Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies

Prepare: Gather all ingredients and line a small rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. (5 minutes)

Make Cream Cheese Filling: Beat cream cheese and powdered sugar with an electric hand mixer on medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Scoop cream cheese mixture into 16 portions (about 1 teaspoon each), and place onto prepared baking sheet. Freeze, uncovered, for 15 minutes. (20 minutes)

Preheat Oven: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) with racks in top third and lower third positions. Line 1 large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. (5 minutes)

Combine Wet Ingredients: Whisk together melted butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until mostly combined (mixture will look broken). Add egg and vanilla, and whisk until mixture looks homogenous. (5 minutes)

Incorporate Dry Ingredients: Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to butter mixture; whisk until almost fully incorporated and a few dry streaks remain, about 1 minute. Fold freeze-dried strawberries into flour mixture until fully combined and strawberries are broken up into smaller bits. (5 minutes)

Assemble Cookies: Scoop dough into 16 portions (about 3 tablespoons each). Working with 1 dough portion at a time, use your hands to flatten dough into a 1/2-inch thick disk. Place a frozen cream cheese ball in center of dough disk, and carefully wrap dough around cream cheese ball to enclose. Transfer cookie to prepared baking sheet. Repeat procedure with remaining dough and cream cheese balls. (20 minutes)

Chill Dough: Chill cookies, uncovered, 30 minutes. (30 minutes)

Bake Cookies: Line a second large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Transfer 8 of the cookies to the second sheet, spacing all cookies about 1 inch apart. Bake in preheated oven until edges are golden and the tops are set, about 12 minutes, rotating baking sheets between top and bottom racks halfway through bake time. (12 minutes)

Cool and Enjoy: Let cookies cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 20 minutes. (25 minutes)