Cream Cheese Cookies are my favorite Christmas cookie, which is probably why I made they the last two weekends in a row. I love this recipe because it uses a cookie press, which is far easier than rolling out the dough and using cookie cutters. This year I experimented with the recipe and added an extra ounce of cream cheese. There is no noticeable change in the taste of the cookies, but it made using the cookie press much easier.
Yield: about 6 dozen two bite cookies
You will need:
1/2 lb butter (at room temperature)
4 oz. cream cheese (at room temperature)
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 tsp vanilla
Step 1: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Then mix the butter and cream cheese with a mixer using dough hooks. Add the sugar and vanilla. Slowly add the flour.
Step 2: Add in food coloring if you like. I add green food coloring and then use the cookie press to make Christmas tree cookies.
Step 3: Then use a cookie press to form the cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet. Then bake the cookies for 4-6 minutes, until the bottom of the cookie is golden brown. Continue baking batches of cookies until all of the dough has been used. Let the cookie sheet cool down before using the cookie press to dispense more cookies onto the cookie sheet. If the cookie sheet is too hot, the cookies won’t dispense from the cookie press properly.
Frosting: 1/3 cup butter (at room temperature) 3 cups powered sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 tablespoon (or more) milk Use more milk for a smoother consistency. ** You will only need a half batch of this frosting for 1 batch of the cookies I also use this frosting for sugar cookies.
