This melt in your mouth cream cheese cookie recipe has been my go-to roll out cookie dough since well before I was tall enough to preheat the oven. They’ve become many of your favorite Christmas cookie recipes too.
The Best Sugar Cookie Recipe
These chewy cream cheese sugar cookies are sturdy enough to pick up with your fingers or mail in a care package, but they remain magically soft up to a week after baking.They freeze frosted or unfrosted for months (not that we ever have enough leftover…).Unlike many other roll out cookie dough recipes I’ve tried, this cream cheese cookie dough is easy and forgiving, so much so that little ones can easily help to make and decorate them.
My four-year-old niece and I baked a batch of these holiday cookies together last year, and I can’t wait to make them with her again. Even if you usually bypass the sugar cookies in favor of other Christmas cookie options (I have 25 more holiday cookie recipes for you below!), I am begging you to give this version of a traditional Christmas cookies a try. These cookies are exceptional!
How to Make Perfect Christmas Cookies
This classic cut out cookie tastes like the most pleasing, buttery, bewitching, and un-boring sugar cookie you’ve ever had. Forget looking at where to buy Christmas cookies. Sugar cookies from scratch are fun to make and a beautiful Christmas tradition. Continue reading below for everything you need to know to bake and decorate the BEST Christmas cookies. Santa agrees!
The Ingredients
Cream Cheese. While they don’t taste like cream cheese, cream cheese is the secret ingredient that makes this sugar cookie dough so easy to handle.
Flour. All-purpose flour works best for these Christmas cookies. Be sure to measure properly. If you add too much flour, or it will make the cookies tough.
Butter. For melt in your mouth cream cheese sugar cookies!
Sugar. You simply can’t have a good-quality cut-out cookie without it. These will be the best sugar cookie of your life and well worth it.Egg. Binds all the ingredients together for perfect texture.
Vanilla + Almond Extract. Adds delicious, complex flavor to the cookies. Don’t skimp and ensure you use pure (not imitation) extracts.Lemon Zest. My secret ingredient. You’ll love the addition!Decorations! Sprinkles, candy, food coloring, or whatever your heart desires.
Directions Overview
Tips for The Best Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
A few easy changes can be the difference between a frustrating cut out cookie experience and success. In all flavor and texture categories, this frosting recipe is perfect but—let’s address the reindeer in the room now—it contains some corn syrup. I realize that corn syrup is a divisive ingredient, but I haven’t found an adequate substitute for it in this recipe yet.
Maple syrup is too runny.Honey creates a nice shine, but the frosting doesn’t set well and the honey throws off the flavor.
Some recipes call for royal icing, but honestly, it’s a bit too fussy (and this icing tastes better!). Can we each agree to eat a frosted cream cheese sugar cookie, ignore the you-know-what, and say we do this once a year?
Chill Out
Keeping roll-out cookie dough cold is critical for easy handling.If there is any portion of the dough you aren’t working with immediately, keep it in the refrigerator until you are ready to roll and cut.If at any point the dough becomes too sticky to handle, simply pop it back into the refrigerator, and in a few minutes, it will be good to go again.
Lay Flat
Why is it that we shape cut-out cookie dough into a big ball prior to chilling it, then go to all the trouble to roll it flat again afterwards when it’s cold and inflexible?
If you will be using the cookie dough within a few hours, instead of patting it into a ball to chill it, roll it out between two pieces of parchment paper and place it in the refrigerator in its rolled-out state.Once the dough has chilled, there’s no need to re-roll.Simply place it on your counter in its nicely flattened shape, remove the top sheet of parchment, and cut away.
Keep It Thick
It’s surprisingly easy to roll your cookie dough too thin. Remember, this isn’t a pie crust!
A thicker dough will give you plusher, more tender cookies.The best thickness to roll cookie dough is 1/4-inch. Do not roll thinner or your cookies won’t be as soft.
Recipe Variations
Chocolate Cream Cheese Cookies. Replace 2 tablespoons of the flour in this recipe with 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, then prepare and bake as directed. YUM!Cream Cheese Cookies with Jam. For a recipe reminiscent of Hungarian cream cheese cookies. Prepare your dough as directed. Once your cookie dough is cut and the cookies are placed on the baking sheet, use a spoon to make 1/8-inch-deep indentations in the center of each cookie, and add the jam of your choice (raspberry jam is my favorite; strawberry, blackberry, or apricot would be delicious too). Bake as directed. You can add frosting over the jam or just leave them as is.Vegan Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies. You could try making cream cheese sugar cookies with no egg, shortening instead of butter, and non-dairy cream cheese substitute, but I have not tried this adaptation and can’t recommend it. If you need vegan dessert options, check out my list of vegan recipes and go from there.Gluten Free Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies. Use a 1:1 gluten free flour in place of the all purpose flour.Cinnamon-Sugar Cream Cheese Cookies. Mix 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of cinnamon into the frosting, to taste.
Storage and Freezing Tips
To Store. Storing your cookies in an airtight container at room temperature is best. Separate layers of frosted cookies with waxed paper or parchment paper.To Freeze Unbaked. Unbaked, unshaped cookie dough can be frozen for up to 3 months. Let thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then roll, shape, and bake as directed.To Freeze Baked. Baked cookies can be frozen for up to 1 month, frosted or unfrosted.
BONUS! 25 Days of Christmas Cookies
Once you’ve made these classic Christmas cookies, fill your cookie platter with these unique Christmas cookie recipes. Treats are some of the best gifts, and these bring smiles.
Chocolate Cookies
Molasses Cookies
Peanut Butter Cookies
Peppermint Cookies
Cookies with Cranberries
Shortbread and Snickerdoodle Cookies
Unique Cookies
Cookies for Special Diets
Recommended Tools for Making Sugar Cookies
Holiday cookie cutters. I love this set because it includes a gingerbread boy and a gingerbread girl.Cookie sheets. Perfect for making healthy cream cheese cookies.Beater blade. A must for stand-mixer owners.Parchment paper. Makes rolling the dough easier.Rolling pin. A kitchen essential.
