Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies!

When my son was little, we always made sugar cookies for the holidays!!!  We had so much fun with it!!!  I have tried many different recipes and this one is one of the best tasting ones I have tried.   The dough is really tender and delicate which makes a delicious cookie. 

There is a key to working with this dough, it needs to chill overnight or all day long at least to get very cold.   Then you only need to roll half at a time and refrigerate the other half until you are ready.  As long as the dough is very cold it's easy to deal with.  

 Here is what you will need:

1 1/4 cups white sugar

1 cup butter, softened to room temperature

4 oz. cream cheese at room temperature

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla flavoring

1 egg yolk

2   1/4 cups all purpose flour

In a large mixing bowl, beat the sugar, butter, and cream cheese until it's well blended.  Add the salt, vanilla flavoring, egg yolk and flour and mix until a soft dough forms.   Pull the dough off the sides and form a ball.  Cover and refrigerate overnight or at least for 8 hours.

When you are ready to bake, preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Roll half the dough on a lightly floured surface to about 1/8 inch thickness.   Refrigerate the rest of the dough until ready to use.  Cut into shapes with lightly floured cookie cutters.  Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.  I like to use parchment paper or nonstick foil on my cookie sheets.   You can sprinkle with colored sugar or leave plain to decorate after baking with icing.   Bake  on center rack for 8 to 10 minutes or just until slightly brown.    Cool completely before frosting.