Season 5, Episode 3. These velvety soft and slightly tangy cream cheese cookies will soon become your favorite cookie. Eaten plain or iced to sweet perfection, you can't go wrong with these cookies.

Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies

1 cup softened butter
8 ozs softened cream cheese
2 cups white sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 cups all-purpose flour
colored sprinkles, sprays or icings for decorating

Cream the cream cheese and butter together on medium high in a heavy duty stand mixer until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the sugar and cream on medium high for an additional 3 minutes. Add the eggs and cream on medium until the mixture is smooth and lemony yellow. Add the vanilla, salt and baking powder and mix until combined. Add the flour, a cup at a time mixing on low until just combined.

Divide the dough in half and spread each half into a “tube” on a 15-inch long piece of parchment paper. Fold the parchment paper over the dough and press the dough into a tube using a large flat surface such as a cake lifter or a baking sheet. Continue pressing the dough until the tube is evenly distributed across the paper and is about 3 inches in diameter. Roll the paper around the tube, cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. Repeat with the second half of the dough.

For cutouts, divide each tube in half, rolling the dough on a piece of parchment paper to a thickness of ⅜ inch. Lightly sprinkle the dough with powdered sugar to keep it from sticking. Cut shapes leaving ¼ inch between them. Reroll scraps. Slide the parchment paper with the dough cutouts onto a baking sheet.

For sliced cookies, cut the end off each tube and then slice cookies ⅜ of an inch thick. Place rounds on a parchment paper covered baking sheet leaving ½ an inch between rounds. Sprinkle the rounds with decorations or sugar before baking. Bake plain rounds for cookies that will be decorated with icing or other colored sprays.

Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes in a preheated 375°F, 190°C, gas mark 5 oven or until the edges just begin to turn light brown. Do not overbake. Immediately remove the cookies from a pan and cool on wire racks. Store completely cooled cookies in an airtight container.

свернуть