Cut Out Sugar Cookies

Cut out cookies are commonly referred to as rolled cookies since you roll the dough with a rolling pin before cutting it with your favorite cookie cutters.

Rolled cookies, like these sugar cut out cookies with cream cheese, are especially fun for those who like to get creative in the kitchen since they can be decorated in so many fun ways - from elaborate sugar cookie icings to simple sprinklings with colored sanding sugars.

This delicious Cut Out Sugar Cookies recipe uses butter and cream cheese. It is simple with just a few common ingredients and nicely maintains its shape when baked.

You must chill the dough for at least a couple hours or it will be very sticky to work with so be sure to plan ahead when wanting to bake rolled sugar cookies using this recipe.

The nice thing about most sugar cut out cookie dough, including this one, is that it can be stored in the refrigerator and/or freezer until you are ready to bake it.

One key to baking tender rolled sugar cookies is to add as little flour as possible when rolling them out. The more flour you add and the more you handle the dough, the tougher your cookies will be. Some people have good luck rolling out the dough between two layers of parchment paper.

You will want to roll the sugar cookie dough out as evenly as you can. The thinner you roll out the dough the crispier your cookies will be.

Cut Out Sugar Cookies with Cream Cheese Recipe

1 cup butter, softened
1 3-ounce package cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour

In a large mixing bowl beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium high speed until creamy.
Add the cream cheese and beat until creamy and well blended, scraping the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, as necessary to make sure everything is well blended.
Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
Add the egg and then the vanilla, continuing to beat until creamy and scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
Stir in the flour with the mixer on low speed, just until the flour is mixed in.
Divide the dough into 2 equal portions.
Wrap each portion of dough in plastic wrap, flatten it out until it is the shape of a disk about 1 inch thick and refrigerate unitl firm (at least 2 hours).
When you are ready to bake your cut out sugar cookies with cream cheese, preheat your Heat oven to 350F and line your cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Unwrap a portion of the dough roll out on a lightly floured surface (or between two layers of parchment paper) to 1/4 to 1/2-inch thickness, getting it as even as you can.
Cut into desired shapes with your favorite cookie cutters.
Placed cookies 1-inch apart on prepared cookie sheets.
Bake 6 to 8 minutes for thin cookies and 8 to 10 minutes for thicker cookies.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheets before transferring the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.