I’m funny about cookies. (Well, I’m funny about everything.) If I go to all the trouble to make cookies, they better be more beautiful and more delicious than anything I could buy. I try new cookie recipes all of the time and I invent new cookie recipes all of the time but, hands down, this is my favorite cookie dough. The cookies come out tender, not crunchy or crisp. They hold their shape no matter how intricate the cookie cutter. They hold up to being moved, held, and decorated. The flavor is simple and comforting. Please let me know if you give them a try. I’d love to know how they turn out and how you decide to decorate or flavor them to make them your own.
Get the kids to help out. Just be sure to take pictures for your scrap books. When we do activities like this, I get close-ups of the food and the faces. These cookies have made for precious memories at our house and I hope they will do the same at yours.
Cream Cheese Cutout Cookies
1 cup salted butter (2 sticks), real butter, not margarine
8 ounces cream cheese
1 ½ cups sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch salt
Using a stand or hand-held mixer, cream butter, cream cheese and sugar together until smooth and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla. Beat at low speed until fully incorporated. In a separate bowl combine baking powder, salt, and flour, stirring with a wire whisk or sift together. Slowly add flour mixture to butter mixture and mix thoroughly. This will form a soft dough.
Divide dough in half. Form each half into a disk and wrap the disks in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 ½ hours or overnight.
Before preheating oven, arrange your racks. Place one rack just above the center and one rack just below the center of your oven. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Working with one disk at a time, let dough sit at room temperature for 5 minutes. Place dough on floured surface and roll out with rolling pin to half an inch thick. Cut out with cookie cutters or pastry wheel and place on cookie sheet. Place cookies in oven on racks. Set timer for 7 minutes. Switch the cookie sheets and turn them to insure even browning. Move the upper cookie sheet to the rack below, and the bottom cookie sheet to the rack above so that the cookies that were on the bottom are now on the top and the ones from the top are now on the bottom. Turn each cookie sheet half way around so that the cookies that were at the front of the oven are now in the back of the oven, and the ones that were in the back are now in the front. Bake for approximately 7 more minutes or until cookies are set and no longer shiny. Do not over bake.
Take out of oven but leave on cookie sheet 5 minutes. If you try to move them sooner, they will be too soft and break or bend. Move to cooling racks and let cool completely before moving to a plate or decorating.
There are too many variations to list here, but I’ll give you a few of my favorites. Add a few drops of food coloring to the cookie dough when you add the vanilla and egg for pink cookies on Valentine’s Day or green cookies on St. Patrick’s Day. Add a half teaspoon of maple, almond or other extract, or a cup of ground pecans to the cookie dough along with the flour. Add 1 cup of mini chocolate chips to the dough after adding the flour. You can scatter sprinkles on the cut out cookies just before baking. Just be sure to press the sprinkles slightly into the surface of the cookies so they won’t fall off when the cookies rise. Brush tops with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar just before baking. Add red food coloring to half the dough before you form into disks, then roll strips of dough and twist together to make candy canes. (Tip: after twisting together cut the dough at both ends with kitchen shears to make it look more like candy canes and sprinkle with sparkling sugar)
Dip and roll the warm cookies in confectioners’ sugar, ice with royal icing, decorate with melted chocolate, spread with Nutella, or frost with my cream cheese frosting (below). Flavor your icing or frosting with lemon, almond, maple or peppermint extract. Don’t forget the sprinkles, sparkling sugars and dusting powders (or crushed Oreos)!
Cream Cheese Frosting for Cutout Cookies
4 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup salted butter, ½ stick, not margarine
dash of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups confectioner’s sugar
3 tablespoons whole milk
Beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth and fluffy. Add salt, extract, sugar and milk. Beat until light and fluffy and all ingredients are incorporated. Add food coloring or additional extracts if desired. You may substitute peppermint for vanilla. I like them together. You may add extracts like maple, lemon, butter pecan (add ½ teaspoon along with the vanilla). I spread this frosting on my cookies with an offset spatula.
You may eat right away or give the frosting a chance to dry. The tops will harden slightly after a few minutes so if you’re going to add sprinkles, do it before the frosting sets.
Be sure to share with a friend. Enjoy!