Never Fail Cutout Cookies Recipes

Steps:

• Beat butter, cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour. Divide dough into 4 portions; shape each into a disk. Cover; refrigerate until firm enough to roll, about 30 minutes., Preheat oven to 350°. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion of dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with floured 3-in. holiday cookie cutters. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets., Bake until edges are light golden, 12-14 minutes. Cool on pans 5 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely., For frosting, beat confectioners' sugar, butter, shortening, vanilla and enough milk to reach desired consistency. If desired, tint with food coloring. Spread or pipe over cookies. Decorate as desired.

Steps:

• Cream butter and sugar.
• Add eggs and vanilla.
• Mix dry ingredients and add to butter mixture.
• Mix well.
• Chill for 1 to 2 hours or see HINT below.
• Roll to desired thickness and cut into desired shapes.
• Bake on an ungreased baking sheet at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until just beginning to turn brown around the edges.
• HINT: Rolling out dough without the mess-rather than wait for the dough to chill, take freshly made dough and place a glob between two sheets of parchment paper.
• Roll it out to the desired thickness then place the dough with paper on a cookie sheet and pop it in the refrigerator.
• Continue rolling dough between paper until you have used it all.
• By the time you finish preparing the dough, the first batch will be chilled and ready to cut.
• Reroll left over dough and repeat the process.
• An added bonus is that you aren't adding any more flour to the cookies by rolling them out the old fashioned way.