Christmas Cookie Series #4: Sugar Cookies

Growing up, I was never a fan of sugar cookies. 

I thought they were boring and the taste was, meh. 

Once I started baking I knew that I needed to conquer this cookie and I set out to find the perfect recipe. 

After trying a few recipes and being disappointed with it's outcome I decided that it wasn't the recipe and that it was me. 

But that all changed when someone passed along this recipe to me while I was in hair school. 

And I've now realized that it actually wasn't me, it was other people's recipes. 

The truth is rough sometimes.

But I am forever grateful that I now have a delicious sugar cookie recipe for my recipe box.

This cookie is so easy and it calls for just a few ingredients. I hope you all enjoy!

Ingredients
makes approx. 3 dozen, depending on size of cookie
  
8oz package of cream cheese, room temp
1 1/2 sticks of salted butter, room temp
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda  

In a large mixing bowl, cream together cream cheese, butter, sugar and vanilla. Next, add in flour and baking soda. Mix until well combined. Cover your mixing bowl with plastic wrap and chill in your fridge for 20 minutes.
While your dough is chilling, preheat oven to 350 degrees.

*Here is my tip for rolling the dough and transferring your cookie cutouts. Use the precut parchment baking sheets. Lay a sheet out on your working surface and lightly flour it. Dump your dough onto the parchment and roll it out there. Once you've cut your cookie shapes and peeled away the excess dough, carefully transfer the paper with your cookie cutouts onto your baking sheet.

Bake for 8-12 minutes, or until edges are slightly golden (9 min for me).
Let your cookies cool for 1 minute on the baking sheet before transferring them to a cooling rack.
Cool them for at least an hour before attempting to decorate or you will have a big melt-y, frosting mess.

For the icing I use this recipe. It's a glace icing and it's amazing. I love the way royal icing looks but I cannot stand the taste. I find it quite disgusting actually. This icing is awesome. It hardens enough to decorate and package but is actually tasty and enjoyable to eat. So check it out, and use it. You won't regret it.

To see the rest of this Christmas cookie series, you can check it out here

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