Buttery, melt-in-your-mouth cream cheese shortbread is extra special when it’s studded with pecans and slathered with rich dulce de leche. These cookies are a treat—and an easy one at that!
Cream cheese shortbread cookies are a soft, light, chewy shortbread packed with nuts. These little cookies are so flavorful to have such a short list of ingredients! Now, you could stop there and you’d have a fantastic treat. But sandwich dulce de leche between two of these shortbreads and you’ve got one of my favorite sandwich cookie creations.
Why You’ll Love This Cream Cheese Shortbread Recipe
- Shortbread with a twist. This recipe adds cream cheese to the classic shortbread, giving it a slightly tangy flavor and added richness.
- Versatile. These cookies can be enjoyed on their own or made into sandwich cookies. It’s up to you!
- Easy and quick to make. Sandwich cookies are often a production, and even shortbread can be finicky depending on the technique used. This cream cheese shortbread recipe is simply rolled into balls then flattened slightly, and the dulce de leche is store-bought. Simple!
What You’ll Need
Scroll down to the recipe card to find the ingredient quantities and recipe instructions.
- All-purpose flour – Here’s how to measure flour.
- Salt
- Pecans – You’ll need to toast the pecans before starting the recipe.
- Unsalted butter – Learn more: Unsalted or Salted Butter: Which is Better for Baking?
- Cream cheese – Use full-fat cream cheese for the best results.
- Granulated sugar
- Vanilla extract – I like to use my homemade vanilla extract.
- Dulce de leche – If you’d like to make these into sandwich cookies.
What Is Dulce de Leche?
Dulce de leche is a rich, creamy caramel-like spread made by slowly heating sweetened milk until it thickens and turns a beautiful golden-brown color. It’s a popular ingredient in many Latin American desserts and an excellent complement to the buttery texture of cream cheese shortbread cookies. (I also use it in these dulce de leche desserts.) You can find dulce de leche in most grocery stores.
How to Make Cream Cheese Shortbread
- Mix the dry ingredients. Whisk the flour and salt in a mixing bowl, then stir in the nuts.
- Mix the wet ingredients. Use an electric mixer on medium speed to beat the butter, cream cheese, and sugar to a light, fluffy consistency. Beat in the vanilla.
- Combine wet and dry. Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the dry ingredients for 20 seconds. Use a rubber spatula to finish.
- Form the cookies. Portion 1 & 1/2 tablespoons of dough for each cookie and roll them into balls. Set them on parchment-lined baking sheets and gently press down to flatten slightly.
- Bake. One pan at a time, bake in a 350ºF oven for 14 to 16 minutes, or until the edges are just beginning to brown.
- Cool. Let the cookies cool on the pans for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- Make sandwiches. Spread the dulce de leche onto the bottoms of half of the cooled cookies and gently press the other half of the cookies on top, with the bottoms facing each other.
Tips for Success
- Soften the butter and cream cheese. This will ensure that the butter and cream cheese are well incorporated into the dough. Learn more: How to Soften Butter
- Chill the dough if needed. If your dough is too soft or sticky to work with, you can chill it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before rolling it into balls. This can sometimes happen in the summertime when it’s warmer in your kitchen.
- Scoop and roll evenly-sized dough balls. Using a cookie dough scoop will ensure that your cookies are all roughly the same size and bake evenly.
- Don’t over-bake. Baking these cookies just until the edges are golden brown helps give them their tender, buttery texture.
Variations
- Swap out the pecans. Walnuts or hazelnuts would also work well in these cookies if you prefer.
- Try different fillings. Instead of dulce de leche, try filling these shortbread cookies with chocolate ganache, raspberry jam, or lemon curd. (If you use the latter two, be sure to eat them the same day.)
- Make them festive. For special occasions like Christmas or Valentine’s Day, swap the nuts with holiday sprinkles.
- Add a dip or drizzle. Dip the cookies in melted dark chocolate or drizzle them with it for a high-end bakery look. (See this chocolate-dipped hazelnut shortbread as an example.)
How to Store
Store cream cheese shortbread cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. If you add the dulce de leche, you’ll need to store the sandwich cookies in the refrigerator; they’ll keep for a week.
Can I Freeze This Recipe?
You can freeze these cookies for up to 3 months in an airtight container or freezer bag. Because shortbread can be a bit delicate, I recommend placing the cookies in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet to freeze individually before transferring them to a storage container. Thaw the cookies at room temperature before serving.
More Shortbread Recipes
- Cranberry Orange Shortbread
- 3-Ingredient Shortbread Cookies
- Brown Sugar Toffee Shortbread
- Peach Shortbread Cookies
- Brown Sugar Shortbread
Cream Cheese Shortbread
Buttery, melt-in-your-mouth cream cheese shortbread is extra special when it’s studded with pecans and slathered with rich dulce de leche!
Ingredients
- 2 cups (240g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup finely chopped pecans, toasted
- 3/4 cup (170g) unsalted butter, softened
- 4 ounces (113g) cream cheese, softened
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- dulce de leche
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.
- Whisk together the flour and salt. Stir in the pecans. Set aside.
- Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter, cream cheese, and sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla and mix for about 1 minute.
- Reduce mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture. Mix for 20 seconds. Finish mixing by hand with a rubber spatula.
- Scoop out about 1 & 1/2 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. Place on the prepared baking sheets. Gently press down the tops of the cookie balls. Repeat with the remaining cookie dough, leaving an inch between the cookies.
- Bake one pan at a time for 14 to 16 minutes, or until the edges are lightly brown. Cool on the pans for 5 minutes, and then transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.
- Spread the dulce de leche on the bottom side of half of the cooled cookies and top with another cookie (bottom sides facing each other).
Notes
Recipe slightly adapted from One Girl Cookies.
Store cream cheese shortbread cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. If you add the dulce de leche, you’ll need to store the sandwich cookies in the refrigerator; they’ll keep for a week.
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22 Comments on “Cream Cheese Shortbread”
O. M. G. I love you. I pinned this recipe immediately, can’t wait to try these!!
Oh wow! Gorgeous recipe. Have to try this out. Shortbread + dulce de
Leche?? Yummy
that first photo is like 3D to me
where is the scratch & sniff? 😉
Whoa. I looooove the look of this! Delicious!
You could put dulce de leche on anything, and it’d be awesome!
I was JUST looking through that cookbook today, and took note of these cookies! Glad to know they’re as delicious as I thought they’d be; I’ll definitely be giving these a try!
Now those looks absolutely delicious!!! My daughter would LOVE the caramel filling! YUM!
Cream cheese, pecans, caramel? My mouth is watering.
Two simple words… cookie nirvana! These are the best looking cookies I’ve run across today. I’m putting them on my holiday cookie list.
These sound amazing! I love a good shortbread cookie and the filling sounds like it makes a great cookie even better.
Just got a question
I’m from germany so I’m not used to this measuring in cups and I wondered about the 3/4 cup of butter being 12 tablespoons? That sounds like a lot to me. May I ask how big one of your cups is? It might just be me being a little confused but I really want to try those as they sound delicious *__*
One cup is equal to 8 ounces. One stick of butter is 1/2 cup so one and one half sticks of butter will be 3/4 cup of butter.
Replica, 3/4 cup of butter is 12 tablespoons.
I have the One Girl Cookies cookbook and have made these cookies. They are absolutely delicious by themselves but I’m sure the dulce de leche puts them over the top! I must and I will try with the dulce de leche. FYI…Williams Sonoma sells a dulce de leche that is outstanding!!
Thank you SO much for posting these Jennifer! I felt exactly the way you did when I first saw these – a must make! I baked them for my cookie exchange last year and they were a HUGE hit. Love these cookies! I’m making them for a dinner tomorrow and again for my cookie exchange this year, absolutely delicious!
Wow do these look incredible and I just happen to have a jar of dulce de leche in my pantry….. I am pinning these so that I don’t forget to make them!
Where can I find Dulce de Leche or recipe for same?????
You can find dulce de leche in most supermarkets beside the condensed milk or sometimes in the Hispanic foods section.
anyway we could roll these out and cut out? I am looking for a shortbread which can be cut out into circles with scalloped cookie cutters. this recipe looks interesting with cream cheese.
I’ve not tried rolling out these cookies. I think it would work. Just keep in mind that shortbread dough is usually pretty crumbly, which will make it tougher to roll out than a sugar cookie dough.
Can these biscuits be frozen ? I know I will prob want to eat them all but love having something in freezer incase of unexpected guests ?
Hi, Rhona. I’ve not tried freezing them, but I’d guess they’d be fine minus the filling.