The Best Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies
Toss out all your other sugar cookie recipes because I’m going to share my recipe for the BEST cream cheese sugar cookies! This is by far the best tasting sugar cookie I’ve ever had.
It has the perfect amount of tanginess and moist fluffiness thanks to the cream cheese. It’s simply divine! It especially makes for good gifts or to take on picnics.
If you’ve never had cream cheese sugar cookies before, I want to encourage you to try these! Most sugar cookies are somewhat crunchy and, in my opinion, a little bit flavorless…even with the added sugar sprinkles or icing.
I love the tanginess and moist fluffiness that the cream cheese adds to these cookies. It’s a really great secret ingredient to spice up traditional sugar cookies!
Cream Cheese Sugar Cookie Recipe
If you have extra cream cheese sitting in your freezer, this is a delicious way to use it up.
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Ingredients
Flour – I prefer to use organic all-purpose flour, but any all-purpose flour will do.
Sugar – Any sugar will work for this recipe, but I prefer to use organic cane sugar.
Butter – Use good quality room-temperature butter.
Cream cheese – Use room-temperature cream cheese. If you make your own cream cheese, you can develop the tanginess to more or less tangy to suit your family’s taste preferences.
Salt – A good quality fine sea salt is best, but coarse salt also works. I prefer to use Redmond Real Salt.
Egg – You’ll need one room-temperature egg yolk for this recipe.
Vanilla extract – Use a good quality vanilla extract. It’s cheaper if you make your own vanilla extract, and I can show you how!
Almond extract – Use a good quality almond extract.
Tools you may need
Electric mixer (or you can mix the dough by hand)
Large bowl
Measuring cups and spoons
Bench scraper
Embossing rolling pin (optional)
Cookie sheet
Parchment paper
Plastic wrap
Cutting board (optional)
Cookie cutters
How to Make Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies
This recipe makes 16 good-size cream cheese sugar cookies but the recipe doubles easily if you want to make cookies for a crowd.
Make and refrigerate the cream cheese sugar cookie dough.
First, mix together the sugar, butter, cream cheese, salt, vanilla extract, almond extract, and egg yolk. Make sure your dough is blended well. Then add your flour and mix well.
Use your bowl scraper to scrape out your dough onto some plastic wrap.
Wrap up your dough tightly and refrigerate for a minimum of two hours.
If your kids have a tradition of licking the beaters after making cookie dough, they probably won’t enjoy this batter very much. The cream cheese and almond extract are pretty powerful.
But don’t worry! After these cookies are baked, the flavors really blend and mellow out. It’s just really strong before they go into the oven.
Roll out your cookie dough.
After at least two hours, lightly flour your kitchen counter or a wooden cutting board.
Take your dough out of the plastic wrap, cut it in half, and refrigerate half while you work with the other half. Then, preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C).
Your cold dough will be hard at first. Using your floured rolling pin, push down on the dough until you can start rolling it out on your floured counter or cutting board.
Try to get the dough to be about 1/4 inch thick.
If you will also be adding a design to the cookies by using an embossing rolling pin, lightly flour the top of your rolled out dough, and roll the embossing rolling pin over the top of your dough while pressing slightly.
This is best done on very cold dough. Once the dough starts to warm up, it may start to get stuck inside the designs of the rolling pin. Having toothpicks nearby may come in handy…ahem.
Cut out your cookies using cookie cutters.
Dip your cookie cutter into some flour and start cutting out your shapes.
If your dough starts to stick to the counter or your cutting board, scrape your bench scraper under the cookie to lift it up.
Bake your cookies.
Place your cookie shapes onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
Sprinkle the cookies with sugar if you want to add some extra sweetness.
Bake in a 375°F (190°C) oven for 7-10 minutes (depending on cookie size and thickness) until the edge of the cookies are only barely browned.
You want the center of these cookies to be soft and fluffy…not hard hockey pucks.
Let your cookies cool down on separate parchment paper, wax paper, or a cooling rack.
Repeat the process.
Then gather your dough scraps together, roll it out, and cut out more cookie shapes.
Your dough will start to get warm and sticky, so you’ll need to keep adding flour to your cutting board (or counter) and your rolling pin as you work through your dough.
Use your bench scraper as necessary to scrape up sticky dough.
Once your first half of the dough is used, you can start on the second half that’s been in your refrigerator.
You can also freeze your dough…especially if you started with a double portion of the recipe. Just make sure it’s sealed in an air-tight container in your freezer.
Icing Options
These sugar cookies have a great taste even when they’re plain. They also taste delicious when they have sugar sprinkles on top, or when they’re iced with cream cheese icing or other icing.
Let your family decide and do what you enjoy. Part of the fun is decorating the cookies together!
Christmas Cookies
Christmas is by far my favorite holiday. I love being with my family and making happy memories more than anything else.
And since we love to eat really good food, making cookies is a beloved tradition in our home. I especially love making these cream cheese sugar cookies with my girls and having them help me decorate them. It’s such a special time to make memories along with baking delicious cookies.
To make these cream cheese sugar cookies into Christmas cookies, use festive cookie cutters like these Christmas cookie cutters that are made in the USA from steel. Just be sure to dry them very well after washing them or else they might start to rust on you.
Patriotic Cookies
You can emboss and cut out your cream cheese sugar cookies using fun, patriotic cookie cutters.
These patriotic cookie cutters are perfect for Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and Veterans Day.
How to Store Your Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies
Eat these cookies within three days if you keep them on your counter. I like to keep them in a sealed container after they have cooled down completely. The cookies won’t dry out if they’re stored this way. Alternatively, you can refrigerate or freeze your cookies for later.
We usually make a variety of cookies before Christmas and save the best ones we want Santa to have in freezer bags in the freezer. I’m sure Santa appreciates this.
Recipe Card for Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies
Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies
Equipment
- electric mixer (You can also mix by hand.)
- bowl
- measuring cups and spoons
- bench/bowl scraper
- Rolling Pin
- cookie sheet
- plastic wrap
- parchment paper
- cookie cutter
Ingredients
- 1 cup organic cane sugar
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, room-temperature
- 3 ounces cream cheese, room-temperature
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 1 egg yolk, room-temperature
- 2 cups flour
- colored sugar sprinkles
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, butter, cream cheese, salt, vanilla extract, almond extract, and egg yolk until well blended. Then add in the flour.
- Scrape out the dough onto plastic wrap, wrap it up tight, and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours.
- Preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C). Lightly flour your kitchen counter or a wood cutting board. Unwrap your cold dough, chop it in half with your bench scraper, and put half of the dough back in the plastic wrap to store in the refrigerator. Work with just one half of the dough at a time.
- The dough will be firm at first but use your floured rolling pin to roll the dough out until it's about 1/4 inches thick.
- Cut out shapes with your lightly floured cookie cutter. Place shapes on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and decorate with sprinkles.
- Bake in a 375°F (190°C) oven for 7-10 minutes (depending on cookie size and thickness) until the edge of the cookies are only barely browned.
- Gather the leftover dough and repeat the process of rolling it out and cutting shapes to make cream cheese sugar cookies with the remaining dough. (Tip: Use your bench scraper to scrape up the shapes if they stick on your counter or cutting board.) After using the first half of the dough, get the rest of the dough out of the refrigerator and make more sugar cookies.
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These look wonderful!!
I don’t think I’ve ever made cream cheese sugar cookies, but it sounds amazing. I will have to give it a try this year with my kids!
I hope you all enjoy them as much as we have!
These sound so good and decadent. I want to make sugar cookies with my kids within the next week or so. I may have to try this recipe out!
I hope you do! Let me know how you like them.
These look so delicious and I can’t wait to make them!
They taste just as great as they look! Enjoy.
My wife’s relationship with Christmas has always been complicated. She isn’t in to the decorating as much but is starting to develop excitement over the skills and special types of food to make. I’ll show her this recipe and see if it peaks her interest
This looks incredibly yummy! Can’t wait to try it, thank you for sharing!!
You’re very welcome! I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!!