Cream Cheese Spritz Cookies

When the tree is up and your house is decorated for Christmas and your in the baking mood, it's time to start thinking of cookies and it wouldn't be Christmas without a spritz cookie. There are many recipes to choose from and my favorite is the Cream Cheese Spritz.

Cream Cheese Spritz

2 1/2 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup butter

1 (3oz.) package cream cheese

1 cup white sugar

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon orange juice

Preheat oven to 350F. Sift together flour, salt and cinnamon; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl cream together butter and cream cheese. Add sugar and egg yolk; beat until light and fluffy. Stir in vanilla and orange juice. Graudually blend in dry ingredients.

Fill cookie press with dough.

(I pull out my trusty cookie press that I have been using for the past 25 years I bought it the first year that Richard and I got married and I made dozens of cookies for him that first year.)

And form cookies onto an un-greased cookie sheets.

If you can invite a few elves to join you. I used my daughter Ariel and Johanna our neighbor.

She comes in handy for decorating the cookies.

They make a great team!

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the edges of the cookie turn a golden brown. Remove from cookie sheets at once to cool.

The end results a cookie jar filled with cookies!

Now if I could only get those elves to do the dishes!