Cream Cheese Cut Outs I Food

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.

CREAM CHEESE CUT-OUTS I

Steps:

• Cream butter and cream cheese until fluffy; gradually blend in sugar. Stir together flour and salt; stir into creamed mixture. Cover; chill dough several hours or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Divide dough into thirds. On lightly floured surface, roll out dough, one section at a time. (Keep the other sections refrigerated.) Cut out with cookie cutter to desired shapes.
• Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake until firm, but not brown, about 12 minutes. If desired, sift additional confectioners' sugar over slightly warm cookies.

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 COOKIES

Steps:

• Position an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
• Combine the butter, vanilla, 4 ounces of the room-temperature cream cheese and 1 teaspoon of the salt in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add 2 cups of the sugar and beat until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolk and beat until smooth, then add the flour and beat on low until the dough just comes together. Remove the frozen cream cheese from the freezer and chop into 1/4-inch cubes. Add the cubes to the dough, quickly stirring with a rubber spatula to evenly incorporate them into the dough. Refrigerate the dough for 1 hour.
• Using a 1-ounce ice cream scoop or 2 tablespoons, scoop 12 portions of dough, roll into balls and transfer to the prepared baking sheet, spacing them evenly apart. Lightly flour the bottom of a 1/2-cup measuring cup and use it to flatten each cookie into a disk about 1/2 inch thick, re-flouring the cup after each cookie.
• Bake, rotating the baking sheet halfway through, until the cookies look set but are still pale and barely brown on the bottom, 20 to 24 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 1 minute, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining cookie dough.
• Meanwhile, combine the remaining 2 ounces room-temperature cream cheese, 2 cups sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low speed until the mixture forms a thick paste. Add the milk and stir slowly until a thick glaze forms.
• When the cookies are cool, dip the entire surface of the top of each cookie in the glaze and lift up, letting the excess glaze drip off, then flip the cookie right-side up and onto the cooling rack. If the glaze is too thick, add another teaspoon of milk to loosen it. If using the cranberries or lime zest, sprinkle on top of the cookies while the glaze is still wet. Allow the glaze to set before serving, at least 10 minutes. Store the cookies in a single layer in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

CREAM CHEESE CUT-OUT COOKIES

Steps:

• 1. In a large bowl, cream the butter and cream cheese until well blended. Add the sugar; blend until fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla extract and baking powder; beating well. Add the flour to the mixture; mix until well blended. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (or overnight).
• 2. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Roll out the dough to desired thickness (1/4 inch works well) on a lightly floured surface. Using cookie cutters, cut out dough into desired shapes. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets (I use parchment paper lined cookie sheets).
• 3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool completely. Frost and decorate, if desired.

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.

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.