Family Foodies

Cara Mirabella is hosting a super fun Christmas Cookie Swap – virtually of course!  I’m a Christmas Cookie lover so I’m actually coming to the Swap twice!  Once over on the Mom’s Resources Blog at Mom’s Talk Network and again here at Family Foodies

If you like soft, thick Christmas cookies – you’ll love the Christmas Cookie Recipe I posted at Mom’s Talk.  It’s my all time favorite! But – there are times when you want a cookie to hold it’s shape a little better than that recipe will. (It puffs and loses the crispness of the cutter shape.)

When shape is important to me, I use a different recipe that calls for Cream Cheese. It’s perfect for delicate decorating because it doesn’t puff and holds it cutter shape perfectly.

My favorite thing to do with these cookies is to use little one and a half inch cutters for the dough, then I put two cookies together with a bit of melting chocolate, then drizzle chocolate and tiny sprinkles over the doubled cookie.  They look so darned cute!

The ingredients:

1 cup white sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg yolk
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, combine the sugar, butter, cream cheese, salt, almond and vanilla extracts, and egg yolk. Beat until smooth. Stir in flour until well blended. Chill the dough for 8 hours, or overnight.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough 1/3 at a time to 1/8 inch thickness, refrigerating remaining dough until ready to use.

Cut into desired shapes with lightly floured cookie cutters. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake for 7 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until light and golden brown. Cool cookies completely before frosting.

Ok, now I invite you to bring your fave recipe to the Swap too!