flour. I have been baking too much! I also used dried cherries, not fresh blueberries. Mine look more flat than the blog post. I’m a little disappointed that the cream cheese doesn’t melt with the cookie. it just sits in a clump. BUT, the lemon and fruit part of the cookie is AMAZING, and the cream cheese really tops it all off. These would be good baked without the cream cheese, and used as sandwiches with cream cheese spread between IMO.
Oh and I got 18 cookies out of the half batch, but there may have been raw dough eating.. and I rolled them a bit big!
January 19th, 2013 - 11:09
I’m glad that you had fun experimenting, Amanda! I love cherries and lemon together.
March 2nd, 2013 - 08:30
So good! I followed ur recipe exactly the way it was written and just rolled the cookie dough in a little flour it helped make it easier to work with.
thanks
March 24th, 2013 - 12:02
Could i use strawberries instead of blueberries?
March 25th, 2013 - 11:09
Of course! Just make sure to coat them in a little flour before you incorporate them in the dough.
April 11th, 2013 - 20:17
Just finished making these for the second time using recipe as is and love, love them! Maybe a work bake-off winner tomorrow? Wish me luck!
April 11th, 2013 - 20:20
Ah how exciting! Good luck Shirley!
May 8th, 2013 - 19:19
Baking these now to deliver as an early mother’s day present for my mom since I won’t be able to see her Sunday. I found these cookies really easy to make,but I used fresh blueberries instead of frozen. Thanks for sharing this lovely recipe.
May 9th, 2013 - 10:46
That’s a really sweet gesture, B! I’m sure your mom will appreciate them.
May 9th, 2013 - 06:13
OMG!!!! I made them last night since we have a bake sale at work for “Relay for Life” that we are doing in June. They are delicious! By far the best cookies I have ever made! I made them exactly the way you said to make them and it was so easy and it’s DELISH!!! Thank you so much for sharing your recipe
Mine came out perfect, I used regular blueberries and none of them squished as i was really careful with them 
Thank you so much! I can’t wait to share this with everyone! If i put them in the fridge overnight until the bake sale, will they get hard? What is the best way top store them?
Thank you!!!
May 9th, 2013 - 10:45
I’m so happy you like them Natasha! It’s best to store them in the fridge because of the cream cheese. The cookies won’t get hard and you can always leave them out for a few minutes before serving so they’ll be back to their normal chewy selves. Good luck with the bake sale!
May 25th, 2013 - 22:37
These Cookies are amazingly delicious!!!
June 13th, 2013 - 21:21
I’d just like to say that I’ve never seen a blogger to take the time to reply to so many of the comments left by their readers and I think it’s awesome! I really appreciated that you answered everyone who asked a question
I was already planning on making these cookies someday but now I’m making them TOMORROW because I think you are a COOL person!
June 13th, 2013 - 22:44
Aww Amber, you are so sweet! I hope you enjoy the cookies and I think that you’re a cool person too!
June 15th, 2013 - 22:20
Alright, I’m back to inform anyone who cares to know that these cookies are awesome! I did make a few little changes, I made a sweetened cream cheese/white chocolate concoction to go in the middle and a lemon glaze to go on top which not only tasted good but they looked so pretty dipped in a white glaze with little bits of yellow lemon zest speckled on top
My husband said they were “very refreshing and balanced” and he’s pretty hard to impress so to me that sounded like a real compliment. Thanks for the great recipe Lindsey!
June 15th, 2013 - 22:48
Oh I love your changes, Amber! I’m going to have to try that next time. I’m so happy you and your husband enjoyed them! Thanks for your comments!