Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake
This chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake is a cookie dough lover’s dream. Creamy cheesecake, cookie dough and a chocolatey crust. Yum!
Cookie dough meets cheesecake in this incredible chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake.
It’s creamy. It’s decadent. It’s a cookie dough lover’s dream.
Whoever felt like throwing balls of cookie dough into cheesecake batter is a straight up genius, that’s all I have to say.
The cheesecake starts with a buttery, chocolatey crust.
While many cheesecakes call for prebaking the crust for a few minutes, this crust remains unbaked until the entire cheesecake goes in the oven.
Half of the cheesecake batter goes on top of the crust before we get to the star of the show: cookie dough.
Cookie Dough
The cookie dough for this cheesecake is a simple egg-less recipe.
The cookie dough is rolled into small balls, chilled for a minute until firm, and then stirred into the cheesecake batter.
When it’s baked, the cookie dough forms delightful pockets of cookie dough goodness throughout the creamy cheesecake.
To Water Bath or Not
I know it’s contrary to all professional cheesecake bakers out there, but I never water bath my cheesecakes.
The simple reason why: I’m too lazy. And it’s often messy.
Instead, I’ll sometimes put a pan of hot water on the oven rack below the cheesecake. The steam from the water has the same effect as a water bath.
Even with the pan of water (or the fussy water bath), a cheesecake might still crack. Some of that has to do with how much the batter is mixed once the eggs are added. Too much mixing can cause cracks.
I don’t stress about the cracks – just one more good reason to use a lot of whipped cream topping to cover them up!
Unbelievably rich (this is a good thing), this chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake is one of my favorite desserts of all time.
I like to top slices of the cheesecake with sweetened whipped cream and shaved chocolate.
The cookie dough effect throughout the cheesecake is brilliant and delicious, and it is an absolute showstopper of a dessert.
FAQs for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake
I never water bath my cheesecakes, but that’s just a personal preference. You could certainly use a water bath if that is your preference.
The major downfall with using storebought cookie dough is that it has eggs in the batter. I don’t know if the cookie dough gets baked all the way through in this cheesecake recipe like it would if you were baking cookies. Having said that, the cheesecake IS baked so maybe the cookie dough bakes enough to get rid of the risk of salmonella. In this case, use your best judgment!
No, the crust bakes with the cheesecake and doesn’t need to be prebaked.
One Year Ago: Cookie Dough Topped Brownies
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Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake
Ingredients
Cookie Dough:
- ½ cup (113 g) butter, softened
- ½ cup (106 g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (106 g) packed light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoon milk
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup (142 g) all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (170 g) mini chocolate chips
Crust:
- 6 tablespoons (85 g) butter, melted
- 2 ½ cups chocolate cookie crumbs
Filling:
- 4 packages (8-ounces each) (908 g) cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (212 g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup (227 g) sour cream
- 1 cup (170 g) mini chocolate chips
Garnish:
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped to stiff peaks (add 1 tablespoon powdered sugar while whipping if you like a bit of extra sweetness)
- Mini chocolate chips or shaved chocolate, for sprinkling
Instructions
- For the cookie dough: In a medium bowl, combine the butter and sugars for the cookie dough. Add the water (or milk), vanilla and blend. Mix in the flour, salt and the chocolate chips. The dough will be fairly soft. Gently roll the dough into small balls (about a teaspoon size, maybe a bit larger) and place them on a wax paper lined plate or baking sheet. Place them in the freezer to harden while making the rest of the cheesecake.
- For the crust: Lightly grease the bottom and sides of a 10-inch springform pan. In a medium bowl, combine the butter with the chocolate cookie crumbs. Press onto the bottom and halfway up the sides of the prepared pan.
- For the cheesecake: Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat the cream cheese, sugar, and flour until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla and sour cream and mix just until blended. Be careful not to overmix – incorporating too much air into the batter can contribute to a cheesecake cracking on top during baking.
- Pour half the batter into the prepared crust.
- Gently stir the cookie dough balls and the one cup mini chocolate chips into the remaining batter. Pour into the pan, spreading the batter to the sides of the pan and evening it out across the top (it is ok to see bumps of cookie dough here and there, smooth it the best you can).
- Bake the cheesecake at 325 degrees for 60-70 minutes until the sides are set and the center is still a bit jiggly. Turn off the oven and prop the door open several inches. Let the cake sit in the oven for an additional 30 minutes.
- Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool completely on a wire rack. Refrigerate until chilled. To serve, cut into slices and top with whipped cream and mini chocolate chips.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: adapted from Nate and Kylie W. (my brother and sister-in-law)
Recipe originally published July 2010; updated December 2020 with new photos, recipe notes, etc.
189 Comments on “Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake”
Can i use heavy cream instead of sour cream?
I haven’t tried that but you could experiment!
Do I have to use mini chocolate chips or is regular ones ok?
If you only have regular chocolate chips, that’s probably ok.
Do the cookie dough balls bake into cookies or does it stay soft like cookie dough?
It stays in little pieces of cookie dough.
Did you put a water bath underneath it? Why does it crack?
I never personally use a water bath for cheesecakes, but you certainly can. Sometimes I’ll put a pan of water on the lower shelf.
Made this for my husbands birthday was soooo good! I always make cakes but we were all thrilled with this cheesecake. Even my FIL who doesn’t “do sweets” had a slice (then snuck some of my sons)!
This looks amazing! I’m making it for my son’s birthday and am wondering if I’m supposed to prebake the crust before adding the cheesecake filling?
No, the crust doesn’t need to be prebaked.
Thanks for the super quick response, the cheesecake came out perfectly and was SO good!! I doubled the cookie dough, because you can never have too much cookie dough in your life We’re going to freeze the leftover dough and use it in ice cream…YUM!!
Yay! I’m glad it turned out so well!
Question:
Can I use already made cookie dough for the base?
Also, won’t cooking the cake for over an hour make the base dry and hard?
Yes, you can try another cookie dough recipe that’s already been made. I can’t say for sure how it will work in this without knowing the recipe or trying it myself.
How many servings is this recipe?
It really depends on how big you cut the slices, but you could get between 8-12.
Just made this for my hubby for Father’s Day! He requested cheesecake, but I had never attempted one before. I had a 9″ spring form pan still in its wrapping and figured it was time!
I made 3/4 recipe of the cheesecake and 1/2 recipe for the cookie dough. It was perfect!! So delicious and easy! I coated the chocolate chips and cookie dough in a little flour to prevent them from sinking. The only thing that was a slight issue (not per your recipe) is my store only had double stuff oreos and I think that caused some oily leaking. Thankfully I anticipated as much so I wrapped the pan in time foil.
I noticed you don’t mention using a water bath for baking the cheesecake. Do you not recommend it for this specific flavor? Is pre-baking the crust not necessary?
Some background: I did make this cheesecake as is months ago and it was a huge it. My only issue was that it cracked on me and I tried to cover it with whipped cream. Photo here (https://goo.gl/photos/jBiLj6UjJF4JksA98)
So I’m wondering if a water bath could’ve helped with that.
I never water bath my cheesecakes, but that’s just a personal preference. You could certainly try a water bath to help the cracking!
Hi, do you use granulated sugar or caster sugar please?
Granulated.
Hi Mel!
I’m cooking this for a coworker who is coming into the office on a Friday – meaning I have to squeeze making this into a weeknight schedule. I’m usually home around 6pm. Do you think I could make the cookie dough balls a day or so in advance to cut down on time? Or would freezing them for an entire day make them almost too hard to put into the cake?
Any other tips for cutting down on time or breaking down the process into two week nights? I’d prefer not to freeze it, if I can help it. Thank you!
Yes, you could definitely break this into steps like that! Making the cookie dough ahead of time will work fine – and even baking the cheesecake and refrigerating for up to two days will work great.
How would you make this in a 9″ springform pan?
Brenda – it is a pretty full cheesecake in a 10-inch pan so I’m worried it might overflow in a 9-inch pan. A few alternatives are to make the full batch and fill your spring form pan with batter about an inch from the top and use the extra batter, baking it up in a small loaf pan or something so it doesn’t go to waste. You could also try modifying the filling ingredients to make a smaller batch – maybe a 3/4 batch? So it would look something like this:
3 (8-ounce) blocks cream cheese, softened to room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
3/4 teaspoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup sour cream (I used light and it worked just fine)
You might have extra cookie dough but that wouldn’t be a bad thing.
Amazing recipe. I made one for my colleagues at work and safe to say, it didn’t last very long at all. The one problem was all my cookie dough balls sunk to the bottom and I ended up with a layered cheesecake! Any ideas of what I did wrong?
Thanks for the measurements; a god send for us British folks who love baking American recipes!
I’m not sure exactly, Lara – but it’s probably similar to a blueberry muffin where the blueberries are sometimes coated in flour before adding to the batter so they don’t sink. I wonder if that would help here?
Superb! Was served this at a friend’s house last night. Her kids said…”Mommy, can we have Matt (my husband) and Ruth over again so we can have this amazing dessert?” 🙂
Thanks Mel for making everyone smile!!
My hubby’s birthday is tomorrow and I am making this cheesecake tonight for the fourth year in a row – which is also the number of birthdays he’s had since we’ve been married! This is hands down his favorite dessert that I have ever made!
if I’m using Oreos for the crust, should I leave out the cream filling, or could I use the whole cookie?
I use the whole cookie.
This looks incredible. Do you think it’s doable in a 9″ pan without too many adjustments?
Travis – It might be too much batter for a 9-inch pan but it’s worth reading through the comments – I think others have tried it like that.
Thanks for the reply! If I give it a try, I’ll let you know how it goes.
This cheesecake knocked my family’s socks off! I took it to a church potluck and it was gone….FAST! This decadent dessert has some die-hard fans now!
Amazing. My 14 year old son picked this out for his BD cake. Impatient, and I know better, I took out of pan still warm. We had a gooey mess – due to the run off and softness., salvaged into a bowl and chilled . ( don’t do what I did. I’ve many cheesecakes before). Remaking tonight the correct way. Thank you soooooo much for the recipe
I second Tamar’s substitution. We used plain yogurt and it turned out wonderfully. (Just in case anyone wants a second opinion.) 🙂
After keeping my eye on this cake for several months, I finally made it tonight so I can bring it to work tomorrow as part of a cheesecake contest. It looks and smells amazing and I can’t wait to taste it! Everything I’ve made from your website so far has been wonderful so I knew this recipe just had to be good. Some small notes- I didn’t have sour cream so I substituted low-fat plain white yogurt and when I tasted the cheese mixture before pouring it in the pan, it tasted really good. Also, since I live in Israel, we also use grams, so I’ve looked up the cup to gram conversion so many times- it’s 1 cup butter to about 225 grams. Now I just have to translate your recipe into Hebrew for all my friends at work but I can already tell it’s gonna be great! Thankyou!!!
I hope your coworkers like it, Tamar! Thanks for including your notes!
I bookmarked this months ago, and finally got around to making it. Followed the instructions to a T – It’s at least a close second for the best I’ve had! ( it was enjoyed thoroughly by others as well 😛 )
There are cheesecakes and then there is THIS cheesecake. Hands down, no doubt, I’d give my last dollar for a slice of this stuff! I made it for Christmas a couple years ago and (no kidding here) I have thought about it at least once a month since. Everyone asked where I bought it so they could get one for themselves. Luckily I’m a nice person (unless I’m denied cookies or Coke Zero) and shared with them the magic that is this blog!
A thought/question: could these be adapted into bar form? If so, what’s the best way to go about it?
Liz – glad you love this cheesecake! Yes, I definitely think this could be converted into bar form. If it were me, I’d press the crust into a 9X13 and top it with the filling and bake it up with probably a slight decrease in baking time. Good luck if you try it!
Hi Mel, sorry it has taken me a while to get back to you but I have now made the cheesecake. The good news is that actual cheesecake was lovely, really smooth and lush but the cookie dough balls were a bit of a disaster. On making them, with the same online conversion table as the cheesecake mix I thought the dough was a bit ‘wet’ but I stuck with the recipe and didn’t add anymore flour. I wish I had gone with my instinct because the dough balls just melted rather than stayed in balls! I am going persevere and make it again in the coming months and hopefully next time it will turn out as nice as yours :o)
Thanks for checking back in, Hilary!
Hi Mel, I am writing to you from the UK as my son has asked for this cheesecake as this years birthday cake! I wonder if it would be possible for you to give me the ingredients in weights of either ounces or grams as I am not used to the cup weighing method. I have tried looking it up but things are confusing to me like a cup of sugar is a different weight when it comes to brown sugar and is the cup of sugar granulated or caster?
Many thanks in advance and you will make my son a very happy boy!
Hilary – unfortunately, I’m not familiar with the metric system of ingredients but the good news is that there are several online calculators that should be able to do the conversion for you if you google “ingredient conversion calculator” or something like that. I agree that it can be quite confusing! Good luck – I hope your son loves the cake!
I made a cheesecake similar to this about a year ago but I put in brownie chunks as well, and topped it with chocolate gonache, it was incredible! It was inspired by Ben & Jerry’s Half Baked Ice cream.
Hurray! I just made this cake and I think it turned out!! It was really jiggly in the middle at an hour so I let it stay in the oven a little longer…probably only five minutes which might not even be significant…but then after turning the oven off and leaving the door open for half an hour I closed the door and let it sit for another 45 minutes in the warm oven. Something weird though is that when I was checking on it part way through cooking, it was…sweating! It seemed to be dripping water into the bottom of my oven. Any idea why? I hope it doesn’t end up gooshy and overly moist on the inside. The sad thing is–Unless my husband bids on it, I might not know because it’s for a cake auction 🙂 He’d better bid on one of them, but I’m making multiple cakes, so he can’t buy them all!
Courtney – that’s odd about the cheesecake. I’ve never had that happen! Hopefully it won’t be a problem – my guess is it won’t if it baked up well overall.
What she saw dripping was probably the butter in the crust seeping out of the springform pan. Next time wrap foil around the base of the pan – problem solved!
Wow! That looks amazing! I’m totally trying that out, and soon!
Well, I gave it a go, and despite not being able to get enough cream cheese – it turned out great! We don’t really get much cookie dough here (besides Ben and Jerry’s ice cream) so everyone has gone crazy for it 🙂 Will be posting a link to the recipe from my blog, share your genius!
Hi 🙂
Stumbledupon this… REALLY want to try it, but i’m not really sure of what the conversions are from cups for each thing! You wouldn’t be able to tell me roughly in lbs/ ozs or grams?
Hi Rachelle – I’m not an expert at converting over cups to metric but I believe there are several online tools if you google the issue. Good luck!
I was so glad to find this recipe! My boyfriend served his mission in Wisconsin and always talked about this amazing cookie dough cheesecake someone made for him on his birthday. I have been trying to find the exact recipe so I could make it for his birthday in February and he said this is the one you made him on his birthday. He said it is the best thing he has ever eaten. I have never made cheesecake before but I am going to become a pro so that I can make this on his birthday. Thank you so much for sharing the recipe with all of us! 🙂
Jason – I haven’t tried subbing anything for the sour cream but I definitely wouldn’t leave it out. I don’t think it has an overly sour cream taste, so I would use it or else try one of the substitutions you’ve read about. Good luck!
Hi i’m new at baking and am gonna have a crack at making this,i don’t like sour cream so can i just leave that out of recipe or do i need to replace it i read up on internet that you can use yoghurt or greek style yoghurt or cottage cheese and milk ,what do you think i should do , i can’t wait to make and eat this , i’m nearly drooling many thanks
jason
Hunter – I’ve never made this into mini cheesecakes. Sorry!
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this recipe. Our cheesecake turned out so well. I was just wondering though, have you ever made these into mini-cheesecakes? If so, did you have to adjust the recipe at all?
But anyways, soo delicious.
Carren – I don’t use a water bath with this cheesecake. Good luck – hope you love it!
I am making this this week!! So excited!! I have only made a handful of cheesecakes in my life and every I have used a waterbath. Is that something I don’t need with this recipe? Thanks for the recipe! I’m making it for a friend’s son’s birthday!
This looks amazing! Looks like something that I’ll be making for Christmas dinner. Pinned it!
wanting to make his cheesecake, but i would like to pipe on the whipped cream, for garnish. will it be possible?
Eloise – sure, piping on the whipped cream should work just fine!