Cream Cheese Holiday Sugar Cookies

By mitzzy

These are simply beautiful cookies –they roll like a dream, they bake up tender/crisp and they are the perfect cookie to showcase Nielsen Massey’s new, pure extracts (check with www.nielsenmasseyvanillas.com for where and how to order). The bouquet of extracts, along with the pure butter taste, makes a slightly more upscale than average sugar cookies. Make these tiny, if you like, and dust with cinnamon or ground nuts. If you cannot find the Nielsen Massey extracts (which are incomparable), use regular pure extracts.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 3 ounces cream cheese
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon pure orange extract, preferably Nielsen Massey
• 1/4 teaspoon pure lemon extract, preferably Nielsen Massey
• 1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract, preferably Nielsen Massey
• Milk, cream, or a whisked egg white
• Sugar for sprinkling, or colored sprinkles, as desired

Preparation

Step 1

Line doubled baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and cream cheese until combined, blending in sugar to make a soft but homogeneous mixture. Blend in egg and extracts.
Fold in the flour and salt. Wrap dough in wax paper and then in a zip lock bag and chill 45 minutes or up to 2 days.

Preheat oven to 350 F. On a lightly floured work surface, roll dough out to a thickness of just over 1/8 inch (not quite a ¼ inch). Cut into desired shapes

Place cookies on a baking sheet, brush with milk, cream or egg white and dust with sugar. Bake 10-12 minutes or until cookies start to brown at their edges. Remove from oven and transfer to wire rack to cool.