Christmas Butter Cookies

These Christmas Butter Cookies are spritz cookies loaded with butter and cinnamon. They are delicious cookies, easy to make and easy to decorate for the holiday.

Use a snowflake die for white cookies and die some of the dough green and use a Christmas tree die.

You can also get a head start on Christmas with this Christmas cookie recipe because they freeze beautifully.

Butter Snow Flake Christmas Cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup butter
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon orange zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the all-purpose flour, salt, and ground cinnamon and set aside.

In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and the softened cream cheese. Add the white sugar and the egg yolk. Beat together until they are light and fluffy.

Stir in the vanilla extract and the orange zest. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients.

Fill a cookie press or pastry bag with dough and form the cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake the cookies for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the cookies are golden brown on the peaks and on the bottoms. Remove from the cookie sheets at once and place on wire racks to cool.

In addition to different shapes and colors for the dough you can also decorate the cookies with cherries, colored sugar or sprinkles.

These cookies are so delicious they will knock your mother-in-law's socks off.

Just don't give her your recipe for Christmas Butter Cookies!