Classic Cream Cheese Cutouts Recipes

CLASSIC CREAM CHEESE CUTOUTS

Steps:

• Combine butter and cream cheese in the bowl and of a stand mixer and beat until fluffy. Add sugar; beat until even fluffier. Add egg and vanilla and mix well.
• In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add it to the butter and cream cheese mixture and beat until just combined. Transfer a quarter of the dough to the center of a piece of plastic wrap or wax paper. Pat into a disk, and wrap tightly. Repeat with the remaining three quarters. Chill for at least an hour and up to three days.
• Preheat your oven to 325º F. Roll out our dough on a lightly floured surface or in between two sheets of parchment paper to 1/2-inch thick. Cut out your cookies with cookie cutters of your choice-I like 2-inch circular cutters. Boring, I know. Gather scraps , re-roll, and repeat process.
• Bake on parchment-lined cookie sheets for 15 to 18 minutes, or until the edges just begin to turn golden-cookies will be very pale. Remove them from the pan and transfer to a wire rack. Cool completely. Note: I don't like baking more than one sheet of cookies at a time, but do as you like.
• Meanwhile make the frosting: Stir together the confectioner's sugar with 1 tablespoon of the milk. Add more milk a tablespoon at a time to achieve a thick but pourable consistency. Spoon icing onto cookie, spreading to cover. Shower with sprinkles.

CREAM CHEESE CUTOUTS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter, cream cheese, sugar and salt until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour. Refrigerate, covered, 1-2 hours or until firm enough to roll., Preheat oven to 375°. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with floured cookie cutters. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets., Bake 7-8 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on pans 1 minute. Remove to wire racks to cool completely., In a small bowl, beat confectioners' sugar, butter, vanilla and enough milk to reach desired consistency. If desired, add food coloring. Decorate cookies with frosting and sprinkles.

CREAM CHEESE CUT-OUTS II

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream together the butter, cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Combine the flour and baking powder; stir into the creamed mixture. Divide dough into two pieces, cover and chill until firm, about 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut in to desired shapes using cookie cutters and place the cookies at least 1 inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.
• Bake for 7 to 9 minutes in the preheated oven, until bottoms are lightly browned and cookies are firm. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.

LEMON CREAM CHEESE CUTOUT COOKIES

Steps:

• Stir together flour, spices, and salt. In a medium mixing bowl, beat together butter, cream cheese, and sugar with an electric mixer until well combined. Beat in milk and lemon peel. Add dry ingredients, beating at low speed just until combined. Chill, covered, for 2 to 3 hours or until firm. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to about 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into shapes using cutters.
• Place on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake in a 350°F oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Cool on wire racks.
• If desired, in a medium mixing bowl combine powdered sugar, meringue powder,* and cream of tartar. Add 3 tablespoons cold water. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until mixture is combined, then on medium to high speed for 7 to 10 minutes or until mixture forms stiff peaks. (If mixture seems stiff while beating, add water, 1/2 teaspoon at a time. Icing should be fairly thick for piping. For a thinner, glazing consistency, stir in a little more water after beating.) Spread over cookies. (When not using, keep icing tightly covered to prevent drying.)
• *Note: One brand of meringue powder is Wilton. Look for the powder at kitchen, cake-decorating, and crafts shops.

CREAM CHEESE CUTOUT COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter, cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Add egg, vanilla and almond extracts; beat well.
• In a small bowl, combine flour and baking powder- gradually mix into cream cheese mixture; beat until well-mixed.
• Divide dough in half; wrap each half in plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 1/2 hours.
• When dough is done chilling, preheat oven to 375.
• Roll dough on to lightly floured surface to about 1/8"-1/4" thickness. Cut with cookie cutters. (If desired, sprinkle with colored sugars.) Place on ungreased cookie sheets.
• Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes or until edges just slightly golden. Allow to cool 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool. If desired, decorate with icing or glaze.

CREAM CHEESE CUT-OUT COOKIES

Steps:

• Cream margarine and cream cheese, then add the sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla, and flour last.
• I like to chill dough over night or at least several hours.
• Roll out chilled dough and cut in desired shapes with your favorite cookie cutters.
• Bake at 350° for 10 minutes.
• Ice and decorate.

DANIELLE'S CREAM CHEESE CUT-OUT COOKIES

Steps:

• Cream together the butter, cream cheese, and sugar.
• Add the egg and vanilla, mix well.
• Switch beater hooks for dough hooks on your mixer.
• Stir baking power into flour then add to butter mixture. Beat well until flour is incorporate. Scraping down sides of bowl as necessary. Take care not to over-mix.
• Divide dough into at least 4 balls and wrap with plastic wrap. Chill in fridge for at least 2 hours. Can also be frozen. Allow to come to fridge temperature before rolling.
• I like to make these on the thick side so the tang of the cream cheese can really be tasted. I roll mine just over 1/4" thick. Cut out as many cookies as possible from the first "sheet" of dough. Gather the scraps and put them back into the plastic wrap. Reserve all scraps for rolling later after they chill again. Put your cookies on a cookie sheet. I have never had a problem using an ungreased sheet. Cookies will not spread so they can be placed very close together.
• OPTIONAL STEP: Put the cookie sheet with your raw cookies into the fridge for about 3 minutes. This keeps the edges very crisp and square. They will not soften and round in the oven.
• Heat your oven to 350 degrees. Bake first batch and set timer for 8 minutes. Check at this point and see if they still look shiny. If so, add 1 more minute. Should not take longer than 10 minutes.
• Let cookies cool and prepare icing. Mix icing ingredients in a small bowl with a spoon. Scrape the sides to incorporate all the sugar.
• Spread icing on cookies with an icing spatula or dip the tines of a serving fork into the icing and drizzle over the cookies. Color and add crunch with decorating sugars.