Foolproof Holiday Cookies

Name: Foolproof Holiday Cookies
Yield: Makes thirty-six to forty 2 1/2-inch cookies
Ingredients: 2 1/2 cups, unbleached all-purpose flour (12 1/2 ounces/354 grams); 3/4 cup, superfine sugar (5 1/2 ounces/156 grams) (see note); 1/4 teaspoon, table salt; 16 tablespoons, unsalted butter (2 sticks), cut into sixteen 1/2-inch pieces, at cool room temperature (about 65 degrees); 2 teaspoons, vanilla extract; 2 tablespoons, cream cheese, at room temperature; 1 tablespoon, cream cheese, at room temperature; 3 tablespoons, milk; 1 1/2 cups, confectioners' sugar (6 ounces/170 grams)

Desserts or Baked Goods
Make Ahead
Cookies
Holiday

Appears in Cook's Illustrated November/December 2003, America's Test Kitchen TV

Rolling out cookie dough is a sticky business. Most recipes add excess flour, and the resulting cookies are tough. Could we make tender, crispy cookies that roll out easily?

SERVES Makes thirty-six to forty 2 1/2-inch cookies

TIME 1¼ hours, plus 20 minutes chilling and 20 minutes cooling

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