Red, White & Blue Cream Cheese Cookies are soft, chewy, and perfectly patriotic! These delicious cookies are made with freeze-dried blueberries and strawberries that add lots of flavor and the right colors for the 4th of July.
Cream cheese is the “secret” ingredient in these delicious cookies. The cream cheese not only adds a unique flavor to the cookie but helps to keep the cookies soft and the consistency just about as perfect as you can hope for in a sugar cookie.
TIPS FOR MAKING THE BEST COOKIES
- The cookie dough is a little bit sticky, but once it’s sufficiently chilled, it’s much more workable. Resist the urge to add more flour to the dough before chilling! If you add too much flour, the ratio of wet to dry ingredients is off and the cookies end up drier and more crumbly.
- Do not melt the butter! The butter needs to be softened (at room temperature). Using melted butter will ruin the cookies.
- Spend a little extra time when you mix the wet ingredients. Mixing for at least 4-5 minutes total will improve the consistency of your cookies.
- Preheat the oven. This will help your cookies turn out right every time!
- Use parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Doing this will make it really easy to remove the cookies from your cookie sheet so that you don’t have to scrape them off the pan. They will just slide right off in perfect shape!
- Make sure not to overbake your cookies. They may not even look completely done on the tops, but if the bottoms start to brown, I take mine out and they are perfect!
Ingredients in Red, White & Blue Cream Cheese Cookies
Butter – You will need 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter, softened to room temperature. Real butter definitely works best!
Cream cheese – You will need half of a brick of cream cheese (4 ounces) for the cookies. Regular cream cheese seems to work best, but you can use a low-fat or non-fat variety if preferred.
Sugar – You will need 1 cup of granulated sugar for the cookie recipe.
Eggs – Two large eggs will bind all of the other ingredients together.
Vanilla extract – One teaspoon of vanilla extract adds a delicious flavor to the cookies. The higher the quality of the vanilla, the better.
Flour – All-purpose flour works best in the recipe, but you can use a gluten-free substitute if needed.
Baking powder and baking soda – These act as the leavening agents for the cookies, so it is important that they are fresh and not expired.
Salt – A little bit of salt helps all of the other flavors to pop.
Freeze-dried strawberries and blueberries – These add flavor, color, and a little bit of texture too! You can use other freeze-dried fruit if you prefer. 1/2 cup freeze-dried strawberries
White chocolate chips – The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of white chocolate chips, but you can definitely add more if you’d like!
How to make Red, White & Blue Cream Cheese Cookies
In a large bowl, cream together butter, cream cheese, and sugar for about 2 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and beat for 2-3 more minutes.
In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda together.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix just until combined.
Fold in the freeze-dried fruit and white chocolate chips. Cover the dough and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350°. Use a cookie scoop to scoop out the cookie dough and place it on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
Bake for 8-10 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
HOW DO YOU SOFTEN BUTTER?
I like to soften butter by using the defrost function on my microwave. If you need the full 1/2 cup cube of butter, you can leave it in the paper wrapper, otherwise, place the amount of butter you need in a glass or porcelain bowl. I use the lowest defrost setting on my microwave and just let it run for 20 seconds. Check the butter and see how soft it is by pressing it with a rubber scraper. If it is still not soft to the touch, meaning it doesn’t indent when you press into it, let it warm for another 5-10 seconds. Watch it closely! Butter softens very quickly.
HOW TO SOFTEN CREAM CHEESE
Cream cheese is easy to soften – you can set it out at room temperature or soften it more quickly in the microwave.
-To soften at room temperature more quickly, just set the cream cheese on a plate and cut it into smaller pieces. The cream cheese should reach room temperature in about 15-20 minutes with this method.
-To soften the cream cheese in the microwave, remove the foil packaging and set the cream cheese in a small bowl or on a plate. Microwave for about 10-15 seconds. If the cream cheese is still cold and hard, continue to microwave for about 5 seconds at a time until the cream cheese is soft throughout. Just make sure not to microwave it too long or it will start to melt!
HOW LONG ARE CREAM CHEESE COOKIES GOOD FOR?
These cookies will be good for about 3-4 days if kept stored in an airtight container at room temperature.
MORE PATRIOTIC TREATS TO TRY:
- 4TH OF JULY BERRY STAR COOKIES
- KRISPY M&M 4TH OF JULY COOKIES
- RED, WHITE & BLUE FUDGE
- RED VELVET 4TH OF JULY COOKIES
- RED, WHITE & BLUE CHEESECAKE BARS
- EASY 4TH OF JULY COOKIES
- PATRIOTIC COOKIE CAKE
- SWIRLED PATRIOTIC COOKIE BARS
- RED, WHITE & BLUE STAR KRISPIE TREATS
- RED, WHITE & BLUE CUPCAKES
- FESTIVE RED, WHITE & BLUE CAKE
- TRIPLE BERRY TRIFLE
- PATRIOTIC JELLO SUGAR COOKIES
- PATRIOTIC ITALIAN CREAM SODAS
Red, White & Blue Cookies are soft, chewy, and perfectly patriotic! These delicious cookies are made with freeze-dried blueberries and strawberries that add lots of flavor and the right colors for the 4th of July.
Pat says
Where can I purchase freeze dried strawberries and blueberries. Not in my local grocery store.
Jessica says
Have you asked someone at your store? Each store in my area has them in a different location, so they can be tricky to find! They come in pouches and I’d look 1) in the produce section, 2) by the dried fruit section with raisins, etc. 3) or on the baking aisle. You can get a wide variety on Amazon as well- https://amzn.to/3VEIILR