Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies

I have been making cream cheese sugar cookies forever. It's a recipe from my aunt, and she would help my cousins, sister and me make these cookies for Christmas every year. I still make them now. They can be frosted many ways. This cookie is from my friend's son's first birthday party and is decorated with royal icing. I recently learned to use the royal icing. It is not that hard, but can be very time consuming. When I was a kid, we would use egg whites colored with food coloring and then bake them. Or we would use a buttercream frosting and decorate them with cake decorating bags and tips.

Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies

1 cup sugar plus 1/2 tsp sugar
1 cup butter
3 ounces of cream cheese
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg yolk
2&3/4 cups flour

Cream together all ingredients except flour. Gradually add flour and mix well. Form dough into 2 balls to prepare for rolling. Chill dough. Rollout on floured surface and cut with cookie cutters. Bake on cookie sheet at 375 degrees for 7 to 10 minutes or until edges brown slightly. If you use margarine, dough will be softer. If you use butter, dough will be more firm.

Frosting

1 cup shortening
2/3 cup milk or 1/2 cup water
1&1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 pounds powdered sugar

Mix all ingredients. I ususally add the powdered sugar last, slowly and carefully. To make it chocolate, use 1 cup less sugar and 1 cup of cocoa.

Royal Icing

2 tsp lemon juice
2 egg whites
3 cups powdered sugar

Combine all ingredients. Add tiny amounts of water to get to desired consistency. See the Joy of Baking website for tips on how to use. Joy of Baking