What if Valentine's Day had an official flag? I imagine it would be filled with heart shapes and colors of white, red, and pink. The shades of red would be mostly in the pure red area. Pink would span from a hint to a very deep hue. Picking which shade for cookies seems as if it would be easy. One small overage of food coloring gel and the next thing you know you have something much darker than expected. The plan was for a lighter shade. Instead my Frosted Cream Cheese Cutout Cookies came out what I will lovingly call Pepto-Bismol pink.
The color is quite pretty anyway. At least it is to me. I think the cookies stand out and grab your attention. Sprinkles help break up the color too. And those darn sprinkles have a life of their own. They bounce like crazy. They wound up all over my kitchen no matter how I tried to contain them while sprinkling.
How are the frosted cream cheese cookies? A few adjectives come to mind first: addictive, sweet, comforting, and did I mention addictive? The cookies are rich, buttery, and made with cream cheese. The frosting is a simple buttercream made with creamy European-style butter. Sprinkles add both a decorative touch and a bit of crunch.
Do you make special Valentine treats? If so, then a list of recipes would be handy, right? All you have to do is scroll down to find 14 delicious ones that are only a click away. You can also check out another one of my favorites: Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies.
Frosted Cream Cheese Cutout Cookies
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
For the frosting:
- ½ pound European-style unsalted butter at room temperature
- Pinch of salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 box powdered sugar 1 pound, sifted
- 3 to 4 tablespoons milk or half-and-half plus more if needed
- Food coloring gel pink or desired color
- Sprinkles for decoration
Instructions
For the cookies:
- Beat butter, cream cheese, and sugar in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a flat beater until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add egg and vanilla and beat to combine.
- Whisk together flour and baking powder, and salt.
- Put mixer on low speed and add flour. Beat until just combined (do not over-mix).
- Divide the dough in half and shape into disks. Wrap disks in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Sprinkle work surface lightly with flour.
- Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator and let it soften slightly (about 10 minutes).
- Sprinkle rolling pin with flour and roll out dough to ⅛-inch thick. Move the dough around frequently to make sure it is not sticking. Use shaped cookie cutters to cut cookies.
- Place cookies at least 1-inch apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment or non-stick baking mat. Bake 7 to 9 minutes, until cookies are just beginning to turn light brown around the edges.
- Cool cookies on baking sheet for 1 minute then transfer to a wire rack. Cool completely.
- Repeat steps with remaining dough. You can gather up excess dough after cutting the cookies, shape into another disk, and roll out for more cookies. The texture may vary with re-rolled dough.
For the frosting:
- Beat butter, salt, and vanilla in a large bowl using an electric mixer until creamy.
- Add powdered sugar and 3 tablespoons milk. Beat until smooth, adding more milk as needed for spreading consistency.
- Stir in food coloring gel, a small amount at a time, until it has reached desired color.
- Spread frosting onto cookies. Top with sprinkles for decoration if desired.
- Store cookies on a platter in the refrigerator. If you need to stack them in a container, place parchment between layers.
Notes
Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Holiday Cookies and Candies recipe booklet published in 1986 (no longer in print).
Valentine's Day is coming soon. I've teamed up with some wonderful blogger friends for another Holiday Food Party to share recipes you can make for that special someone in your life. It is a fantastic lineup of sweets and treats:
- Chocolate Covered Strawberry Hi Hat Cupcakes (Gluten Free) from Pineapple and Coconut
- Frosted Cream Cheese Cutout Cookies from Magnolia Days
- White Chocolate Mousse with Frangelico from That Skinny Chick Can Bake
- Chocolate Caramel Pretzel 'n Chip Tart from Gotta Get Baked
- White Chocolate Cherry Brownies from The Messy Baker
- Chocolate Champagne Cupcakes from The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen
- Sugar-Free Blueberry Yogurt Truffles from What Smells So Good?
- Strawberry Cheesecake Heart Pie from Hungry Couple
- Red Velvet Heart Sandwich Cookies from Jen's Favorite Cookies
- Chocolate Cannoli Cones from Created By Diane
- Cherry Cheesecake Stuffed Cupcakes from Chocolate Moosey
- Nutella Brownie Cheesecake No-Churn Ice Cream from Cupcakes and Kale Chips
- Valentines Smores Hearts from Kelly Bakes
- Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies from Roxana's Home Baking
Special thanks to Jen at Jen's Favorite Cookies our host and the one who does so much to make these Holiday Food Parties happen.
Perfect Valentine's Day treats. My family loves frosted cut out cookies...one of the rare foods they all adore!!!
Funny how a family can have such different tastes. Glad you found something they all enjoy.
If you ask me, cream cheese frosting is the only choice for sugar cookies! And, I kind of like the pepto-bismol pink, too. 😉
Well, cream cheese or buttercream frosting are my favorites.
I have made for the first time cream cheese cookies a while back and they are so much better than I imagined. Now I'm very tempted to try your cut-out cookies. They look so pretty and so festive.
Yes, Valentine's day flag should definitely be 50 shades of pink and red
Pinned
Thanks Roxana. I've made both cutout and sliced cream cheese cookies. I really enjoy the flavor and texture of both. Thanks for pinning too.
that would be the best flag everrr!!
I love pink and red and hearts and coooookies! YAY!
Yes! We need to find a crafty person to make one.
Love the idea, love the photos!!
Thanks! You know I always smile when I get such nice compliments on my photos.
Renee, these are adorable! I love the frosting.
I love the frosting too. I could eat it by the spoonful.
These are so cute!! My 3 year old is on my lap right now asking me to make these for her. My girls would love these!!
Thanks and I can see these being a big hit with girls, especially 3 year olds. It was my niece's favorite color when she was that age.
Renee!!!
I LOVE these cookies. . . they are perfect for Valentine's Day!!! I am going to try your recipe!! LOVE LOVE LOVE
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
So pretty! What a perfect colour pink frosting!
Thanks! I aimed for a bit softer pink but wound up being very pleased with how they turned out.
*Excited squeal* I have a few bricks of cream cheese in my fridge so I'm totally going to make these beautiful cookies, Renee! Although mine won't turn out nearly as lovely as yours. I love the XO and heart shapes and the frosting is dreamy. Don't knock the colour - I love it! It really pops and grabs your attention. These are fabulous photos.
Funny because I don't know what I would do without bricks of cream cheese in my fridge. I use it so often.
I love the color. As the mom of boys, I love gazing longingly at girly things my boys will probably never enjoy. But while they may not like the color, The Bug would devour these!
Just use different cookie cutters and another color for the frosting. I'm sure you can make them something your boys would love.
I love cream cheese cookies!
Me too!
they are so pretty!
Thank you so much Dina
If Valentine's Day had a flag they would be your cookies Renee! I love them and I bet they are melt in your mouth tender good!
They do have a nice melt in your mouth quality. If you make them really thin then they have a bit of a crispiness to them.
I can already imagine sinking my teeth into these cookies! The bright pink really draws you in.
The cookies look so good when they are spread out on a platter.
I love, love, love pink cookies and OMG cream cheese....I think I'm in LOVE!
Yep, cream cheese gets me every time too.
You absolutely cannot ignore that shade of pink--and who would want to ignore cookies this adorable? So pretty! Love these X's and O's!
Thanks Kelly! And I love those X's and O's too.
These are so pretty and festive, Renee! Not like Pepto Bismal at all, really. My family has a sour cream cutout cookie recipe that we always use, but I'm intrigued by the cream cheese version, just because I love the flavor of cream cheese so much.
Thanks and now you have me wanting to investigate sour cream cutout cookies.