Have you been wondering whether you should bake gingerbread men, Christmas cookies, or a festive cake for the holidays? With all of those delicious Christmas recipes out there, it can be super hard to choose. Luckily, we have a recipe that combines all 3 so that you don’t have to! Our recipe for a Christmas cookie cake with a gingerbread cheesecake filling is the perfect holiday treat. Not only are the textures and flavors of this cookie cake amazing, we’ve used a surprisingly simple technique to get the cookie layers looking as festive as can be! Red, green, and tasty, our Christmas cookie cake has everything you could want in a Christmas treat and more. This recipe really takes the cookie cake!
Christmas Cookie Cake with Gingerbread Cheesecake Filling
Equipment
- Apple corer
- piping bag & star-shaped nozzle
Ingredients
- 1.75 cups flour
- 0.5 tsp baking powder
- 0.33 cup sugar
- 0.33 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 stick butter, softened
- 0.5 tsp salt
- red & green gel food coloring
- 0.5 cup cream cheese
- 9 oz white chocolate chips
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1.75 sticks butter
- 0.5 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- gingerbread man cookie
- gold sugar pearls
Instructions
- Knead together all of the cookie dough ingredients by hand, making sure to mix everything quickly so that the sugar doesn't dissolve completely. Divide the dough in half, then color one half red and the other half green with the red & green gel food coloring. Roll both halves of the dough into balls, wrap them in plastic wrap, transfer them to the refrigerator, and chill for 45 minutes.
- Once the dough has chilled, use an apple corer to cut the two balls of cookie dough so that you create 8 equally sized segments and 1 cylindrical piece of dough in each color.
- Piece the segments of dough back together, alternating between the red & green pieces, so that you're left with 2 patterned balls of cookie dough. Gently squeeze the balls of red & green dough together, transfer them to the refrigerator, and let them chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line 2 baking trays with parchment paper. Place 1 sheet of parchment paper over each of the 2 balls of cookie dough, then carefully press down on both of them with a baking tray or large plate, creating 2 giant cookies, each about 7 inches in diameter. Use a knife to even out the edges if necessary, then place both cookies on baking trays. Transfer the baking trays to the oven and bake at 350°F for 20 minutes.
- Melt the cream cheese, white chocolate chips, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and lemon juice over a double boiler and stir everything together. Once everything is thoroughly combined, remove the cheesecake filling from the heat and let it cool briefly. Whip the butter until light and airy, then fold it into the cheesecake mixture. Spread the majority of the cheesecake filling over 1 of the Christmas cookies, making sure to save some for later.
- Break off pieces of the gingerbread man and carefully press the pieces into the cheesecake filling. Place the second Christmas cookie on top of the cheesecake filling.
- Transfer the rest of the cheesecake filling to a piping bag with a star-shaped nozzle, then pipe small amounts of it on top of the cake. Insert 1 gold sugar pearl into each portion of cheesecake filling on top of the Christmas cookie cake.
VIDEO
What could be more festive than a red & green cake that combines all of the best holiday flavors into 1 delicious treat?! Just make sure to save a slice for Santa so you stay on the nice list this year!
Get the recipe for the Christmas Checkerboard Cake featured in the bonus video.