Cream Cheese Cookies I Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease cookie sheets.
• In a large bowl, cream together butter, cream cheese, and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolk and vanilla. Stir in flour until well blended. Drop dough by spoonfuls or use a cookie press to place onto prepared cookie sheets. If using floral cookie press design, make an indentation in the center with a thimble, fill with preserves, or press candy into center.
• Bake for 15 minutes in preheated oven. Cookies should be pale.

Steps:

• Position an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
• Combine the butter, vanilla, 4 ounces of the room-temperature cream cheese and 1 teaspoon of the salt in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add 2 cups of the sugar and beat until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolk and beat until smooth, then add the flour and beat on low until the dough just comes together. Remove the frozen cream cheese from the freezer and chop into 1/4-inch cubes. Add the cubes to the dough, quickly stirring with a rubber spatula to evenly incorporate them into the dough. Refrigerate the dough for 1 hour.
• Using a 1-ounce ice cream scoop or 2 tablespoons, scoop 12 portions of dough, roll into balls and transfer to the prepared baking sheet, spacing them evenly apart. Lightly flour the bottom of a 1/2-cup measuring cup and use it to flatten each cookie into a disk about 1/2 inch thick, re-flouring the cup after each cookie.
• Bake, rotating the baking sheet halfway through, until the cookies look set but are still pale and barely brown on the bottom, 20 to 24 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 1 minute, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining cookie dough.
• Meanwhile, combine the remaining 2 ounces room-temperature cream cheese, 2 cups sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low speed until the mixture forms a thick paste. Add the milk and stir slowly until a thick glaze forms.
• When the cookies are cool, dip the entire surface of the top of each cookie in the glaze and lift up, letting the excess glaze drip off, then flip the cookie right-side up and onto the cooling rack. If the glaze is too thick, add another teaspoon of milk to loosen it. If using the cranberries or lime zest, sprinkle on top of the cookies while the glaze is still wet. Allow the glaze to set before serving, at least 10 minutes. Store the cookies in a single layer in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium, beat together the butter and half the cream cheese until combined, about 2 minutes. Beat in the granulated sugar and 4 teaspoons lemon zest until creamy, 1 to 2 minutes more. Beat in the egg until combined. Add flour mixture and beat until combined.
• Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Portion the dough into 2-tablespoon scoops and arrange them on the sheets at least 1 1/2 inches apart.
• Bake, rotating halfway through baking, until the cookies are puffed and set and just beginning to turn golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer baking sheets to wire racks until cookies are completely cooled.
• Meanwhile, prepare the optional glaze: Whisk together the remaining cream cheese with the confectioners' sugar, milk and 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice until smooth. Add additional lemon juice or milk until mixture forms the proper consistency for a glaze. Drizzle over cooled cookies. Let cookies stand at room temperature until the glaze has set. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week or in the freezer for a month.