In preparation for a Christmas Cookie Exchange with several of my friends tonight, I made our favorites – Cream Cheese Cookie Cutouts. The cookies have cream cheese in them and the frosting is made with cream cheese. Let’s just say these cookies are soft, rich, and I have to work hard to keep myself out of them.
Cream Cheese Cookie Cutouts
1/2 cup melted butter
4 ounces softened cream cheese
1 cup sugar (sucanat works, as does brown sugar)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups flour (I use freshly ground hard white wheat flour)
Stir together melted butter, softened cream cheese, and sugar. Add egg, baking powder, and vanilla. Stir in flour until well combined. (Use a little less or a little more flour as needed.) Place dough in the refrigerator for at least two hours.
Once dough is chilled, roll on a well floured surface and cut out into desired shapes. Bake in a 350° oven for 10-15 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. (I prefer mine just barely done so that they stay soft!) Allow cookies to cool completely before frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 1/2 cups unbleached organic powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Whip butter and cream cheese with beaters until fluffy. Add vanilla and powdered sugar and beat until mixed thoroughly.
Makes about 30 cookies.
My (poor, deprived, starving) boys were not very happy with me when I told them that most of the cookies were going to the Christmas Cookie Exchange. Not to worry, I told them. They could have all the broken cookies. Considering the fact that I am not a perfectionist, I’d say they made out just fine with a lovely assortment of broken stars, branchless trees, and torn stockings.
If you’d like a printout of the Cream Cheese Cookie Cutouts recipe, you can download it here. I needed to print off the recipe anyway for the cookie exchange, so thought I’d share it with you too!
