Hey, I’m Makenzie Ellison and this is Kenzie’s Kitchen! I love to cook and bake, and even if I fail and the finished product looks more like a muffin than a cookie, ignore it.

As students begin the new back-to-school season, creative hunger grows. This week, as strawberries are soon to fall out of season, I decided to make a dessert including them. We’ll start this new season sweetly. Here’s a list of ingredients for the recipe:

All-purpose flour (3 cups)
Freeze-dried strawberries
Brown sugar (1 cup)
Butter (2 sticks)
Cream Cheese (½ block)
Strawberry Extract (½ teaspoon)
Vanilla Extract (2 ½ teaspoons)
Eggs (2)
Baking Soda (1 teaspoon)
Powered Sugar (¼ cup)
Sugar (¼ cup)
Salt (a pinch)

Begin by making the cheesecake filling. Whisk together in a separate bowl, ½ block of cream cheese, ¼ cup of powdered sugar and ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract. Drop these on a plate or cookie tray—if you’re fancy, separate them so you have 18, and let them freeze while you make the cookies.

Into a bowl, mix the dry ingredients: 3 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, and a pinch of salt. Then mix the wet ingredients: 1 cup of brown sugar, 2 sticks of butter, ½ teaspoon of strawberry extract, 2 ½ teaspoons of vanilla extract, 2 eggs, freeze-dried strawberries (as much as you want), and ¼ cup of sugar.

Form the cookies into balls and fill them with the frozen cream cheese filling. Put them in the oven at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes. It’s a pretty simple recipe and comes out delicious when done correctly.