I have been on a long and buttery quest for the perfect sugar cookie. I want something crisp, yet tender. And tasty. I have tried countless recipes over the years, with poor results. Some have turned out like little cakes, puffy, not very flavorful, and definitely not suited for cut out cookies. Other have come out of the oven perfect, only to morph into sugar cookie briquettes as they cool. I was left with no choice but to use them to mortar in holes in my chimney.
But early this week, I discovered that my wonderful friend Lindsay had been holding out on me! She had the perfect recipe all along! Naturally, I'm going to share it with you, because all the world should have sugar cookies this delicious.
Go raid the kitchen, because you will need:
1 cup of butter, softened
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp almond extract
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
Cream together butter and cream cheese until well blended. Add egg yolk and extracts. Scrape the bowl, and then slowly add the flour until the mixture comes together in a smooth dough. Lay out a sheet of waxed paper, and lightly flour it. Work the dough into a ball with your (well floured) hands and put it on the waxed paper. Dust again with flour, and place another sheet of waxed paper on top. Roll to 1/4" thickness. Transfer the whole thing, paper and all, to a cookie sheet and stick it in your fridge for an hour. Now go away. Don't mess with it. Resist the urges to poke it, or sneak cookie dough samples from it. After at least an hour, take it out of the fridge, and cut into whatever shapes you want. Put them on a parchment lined baking sheet, and bake at 350 for 8-12 minutes. Ours took all 12 minutes, but keep an eye on them. They will look under done when you take them out, but I promise you, they're not. Be sure to rescue them from the inferno before the edges brown. Let them cool for a good 5 minutes, or you'll burn your tongue eating the entire batch of cookies yourself.
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