This recipe has been in my family FOREVER. And although I do not eat cream cheese or walnuts, I LOVE these cookies! The cream cheese in the crust adds the perfect hint of tanginess, and the walnuts and brown sugar are heaven together. This cream cheese crust is insanely easy to make! Sometimes I will double the crust recipe and then fill the extra crusts with jams! Apricot, blueberry, raspberry….the possibilities are endless! And delicious!
You want to make sure the cream cheese and butter are fully combined before adding the flour.
Once you add the flour and mix, a dough will start to form.
Crust
1 stick unsalted butter (softened)
6 oz cream cheese (softened)
2 cups flour
Filling
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts
3 tbsp melted butter
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
- Mix the softened butter and cream cheese together until combined. Add the flour and combine until a dough forms. Place the dough in the fridge to harden a bit while making the filling.
- Chop up or smash the walnuts. Combine the rest of the ingredients to make the filling.
- Take the dough out of the fridge (it should be a bit more solid) and break off pieces of the dough into small balls. Press the small ball into a well of the mini muffin pan, and press around the bottom and sides until the muffin cup is completely covered.
- Fill the cups with the filling. The filling will not rise too much, so be sure to fill them to the top.
- Bake in the oven at 350 for about 25 minutes or until the top of the pastry starts to become golden.
- Enjoy!