Cut Out Sugar Cookies w/ Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

Sugar cookies:

3 cups flour

1 and ½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ tsp salt

1 cup butter, softened to room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg, room temperature

¼ cup milk, room temperature (I used skim)

1 teaspoon vanilla

¼ teaspoon almond extract

Cream Cheese Frosting:

4 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature

2 cups + 2 tablespoons powdered sugar

a pinch of salt

1 and ½ tablespoons milk, room temperature (I used skim)

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation

Sugar cookies:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and prepare baking sheet with a silicone mat.

Mix together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium sized bowl and set aside.

Cream together butter and sugar using your stand mixer.

After the butter and sugar mixture is fluffy, add in an egg, milk, vanilla, and almond extract.

Once all of these ingredients have been fully incorporated, add in the dry ingredients. Mix until fully combined.

The dough will probably be extremely sticky, but that's ok. Form it into a ball, the best you can, and place it back into the bowl. Cover with saran wrap and let chill for at least an hour. I let the dough chill overnight.

If you do chill it overnight, you may need to let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes, or it'll be too hard to roll out.

Once the dough is ready, roll it out using a rolling pin. Make sure your surface and rolling pin are both well floured.

Roll out the dough until it's about ⅛ in - ¼ in thick.

Cut the dough with whatever shape you like.

Bake these on a silicone mat in a preheated oven for 8 - 12 minutes.

Mine were perfect at 10 minutes: a slightly golden, crunchy exterior with a soft middle. If you want a crunchier cookie, roll these out to about ⅛ in thick and bake for a little longer.

Cool completely on a wire cooling rack.

Cream cheese frosting:

In your stand mixer, place cream cheese and beat until fluffy, about 1 minute.

Slowly add in powdered sugar and a pinch of salt. I like using just a pinch of salt to cut the sweetness of the sugar! You may need to stop and scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl.

Now add in the milk and vanilla and mix until combined.

Frost and enjoy!

Let the frosting completely harden before storing these at room temperature in an airtight container.

NOTES

* If you want crunchier cookies, roll the dough to ⅛ inch thick and bake about 10 - 12 minutes. My cookies were rolled to ¼ inch thick and baked for 10 and they were the perfect amount of crunchy on the edges and soft in the middle.

* Prep time includes chilling time!