Soft Christmas Cookies
There is nothing like the smell of fresh baked cookies in the oven to create the perfect cozy atmosphere in your home during the Christmas season. Spending time together in the kitchen, rolling out fresh dough for these soft Christmas cookies, and decorating them is the perfect way to create the best memories during the Christmas season.
Equipment
- 1 large bowl
- 1 electric stand mixer with paddle attachment
- 1 whisk
- cookie sheets
- parchment paper
- Christmas cookie cutters
Ingredients
- ¾ cup salted butter softened (1½ sticks)
- 2 oz cream cheese softened
- 1⅓ cups granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp almond extra
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 cups flour
Instructions
- Place the butter, cream cheese, and sugar in the large bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Cream until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the egg, vanilla, and almond extracts.
- Add the flour, baking powder, and salt to a large mixing bowl and whisk together.
- Turn the mixer on low speed and gradually add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture. Beat until fully incorporated and a soft dough ball is formed.
- Divide dough into two balls and wrap in plastic wrap tightly. Let them chill in the refrigerator for an hour.
- Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- While the oven preheats, roll out one ball of dough to ¼" thickness. I like to lightly flour the surface to prevent sticking or spray some non-stick spray on the surface of the counter.
- Cut your cookies using the cookie cutter of our choice and lay the cookies on the baking sheet. Allow room for expansion as the cookies bake.
- Bake cookies for 8-12 minutes depending upon your oven.
- Repeat with the second ball of dough.
Notes
- Use softened butter. This allows the dough to be perfectly soft and have a tender crumble to the cookie. Allowing the butter to sit out at room temperature overnight will make it easier to mix it into the dough.
- Use a cold baking sheet. You want to make sure that the cookies don't start the cooking process until they are in the oven. Having a cold cookie sheet will give the cookies that delicious texture on the outside.
- Once the dough has been in the fridge for a chill time of an hour, cut the cookies into whatever shapes you choose. It's important that it's chilled first to make it easier to make cut-out cookies.
- Do not over mix the dough. Over mixing the dough will yield a tough and chewy cookie. Having all your ingredients at room temperature will help distribute the ingredients evenly without having to over mix.
- If you are planning on using gluten free or any other type of flour, make sure that you follow package instructions for the proper ratios.
- If you do not prefer almond extract, you can leave this ingredient out of the recipe.