This recipe is easy to work with and tastes yummy! 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.

CREAM TOGETHER:

• 2 cups unsalted butter, soft
• 6 oz. cream cheese (hard)
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs, + 1 egg yolk
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp 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 5 hours to 3 days (dough tends to stick in cutter unless very chilled) or freeze up to one month. (Thaw completely in the refrigerator)

Bake: 375-degree oven for 7 minutes on parchment paper on a 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 an airtight container for 3 weeks or freeze for several months.

Roll out dough in powder sugar vs flour. Prep cutters once with nonstick spray and frequently with powdered sugar or flour. (Tap out all excess powder in the cutter to preserve detail.) Follow Aunt Chick’s directions for cutting dough.

DECORATE:

• 2 pounds powdered sugar (sifted)
• Boiling water
• Orange and Lemon Flavor oil about 2ml of each or 4ml of one. (found in our store)
• About an 8th of a tsp of citric acid. (found in our store)

Tip: I use a syringe to add oils. They are very concentrated.

Put powdered sugar, oils, & citric acid in a large bowl. Slowly add boiling water a tablespoon at a time. Mix with whisk. The mixture will be VERY THICK. Divide into separate containers before thinning down. Tip: Add color before thinning Thin with boiling water. When you are ready to use it, it should be the consistency of honey.