Making The Most of Naptime : Cream Cheese Cookie Cups #ChristmasCookies

Welcome to my second contribution to #ChristmasCookies Week! Today I'm sharing a basic sugar cookie, filled with a cream cheese icing, topped with a little Christmas gummy candy. You can switch up the color of the filling or candy topping to suit your tastes, or to match a holiday color scheme. I think some sort of holiday chocolate would be fantastic on these as well. Thanks again to Ellen of Family Around the Table for organizing this event. Throughout the week there will be countless delicious cookies to check out, and I encourage you to take a look each day.

Christmas Cookie Cups (yields 48)

Sugar Cookie Crust
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 to 2 tbsp milk

-Combine flour, baking powder, soda, and salt in a small bowl.

-Cream together butter and sugar until very light and fluffy. Add egg and extract and beat very well.

-Gradually stir flour mixture into creamed mixture. The mixture should form a stiff dough. If it is crumbly, add a very small amount of milk until it is the desired consistency.

-Split dough into two equal portions and wrap well in plastic wrap. Chill for approximately 2 hours

-After chilling, roll the dough to 1/4 inch thickness on a lightly floured countertop (or on a piece of parchment). Using a 2.5 to 3 inch biscuit cutter, cut the dough and carefully place the circles into non-stick mini-muffin tins, to form a cup. This recipe will make approximately 48 cookie cups (depending on how many mini-muffin tins you have, you might need to make several batches).

-Bake in a preheated 350F oven for 10 minutes (it will be slightly underdone). The dough will puff up slightly. When you remove it from the oven, use the handle of a wooden spoon to gently poke down the dough, which will solidify the little "cup" shape. Allow to cool for a couple of minutes before carefully lifting them from the pans with a teaspoon. Cool fully on wire racks.

Icing Filling
1/4 cup cream cheese
1/4 cup butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
colored food paste (such as Wilton)

-Cream together butter and cream cheese. Gradually beat in powdered sugar, adding vanilla halfway through. Color the icing as desired.

Using a piping bag (a zippered plastic bag with the corner cut out works well too), pipe icing into the center of each cookie. Top with your favorite Christmas chocolate, gum drop, or other candy.