Cream Cheese Cookie Cups — Something Sweet for the Hand That Finally Gets to Rest

Mama took a full weekend off from the cafe for the first time in eight years. Cody covered the entire weekend — Friday dinner, Saturday breakfast through dinner, Sunday breakfast and the late-lunch close. Mama drove up to Tulsa Friday afternoon and stayed at the apartment Friday and Saturday night. Sunday she drove back to Sapulpa to open the cafe again Monday morning at six. Brayden is one hundred and twenty-two weeks old. The weekend was the small Mama-rest-event that the family has been pushing her toward for two years.

The cream cheese cookie cups are Mama’s favorite-cookie. Mama had been having them at every family-gathering since I was small. The cookies are a small cream-cheese-enriched sugar-cookie dough pressed into a mini-muffin-tin to form a cup, baked for ten minutes, then filled with a small dab of fruit-jam or a small piece of chocolate. The cup-and-fill format is the small variation that Mama prefers over the flat-cookie format.

The technique question on the cookie-cup form is the press-and-bake. The dough needs to be pressed firmly into the muffin-cup wells with the back of a small spoon. The bake is short (ten minutes) and the cups will puff slightly during the bake. As the cups come out of the oven they need to be re-pressed with the spoon to deepen the cup before they cool (which sets the final cup shape).

Saturday I made two dozen cookie cups for Mama. She had three Saturday afternoon at the kitchen counter with coffee. She took the rest home in a small tin Sunday afternoon. The bake was the small gift that the Mama-weekend-off had earned.

Cream Cheese Cookie Cups

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 18 min | Total Time: 33 min | Servings: 24 cookie cups

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup fruit preserves, chocolate-hazelnut spread, or lemon curd (for filling)
• Powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat and prep. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 24-cup mini muffin tin or spray with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
2. Cream butter and cream cheese. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and cream cheese together with a hand mixer or stand mixer on medium speed until smooth and fluffy, about 2–3 minutes.
3. Add sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla. Add the granulated sugar and beat until light and well combined. Mix in the egg yolk and vanilla extract until fully incorporated.
4. Mix in the dry ingredients. Reduce mixer speed to low. Add the flour and salt gradually, mixing just until a soft dough forms. Do not overmix.
5. Form the cups. Scoop roughly 1 tablespoon of dough into each mini muffin cup. Press the dough down and up the sides with your thumb or the back of a small spoon to form a cup shape with a well in the center.
6. Fill each cup. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon of your chosen filling — preserves, lemon curd, or chocolate-hazelnut spread — into the center of each dough cup. Do not overfill.
7. Bake. Bake for 16–18 minutes, until the edges are just lightly golden and the dough is set. The centers may look slightly soft but will firm as they cool.
8. Cool and release. Allow the cookie cups to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before gently running a thin knife around the edges and transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
9. Finish and serve. Dust with powdered sugar if desired. Serve at room temperature. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 165 | Protein: 2g | Fat: 10g | Carbs: 17g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 65mg