Christmas Cream Cheese and Almond Cookies
These delightful cookies are so lovely along side a warm drink and good company (or as a treat for yourself between all you hard holiday work!). Most large grocery stores and baking supply shops carry sugar crystals that are not dyed (aka, they look like large grains of sugar), but if your bladder is up to it you can always use the readily available green and red sugar crystals for a very festive look.
Christmas Cream Cheese and Almond Cookies
1 cup of butter, softened
8oz (225 grams) of cream cheese, softened
2 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 cup of sugar
½ tsp salt
½ tsp of vanilla extract
¼ tsp of almond extract
½ cup chopped almonds
1 cup of whole almonds
1 cup of sugar crystals
1 cup butter, softened
Line 3-4 large baking sheets (or do this in shifts, depending on how many baking sheets you have) with tin foil or Silpat sheets.
In a large mixing bowl or food processor mix together the butter and cream cheese, add in the sugar and extracts and beat until the mixture is fluffy and light.
In a separate bowl combine the flour and salt, sieve the mixture twice.
Gradually incorporate the flour and slat into the cream cheese mixture, stirring well with each addition of flour. Add in the chopped almonds, cover the bowl with a plate or plastic wrap and transfer it to the fridge for 20 minutes.
After 20 or so minutes remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it out into four cylindrical logs, about 1 ½ inches in diametre (4 cm).
Wrap each of these logs in their one sheet of plastic wrap, tightly, and refrigerate all of them for at least 8 hours or over night.
The next day (or later that same day) remove one log of dough from the fridge at the same time. At the same time preheat your oven to 325°F/165°C. Next coat each log in sugar crystals and cut into ¼ inch (0.75 cm) slices. When all the logs have been cut into slices and placed on your prepared baking sheets top each cookie with a whole almond.
Bake each sheet in the centre of your oven (or higher if it is a very hot oven) for 13-16 minutes, or until the bottoms of the cookies are just lightly brown when lifted with a spatula (check the cookies at the 10 minute mark and every 2 minutes or so after that, to ensure that they do not burn).
Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking tray for 2 minutes to firm up before transferring to wire racks. Cool and r in an airtight container for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 2 months.
Makes about 50-60 cookies