Light, sweet, shaped sugar cookies made with cream cheese. These Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies are both delicious and beautiful!
12 Days of Holiday Treats: Day 9
Belated Treat Post(s) Update
I apologize for the delay in finishing the treat series posts this year. My entire house got sick with COVID a few days before Christmas. (**Editor’s Note: Christine brought it into the house, then our family got it**) We are all doing well, but have needed a lot of rest. However, I think we can agree that holiday treats are lovely to eat on any of day of the year. So, now I will continue!
The Series Continues
Today is day 9 of SugarSpicesLife’s 12 Days of Holiday Treats a 12 day series of holiday candies, cookies and other treats.
In case you’ve missed any, so far this year I have shared these other 8 recipes:
Hot Chocolate Cookies
Orange Shortbread Cookies
Homemade Peanut Butter Cups
Candy Cane Puppy Chow
Sugar Cookie Truffles
Holiday Meringue Cookies
Lemon Butter Cookies
Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies
If you want more holiday recipe inspiration, you can see the 2020 series here.
Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies
Using cream cheese in sugar cookies yields a deliciously soft texture. And it’s no harder to make than any other cookie.
Step 1: Creaming
Use an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment to beat the softened butter, room temperature cream cheese, and sugar until lightened and fluffy; about 4 minutes.
Don’t skimp on the time here, it will give the cookies a lighter texture.
Step 2: Wet Ingredients
After the creaming, mix in the egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl as needed.
Step 3: Dry Ingredients
Whisk together:
- All purpose flour
- Baking Powder
- Kosher salt
Then, use an electric mixer to slowly beat the flour mixture into the butter until they’re well combined.
Step 4: Cool, Roll and Bake
After you have put together the dough, form it into a disc that is about 10 inches in diameter and wrap it in plastic wrap. Put the dough in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
It is okay to put the dough in the refrigerator for longer, (even overnight) but you’ll likely need to let it sit at room temperature for 15 to 20 minutes before you can roll it if you do.
Roll the dough so that it’s about 1/4 inch thick. Then use cookie cutters to cut the dough into your desired shapes.
Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes, or until the cookies are set and just begin to turn golden in color.
Step 5: Decorate
Before decorating the cookies, make sure they have cooled completely.
Whisk together the following until very smooth:
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 4 to 5 tablespoons of water (add 1 tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached)
Once the mixture is smooth, divide icing into several bowls; the number of bowls should be however many different colors of icing you want. Then, use food coloring to color each bowl as desired.
Add colored icing to squeeze bottles (I use the Wilton Mini Squeeze bottles). Use icing to decorate as desired. TIP: If using more than one color per cookie, let each color dry for a couple of hours before adding a second color to prevent the colors from running together.
These Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies are light, sweet, and beautiful! They can be customized for any celebration!
Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1 ¼ cup sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Icing
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 4-5 tablespoons water
- Food coloring gel or liquid
Instructions
Cookies
- Use electric mixer fit with paddle attachment to beat butter and cream cheese until lightened and fluffy, about 4-5 minutes.
- Mix in egg, scraping down sides as needed. Then, mix in vanilla and almond extracts.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly mix flour mixture into butter until well combined.
- Form dough into a large disc about 12 inches in diameter. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1-2 hours.
- Remove dough from refrigerator (if it has been longer than a few hours you may need to let it sit for 20 minutes to be able to roll it). Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Sprinkle flour on a working surface. Roll dough out on surface until is about 1/4 inch in thickness. Use cookie cutters to cut dough into desired shapes.
- Place dough on prepared sheet and cook until set and cookies are a very light golden color, about 8-10 minutes.
- Let cool on sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to cooling rack to finish cooling.
Icing
- Let cookies cool completely before decorating.
- Whisk together powdered sugar, corn syrup, vanilla and almond extracts. Add water, about 1 tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached.
- Divide icing into separate bowls so that you can use food coloring to color the icing in each bowl as desired. For this recipe I use 5-6 different colors.
- Transfer icing to mini squeeze bottles. Decorate cookies as desired. If using more than one color on a cookie, let the first color harden for at least 1-2 hours before adding another color.
- Let cookies sit for 12-24 hours so that the icing hardens completely before storing. When stacking cookies, use parchment paper between each cookie.
Disclaimer: All nutritional information provided on this website is an estimate only and is not guaranteed.
If you enjoyed these Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies, you might also enjoy these other SugarSpicesLIfe recipes:
Sugar Cookie Dough Cupcakes
Easy Cutout Sugar Cookies
Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing
Holiday Meringue Cookies
Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies
