Cream Cheese Cutout Cookies

These Cream Cheese Cutout Cookies hold their shape beautifully for decorating, yet taste good enough to serve plain. Cream cheese adds a slight tang and keeps the centers soft and tender with lightly golden edges.

It’s a bit of a departure for me to feature un-iced or minimally adorned cut-out cookies here on the blog. As someone who spends a lot of time working with royal icing, I can get completely lost in an elaborate decorating scheme (). However, there are some cutouts that really deliver in the flavor department, like these Cream Cheese Cutout Cookies. They are enriched with lots of butter and cream cheese, which gives both flavor and texture a boost. I actually prefer to eat them like my favorite shortbread: plain with a cup of coffee.

Don’t get me wrong – these cookies bake up smooth with even surfaces, so they’re perfect for decorating with flood royal icing. But if you’re in a time crunch, stamp the dough with cute cookie cutter shapes, bake until golden at the edges, and call it a day.

The Cutest Cream Cheese Cutout Cookies

For me, Valentine’s Day has never been about celebrating just romantic love. It’s for also letting your grandma, bestie, or neighbor know that you care about them. This inspired me to make what I call Sweetheart Silhouette Cookies (people-shaped), but I didn’t have the right cookie cutters.

So! I freehanded some figure templates on heavy card stock (and you can too!). These figures can be paired or grouped in any combination to represent you as the giver with the recipient(s). I think they’re pretty cute. And they remind me the tiniest bit of ‘s flying figurative paintings. to the template, and the instructions for cutting them out are in the recipe notes.

Make the Cream Cheese Cutout Cookie Dough

First, cream the butter and cream cheese together until the mixture looks light and fluffy. Next, add the granulated sugar and beat until smooth and fully incorporated.

Then, mix in the egg and vanilla extract. The dough should look creamy and cohesive at this stage.

Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and fine sea salt in a separate bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer and blend on low speed just until combined. Avoid overmixing – you want a soft dough that rolls beautifully and bakes up tender (not tough!).

Chill the Cream Cheese Dough before Cutting

Finally, gather the dough into a ball and flatten it into a disk. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap to prevent drying. Now, refrigerate the cream cheese cookie dough for at least 4 hours, but overnight is even better. Chilling relaxes the gluten, firms the butter, and deepens the flavor. As a result, your cutout cookies will hold their shape and bake with crisp, defined edges.

Once thoroughly chilled, lightly flour your work surface and rolling pin. Unwrap the dough and cut it in half, returning one portion to the refrigerator to keep it cold.

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Roll the dough to 1/2-inch thickness. This slightly thicker roll gives these cream cheese sugar cookies their soft interior. I tested these at both 1/4-inch and 1/2-inch thickness, and the thicker roll consistently produced softer centers without sacrificing golden, crisp edges.

If you’re using my hand-drawn templates (), place the cardstock template over the dough and carefully cut around it using a sharp knife or kitchen-dedicated X-acto knife. Alternatively, use floured cookie cutters for classic shapes. Transfer the cutouts to parchment-lined baking sheets.

Chill the Cutouts then Bake

Before baking, chill the shaped cookies for 10 minutes in the refrigerator (or 5 minutes in the freezer). This quick second chill firms the butter again and ensures the cleanest edges. This is especially important for detailed templates or more intricate stamped designs.

Bake the cookies at 350°F for 12–15 minutes, depending on size. Three-inch cookies bake in about 12 minutes. Look for lightly golden edges and pale, matte centers. That’s your cue they’re done.

String Cutouts Together with Pretty Ribbon

While the cookies are still hot from the oven, use a plastic drinking straw to poke holes in the tops (head area) of the cookies. After the cookies firm up, you can string two or more of them together for gifting. I had some heart confetti sprinkles on hand, so I used them as a minimalist decoration. To do this, just dab the backs of the hearts with light corn syrup or honey and attach to the cookies.

The cream cheese in this recipe makes these cookies so tender. The additional fat content and slight acidity makes gives them unique flavor. It also adds extra moisture which keeps the cookies soft. (Will I ever make regular sugar cookies again? Good question!)

There’s something meaningful about shaping dough into a familiar outline – a figure that stands in for someone you care about. These cream cheese cutout cookies aren’t elaborate or fussy. They’re simple and meant to be shared. Bake a pair for your partner. Tie two together for your grandmother. Leave one on a neighbor’s porch with a note. I think cookies are the best way to show you care.

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