Carey's Favorite Sugar Cookies Ever

I am about to share my very favorite sugar cookie recipe with you. I'll give you the recipe and then I'll share some comments/suggestions at the end.

Sugar Cookies
1 - 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. almond extract
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Beat cream cheese, butter, sugar and extracts in a large bowl until well blended. Add flour and baking soda and mix well.
Form dough into a disk about 1-inch thick and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill in refrigerator until firm enough to roll out (about 1/2 hour).
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness on floured surface with a floured rolling pin. Cut out with 3-inch cookie cutters.
Bake for 9-11 minutes or until edges are starting to brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Frosting (this is all approximate because I just dump stuff in until it's the way I like it)
3 T butter, melted
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. almond extract
milk (enough to make it the consistency you like)
Food coloring, optional

Comments/Suggestions

• It's correct that there are no eggs in this recipe. You can eat the dough!! Yeah!


• When I add the flour & b.p. to the cream cheese/butter mixture of the cookies, I mix it with a wooden spoon at that point. I don't have a fancy mixer or a huge enough bowl to deal with that kind of dough. It mixes just fine with a spoon.


• This year I had a bazillion cookies to make, so I tripled the recipe and rolled the dough into 3 logs which I wrapped in waxed paper and chilled overnight in the refrigerator. The next day, I just sliced the logs into 1/4-inch rounds, which was sooooo much easier than rolling and cutting out that many cookies.


• On years when I do roll out and cut the cookies with cutters, I keep putting the dough back into the fridge after each rolling/cutting session so the dough stays easy to work with.


• I like to take the cookies out of the oven just before they start to brown on the edges. They are softest this way (the way I like them!). If you like yours more crunchy, bake them a little longer.


• If your cookies smush up and contort when you try to take them off the hot pan with your spatula, let them sit on the hot pan for a minute or two before taking them off


• I use a baking stone to bake my cookies--perfect every time! They don't get too dark on the bottom while being undercooked on top.

That's it! Sorry it's too late to make these for Christmas. I've been sick, people! Make them for Boxing Day instead. (It's the Canadian holiday after Christmas. Duh!)