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Homemade Cream Cheese Cookies Recipe
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#1 Best Homemade Cream Cheese Cookies

These cream cheese cookies are perfect for morning coffee, dessert or a snack in the middle of the day. They are a bit crisp on the outside and tender on the inside and will simply melt into your mouth.
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Resting Time1 hour
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Cheese Cookies, Cream Cheese Cookies, Homemade, Homemade Cookies
Servings: 24 cookies
Calories: 247kcal

Ingredients

For the cookies

  • 3 cups gluten-free flour mix (make sure it contains xanthan gum)
  • 1 cup butter, softened at room temperature
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 ½ tsp baking powder
  • 2 oz. full fat cream cheese, softened to room temperature
  • 1 large egg, at room temperature
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

For the frosting

  • 6 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temperature
  • ½ cup butter, softened to room temperature
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • Sprinkles

Instructions

  • Combine the flour, salt and baking powder. If your flour mix doesn’t have xanthan gum, add one teaspoon to this mixture.
  • Place the butter and cream cheese in a large bowl and beat together for 2 minutes on high speed using a hand-held mixer. The mixture should be creamy and smooth. Bring in the sugar and mix on medium speed until fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and egg and mix again until well incorporated.
    Homemade Cream Cheese Cookies Recipe Steps
  • Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix on low speed until combined. You will get a thick cookie dough. Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and take it to the fridge for at least one hour.
    Homemade Cream Cheese Cookies Recipe Steps
  • Take the dough out of the fridge. In case you left it to chill more than 4 hours, allow it to sit at room temperature for 20 minutes so you are able to scoop it.
  • Preheat the oven to 375F. Line two baking trays with parchment paper. Set aside.
  • Take tablespoons of dough and roll them into balls. Place them on the already prepared trays. Leave a space of about 1 ½ inches between the dough balls. Flatten them a bit with the back of a spoon or a measuring cup.
    Homemade Cream Cheese Cookies Recipe Steps
  • Bake the cookies for 15-17 minutes until they get a light brown color around the edges. You may rotate the tray after 10 minutes so the cookies will be baked evenly. You will notice that they look soft in the middle when removing from the oven but do not overbake because they lose their soft and tender texture.
  • Let them chill for 5 minutes before taking them to a wire rack. The cookies need to be completely cool when you decorate them.

To prepare the sugar cookie frosting

  • Mix together the butter and cream cheese. Beat on medium speed until fluffy and creamy. Add the vanilla extract and honey and mix again.
  • Spread the frosting on each cookie and then decorate with sprinkles.

Notes

  • Xanthan gum helps in keeping the dough together in the absence of gluten. Most of the gluten-free flour mixes contain xanthan gum but in case yours doesn’t, just add one teaspoon of this ingredient to the mix. You may also prepare these cookies with all-purpose flour. Keep the same quantity, they will turn out equally delicious.
  • If you want to make cream cheese sugar cookies, you will only need to spread some sugar on a plate and roll each dough ball through it before taking it to the tray for baking. This step can be successfully accomplished by kids. Prepare the same sugar cookie frosting and let them decorate with sprinkles.
  • The classic frosting consists of butter, cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar. However, you need a great amount of sugar for this, about two cups. I wanted to cut down the quantity of sugar for this recipe and I added a bit of honey instead of sugar. The consistency of the frosting remains soft and tender.
  • If you want to make the cookie dough ahead of time, you should know that it can be kept for 3 days in the refrigerator and up to 3 months in the freezer.
  • Enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 247kcal | Carbohydrates: 25.2g | Protein: 1.8g | Fat: 15g