Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies

1. Instructions
2. Adjust the oven rack to the middle position, pre-heat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC) and line two large baking sheets with parchment/baking paper.

Cookie dough:

1. You can prepare the cookie dough using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, a hand mixer fitted with the double beaters, or by hand.
2. Add the sugar and lemon zest to a large bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer, if using), and use your fingertips to rub the zest into the sugar.
3. Tip: This helps to release more essential oils from the zest, and it'll make your cookies even more lemony and aromatic.
4. Add the softened butter and vanilla, and cream everything together until pale and fluffy.
5. Add the egg yolks and mix well to combine.
6. In a separate bowl, whisk together the gluten free flour blend, baking powder, xanthan gum and salt, and add them to the wet ingredients.
7. Mix well until you get a smooth cookie dough with no flour clumps. It should have a scoopable consistency and shouldn't be sticky to the touch.

Marbling the cookie dough with strawberry jam:

1. See the blog post for detailed step-by-step photos of the marbling process.
2. Transfer ⅓ of the cookie dough into a separate large bowl or deep plate and spread it out.
3. Dollop over ⅓ of the strawberry jam and use the end of a knife or a small offset spatula to swirl it around.
4. Cover the underlying jam-swirled layer with the next ⅓ of the cookie dough. To do this, take small portions of the cookie dough, flatten them with your fingers and lay them on top of the jam-swirled layer until it’s completely covered.
5. Dollop over ⅓ of the strawberry jam and swirl it around, then use the remaining cookie dough to completely cover the underlying layers.
6. Dollop over the remaining strawberry jam and swirl it around.
7. Finally, use a silicone spatula to gently fold the cookie dough over itself 2-3 times, to ensure even marbling – but don’t overdo it, you don’t want the strawberry jam to get mixed into the cookie dough too much.

Cheesecake filling:

1. In a bowl, using a wooden spoon or silicone spatula, mix the room temperature cream cheese and sugar together until well combined and smooth.
2. Add the warm heavy/double cream and the vanilla, and fold everything together into a fairly loose, smooth mixture. It should have the consistency of cheesecake filling, but it shouldn't be too runny.
3. Tip: If your filling is too firm (especially if you're using the block-style cream cheese available in the US), you can add a teaspoon or two of extra cream to loosen it up.

Assembling & baking the cookies:

1. Put the granulated sugar into a small bowl.
2. Use a 2-tablespoon cookie or ice cream scoop to scoop out a portion of the cookie dough, and drop it directly into the granulated sugar. Roll it around until it’s evenly coated, then roll it between your palms to shape it into a ball. (The sugar coating will allow you to handle the jam-swirled cookie dough without it sticking, so you can roll it between your palms.)
3. Place the sugar-coated cookie dough ball onto the lined baking sheet, and use a 1-tablespoon measuring spoon to make an indent in the centre.
4. Tip: Because of the jam swirl, it's possible that you'll get some cracking around the edges when you press down on the cookie dough ball with the 1-tablespoon measuring spoon. Don't worry if that happens – the filling won't leak out and your cookies will still turn out amazing! You can also close any cracks by gently pressing the cookie dough into the correct shape with your fingers.
5. Repeat with the rest of the cookie dough until you get 14 cookies in total. As you're arranging them on the baking sheets, make sure to space them at least 2 inches (5cm) apart, as they will expand and spread out slightly during baking.
6. Fill the cookies with about 2-3 teaspoons of the cheesecake filling. They’ll be full to the brim but don’t worry, the filling won’t overflow. You shouldn't have any filling left over in the end.
7. Bake the cookies, one baking sheet at a time, at 350ºF (180ºC) for about 12-14 minutes or until they've spread and puffed up slightly, and the cheesecake filling has set.
8. As you're baking the first batch, keep the other baking sheet at room temperature on your counter – no need to keep it in the fridge.
9. The cookies will be very soft and fragile immediately out of the oven. Allow them to cool completely to room temperature on the baking sheet – trying to move them around (for example, to a wire cooling rack) could make them crumble or break.
10. While the cookies are cooling, prepare the strawberry sauce.

Strawberry sauce:

1. Add the chopped strawberries and the strawberry jam to a saucepan.
2. In a small bowl, mix together the cornstarch (US)/cornflour (UK) and water, then add the cornstarch slurry to the saucepan and stir well to combine.
3. Cook over medium heat with frequent stirring until the strawberries have softened and any released juices have thickened, about 3-4 minutes.
4. Remove from the heat, pour the strawberry sauce into a bowl and allow to cool to room temperature.
5. Just before serving, add a spoonful of the strawberry sauce on top of each cookie.