After a spicy Asian shrimp dinner accompanied by glasses of Riesling, Heather and I were craving something sweet. I ambled over to the fridge to take stock of ingredients and look for inspiration. Right in front of me was the half block of cream cheese left over from smoked salmon bagels. Inspiration!
The obvious ideas of cheesecake and cheesecake brownies came up, but unfortunately, the four ounces of cream cheese wasn’t nearly enough to make either. (And for some unbeknownst reason, she doesn’t like brownies?!!) Then I suggested NYT(CC)CCC* – New York Times Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies. Heather wasn’t too confident about my idea. Challenge accepted!!
Before I could heed her warning that cream cheese and butter probably aren’t one to one substitutes, the KASM** was tearing through the cold cream cheese and rock hard butter, forcefully combining them with the sugars (and cinnamon she begged me to add). Who needs softening when you have 600 Watts of pure mixing power at your disposal?!
I think her opinion started to change as the smooth and delicious mixture took shape – slightly softer than normal NYTCCC dough. After eyeballing to get what I thought was the right amount of flour, the chips went in. One final mix and I eagerly started plopping it onto parchment lined baking sheets. The smell of cookies baking was the first promising sign that this was actually going to work.
The first timer went off and I opened the oven, my first thought being one of disappointment. I was expecting huge, flat cookies. Instead what I saw were huge, puffy “cookies.” Heather was hovering behind me and I think her initial reaction was nearly the complete opposite of mine. “Oh my! I love puffy cookies!” After 4-5 minutes of extra baking time the cookies were ready to come out, cool for a lengthy 23 seconds, and then find their ways into our bellies.
The cookies were good, but they weren’t nearly my favorite.
I did like the spikes…
No one could resist this. Especially not us.
A great thing about the NYTCCC recipe is that it makes so much dough, you inevitably have some left to bake off later in the week. We needed another fix only two days later.
The dough was much softer and easier to work with the second go around. They baked for the exact same amount of time as the first batch, but this time the cookies were pale and smooth. Prettier, I think.
But the most enjoyment I got from this recipe was seeing my number one skeptic gleefully gobble them down.
*After modifications, you could barely call these cookies NYTCCC’s third cousin.
**Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer
squirrel bread 
you two might actually share a brain. ;)
rach: that’d be a pretty neat trick considering we live over 800 miles apart.
At first glance, I thought that these were chocolate chip biscuits. Weird!
I actually got to eat one and I must say it was great! Per Heather’s instructions, I warmed the cookie for about 30 seconds et voila! I had a wonderful cookie that tasted like it had just been baked – really good. I never would’ve considered putting cream cheese in with the butter, but it works. Good job on creating a new cookie!
I have to try this – cream cheese is a twist on the chocolate chip cookie that I hadn’t heard of yet!
Angelynn: the second batch did turn out looking a bit like biscuits, now that you mention it! it’s strange how large of a difference a couple days resting in the fridge can make.
mom: hmm, if only I could take credit. I was the reason for the cinnamon – which was the best part, right? :) oh I’m only kidding…
Madam Chow: it was mind-boggling to me, too. but it works!
This doesn’t contain any cream cheese, but you might like this recipe for Kahlua Butter Cream Cookie Cups. Here’s the link. http://www.bnbfinder.com/?action=recipeDisplay&innId=19047&recipeId=442
Find other great recipes at http://www.BnBFinder.com. Happy Baking!
We loved these the first time you sent Heather all the fixin’s in the mail–these look equally scrumptious! She’s not the only creative one in the kitchen. Good luck in API.
BnBFinder: thanks for the recipe!
dad & Sandy: :)
You’re welcome! Let me know how it turns out!
first of all, i completely admire people who can make delicious food with what they already have.
and this… this just seems so delicious.
i love the second picture. i can almost feel it melt in my mouth.
mmmm…
@sasha: Thanks so much for the sweet comments! It was a total crapshoot going into it, but we were pleasantly surprised with the result. A delicious experiment. Give it a try!