Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Cookies

The Husband has been begging for me to make desserts more often.  Before the Little One came along, I used to make some kind of "treat" - be it bars, cookies, etc. every Sunday.  I'd keep some here at our home and then send the rest of them in with him for his office to enjoy on Mondays.  Well, as any new parent can attest to, life changes just a little bit with a baby. :)

Anyways, I am making an effort to make dessert more than just when we have company.  I had some blueberries on hand that I wanted to use up and so I did a little Pinterest search.  I came across this recipe from Hot Polka Dot which I adapted slightly.

These were a big hit and needless to say they didn't last a week amongst the Husband, Little One (though she did pick out the blueberries!) and me.

The cheesecake in the title might lend to thoughts of heaviness and decadence, but these cookies are definitely not heavy nor overly sweet.  They are super light and fluffy - reflective of the bright lemon and blueberry you get in every bite.  The cream cheese is a nice tiny little surprise in the middle.  In a few of the cookies that I skimped a little on the cream cheese, the "cheesecake" element was undetectable - the cookies were just a little more dense then some of the others.

A couple of notes:
- I used reduced fat cream cheese in place of regular cream cheese.
- Be sure to use at least 1 tsp of the cream cheese mixture so that the "cheesecake" is actually detectable.
- Set your timer for the 10 minutes first and I'd check every additional minute if they aren't done. These are not the kind of cookies you want to overcook and dry out.

Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup + 1 tbsp granulated sugar, divided
Zest of 1 large lemon or 2 small lemons
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 eggs
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 cup flour
1 cup fresh blueberries
6 oz cream cheese, slightly above room temperature

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and position a rack in the center. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper and set them aside.

Mix the softened cream cheese with 1 tbsp of the sugar.  Refrigerate.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer cream together the butter and 1 cup of sugar until it's light and fluffy. Blend in the lemon zest, juice and eggs. Make sure to scrape off any bits of zest that stick to the mixer paddle.

In a separate bowl whisk together the baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour then mix it into the wet ingredients. Gently fold in the blueberries so as not to burst any.

Refrigerate the dough for about 15 – 20 minutes to make it stiff enough to roll.

For each cookie, roll 1 heaping tbsp of dough into a ball then flatten it slightly into a disc shape. Place about 1 tsp of the cream cheese mixture into the center and form the dough around it creating a ball again.

Bake them for about 10 - 14 minutes until the edges brown slightly. Transfer them to a cooling rack and enjoy!