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Cream cheese chocolate chip cookies bake up thick, chewy, and incredibly soft with subtle tang. Each cookie has crisp edges and a rich, tender center that keeps you reaching for another!
A Quick Look At The Recipe
This is a brief summary of the recipe. Jump to the recipe to get the full details.
Jump to RecipePrep Time
30 minutes
Cook Time
12 minutes
Total Time
42 minutes
Servings
18 cookies
Difficulty
Easy
Calories *
249 kcal per serving
Technique
Cream butter and cream cheese, mix a thick dough, fold in chocolate, and bake until just set.
Flavor Profile
Soft, chewy cookies with rich vanilla and deep chocolate flavor
* Based on nutrition panel
I followed your note about barely creaming the butter and cream cheese and it made such a difference. The cookies stayed thick and chewy even the next day. I also used a mix of chocolates like you suggested and it was perfect! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Lauren
Why This Recipe Works
- Cream cheese keeps them soft. The tangy cream cheese is one of those special ingredients that balances sweetness.
- Minimal creaming controls spread. Less air means thicker cookies with a chewy bite.
- Cornstarch adds tenderness. It creates that soft, bakery-style interior.
- Mixed chocolate improves flavor. Semi-sweet and bittersweet chips give contrast instead of flat sweetness.
Table of Contents
There are a lot of chocolate chip cookies on the site, from classic thick chocolate chip cookies to New York Times chocolate chip cookies to richer versions like brown butter chocolate chip cookies. But this version hits a very specific sweet spot: soft, dense, and just a little tangy.
If you’re in the mood to switch it up, you might also love peanut butter chocolate chip cookies or nutella cookies. And if you want something a little more festive, these red velvet cookies or Easter m&m cookies are always a good idea.
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Butter: Use unsalted butter so you can control the salt level. It should be soft but still cool to the touch.
- Cream Cheese: Full-fat cream cheese is key for both texture and flavor. It creates soft, tender cookies with structure.
- Light Brown Sugar: Adds moisture and a subtle molasses flavor that keeps the cookies chewy.
- Granulated Sugar: Helps create lightly crisp edges and balances the brown sugar.
- Egg: Adds richness and structure while helping emulsify the dough.
- Vanilla Extract: Enhances both the chocolate and sugar flavors.
- All-Purpose Flour: Provides just enough structure for a thick cookie without making it tough.
- Cornstarch: This fine powder keeps the cookies soft and tender.
- Chocolate Chips: I like a mix of semi-sweet and bittersweet for balance, but you can customize.
See the recipe card for full ingredient quantities.
Variations on Soft Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Add mix-ins. Stir in nuts, candy pieces, chopped candy bars, or go all out like these kitchen sink cookies for a loaded version.
- Stuff the cookies. Wrap dough around caramel, peanut butter, or even a little frosting like this cream cheese frosting for cookies.
- Make them festive. Swap in colored candies or chips, or try something bold like old fashioned peanut butter cookies as inspiration for texture and flavor combos.
Professional Tips
- Don’t over-cream the butter and cream cheese. Mix just until smooth. Too much air will make the cookies cakey instead of chewy.
- Add flour in stages. This keeps the dough smooth and prevents overmixing.
- Reserve some chocolate chips. Reserve some chocolate chips and press them onto the tops of the cookies before baking.
- Watch the bake closely. Pull them when the edges are just starting to brown, about 11–12 minutes.
How to Make Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies
Use these instructions to make the perfect cream cheese chocolate chip cookies every time. Full details are in the recipe card below.
Step 1: Mix dry ingredients. Whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl until evenly combined.
Step 2: Cream butter mixture. In a stand mixer on medium speed, mix butter and cream cheese until smooth, about 1–2 minutes. Add both sugars, then the egg and vanilla. Mix until light and fluffy, about 2–3 minutes.
A hand mixer works well here; mix on medium high speed until light and fluffy.
Step 3: Combine the dough. Reduce speed to low and add the dry ingredients in 5–7 additions, mixing just until incorporated after each addition.
Be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl in the bowl of a stand mixer so everything mixes evenly.
Step 4: Add chocolate chips. Fold in the chocolate chips and mix briefly so they are evenly distributed.
Step 5: Scoop the dough. Portion using a 2-inch cookie scoop or about ¼ cup per cookie.
Step 6: Optional chill. Chill the dough balls for 2 hours or up to 3 days for deeper flavor and slightly thicker cookies.
Step 7: Preheat the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Step 8: Arrange cookies. Place dough balls 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.
Step 9: Bake cookies. Bake for 11–12 minutes until the edges are just beginning to brown and the centers look set but soft.
Step 10: Cool and finish. Let cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Chef Lindsey’s Recipe Tip
Barely cream the butter, cream cheese, and sugar. You want a smooth paste, not a fluffy mixture. This keeps the cookies dense, chewy, and thick instead of light and cakey.
Recipe FAQs
Cream cheese is one of the best additions to chocolate chip cookies because it changes both structure and flavor. It adds fat and moisture, which keeps cookies soft and tender, while its slight acidity balances sweetness. It also reduces spread during baking, creating thicker, chewier cookies with a more controlled texture.
Store cream cheese chocolate chip cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 10 days, or freeze for longer storage.
Do you need to chill cream cheese chocolate chip cookie dough?
Recommended Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes
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New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies
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Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies
If you tried this recipe and loved it please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it goes in the comments below. I love hearing from you; your comments make my day!
Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt kosher or sea salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened
- ¼ cup cream cheese softened (avoid using fat free, light or whipped cream cheese!)
- ¾ cup light brown sugar packed
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips I use Ghirardelli
- ½ cup bittersweet chocolate chips I use Ghirardelli
Instructions
- Whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt.
- Cream butter and cream cheese, then add sugars, egg, and vanilla. Mix until light and fluffy.
- Add dry ingredients in batches, mixing just until incorporated.
- Stir in chocolate chips.
- Scoop dough into large portions.
- Chill if desired for up to 3 days.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line baking sheets.
- Bake for 11–12 minutes until the edges are lightly golden.
- Cool before serving.
Video
Notes
- Yield: 18 cookies
- Presentation: Press extra chocolate chips on top before baking.
- Flavor Tips: Use a mix of chocolates for better balance.
- Technique: Do not over-cream.
- Storage: Store airtight up to 10 days or freeze.
Nutrition
Before You Go
I hope you enjoyed this soft and chewy cookie recipe. Be sure to check out more of my favorite cookie recipes for your next bake, like these bakery style chocolate chip cookies!
I followed your note about barely creaming the butter and cream cheese and it made such a difference. The cookies stayed thick and chewy even the next day. I also used a mix of chocolates like you suggested and it was perfect!
Just was wondering would it work with chocolate chips and white chips?
Hi Diane! Yes, absolutely — that will work great! You can mix chocolate chips and white chocolate chips without changing anything else. Happy baking!
I followed the recipe completely, and my cookies didn’t spread at all and were DRY! I don’t know what I did wrong. My regular cookie recipe calls for a cup of butter, and this one calls for one half of butter and one fourth of a cup of cream cheese. I’d love to try these again. Any ideas what I did wrong? So disappointed!
Hi Billie, What is more important than comparing just the butter amounts is comparing the butter to flour ratio. The number of eggs also plays a role in the hydration of the dough, but doesn’t vary greatly between recipes. Most likely there was a bit of a measuring error in the flour. Maybe the flour was compacted or settled into the measuring cup. These things happen. The only other thing that could impact it is not using softened cream cheese. I have made it with cold cream cheese before and it did make for an initially drier dough. Those are my best suggestions. I’ve successfully made this recipe hundreds of times in both small batches in my home kitchen and at scale in a professional kitchen, so I do feel confident that it works. I do bake exclusively using metric measurements though. Happy Baking! ~Lindsey
I love having different ways to make chocolate chip cookies! The cream cheese in these cookies really elevated the flavor. I sadly ran out of chocolate chips, but I needed to make CCC, so I chopped up a chocolate bar, and the cookies turned out perfect!
These are very delicious cookies! I just made them for my husband and I. Perfect amount of sugar, as I find most recipes are too sweet. I do wish there was more cream cheese flavour. Do you think I could put more cream cheese and less butter? What would happen if I replaced all the butter with cream cheese… Would that be cheesecake? :’D
Hi Catherine! So glad you and your husband loved them! You could experiment by replacing a few more tablespoons of butter with cream cheese, just don’t go too far, or you’ll lose the chewy structure that makes them cookies and yes… enter cheesecake territory. That small tang is subtle by design, but if you want to nudge it forward, you might also try adding a tiny splash of lemon juice or a touch of yogurt to enhance the tang without losing structure. Let me know if you give it a go, I’d love to hear how it turns out!