Cookies and Cream Cutout Cookies

Cookies and Cream Cutout Cookies - made dough August 7, 2021 from Semisweet Designs 

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

4 ounces cream cheese

1 egg

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup crushed Oreos (about 10 whole Oreos)

3 cups all-purpose flour

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until well combined. Add cream cheese and beat until combined. Add egg, vanilla extract and salt, mixing until combined.
2. Add flour, 1 cup at a time, and the crushed Oreos, mixing briefly after each addition until incorporated.
3. If dough is too soft for rolling, chill for at least 30 minutes.
4. When firm enough to roll, place half the dough between two sheets of parchment and roll to an even thickness. Repeat with second half of dough. Chill rolled dough (leave between parchment sheets) for at least 30-60 minutes or until firm to touch. Cut into desired shapes, cover and chill again for at least another hour.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and evenly space chilled cutouts. Bake 7-9 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest on hot baking sheets for 10 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.

I've decided to make a simple but hopefully welcome change to the format of my blog posts. Namely, I'm going to put a picture and the recipe first instead of doing the commentary and making people scroll to the bottom of the post to find the recipe they want to try.

I know why most bloggers do it the traditional way of pictures and write up first then the recipe. They want you to read the words they've poured over and crafted. But, let's be honest, most of us would rather just cut to the chase and see the recipe, not read a bunch of words about someone else's experience. Or is that just me? Some bloggers are savvy enough to provide a helpful link at the top of their posts to "jump to the recipe". I'm not that sophisticated so here you go, from now on, recipe will be at the top. Whether you read this far down to hear about tips and tricks as well as my assessment of how the recipe turned out, well, that's up to you. It always has been but now I'm just saving you the trouble of scrolling all the way down. #yourewelcome

So let's also cut to the chase with this recipe. It's delicious. There's a slight tang from the cream cheese to keep it from become too sweet and the texture is soft. Even more thrilling, it really does keep its shape as advertised on the original blog. Woot. You know how hard it is to find a good-tasting cutout cookie recipe that keeps its cutout shape? This one delivers.

The only thing that gives me a little pause is, with the addition of the Oreo cookie crumbs to the dough, the cookies come out a bit gray. I can handle black and white but gray is not the most appetizing color for any baked goods. (Cue Steel Magnolias, armadillo red velvet groom's cake covered in gray icing. Thanks for that, Aunt Fern.) 

Gray doesn't do it for me. Next time I make these, I'm not going to process the Oreo cookies so finely in my food processor and will try to have more small chunks and fewer fine crumbs. So they can have more of a cookies and cream appearance.