Buttery Cut-Out Christmas Cookies

Kozmic Blues's Note:

These are delicious. The cream cheese in the cookie dough really adds a softness, and makes the cookies taste really flaky and rich. They're a great addition to one's Christmas cookie recipes.

• Total Time: 2 hrs 7 mins
• Prep Time: 2 hrs
• Cook Time: 7 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 42 cookies

• 1 cup butter , softened
• 3 ounces cream cheese , softened
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

1. Combine the first five ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
2. Beat at about medium speed until well combined and creamy, about 3-4 minutes.
3. Gradulay add flour, and beat until well mixed, about 2-3 minutes more.
4. Divide dough in half, and wrap each on in plastic wrap.
5. Refrigerate until firm, at least two hours.
6. Preheat oven to 375°.
7. Roll out dough half on a lightly floured surface to about 1/4" thick.
8. Keep the other half in the fridge until ready to use.
9. Cut out the shapes your prefer, using a 2 1/2 inch cookie cutter.
10. Place 1" apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.
11. (I lined my sheets with nonstick "release" foil).
12. If I'm making Christmas cookie shapes, I sprinkle the cookies with red, green, or multi-colored sugars before baking.
13. Bake for 7-9 minutes or until edges are just slightly browned.
14. Note: I find 8 minutes is the magic number for my oven. These cookies may also be baked plain, and decorated with icings after they are cooled.

Reviews

[fairsinger]

I made these cookies for my son's birthday and used a buttercream icing (Recipe #222188), which really made them taste special. I increased the sugar to 1 cup because I prefer my cookies a little sweeter. The first batch I made I refrigerated overnight but found that made the dough very difficult to work with. The next batch I decided to refrigerate for only a few hours and that worked much better. I had to use a lot of flour on the pastry mat and also on the rolling pin to keep them from sticking, and I found that I couldn't re-roll the dough more than once before it got too sticky and had to be refrigerated again. I froze several of the cookies (unfrosted) and have pulled them out over the past week to frost and eat them, and they taste just as good as they did fresh! I plan to use this recipe often!

[CoffeeBean]

Easy to throw together and when properly cooled, the dough is easy to work with. I was out of butter so used margarine instead - the cookies were good, but they surely taste even better when made with butter.

[D. Duckie]

These cookies were very good. My family usually only likes to decorate cut cookies, not eat them, as they tend to be dry and flavorless. (I think my husband ate most of them!) Good flavor and they rolled out and cut extremely well. I used a tip from another recipe and rolled out with powdered sugar rather than flour, which probably helped the flavor.