Gingerbread Cheesecake Bites
Want an amazingly delicious bite size dessert that is a crowd pleaser…. these Gingerbread Cheesecake Bites are a true winner!
Gingerbread Cheesecake Bites
We woke to 39 degrees, it’s much colder than the 95 degree days we had a week ago.
It’s a hot tea and cookie type of day.
With the smell of gingerbread in the oven, I think I need to start writing my Christmas list…
Have you written your list yet?
Do you have a running list that starts on Jan 1st and you just keep adding to it all year long?
Do you just jot down a few things it would be nice to have?
Do you rely on someone selecting the perfect gift with no list at all, or d
o you know exactly what you’d like to receive?
Just imagine the Christmas Carols playing in the background and the aroma of gingerbread baking in the oven.
Nothing says happiness at this time of year more than great baked goods, no matter what’s on your list.
This recipe combines two great holiday favorite flavors, gingerbread and cheesecake, and a winning duo it is!
One bite in and you’ll know exactly why these are so popular, the cookies has a nice spicy crunch while the cheesecake filling is creamy and rich and oh so delicious.
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To help you get in the baking mood, I created these quick and easy cheesecake filled gingerbread cookies.
In just a few simple steps your kitchen will smell like the holidays too.
Begin with a 30 oz. roll of Pillsbury Gingerbread Cookie Dough or USE MY GINGERBREAD COOKIE RECIPE if you want it all to be homemade or you can’t find the Pillsbury dough.
Roll 2 teaspoons of gingerbread dough into balls and place them into a mini cupcake/muffin pan with paper liners.
Make a well or indentation in each ball to fill the cookies.
To create the indentations in the cookie dough, place the end of a mini rolling pin or back of a measuring teaspoon dipped in flour and press into the dough.
Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla to create the cream cheese filling.
Place filling into a piping bag, cut off the edge, and fill each with a teaspoon or so of cheesecake mixture.
Do not overfill the dough, when the cookie bakes it will rise.
Take a look at the photos above and the final photos to see the difference.
See the dough puffs up!
Bake at 350 degrees for 9 minutes, or until the cookie part comes out with a nearly clean toothpick,
they will continue to bake a bit when the pan is out of the oven cooling down.
*****Substituting the gingerbread cookie dough has been a problem for many who couldn’t find the Pillsbury Dough, some gingerbread cookie doughs are soft and then when they are baked the filling absorbs into the dough as it bakes.
I have made these many times with my own gingerbread cookie dough recipe, it takes minimal ingredients and turns out great. So no need to hunt around for the cookie dough, you can make it.
CLICK HERE for the GINGERBREAD COOKIE RECIPE
These were baked with my gingerbread cookie recipe.
But don’t forget to put the paper liners in the pans. I tried them without liners and they were hard to get out of the pan.
Gingerbread Cheesecake Bites
Ingredients
- 1 batch of gingerbread cookie dough my homemade recipe is linked in the post, you'll need to print it separately or use a (30 oz) package of Pillsbury Gingerbread Cookie Dough (refrigerated section)
- 4 oz cream cheese room temperature
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Roll two teaspoons of cookie dough into a ball for each cookie. Place balls of dough into paper liners mini cupcake/muffin pan. Make a well/indentation into each ball of dough with a flour dipped mini rolling pin or the back of a measurement teaspoon.
- Beat room temperature cream cheese with powdered sugar. Stir in vanilla. Place filling into a piping bag, cut off the edge of the bag. Place one teaspoon or so of filling into each area of cookie dough.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 9 minutes or until cookie tested with a toothpick comes out almost clean.
- Don't overfill the cookies with filling as they will rise when baked.
- Let cool before removing it from the cupcake pan.
Notes
The cookie dough is firm.
If you use another cookie dough and it is on the soft side, add 1/2-1 cup flour. The cookie dough should be on the FIRM side so the filling does not get absorbed by the cookie dough as they are baking.
***update*** there is a bit of rise and fall when baking the gingerbread pre-made cookie dough. Add 1/4 cup flour to the cookie mixture and the dough will be a little firmer and will bake up with less puff, then there will be less collapsing of the dough when cooling. The gingerbread cookie and filling can be refrigerated to get them back to a cool temperature before baking and that too will help if the filling is melting or the cookie dough is rising too much. You can also bake the cookie cups empty and add the cheesecake filling when the cookie cups are cooled.
Take a look at this, make these Cookies all with ONE dough.
If you like PUMPKIN then you will LOVE these Pumpkin Spice Bites
I made these tonight because I’ve been dying to try this recipe. I used the flour in the recipe and they came out great! Haven’t actually tasted them but I’m sure they’ll be great! Pinned your recipe to my Pinterest board! Thanks!
So smart!! You may become my new best friend/website!! : – )
I’m at high altitude, so that might be the cause of the problem I experienced. The cream cheese filling burst and then sunk, leaving the cookie cups empty and glazed.
I decided that the cheesecake filling was pretty much just frosting anyway, so I baked the rest of mine blind (after pricking the bottoms with a fork) and then filled them after they cooled. I sprinkled them with some red sprinkles to make them festive, and they looked and tasted great!
I recommend other people bake a few first as a test. If they don’t work for you, then try just filling them later and not baking the filling.
How many bites did a tube of dough make using 2 tsp dough per cup?
the 30 oz tube of dough makes between 36-48 mini bites (mini muffin pan size) depending on how perfectly I measure each one 🙂
Can’t find mini cupcake liners is it worth attempting without them ???
you can use a non-stick baking spray so the gingerbread bites don’t stick.
I made these yesterday and they were delicious! I followed the recipe exactly, I didn’t add the extra flour but did chill them before baking. They looked just like picture. Thank you for sharing:)
Can you use homemade gingerbread dough instead of the pillsbury stuff?
yes of course, just be sure to add enough flour that the dough won’t puff up to much and you should be all set!
I want to make these for Christmas, just not sure when to make them. How long will they last in the fridge? Do they freeze well?
I haven’t frozen them so I’m not sure about that. If you were to freeze them, I would bake and freeze the gingerbread cookie part and add the filling the day before or day of serving.
If you make and assemble them according to my directions I think they would be fine if baked three days ahead and refrigerated, then brought to room temperature before serving.
Hope that is helpful.
I just made these for my husband’s work party and they turned out great. I took the tip about baking them without the cream cheese first, let the cookie cool, and then added the cream cheese. They look just like the pictures.
Definitely going on my baking list! Thank you for sharing! 🙂
These are absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing! I couldn’t find refrigerated gingerbread dough, so I used the Betty Crocker Mix. After reading the comments, I baked the cookie part first and found they raised back up even, but as soon as they were out of the oven I push the center back down (with the bottom of a wisk) and let them cool before adding the filling. They came out perfection!
This sounds fantastic…can’t wait to try. Can you tell me approx. how many mini cupcakes it made?
about 48 minis
Love these!
I’m going to include these in my friday link roundup.
OK to use a photo?
If not, just email me and I’ll only use the link.
Many thanks!
I made these and the filling also melted into the cookie. Have you tried it with egg?
Didn’t have pre-made dough, these gingerbread cups are deadly to what’s left of my wait line, because I’ve eaten two batchs trying to get them right. Now that I’ve comeback to check the recipe online I can see that I made them to big. Diane they are great. Thank You!
yes I would agree, eating them while testing recipes can be hard on the waistline 🙂 but it sure is FUN!
Happy Baking.
So, my future mother-in-law is coming to visit for the weekend so I decided I wanted to make a little something sweet to have around the house. Saw these on Pinterest and they looked SO good. HOWEVER……To sum it up, they didn’t turn out AT ALL! Let me start by saying, THEY TASTE FANTASTIC but I had to bake them for over twice the time stated in the recipe and they STILL didn’t bake correctly. The dough under the filling stayed gooey and stuck to the cupcake papers. Then the filling fell. For the filling I may be at fault: the 2 cups of powdered sugar was WAY too much for me and seemed like a ridiculous ratio to the cream cheese so I bumped it down to 1/2-3/4 a cup per 4oz of cream cheese. But, that’s just personal preference…
SO, for anyone having the same or similar issues that I had, I ended up tweaking it all to get these little babies to turn out! I dipped the dough into a tiny bit of flour BEFORE putting it in the cupcake papers in the muffin tin. I made the necessary wells in the dough. Then I baked ONLY the gingerbread “crust” for about 10 minutes and, even though the dough would fall back into it’s well shape after resting a bit, I made sure to punch the middles down a bit just for good measure. I let the crust rest for a few minutes and then piped the filling into the wells. And, WHADDAYA KNOW?! IT WORKED! They didn’t stick or fall or any other crazy mess. And, they’re DELICIOUS! If you’re willing to work a bit harder and be creative these Gingerbread Cheesecake Bites are DIVINE!
First 3 pans….major fail. I’m now trying your method. Did you bake them after you piped the filling?
I baked them after I piped the filling. If you are having trouble baking with the filling. Bake the Gingerbread part first them let cool and pipe filling on top.
On pan #4, I rolled cookie balls lightly in flour, made the well and then baked for 8 minutes. They fully puffed up. Then I let them cool about 10 minutes. They went back down with well still in place. I then piped the filling and put back in oven for 5-7 minutes. I let them cool and then put in refrigerator. Yummy! Turned out perfectly. Extra steps a bit time consuming but worth it. I couldn’t find Pillsbury Gingerbread so I used Immaculate Gingerbread (already in individual squares) and used Philly Cream Cheese.
Glad to hear they worked out in the end, yes as items bake differently they end up with different results. Did you add additional flour to the entire package first before rolling? Also after you press the well into them you can refrigerate them until they are cool 10 minutes if they were puffing up too much.
Found these on pinterest…I cannot wait to try them…but will – until my baker gets home from Scout camp this weekend!!
YUMMY!