Soft Cut Out Sugar Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting
Soft, slightly tangy sugar cookies topped with the creamiest cream cheese frosting. They make the BEST cut out cookies for your favorite holiday, or any day!
Servings: 40 2-1/2 inch cookies
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 1 c butter, softened*
- 1 1/2 c powdered sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature*
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 2 1/2 c flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cream of tartar
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 1/2 c butter, softened*
- 1/2 c cream cheese, softened*
- 1/2-1 tsp almond or vanilla extract
- 2 c powdered sugar
- few drops food coloring, if desired
Instructions
For the Cookies:
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, and cream of tartar and set aside.
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer and a large mixing bowl), beat butter and powdered sugar together until fluffy.
- Add in egg, vanilla, and almond extract. Mix until well combined. Continuing to mix on low speed, add the flour mixture a little at a time, mixing until combined.
- Gather dough into a ball. Roll out on a floured surface to about 1/4" thick. Cut as desired (I used a 2 1/2" cutter).
- Bake for 7-8 minutes or until tops look dried out and bottoms are just beginning to brown slightly. Remove from oven and let cool on cookie sheets for 1-2 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely before frosting.
For the Frosting:
- Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or a hand mixer, mix butter and cream cheese on medium speed until well-mixed and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add almond or vanilla extract and mix well. Add powdered sugar a little at a time, mixing well in between. Add food coloring, if desired.
- Once everything is well combined, mix at medium-high speed until frosting is fluffy. If frosting becomes a little too melty, pop it in the refrigerator to firm it up a bit.
- Frost and decorate cookies as desired.
- Store frosted cookies and any leftover frosting in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Alternatively, freeze unfrosted cookies for up to 2 months. Thaw completely before frosting.
Notes
*When making the frosting, make sure the butter and cream cheese are well softened (I typically leave mine out for a few hours). If either one is still cold, the frosting will have chunks in it.
Same goes for the butter and egg in the cookies. Make sure both are at room temperature.