I am partial to drop cookies, mostly because I tend to reserve cut-out and rolled cookies for more special occasions where I can justify the time that goes into them. These do have a chilling step, but it’s only an hour and once the dough is firm it’s just a matter of rolling it into small balls and gently pressing them down after placing them on a cookie sheet. (To me, that’s much easier than finding the rolling pin and the cookie cutters.)
The dough is pretty basic. You just cream together butter and cream cheese before you add in granulated sugar and then the egg, vanilla, baking powder, flour, etc. (You know the drill.) It only takes one bowl and there are no complicated techniques, just a basic cookie dough that the cream cheese brings to new heights.
What that cream cheese does is create a soft and cloudy texture – these are not chewy, not crisp in the slightest, just gentle and snowy and sweet. Because they have both butter and cream cheese, the flavor is buttery and just on the edge of richness but it’s straightforward and clean too, not gussied up with nuts or baking chips or fruit. Simple is often best and that’s definitely the case with these.
