Normally, my go to cookie is chocolate chip. Perhaps it’s a basic choice, but I just love them so damn much. Recently, however, I’ve been hit with a virtual barrage of Christmas cookies. People are seriously doing the most with Christmas cookies. Both in terms of flavor, and style. So it didn’t take long for me to succumb to FOMO and invent a Christmas cookie of my own. Since I’m absolute trash when it comes to decorating baked goods, I wanted to make something that I could simply light on fire with my new kitchen torch. And thus these chocolate orange cheesecake brûlée cookies were born.
These cookies are a dream. I brought them to The Feed Feed’s cookie swap and they disappeared within seconds. They’ve got a super orangey chocolate base, and a cheesecake filled middle. And of course, at the end I sprinkled sugar all over the centers and set them ablaze, resulting in a delicious golden sugar crust. Despite containing a fair amount of sugar, they’re not too sweet. Which is perfect in my book. I absolutely love cookies but I can’t stand when they’re overly sweet.
Since my forte is cooking, not baking, I enlisted the help of my friend Larisa to make sure I wasn’t going down the wrong path. She’s a talented baker and all around great lady, so make sure to check out her Instagram! Her guidance was invaluable with this recipe, so I owe her a big thank you.
Note: In order to brûlée these you’ll need a kitchen torch and some butane gas. In my humble opinion, it’s 100% worth the investment, though. This thing is the most fun toy I’ve ever had. That said, your cookies will still taste great if you don’t light them on fire. They just won’t be as cute. (ALSO, the above links are affiliate links. That means that I’ll get a small payment if you click through and buy something. Don’t worry though, it doesn’t cost you anything extra!) And now let’s get to it!
Chocolate Orange Cheesecake Brûlée Cookies
Equipment
- Mixer and/or food processor
- Kitchen torch
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1 cup unsalted butter at room temp
- 1 1/4 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tbsp orange zest
- 1 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup cream cheese at room temp
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit.
- Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt and mix until combined.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter, along with 2/3 a cup of sugar at medium speed until light and creamy. Then add in 2 egg yolks, 1 tsp vanilla extract, and the orange juice and zest.
- Add the flour to the wet mixture in 2 batches and beat until it becomes moist and bunches up a bit.
- Form 1 inch balls of dough and place them on your baking sheets with about an inch of space in between each ball. Press down with your index finger to create indentations in each dough ball.
- Now it's time to make the cheesecake filling. To do so, put the cream cheese, 1 egg, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, and 1/3 cup sugar in the bowl of your food processor and mixer and blend until smooth and combined.
- Add about 1 tsp of cheesecake filling to the indentation of each cookie.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes, until the cookies look firm (and not raw), and the cheesecake centers have set.
- Put the cookies on a cooling rack. Then sprinkle the centers of each with sugar, and use a kitchen torch to brûlée them. This'll go fast – simply burn 'em till you're satisfied with the color!
And that’s it, friends! I hope these cookies are the perfect addition to your holiday season. If you make them, be sure to let me know what you think in the comments or on Instagram! I always love hearing from you.
Looks scrumptious!