Using a combination of butter and cream cheese, these cookies & cream cookies are extra soft and uniquely creamy-tasting. Fill the dough with white chocolate chips and big chunks of Oreo cookies. Brown sugar and a touch of cornstarch adds extra softness, while the chopped Oreos add a little crunch. You definitely won’t regret making a double batch.
Two cookies in one. Literally! If you love cookies & cream ice cream and Oreos are your weakness, you’re going to be REALLY happy about this.
Do you have a paperback copy of Sally’s Baking Addiction cookbook? If so, you’ll see Cream Cheese Cookies ‘n Cream Cookies on page 125. We’re using the same exact ingredients here, but I add even more cream cheese and butter. I also skip 1 egg and add white chocolate chips. The cookies are just as soft, but they have more flavor, a creamier texture, and chewier edges. You’ll love the sweet white chips in each bite, too. You can’t go wrong with either variation!
These Cookies & Cream Cookies Are:
- Exceptionally soft from the cream cheese
- A texture lover’s dream (crunchy Oreos, soft cookie base)
- As chewy as my chewy chocolate chip cookies
- As thick as my peanut butter cookies (but with big chunks of Oreos!)
- Perfectly sweet with white chocolate chips
Cookies & Cream Cookies: Power Ingredients
A few ingredients add to their signature flavor and texture. Here’s how:
- Cornstarch: I love adding a touch of cornstarch to chocolate chip cookies because it helps create a softer, thicker cookie. Same story here.
- Cream Cheese: Like I mention above, I use more cream cheese in this recipe than the cookbook version. I wanted a more noticeable cream cheese flavor and a creamier texture, too; one that exceeds the texture of my cream cheese sugar cookies.
- Butter: Room temperature butter, along with cream cheese, is the base of this cookie recipe. You can soften butter quickly with this trick. (This trick also works for softening the cream cheese, too!)
- Granulated & Brown Sugar: Sugar is not only used for sweetness, but for providing structure and tenderness too. Granulated sugar helps the cookies spread, and brown sugar keeps the cookies soft.
- White Chocolate Chips: White chocolate chips add a similar sweet “cream” flavor that’s found in the Oreo cookies. If you don’t have white chocolate chips or don’t want to use them, semi-sweet, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, or even peanut butter chips work instead. Or skip them altogether and add more Oreos.
- Oreo Cookies: Just what you need to make the perfect Oreo cookie crust, too. To prevent the cookie dough from turning gray as a result of all the Oreos, keep the chunks of Oreo cookies on the larger side. And I actually broke them up by hand instead of using a knife.
Can I use other flavor Oreos? Yes, of course! Try peanut butter, birthday cake, golden, mint, or any other Oreo cookie flavor you love. If you love playing around with flavored Oreos, try my cookies & cream pie, too. It’s fantastic with the mint Oreos!
Cream the Butter & Cream Cheese Together
Creamed butter and sugar is the base of many cookie recipes. But before we add the sugar, it’s imperative to properly cream the cream cheese and butter together. The two are different textures—cream cheese is much softer than butter. My tip is to beat the cream cheese in your mixer until very soft and smooth, with no lumps. Then add the softened butter and beat together until combined and thick. See photo above (left).
This is your creamy base for the cookies. It’s the same cookie dough base as these strawberry & cream cookies. And it tastes much better in these both cookie recipes than using ONLY butter. (Trust me!)
The cookie dough is soft and creamy, so make sure you take the time to chill it in the refrigerator. The cookies will spread into puddles otherwise.
After chilling, roll the cookie dough into balls and bake:
3 Cookie Tips to Improve Your Next Batch
- Spoon & Level the Flour: The amount of flour makes or breaks a cookie recipe—literally. Spoon and level that flour or, better yet, weigh your flour.
- Chill the Cookie Dough: Chilling the cookie dough is an imperative step in this recipe. The colder the dough, the less the cookies will over-spread into greasy puddles. You’ll have thicker, sturdier, and more solid cookies.
- Bake 1 Batch at a Time: You get the best possible results when the oven only concentrates on 1 batch at a time. If you need to bake more than one batch at a time, rotate the baking sheets from the top rack to bottom rack a couple times through the baking process to encourage even browning. And turn the sheets around as well. Ovens have hot spots!
The bites with excessive Oreo cream are clearly the best. You’ll love this cookies and cream cake, too!
Print
Cookies & Cream Cookies
- Prep Time: 2 hours, 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours, 35 minutes
- Yield: 30 cookies
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Using a combination of butter and cream cheese, these cookies & cream cookies are extra soft and uniquely creamy-tasting. Chill the dough for at least 2 hours before baking.
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 ounces (113g) full-fat brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (180g) white chocolate chips
- 1 and 1/4 cups (about 110g) roughly chopped Oreos (10 whole Oreos)
Instructions
- Whisk the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese on medium-high speed until completely smooth and creamy. Add the butter and beat until combined (see photo for a visual), scraping down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl as needed. Add granulated sugar and brown sugar and beat on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until combined. With the mixer running on low speed, beat in the white chocolate chips. Add the Oreos and beat on low speed or gently fold in with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon (dough is heavy) until combined. Cover and chill the dough for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator (and up to 4 days). If chilling for longer than a few hours, allow to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before rolling and baking because the dough will be quite hard.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Roll cookie dough, a heaping 1.5 Tablespoons of dough per cookie (I use this medium-size cookie scoop), and place 3 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 12–13 minutes or until lightly browned on the sides. The centers will look very soft.
- Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. While the cookies are still warm, I like to press a few more white chips or Oreo pieces into the tops—this is only for looks!
- Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Allow to come to room temperature then continue with step 4. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Here’s how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mat and Parchment Paper | Medium Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack
- Cornstarch: I love adding a little cornstarch to some cookie recipes because it helps keep the cookies extra soft. You can leave it out if you don’t have any with no other changes to the recipe needed. (The cookies are still pretty soft without it!)
- Cream Cheese: You only need 4 ounces (113g) of cream cheese, so use half of an 8-ounce brick of full-fat cream cheese. Do not use cream cheese spread or whipped cream cheese. If using low-fat or fat-free, keep in mind that the texture of the cookies will be different. They won’t be as rich or chewy and could spread more. I recommend full-fat.
- Oreos: You need about 10 Oreos. Use any flavor you love, including Golden Oreos. I like to use Double Stuf, but regular work too. Give the Oreos a very rough chop into bite-sized pieces as pictured above. Or break them up by hand. Chopping into finer pieces creates a lot of dark sandy crumbs. Obviously the taste of the cookies won’t change, but your cookies will look different and darker than pictured.
- White Chocolate Chips: Feel free to skip the white chocolate chips and add 5–6 more chopped Oreos or replace with the same amount of your favorite cookie add-in such as peanut butter chips, semi-sweet chocolate chips, chopped nuts, etc.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Keywords: cookies & cream cookies, cookies and cream cookies
The cookies and cream cookies are so good! Can I make them gluten free with almond flour?
★★★★★
Hi Caron, we’re so glad you love these! We haven’t tested this recipe with gluten free substitutes, but please let us know if you do!