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Happy Hump Day!
Last week, Adam was “star student” in his classroom, so I needed to bring in a treat for his classmates on Friday.
I immediately thought about making some of the most delicious cookies that I have ever eaten.
It’s a recipe that my mom loved and even wrote about when she was the food columnist for the Richmond Register when I was growing up.
You can read about her article HERE.
When I picked Adam up at school on Friday, he jumped in the car and said with a big smile on his face, “Mom! Everyone LOVED them!” He also said his teacher wanted the recipe. She wrote a note in his folder to tell me they were FABULOUS. (And she wrote “fabulous” in all caps.) 
So I have concluded that the cookies were a hit!
The great thing about this recipe is you can use it for any season. I’ve used heart cookie cutters for Valentine’s Day, Shamrock cookie cutters for St. Patrick’s Day, and Cross cookie cutters for Easter.
Since it is fall, I decided to use my leaf cookie cutter.
Here is the recipe. I hope you enjoy it!
Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies
1 cup sugar
1 cup margarine or butter, softened
3 oz. package of cream cheese
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg yolk (reserve white)
2 cups all purpose flour
Blend together sugar, margarine, cream cheese, salt, almond extract, vanilla, and egg yolk with mixer. Mix in flour until well blended.
Refrigerate dough two hours.
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Roll out dough, one third at a time, on a lightly floured surface. Using a cookie cutter dipped in flour, cut out cookies as close together as possible.
Place the cookies one inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. To prevent breaking, move cookies to and from baking sheets with a wide spatula or pancake turner.
Leave cookies plain or, if desired, brush with slightly beaten egg white and spring with colored sugar.
Bake for 7 to 10 minutes or until bottoms of cookies are a light golden brown. Cool completely.
{My mom always told me the most important part of making sugar cookies was to take them out as soon as they were even slightly brown on the bottom, or not at all. I took mine out before they had even browned and left them on the cookie sheet to cool. That made them extra soft and delicious.}
If desired, use the almond glaze below.
Almond Glaze:
{I made my glaze a little thicker by adding more confectioner’s sugar. I also didn’t add the almond extract to the glaze because I wasn’t sure if the students would like the taste of almond. But if I were making these for another occasion, I would definitely use the almond extract.}
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/4 tsp. almond extract
2 Tb. water
4 drops of food coloring
Stir all ingredients until smooth.
MOM’S RECIPE: Pour 1 teaspoon of glaze on each sugar cookie. Use the back of the teaspoon to spread glaze evenly over cookie. Let glaze dry.
MY ADAPTATION: I made my glaze thicker and poured it into a ziplock bag. Then I cut a very little piece of the corner of the bag and squeezed the glaze on the cookie that way.
I also used a toothpick to outline the veins in a leaf.
Yum! Yum!
They seriously melt in your mouth!
This is a recipe you will love! Let me know if you try it!
Have a blessed day.
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Wow! These look sooo good! I have been wanting to find a good sugar cookie and have never found one that I can do well. I think the cream cheese must be the key. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you SO much for posting this recipe – it is a definite must try. The timing is perfect, too, since I just burned to a crisp the slice and bake sugar cookies you buy in the store – we’re talking set off the fire alarm – smoke pouring out of the oven burnt (and I even baked them for the shortest time the label said! Oh well, I’m just a much better cook than baker. Thanks again for posting these and have a blessed day!
Kim recently posted..Day 31: Reflect
These look amazing! As soon as my oven is ready to go, I’m all over this recipe! Thanks for sharing, Traci! :)
Julianne recently posted..Clear & Ready for Take Off!
I love to bake during the holiday season so I’ll be trying these for sure!
A lot of schools these days won’t let you bring in homemade treats – they have to be store bought. Sad but understandable I guess.
Thank you so much for sharing!!! I just added these cookies to my short list for my son’s 4th birthday party – I’m having it here at home and only doing a “cupcakes and crafts” party after school.
I’ll serve these leaf beauties alongside the cupcakes – they are just too pretty not to make!
(and yes, only ice cream dixie cups allowed at my son’s school – no baked goods!!)
Just trying to figure out what to do with my three year old grandson this afternoon! We’re making cookies!!! Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Jaye @ Just Tryin’ to Make Cents of it All recently posted..HOW TO GET THEM TO START RENOVATING YOUNG!
Oh my, these sound so yummy. Thanks for sharing.
I can’t wait to try this recipe! Thanks for sharing.
Sharon
Sharon @ mrs. hines class recently posted..$17 front porch fall makeover
Gonna make these this weekend . . . or maybe today!!!! I love how you decorated them. Very cute. Looks like you spent hours decorating them. The Longaberger in your fridge made me think of something else (gosh, we “style” a lot alike, I have the same one). Willow House (and I KNOW you love them) announced that the decor line has come to an end and they will be selling out all of their decor inventory in the next few months. They will concentrate on their jewelry line and next year, they are delving into the children’s clothing industry! So if you see something you like, buy it now or you won’t be able to get it except for maybe on eBay. I met the president of Willow House, Bill Shaw, at a party this week and he was telling me all about where the company is going.
Jackie B recently posted..Let There Be Cake!
so I am a cake decorator and seriously avoid decorating sugar cookies. hard and not fun. BUT you make it look easy! I might just have to try your decorating method with my nieces – they would love it!
and your cookies look great in all the bright fall colors and I am sure they taste great too :)
Christina @ The Frugal Homemaker recently posted..DIY Burlap Menu/Memo Board (Day 11 of 31 days of Pinterest: Pinned to Done
Ok, I just made these tonight and they taste AMAZING!!!! Only thing is that when I baked them, they spread out all over the cookie sheet and totally lost their shape! I was trying to make pumpkins. I looked back through your directions and it looks like I forgot to split it into thirds and dip the cookie cutters in flour. Any other tips for me?? They seriously taste soooooo good! I know that I can get them to come out looking like yours – practice makes perfect!
Traci – I just made these again last night and they turned out perfect! The key was keeping it in the fridge longer and more flour just like you said. Also I made sure to roll them out a little thicker. I realized that if I had just followed your directions from the beginning the first time they would have turned out perfect then. Hello, Val!
Anyway, thanks again for sharing this recipe – it is delicious!!! My new favorite!!!
I am trying these today but am a little short on time, could I put the cookie dough in the freezer for part of the time?
I made these…added ginger. They were great.