Red Velvet Cheesecake Surprise Cookies

My cookie exchange party contribution part one! These babies are SOOOOOO TASTY and SOOOOO BEAUTIFUL - they are the perfect cookie. There is even a surprise inside. (Hint: it is in the name of the cookie...)

They are not especially quick and easy to bake since they have to rest in the fridge and you have to stuff the surprise inside, but it's not much extra effort and is more than worth it. And it uses a cake mix, so that skips some steps. Don't be surprised if these don't turn up at the cookie exchange because I "forgot" them.

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Red Velvet Cheesecake Cookies

From Two Peas and Their Pod (my current favorite food blog, I've made a lot of recipes from their site, including ones I've posted about: this one and this one)

ingredients:

For the cookies:
1 box red velvet cake mix (I used Duncan Hines)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the cheesecake filling:
4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the white chocolate drizzle:
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips, melted

directions:

1. To make cookies, in a large bowl combine cake mix and flour. Whisk until clumps disappear. In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix together cake mix, flour, eggs, oil and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap. The dough will be oily. Refrigerate for at least two hours. (I refrigerated them for about 24 hours just to fit my schedule.)

I made too much! I only used about half of these.
What a pity, I guess I'll have to bake something else
with a cream cheese filling... :)

2. To make the cheesecake filling, using a mixer, combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth. Using a teaspoon, scoop out cheesecake filling and place on a plate. Continue scooping out cheesecake filling into teaspoon balls until you have 10 (if you are making giant cookies - I made 24 smaller cookies and accidentally made way too much filling). Place plate in the freezer and freeze for at least two hours. (Again, I froze them for 24 hours and I'll be freezing the leftovers for longer.)

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. To assemble the cookies, take about 1/4 cup of red velvet cookie dough and flatten in your hands (if you are making giant cookies - I used more like 2 big tbsp). Place a teaspoon of cheesecake filling in the center and wrap the cookie dough around the filling. Gently roll into a ball and place on prepared baking sheet. Scoop onto lightly greased or parchment lined baking sheets. Only bake (giant) 3 cookies at a time. The cookies are large and will spread. (I baked 9 per sheet.) Bake for 11-13 minutes (I did 10 minutes) or until the cookies begin to crackle. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Remove from baking sheet to a wire cooling rack and cool completely.

4. Melt the white chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl or over a double-boiler. Drizzle the white chocolate over the cooled cookies. Let the cookies set until the chocolate hardens. Serve and enjoy!

Note: if you are going to store the cookies for more than a day, you may want to keep them in the refrigerator. You can make the cookies smaller. Just use less dough and filling. You want to make sure you completely wrap the cookie dough around the filling before baking-so it doesn't leak. Enjoy!