Cream cheese cutouts

I have many many favorite cookie recipes, but this one is at the top of my Christmas cookie list. My mom always made these and as kids my siblings and I would frost them. My sister now makes the best cream cheese cutouts and her cute girls frost them. This year I am not joining my family in South Dakota but instead staying in Toronto, Ontario therefore I am making the cookies to get me out of my scrooge-like holiday bah humbug spirit. Lucky for me, Devin's sister and her fiance joined us this weekend and we all made cookies together!

Cream cheese cutout cookies
Ingredients
1 C butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 C sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
3 1/2 C flour
1 tsp baking powder

Directions:
Cream butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add sugar, egg, vanilla, and almond; beat until smooth. Stir together flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. Mix flour mixture into cream cheese mixture until a dough forms. If you have a great KitchenAid stand mixer this will be very easy. If you are me and only have a hand held mixer, the motor will start to smell so I am forced to use arm muscles and a big spoon to finish the dough. Chill dough in the fridge for 2 hours before rolling. Don't roll the dough too thin or it will brown too quickly.
Cut out cookies using different shaped cookie cutters and bake for 8-10 minutes just until the bottoms are nicely browned in a preheated 375 degree oven.

In the meantime, whip together cream cheese frosting:
1 4 0z package of cream cheese, softened
1/4 C butter
1 tsp. almond extract
2 1/2 to 3 C powdered sugar
milk to thin, if needed
Beat cream cheese, butter, and almond extract with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating well. Thin with milk to reach consistency you desire.
Add food coloring and frost the cookies!

We tended to eat 1 cookie, frost 1 cookie, eat 1 cookie and so on until our bellies ached and still finished with a couple dozen cookies!






Happy Holidays everyone!