Today we got our Christmas tree up and decorated, and Dave braved ice and drizzle to string lights up outside. And I made this season's first batches of holiday cookies; cream cheese sugar cookies.I usually go way overboard with cookies at Christmastime. For the next few weeks I will fill the freezer with cookies, some to mail out to the kids, some to decorate just before Christmas for friends in town. I freeze cookies by the dozen in gallon Ziploc bags, and don't decorate until I pull them from the freezer ready to use.
One tip for cookie baking-- always line cookie sheets with parchment paper for easy clean-up. Your cookies will never stick and you don't have to ponder whether to grease the pan.
One of my favorite ways to decorate sugar cookies is to melt chocolate chips in the microwave in a small bowl, and drizzle the melted chocolate over the cookies. Then I sprinkle with just a few walnut crumbs. To crush the walnuts, put a handful of nutmeats between two sheets of waxed paper and flatten with a rolling pin. Works great.
Here's the recipe I used today for cream cheese cutout sugar cookies, adapted from "Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook."
Cream cheese cutouts
1 cup butter
6 ounces cream cheese
4 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
Beat butter and cream cheese 'til smooth. Add half the flour and all the remaining ingredients. Beat 'til well blended. Beat in remaining flour. Form into two balls, wrap each in plastic wrap and chill at least an hour.
Divide each ball in half. On a sheet of floured waxed paper, roll out dough one half at a time to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut with cookie cutters into desired shapes. Set 1 inch apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in 350-degree convection oven (375 degrees for a conventional oven) for about 7 minutes, until edges are lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack. Let cool completely before freezing.
According to the cookbook, this should yield 120 cookies. I'd say 60 to 80 is more likely.
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