Cream Cheese Cookie Dough

By Tricia33

Decked Out Trees OR Apple Pie Pockets or Lemon Tea Sandwiches

Ingredients

• For Decked-Out Trees:
• 1 4 1 4 1 4 ounce stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 4 4 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 6 6 6 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 1/2teaspoon 1/2teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1 1 egg yolk
• 1/8 1/8teaspoon 1/8teaspoon salt
• 1 1 2 cup plus 2 tbsp flour
• Sanding Sugar
• For Lemon Tea Sandwiches
• 1 11 Cookie Dough + 1 jar (about 11 oz) prepared lemon curd + confectioners sugar
• For Apple Pie Pockets

Details

Adapted from rachaelraymag.com

Preparation

Step 1

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar on high speed for 3 minutes.
Add the vanilla, egg yolk and salt and mix at low speed until blended. Mix in the flour at low speed until incorporated.

Decked Out Trees:
Halve the dough; pat into 2 disks. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees . Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment. On a floured surface, roll out 1 piece of dough 1/4 inch thick, dusting with flour if the dough sticks.
Using a 3-inch Christmas tree cutter, cut out cookies and transfer to the prepared pans. Gather the dough scraps and knead into a disk. Refrigerate the dough for 15 minutes before rolling out more cookies.
Sprinkle the cookies with the sanding sugar. Bake until the edges are golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Using a thin metal spatula, transfer the cookies to racks to cool. Repeat with the remaining dough and sugar

Lemon Tea Sandwiches
Halve the dough; pat into 2 squares. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees . Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment. Remove the parchment from 1 cookie sheet and dust with flour. Roll out 1 dough square into a 7"x11" rectangle about 1/8 inch thick. Transfer the parchment and dough to the pan; refrigerate while you peat with the remaining parchment and dough. Using a fluted pastry wheel, trim all sides of the dough to even out, then cut into 15 squares. Separate the squares on the pan. Bake until light brown on the edges, 11-12 minutes. Transfer to the racks to cool. Repeat with remaining dough. Sandwich the cookies with lemon curd, dust with confectioners sugar. makes 15.

APPLE PIE POCKETS


Using an electric mixer, cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar on high speed for 3 minutes.
Add the vanilla and salt and mix at low speed until blended. Mix in the flour at low speed until incorporated.
Shape into a 5-inch square. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees . Line 1 cookie sheet with parchment. In a medium skillet, cook the apples, brown sugar, butter and apple pie spice over medium-high heat, stirring, for 10 minutes. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
On a floured surface, cut the dough into 4 strips. Working with 1 strip at a time, roll out to a 5-by-10-inch rectangle; spoon one-quarter of the apple filling lengthwise down the center.
Brush the short edges and 1 long edge with egg white. Fold the long edge over to meet the other edge; seal, then trim the edges. Transfer to the prepared pan. Using a fork, crimp the seams. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. Using a toothpick, prick the tops.
Bake until golden, 50 minutes. Let cool on the pan, 20 minutes.
In a small bowl, whisk the confectioners sugar and cream. Brush over the warm dough pockets; top with the sprinkles. Let cool; cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces.