Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies (2024)

Get ready for the softest, chewiest, melt in your mouth cookies ever. These cream cheese chocolate chip cookies are perfect for anyone who loves tender cookies that are packed with chocolate chips and extra thick. The recipe is super simple to make and there’s no need to chill the dough!

**This post was originally published July 26, 2015 and updated April 10, 2024**

Cream cheese chocolate chip cookies are an incredible thing. They’re super soft, chewy, oozing with chocolate chips, and have a mild, almost creamy flavor thanks to the cream cheese. They’ll honestly change how you think about chocolate chip cookies.

The flavor is less buttery than regular chocolate chip cookies because we’re replacing some of the butter with the cream cheese. What you get instead are cookies that are tender, almost gooey, and have no dry cookie crumbs. Plus – you can pack them with a ton of chocolate chips because they’re extra thick. They’re the alternative to thin and crispy chocolate chip cookies

How to Make Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies

There’s a few secrets to what makes these cookies oh so delicious. Below I’ve included step-by-step photos along with recipe tips.

1. Preheat the oven to 350F (180C) and line your cookie sheets with parchment paper or baking mats. This helps to keep the bottoms of your cookies from getting too brown.
   • Note: This dough can be made ahead of time and stored covered in the fridge for up to 48 hours before baking, or the cookie dough balls can be frozen.
2. Then in a separate bowl, you’ll beat together 1/2 cup unsalted butter, 1/4 cup cream cheese, 3/4 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup white sugar. Both the butter and cream cheese should be softened to room temperature for easy mixing. You’ll notice that we’re using more brown sugar than white sugar. This adds way more flavor. I used dark brown sugar, but light is fine too.
3. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract, mixing until you no longer see pieces of egg. Be sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
4. Carefully add in the flour, corn starch, baking soda and salt. Then beat everything together, starting with the mixer on a low speed to avoid spills. The addition of corn starch (AKA cornflour in the UK) makes the cookies even soft.
5. Then stir in the chocolate chips. I always stir in 1 1/2 cups, then reserve the extra 1/2 cup for dotting on the top of each cookie when they come out of the oven. You’ll notice that the batter is a little different in texture than normal chocolate chip cookies. It will be very sticky and feel a little thinner. This is due to the cream cheese and totally normal. Note: If you plan on chilling the dough, cover the bowl with plastic and place in the fridge.
6. When ready to bake, scoop the cookies into balls with about 1.5 tablespoons each place on a lined cookie sheet. You can press the dough balls down slightly for less domed cookies. They’ll bake 1 sheet at a time in the middle of the oven for about 9-11 minutes or until the tops are just set.
7. Take the cookie tray out of the oven, and dot an extra few chocolate chips on the top of each cookie.

Freezing The Dough

This cookie dough freezes extremely well. If you’d like to freeze the dough – make the dough (until Step 6). Then scoop the dough into balls, place them on a plate, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 2 hours. You want the dough to firm up in the ball shape. Then transfer the dough balls to a freezer bag, zip out the air, and freeze for up to 2 months.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven, place the dough balls on lined cookie sheets, and bake from frozen as directed in the recipe. They’ll take 1-2 minutes longer.

Baking Tips

• Measure the flour carefully. Too much flour and the cookies will be dry. Whisk first, then spoon into dry measuring cups and level off the top, or weigh using a scale. You can read more tips on how to measure flour here.
• Use full-fat, brick-style cream cheese – not light, spreadable or whipped. The cookies won’t turn out properly otherwise.
• If you’d like to make extra-large cookies, form the dough into balls about 3 tablespoons in size and press down slightly. They’ll need about 12-14 minutes to bake.
• For extra soft cookies, slightly underbake them. The tops should look just set when they come out of the oven. They’ll continue cooking slightly as the cool on the cookie sheet.

I honestly think these cookies should be on everyone’s cookie bucket list. Soft, tender, a little gooey and packed with chocolate chips. These cream cheese chocolate chip cookies are impossible to resist.

And for more chocolate chip cookie variations, be sure to try:

• Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Single Serving Chocolate Chip Cookie