Chef in Training Brittany Jackson: Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies

This is one of our favorite annual segments. For the next few days, we want to share recipes and dishes from students at the MUW Culinary Institute.

These students are under the instruction of Chef Mary Helen Hawkins.

Monday’s recipe is for your sweet tooth.

Chef in Training Brittany Jackson, MUW Culinary Institute:

“Hey, you all. My name is Brittany Jackson, and today I’m going to be showing you all how I make strawberry cheesecake cookies. Also, I am from Mississippi University for Women in the Culinary Institute, and I also have a baking business called Baked by B LLC. So today I’m going to start with the cheesecake, make sure that goes inside of the cookies.

So I have right here just one eight-ounce block of cream cheese. I’m going to start out with one-quarter cup of sugar. Just going to pour that in. And then I also have one-quarter teaspoon of vanilla bean paste that we’re going to use in it as well, so I’m just going to do that right there. Then I’m going to give it a good mix. You just want to incorporate until all of your sugar is fully incorporated into the cream cheese mixture. And once you’re done you’re going to put it in the refrigerator to let it chill.

This is what the outcome of the product should look like right here. So now I’m just going to get my strawberry cookie mix. I’m going to get my cookie scoop. I’ll use the medium-sized scoop for my cookies. I’m just going to scoop it out like this, put it in my hand, so that way that I can flatten it out some just like this. Then I’m going to take a smaller scoop for my cheesecake mix, and I’m going to put it into the middle of it like this. Then once I get everything on there I’m going to fold it, kind of pinch those corners of the cookies a little bit, then I’m going to roll into a ball, and then I’m going to put it right back on my baking sheet.
Then I’m going to do the same thing for my next cookies. Flatten your cookie out first before you put it on there and do the same thing. And I’m going to do one more cookie to put on there. Flatten it out, cheesecake mixture, put it in the middle, fold it, and form it into a ball just like that. And then we’re going to put it in the oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

I already have some cookies made, so I’m going to take them out of my other oven. This should be the outcome of your cookies, and you make sure to garnish it with a little bit of sugar.”