Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Before mixing the dough, start by prepping the strawberry & cheesecake mixtures. This will speed up the process!

  Strawberry Mixture: In a small bowl, mix together chopped strawberries (1 cup), lemon juice (1 tablespoon), and granulated sugar (1 tablespoon). Set aside.

  Cream Cheese Filling: In a separate bowl, beat cream cheese (8 ounces), powdered sugar (½ cup), and vanilla extract (1 teaspoon ) for about 1 minute or until fully combined. Onto a plate, scoop mixture into 1 tablespoon-sized balls. Place in freezer, then proceed to mixing your cookie dough (you want these to freeze for about 30 minutes).

Cookie Dough

• In a medium-sized glass bowl, microwave unsalted butter (¾ cup, i.e. 1 ½ sticks) until melted. Add in light brown sugar (½ cup) and powdered sugar (½ cup) and mix until incorporated.
• Add egg (1 large), egg yolk (1 large), and vanilla extract (2 teaspoons) and stir until combined.
• Stir in baking powder (1 ½ teaspoons), baking soda (½ teaspoon) and salt (½ teaspoon). One cup at a time, add all-purpose flour (2 cups total) and mix until flour is just incorporated.
• Stir in graham cracker crumbs (½ cup).
• Drain any excess liquid from your strawberry mixture, then gently fold strawberries into cookie dough. Do not use a mixer! To prevent the berries from getting mushy, you want to use a spatula to gently fold them in.
• Line a light metal baking pan with parchment paper. Scoop dough into ¼ cup sized balls (i.e. 4-tablespoons), then use the back of a tablespoon to indent the tops of each cookie.
• Remove cheesecake balls from the freezer and place one in the center of each cookie, wrapping the dough around the ball until it's fully covered.

  This is a bit messy and your strawberries will smear a bit...but it's okay!
• Bake at 350°F for 14-16 minutes, or until edges are lightly golden brown and center no longer looks wet (the tops may look slighly wet/underdone because of the cheescake filling but they will finish baking on the hot cookie sheet after you take it out of the oven).

  Because of the strawberries, these cookies tend to spread a bit into wonky circles so immediately after you remove them from the oven, use a large cup or bowl to "wiggle" them into a perfect circle.
• If desired, sprinkle the tops with extra graham cracker crumbs.
• Allow the cookies to fully cool on the hot baking sheet for at least 20-30 minutes before removing them from cookie sheet. These cookies are soft & will break if you move them while they're too warm!
• Store in refrigerator (they're so good chilled, as the cheesecake will firm up) or 2-3 days for best flavor and texture. Enjoy!