Think about it. Cream cheese is delicious in main dishes (alfredo and pretty any kind of pasta), appetizers (hot reuben dip, bbq jalapeno poppers, artichoke dip), and in desserts (just think cream cheese frosting, pound cake, pumpkin cheesecake snickerdoodles). Ahh...heaven. Anytime I find something new with cream cheese, you can bet I am totally going to make it. I mean come on, it has cream cheese and I have some waiting in the fridge to be used.
But when I first saw this recipe I was a little skeptical. No eggs and cream cheese. I wondered how well these would turn out but OMG! These are one of my new favorite cookies. Not only were they so easy to make (I always have a hard time with chocolate chip cookies--they either spread out too much, are too hard or too soft, or just don't have great flavor--except for these bad boys), they were absolutely delightful.
Now you know I am not a huge chocolate chip cookie fan. It is usually a "leave it" kind of cookie for me and doesn't tempt me when they are sitting around the house, but these boys, I had to give them away before I ate the entire batch. They are thick and soft, chocolaty and moist, and just downright sinful. Go ahead and make some and don't say I didn't warn you :)
(click here for printable version)
6 ounces cream cheese, softened
12 tbsp. butter, melted and cooled
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups plus 3 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips
1. Preheat the oven to 325°F and line baking sheets with parchment or silpat liners or spray with non-stick cooking spray. In bowl of an electric stand mixer, cream together the cream cheese, melted butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Mix in the vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and mix until mostly incorporated but a few dry streaks remain. Add the chocolate chips and mix until combined and no dry streaks remain.
2. Roll the dough into 1 to 1 1/2-inch balls and place about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Flatten each ball slightly with the palm of your hand (just barely press, it doesn't need to be completely flat). Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes until the edges are just barely golden brown. Let the cookies cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Enjoy!
Make 2-3 dozen
Source: Mel's Kitchen Cafe
