Made with half a brick of cream cheese in addition to butter, these winter-sprinkle infused cookies studded with white chocolate chips are super soft cookies that belong in your yearly Christmas cookie rotation.
I’m not sure how the weather is where you are, but here on the Mason-Dixon line it’s unseasonably beautiful right now. The grass is still green, the sun is shining, there are birds singing outside of my window as I type this, and I spent this past Saturday hiking (coat-less) with my dog.
Temperatures are expected to surpass 70-degrees on Christmas Eve, and my siblings are in absolute uproar, particularly Andi (my 10-year-old sister).
She wants snow, no sun, and generally just weather that’s bitter and dismal enough to keep you indoors, at least for Christmas Day.
In my family’s house, Christmas has always been a cold, sometimes snowy, grey day that lends itself to hunkering down inside, eating cookies for breakfast and lunch, lounging in pajamas in wrapping-paper-scented air, and feeding our stock of AA and AAA batteries to new toys and gadgets.
But sunny, 70-degree days are excellent at inducing guilt if you choose to spend them inside rather than out, and Andi can’t quite handle the thought of breaking Christmas tradition and feeling like she should go outside.
So, while I can’t give Andi snow for Christmas, I decided her Christmas cookies should at least be snowy and winter-y, and these well-sprinkled “Blizzard Cookies” (a cousin to my cookies and cream cookies) were born.
If you’re a lover of the dark, the over-baked, the crisp-edged and crunchy cookies that break in half with a hard snap and a shower of dry crumbs, well, you’ll be disappointed with these.
But, if you’re like me, and you prefer the sort of cookie that melts beneath your teeth and hints at a near-underbaked, buttery center studded with molten white chocolate chips, then this is the recipe for you.
Cream cheese and cornstarch (my secret ingredients in many of my cookies and even my coffee cake) are added to a relatively basic cookie recipe for maximum softness, then white chocolate and as many sprinkles as your heart desires (which is a quarter cup, for my heart) are stirred through the batter. The cream cheese also does a good job of tempering the sweetness of the white chocolate, sprinkles, and ample sugar.
If you’re finding yourself faced with the unspeakable horror of an impending sunny Christmas (even you, Australian readers) then do yourself a favor and add these winter-y blizzard cookies to your dessert table this year.
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Enjoy!
Blizzard Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened to room temperature
- 4 oz cream cheese softened to room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 ½ cups premium white chocolate chips
- ¼ cup colored sprinkles
Instructions
- In KitchenAid, cream together butter and cream cheese until well-combined.1 cup butter, 4 oz cream cheese
- Add sugars and beat on medium-high speed for 2 minutes, until light and fluffy. Pause mid-way through to scrape down the sides of the bowl.1 cup sugar, ½ cup brown sugar
- Add egg and beat until combined.1 large egg
- Stir in vanilla extract.1 tsp vanilla extract
- In separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt.3 ½ cups all-purpose flour, 1 tsp cornstarch, 1 tsp baking soda, ¼ tsp salt
- With KitchenAid on low speed, gradually add flour mixture until completely combined.
- Stir in white chocolate chips (low-speed), and pause to scrape down the sides of the bowl.1 ½ cups premium white chocolate chips
- Add colored sprinkles and stir until just combined (by hand is preferable, but the dough is quite sticky and thick, so you may mix briefly on low-speed).¼ cup colored sprinkles
- Cover and transfer to refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350F and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Once cookie dough has chilled, remove from fridge and scoop/roll into 1 ½" balls. Place on parchment paper and slightly flatten with your hand or with the bottom of a clean glass. Add additional sprinkles if desired.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes, remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes on cookie sheet before transferring to cooling rack to cool completely.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Amy
I made these and they taste good and are pretty, but took longer than 10 minutes to bake. They were still very undercooked at 13 minutes. Not sure what I did or didn’t do.
Sherry
These look so good! I’m not a fan of white chocolate, do you think they would still be good without it?
Sam
I think it would be fine without, you could also use chocolate chips instead. Hope you love them! 🙂
Nae
Would I able to use a hand mixer instead of a kitchen aide
Sam
Definitely, that would work!
Shalyce
How many dozen does this receive yeild?
Shalyce
Recipe*
Sam
Hi Shalyce! I believe it’s around 3 dozen, but for some reason I never recorded it. I’ll have to re-make these to confirm, but around 3 dozen should be a good estimate. I hope that helps!
Chelsea @chelseasmessyapron
These are SO beautiful!! Made me think of the Frozen movie — how fun would these be for a Frozen party?! Love the sprinkles too!!
Sam
You are right, they definitely do look Frozen-esque! Thank you, Chelsea!!
Cheyanne @ No Spoon Necessary
It is the same temperature here, but I’ll be honest, I wish it was colder! Guess I’ll have to eat my weather sorrows with these cookies! LOVE that these are cream cheese cookies! The white chocolate addition just makes these perfect! So YUM!! Cheers, Sam!
Sam
I wouldn’t mind if the temperatures did dip at least a bit for Christmas, too, but it doesn’t look like that will happen. Thanks so much, Cheyanne!!
Mir
It’s El Nino, chica. Making everything much warmer than usual. We’ve had 70s in DC, and that never happens. And it’s coming back next week! Insert happy face.
You had me at the “brick of cream cheese” part. These look great!
Sam
Ah, makes sense, then. I do love the warmth, but I get it that my siblings feel Christmas *should* be a bit colder. Thanks, Mir!
Christin@SpicySouthernKitchen
These cookies are absolutely adorable! We have had the warmest December that I can remember and it’s so hard to feel like Christmas is just days away. What a great idea to make some blizzard cookies to help get in a winter frame of mind!
Sam
Thanks so much, Christin!! 🙂
Meghan | Fox and Briar
We have been having such weird weather this year! I am in the PNW, and although it isn’t as warm as the rest of the country has been, it has still been pretty mild. I love these snowy blizzard cookies, so much fun!
Sam
Thank you, Meghan!! 🙂
Jess @ Flying on Jess Fuel
Oh my gosh, I loooove how you decorated these! They are so cute!! And with half a brick of cream cheese and butter, can you really go wrong? 😉
Sam
Haha, right!?! Thanks so much, Jess! 🙂
Amanda
Soft cookies? Yes, please! That’s my definite cookie of choice. I’m swooning over the cream cheese in here and just imagining the texture. Yum! And those sprinkles are just too cute!
Sam
Thank you, Amanda! The addition makes these cookies absolutely perfect!
Desiree
Do you think itd work fine if i used non stick cookong spray instead of parchment paper?
Sam
A regular ungreased cookie sheet should be fine, you can just skip the parchment paper
Linda | The Baker Who Kerns
Oh wow what it must be like to have Christmas in Australia! Though over here in New York it’s actually really not that cold. It’s a little scary. These cookies look like so much fun! Love the winter/Frozen look about them!
Sam
Thank you, Linda!!! 🙂
Marsha | Marsha's Baking Addiction
Wow, these cookies look so thick, soft, and melt-in-your-mouth! I’d love a couple right now!
Sam
Thank you, Marsha! They are so soft!!
Medha @ Whisk & Shout
These cookies are adorable! Love how soft all that cream cheese makes them 🙂
Sam
I’m convinced that cream cheese is the ultimate secret ingredient for softness. Thank you, Medha!
Rachel @the dessert chronicles
These are so fun and festive! And they looks so soft and perfect!
Sam
Thank you, Rachel!!