I'm doing a couple of cookie swaps at Christmas parties we have coming up, so I'm on the hunt for yummy recipes.

This one looks really good.

And I think this post has some yummy ideas too. For some reason I can't like to Lori's post about them, so I'm just going to copy and paste her directions. Hope that's okay!

Cream Cheese Cookies

1 8 oz package cream cheese (the low fat cheese with the funny n name works great, too), softened
4 TBspn butter or margarine, softened
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
1 box cake mix flavor of your choice (I used devils food in the above pic)


(That's it!)


I usually soften the cream cheese and butter in the microwave at decreased power. Cream butter and cream cheese together until well mixed. Mix in egg yolk and vanilla. Beat in cake mix 1/3 at a time until mixed well- depending on your mixer you may need to beat in the last 1/3 by hand. Cover and refrigerate cookie dough for 30 minutes or until chilled. Preheat oven to 375. You can drop the dough by teaspoonfuls or roll into balls- I will say the roll into ball cookies are much prettier. For the cookie cups, roll into a 1-1.5" ball and press into a greased mini muffin pan. Make indent in cookie with finger. Bake at 375 for 6-8 minutes. Cookies are done when bottom is set and slightly darkened- be careful, cookies are easy to burn.

Just a tip your first batch will probably cook for a minute longer than subsequent batches, just in my experience with various ovens. So if you find that your first batch is done at 8 minutes (and I always check at 6 or 7 minutes even with the first batch), then check your 2nd batch a minute sooner. Also, cookies will be slightly set- if you eat one fresh out of the oven it will be like eating a very hot slightly set piece of dough (which is absolutely delicious but very messy). As cookies cool they will set more. Cool on pan at least 3 minutes before moving off cookie sheet. For these cookies, as with most cookies, I find it is extremely important to use a good quality cookie sheet- not an old, burnt one or a cheap thin one. My favorite for a flat cookie sheet is a Wearever Air Bake cookie sheet. For the mini muffins I bought a heavy duty Wilton mini muffin pan. It is a very heavy pan, nice and thick. The bottoms of the cookies burn easy, so this is important. Another thing I do to check if the cookies are done, using a metal turner, the cookies are done (on a cookie sheet) when you can lift part of the cookie without it immediately falling apart and bottom of cookie is darker than top.

So what's your favorite cookie? Share the recipe with me!