Aunt Chick’s Cream Cheese Cookie Recipe is easy to work with and tastes yummy!

• 2 cups unsalted butter, soft
• 6 oz. cream cheese (hard)
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs, + 1 egg yolk
• 2 tspns. vanilla
• 1 tspn. lemon oil
• 2 tsp. lemon zest

WHISK:

• 6 cups flour (unsifted)
• 1.5 tsp. salt

Combine mixtures until even.

Chill: Separate dough into 3 balls, wrap in plastic and refrigerate 2 hours to 3 days (dough tends to stick in cutter unless very chilled) or freeze up to one month. (Thaw completely in the refrigerator)

• For a sweeter cookie roll out dough in powder sugar vs flour.
• Prep cutters once with non stick spray and frequently dip into powdered sugar or flour. (Tap out all excess powder in cutter to preserve detail – using a pastry brush can be helpful.) If your cutter becomes too clogged clean with warm water and a toothbrush.
• There are many ways to cut out the cookies that users have shared with me over the years. Some just fill the cutters with a ball of dough and press it into the cutter and pop it out. Others chill their dough in a log shape and cut out and roll out just enough dough to do one cookie at a time and gradually work there way through a roll of dough. Here is what I found has worked best for me.

1. Keep your dough chilled. It makes it easier to work with and it will pop out of the cutter easier. When you take the dough out of the refriferator work with one piece at a time. I cut my pieces in half and work on half at a time.
2. Flour your cutter liberally – just makes it easier.
3. Personally I press the cookie cutter into the dough multiple times so all the dough is “cut out” with the shapes before I pick up any dough. Then I go back and pick up each cut out shape and press the dough into my floured cutter with my thumbs. Working my dough out to the edge of the cutter and cleaning off any extra dough on the sides. Then slap the cookie out onto my hand.
4. You can do some decorating before you bake your cookies. Adding items like raisins or painting on food coloring for Santa’s eyes or Snowman’s eye and mouth can make decorating much easier.
5. An easy decorating idea is to add color gel to your dough before cutting out your cookies. Your cookies will come out looking perfect every time.
6. Use Parchment paper. It just makes it easier taking the cookies out of the oven and sliding them off the cookie sheet so you don’t over cook.
7. You want the edges to be just a little tan but the center to be fully cooked.
8. Let your cookies cool before stacking.

Bake: 375 degree oven for 7 minutes on parchment paper on cookie sheet until barely tinged around the edges. Transfer sheets to wire racks until cookies firm up, then transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely. Store in airtight container for 3 weeks or freeze for several months.

To Decorate: Cookies can be decorated with royal icing, frosting or simple sanding sugar. I liked the way that Sundance Catalog decorated their Santa Cookie last year with Opal and Red Sanding Sugar (you can use 1:1 ratio of water and corn syrup to get sanding sugar to stick – add red coloring gel to the mixture you are using for the red sugar). For the eyes we used a thin paint brush and black coloring gel. For the red mouth we used the water/corn syrup mixture with the red coloring gel in it to stain the lips.

Enjoy!