The Secret Ingredient to the Best-Ever Sugar Cookies
Decorated sugar cookies
At holiday-themed parties all over, people are subjected to dry, crumbly, and regrettably bland sugar cookies. But this year, I want to give you the gift of soft, buttery, and flavorful sugar cookies. And there's one ingredient that has the power to transform your sugar cookies from forgettable to fabulous: cream cheese.
Yes, you read that correctly. The secret to achieving perfect sugar cookies is simply adding a bit of cream cheese. “What does the cream cheese do?” You might ask. Read on for all of the answers.
Related: The 54 Best Sugar Cookie Recipes
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Why Should You Use Cream Cheese in Sugar Cookies?
• They're so tender. Cream cheese has a high fat content and, in addition to imparting flavor, the fat ensures that the flour doesn’t absorb too much water while baking, which results in a softer, airier cookie texture.
• They're a dream to roll out. Cream cheese also adds moisture to your dough without having to add liquids, like milk or oil. Adding a liquid might make your dough too soft and sticky to be rolled out even after refrigerating. The added moisture from the cream cheese makes it easier to roll the cookies out because the dough isn’t dry and crumbly.
• They have so much more flavor. Your sugar cookies won’t taste like cream cheese per se, but it definitely imparts a subtle tanginess that helps amplify the overall flavor of the cookies.The slight tang really helps to balance out the sweetness from the sugar. No more bland or sickeningly sweet sugar cookies!
• They'll stay softer longer. As another bonus, I always find that cream cheese sugar cookies stay softer and more flavorful in the days after baking than any other kind of sugar cookies.
Related: 200 Best Christmas Cookie Recipes
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How Much Cream Cheese Should You Add to Sugar Cookie Dough?
For every cup of butter you’re using, you’ll want to use about 2 ounces of cream cheese. (Pro tip: If you have any leftover cream cheese you can freeze it.) It’s really important to make sure that you use room-temperature cream cheese and butter. If either is too cold it'll be difficult to mix the two together without lumps forming. Your sugar cookies won’t bake evenly if there are large lumps of cream cheese and butter. Room-temperature butter and cream cheese will mix smoothly into your cookie dough.
To give it a try, check out this sugar cookie recipe, which uses butter and cream cheese and starts with a bagged cookie mix. So easy!
Once you’ve baked cream cheese sugar cookies, you’ll never bake sugar cookies without cream cheese ever again. Whether you’re planning to decorate them or eat them plain, you’re in for a treat with your next batch of sugar cookies.
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