Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies — 🍪🙌🏻🤎These soft batch cookies are made with a combination of butter and cream cheese, which makes them extra rich and delicious! I like to make mine using a combination of chocolate chips and chunks, and you can even use M&M’s in these!
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Soft Baked Chocolate Chip Cookies (with Cream Cheese!)
I’ve been wanting to bake cream cheese into cookies for ages. I finally did. And I’m in love with the results.
I adapted my favorite Chocolate Chip and Chunk Cookies recipe and replaced some of the butter with cream cheese and am in love with the results.
My favorite recipe calls for 3/4 cup of butter, and for these soft batch chocolate chip cookies I used a combination of 1/2 cup butter and 1/4 cup cream cheese. You wouldn’t think that just a simple quarter-cup swap of butter for cream cheese would effect results that much, but it did.
These chocolate chip cream cheese cookies are so soft, moist, and with a richness to the dough like no other cookies I’ve tried.
Ingredients for Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies
If you’ve never made chocolate chip cookies with cream cheese before, you’re in for a treat! You’ll need just a handful of pantry staples:
- Unsalted butter
- Cream cheese
- Light brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Egg
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Cornstarch
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies
The steps for this chocolate chip cookie recipe with cream cheese couldn’t be simpler!
- Cream together the cream cheese, butter, sugars, and vanilla extract. Whip the mixture on medium-high speed until it’s light and fluffy. Don’t just mix it all together, it must be light and fluffy before moving onto the next step!
- Add in the dry ingredients and scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything gets incorporated.
- Scoop the cookie dough into large balls and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before baking.
- Bake the cookies for no more than 10 minutes, then let cool for 5 minutes on the baking tray before transferring to a wire rack.
Cookie FAQs
It makes them super soft and moist! In this particular recipe, the dough seems more buttery — which is ironic since there’s actually less butter used, not more. The cream cheese cookies are super soft without being cakey, and remind me of soft batch cookies. The edges are slightly chewy, and the thick interiors are soft, tender, and moist.
I can’t taste the cream cheese, but it adds depth, density, and richness that my regular chocolate chip cookies don’t have.
Use full-fat cream cheese in a block. Do NOT use light, fat-free, or a whipped cream cheese because your dough will become runny. I tried the recipe with some light cream cheese I had on hand, and the cookies baked thinner and spread.
You can use a hand mixer and a bowl if that’s all you have, but I prefer using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment because you can prepare other parts of the recipe while it’s busy mixing. I use the Kitchenaid 7-quart tilt head mixer, which you can get on Amazon. They’re worth the investment in my opinion!
Technically, you can omit the cornstarch, but your cookies won’t turn out as soft. To make these cream cheese chocolate chip cookies soft batch-style, the cornstarch is needed.
I made these as classic chocolate chip cream cheese cookies, but I bet you could add extra mix-ins if desired. Chopped nuts, M&M’s, or your favorite chopped up candy bar would all be good additions. Just be sure to add no more than 2 1/4 cups mix-ins total. 
Yes, if you want to make soft batch chocolate chip cookies with cream cheese you MUST chill the dough first. Make sure to chill your dough for at least 2 hours before you bake to ensure your cookies bake thick and puffy. Warm, limp dough bakes into limpy and wimpy cookies. I want my cookies to be thick, with puffy centers that are overflowing with chocolate.
I used a 2-inch cookie scoop to make my cookies because I like them really big. If you don’t have a cookie scoop, use a large spoon and your hands. Just try to make your cookies all the same size so they bake evenly!
Recipe Video Tutorial
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Softbatch Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ¼ cup cream cheese, softened*
- ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt, optional and to taste
- 2 ¼ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks**
Instructions
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter, cream cheese (measure it by smooshing it into a 1/4-cup measure), sugars, egg, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until well-creamed, light and fluffy, about 5 minutes (or use an electric hand mixer and beat for at least 7 minutes).
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, optional salt, and mix until just combined, about 1 minute.
- Add chocolate chips and chunks, and beat momentarily to incorporate, or fold in by hand.
- Using a medium 2-inch cookie scoop, form heaping mounds (I made 28). Place mounds on a large plate, flatten mounds slightly with your palm, cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to 5 days, before baking. Do not bake with warm dough because cookies will spread and bake thinner and flatter.
- Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat Non-Stick Baking Mat or spray with cooking spray and place mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet).
- Bake for 8 to 9 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just beginning to set, even if slightly undercooked, pale and glossy in the center. Do not bake longer than 10 minutes as cookies will firm up as they cool.
- Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing and transferring to a rack to finish cooling.***
- Cookies will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored airtight in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Cookies Made with Cream Cheese:
ALL OF MY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE RECIPES!
Cream Cheese Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Cookies — Cream cheese keeps them super soft! Say hello to your new fave chocolate cookie!!
Black and White Cream Cheese Cookies — These cookies combine two favorites in one! Soft, moist, buttery, creamy Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies are paired with fudgy, intensely chocolaty, and not overly sweet Dark Chocolate Dark Brown Sugar Cookies.
Cream Cheese White Chocolate Chip Cookies — These soft and chewy white chocolate chip cookies use two special ingredients to achieve their pillowy texture: instant pudding mix and cream cheese!
Cream Cheese Cookies — Big, soft, buttery cookies with sweet and tangy cream cheese in the middle!! Oh my….Best thumbprints ever!!!
Softbatch Glazed Lemon Cream Cheese Cookies — Big, bold lemon flavor packed into super soft cookies thanks to the cream cheese!! Tangy-sweet perfection! Lemon lovers are going to adore these easy cookies!!
Hello! Question, is if okay if I make the cream cheese the same measurements as the butter? Because I like to bring the the taste of cream cheese
No because it will through off the consistency of the dough.
Alright thank you ms. Averie! I’m wondering how to bring out the taste of the cream cheese without ruining the recipe.
Hi Averie! How can I bake this recipe into a cookie cake – what adjustments would I have to make in how long to bake? Thank you!
I’ve only made the recipe as written, so I really can’t give advice if you were to make substitutions. If you Google Averie Cooks cookie pie, there are quite a few options that will pop up for recipes that were already designed in that manner.
Awesome cookies. I just used chocolate chips instead of chunks. They stay soft longer. The grandkids (and adults) love them.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad these are a hit with everyone!
Truly the BEST chocolate chip cookies ever !!! I am a believer in the cream cheese and corn starch!!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you think they’re the best chocolate chip cookies ever!
These are amazing! I have now made these a second time. Can tell me what I need to do if I freeze the raw cookie dough? Do I bake frozen or does it need to thaw? I have never wanted token a cookie dough on hand but this is the best chocolate chop cookie. I have never had any luck baking them in the past and now I am hooked on this recipe. Thank you for sharing.
If you freeze the raw dough just bake for an extra 1-2 minutes or as needed. No need to thaw and you can go straight from freezer to oven.
The best cookies ever! Long story short, these are literally the cookies that stole my fiancé’s heart 3-1/2 years ago. Now his whole family loves them and requests them at every gathering. We’d love to incorporate this meaningful cookie into our wedding and give them as favors! However, the thought of baking 26 dozen right before the wedding sounds insane, so I’m wondering how long I can freeze the dough and maybe get a head start on that part?!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad these are such a favorite for you two that you’d like to include them in your wedding celebration!
I have frozen cookie dough for 6 months and have no problem with it personally. However since you’re serving these to wedding guests, I think 3-4 months is probably a bit better. I cannot even imagine making 26 dozen of these…my hat is off to you. Please let me know how things go and congrats on your upcoming wedding!!
Thank you so much!!
I did not expect these cookies to taste so good. I kinda expected them to taste like every other cookie recipe out there, but I will never make cookies any other way again. They are the best cookies I’ve ever tasted!
Glad they are the best cookies you’ve ever tasted and that you’ll be loyal to this recipe!
Can you use more than 1/4 cup of cream cheese?
I’m sure you could but then you would have to alter other ingredients and play around with the batter and dough and do your own recipe testing.
hi! thank you for sharing your delicious cookie recipe!!
its one of the best that i’ve tasted ;)
would like to ask though, what kind of oven do you use? mine is an electrical oven; i baked mine for 13minutes at 180degrees celcius. it tasted great fresh out of oven. pale but soft and kind of just melts in my mouth!!
but on the next day its became moist. i kept in an airtight container. was wondering if i should bake it longer:/
i stay in a tropical country.
In this case because it’s very humid where you live I am guessing you should bake them longer, until they seem more set, whatever that means in your oven and your climate.
I made the cookie dough last night and kept it in the fridge and took it out when I got home from work to soften a bit. Suddenly I realized I forgot to add the cornstarch into the ingredients last night. I’m hoping they still bake up the same. I sure hope so because they look so yummy! We shall find out!🤷🤷🤷
It will bake fine. The texture will be slightly different – probably softer with the cornstarch, but they will still be soft.
Nice recipe! : ) I just try them and the flavor is just excellent but where I live is 7,000 ft altitud and they turn out no that thick. How can I change the baking soda to turn that thick? Thank you
Being that I don’t cook at altitude, I am not much help here. But ask this question to Google and I know there will be a ton of answers for you.
Just made them today and they were awesome! Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you loved them!
Best soft cookie recipe. I love how they taste and they came out beautiful. My husband loved them a lot.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad this was a hit with you and your husband!
I’ve tried loads of chocolate chip cookie recipes and they never come out as good as these ones do.
I only used 1 cup of the chocolate chips and next time I’ll cut down to 3/4cup.
I also had to leave them in the oven for 12 minutes. – perfect cookies that are soft on the inside.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you love this recipe more than any others for choc chip cookies!
I love these cookies and have made them several times. I tried them with white chocolate and cranberries and those were excellent too. Anyway, so that I never go without them, I would love to have some in the freezer. My question is, do I freeze the dough (in cookie form) or bake the cookies and then freeze?
Thanks for your help!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you love these cookies! You can do either but I prefer to freeze the dough rather than already-made cookies.
I just made these and even though I added salt to taste, the cookies ended up tasting very bland. The only thing I did differently was use 1 cup of BITTERSWEET chunks + semisweet chips.. I followed everything else to a T. Hubby agreed and said something was missing – said it tasted bland. Any idea what I could do differently next time?
I have no idea why they tasted bland to you…this is my most popular cookie recipe and I have never heard that from anyone and I get hundreds of comments a year about these cookies being delicious. Maybe add more salt? Maybe just use semi-sweet chips or chunks. Not sure. Thanks for trying the recipe.
I use salted butter – that may help…