Amazingly soft, thick and chewy sugar cookies!
I have been making the same sugar cookie recipe for as long as I can remember – My grandmother’s “Travel Cookie” aka: Sugar Cookies have been a tradition in our family for well over 50 years. I love them so much…
…however, sometimes in life it’s nice to have options! I’ve heard about adding cream cheese to sugar cookies, but hadn’t tried it myself. I know cream cheese is delicious in pound cake! So, I played around with Grandma’s recipe… (waiting for lighting to strike…)
Well, let me say, I love them both!! (happens on The Bachelor, right?) These Soft Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies are thick, soft, chewy and have just enough tang from the cream cheese to offset some of the sweetness in the cookie and the buttercream frosting. That’s right, B-u-t-t-e-r-c-r-e-a-m F-r-o-s-t-i-n-g!! Grandma’s cookies have a thinner, still very delicious, icing – but these have thick, buttery frosting!! The kind you can really sink your teeth into.
It’s so satisfying to swirl the smooth, creamy buttercream frosting onto the thick, soft cookies…and even more satisfying to take a bite, maybe even take a bite at breakfast with a steaming hot mug of coffee. Not that I would know what that’s like – just saying. ( :
NEW – Soft Cream Cheese SUGAR COOKIE BARS!
Need an even easier and quicker version of these delicious cookies! I made a bar cookie version! Soft Cream Cheese Sugar Cookie Bars
VIDEO: How to Frost Sugar Cookies:
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Soft Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (305 grams)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt I use coarse kosher salt, if using table salt, you may want to use a little less.
- 1/2 cup (1-stick) butter, softened
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar plus extra for forming cookies
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Buttercream Frosting:
- 1/2 cup (1-stick) butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 3-4 tablespoons milk
- food coloring & sprinkles if desired
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease baking sheets or line with parchment. (see notes below)
- In medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and salt.
- (I use my stand mixer with flex edge beater to mix these up, you could also use a hand mixer with (regular) turbo beaters to mix them as well.)
- In large bowl, cream together butter, cream cheese and sugar. This will take several minutes - it should be fluffy and lighter in color. Beat in egg and vanilla.
- Mix the flour mixture into the butter mixture until just combined. Chill dough in refrigerator for 45 minutes to 1-hour, this helps make the sticky dough a little easier to work with. You can chill overnight, but you'll need to let it sit out for about 20 minutes before scooping and rolling as it will be very firm.
- Scoop 2-tablespoon portions of dough and roll into balls.
- Place the balls 2-inches apart on greased or parchment lined baking sheets. (I use the shiny half-sheet pans)
- Butter the bottom of a flat-bottomed drinking glass. Spread some sugar on a small plate.
- Dip the buttered glass in the sugar and use to press down on the cookie balls.
- Hold the glass level and press until the cookie is a little thicker than a 1/4-inch. Repeat until all the balls are flattened.
- Bake the cookies for 9-11 minutes or until cookies are just golden on the bottom. Time may vary depending on oven.
- Let cool on baking sheet 1-minute before removing to cooling rack.
Buttercream Frosting:
- In large bowl, beat together butter, vanilla, 2 cups of powdered sugar and a tablespoon milk until smooth and creamy.
- Gradually add the rest of the sugar and as much milk as needed to reach desired consistency. Use food coloring to color the frosting if desired.
- Frost the cookies and add sprinkles if desired. After frosting, let the cookies sit out for an hour or two and the frosting will firm up a little bit on the top.
- Then you can store for up to 3 days in an airtight container or freeze. Layer them between sheets of waxed or parchment paper to help protect the frosting from smushing.
Notes
Cookie Baking Tips:
- I use shiny metal cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.
- If you use darker colored cookie sheets you may want to drop your oven temperature by 25 degrees. Darker baking pans get hotter.
- Ovens are often not accurate in their temperature.
- I always keep an inexpensive oven thermometer in my oven to make sure it reaches the correct temperature.
- Cookie scoops are handy for portioning the cookie dough for even cookies.
- For 2 1/2-inch diameter cookies, I made each dough ball using 2-tablespoons dough and flattened them to about a 2-inch diameter.
- I bake my cookies 1 tray at a time and make sure the cookie sheet is cool each time.
- It's helpful to have several cookie sheets you can rotate.
Salt:
- If using salted butter in cookie dough - reduce added salt to 1/4 teaspoon.
Happy Easter Tina &family. Just printed out the Cream Cheese Sugar Cookie. Looked so yummy & soft looking. Thank you for this & all the others. Best wishes to you. I love all my Kitchen Aid appliances. Sincerely, Sheila King
Hi Sheila – Thanks for the nice comment! Hope you are well too!!
I could not remember how to spell your last name so I contact Live Chat at QVC. They said that no guest with Tina V could they find. Really now. After Easter dinner I did find the cookie recipe you did on with David today. Maybe QVC needs to train these people by watching the programs so they can help customers.
Hi Patricia! So glad you found me! Welcome! Let me know if I can help with anything!
Tina ( :
Hi Tina,
I was wondering with this recipe can I use cookie cutters or would the dough become too sticky from handling it with the roller etc.
Hi Christa – It is definitely more sticky than my regular sugar cookies. If you chilled overnight and rolled with a sprinkle of flour – that may work! Here’s my other sugar cookie recipe (love these too!) Recipe Roots™ – Grandma Appolonia’s Travel Cookies
As usual! A great recipe!!! Thank you for the tips! Cookies turned out perfect and very delicious!!!
So glad you enjoyed them Lisa!! Thanks for letting me know!
Tina, can this be cut out cookies, royal icing decorated? Thanks
Hi Gee – I haven’t tried myself – the dough tends to be a little sticky. If I were going to try – I would chill the dough overnight.
When I make cut out cookies – I generally make my more traditional sugar cookie or gingerbread recipe.