By Anastasha Echavarri
News Editor

My family has been making sugar cookies every Christmas for over 20 years. When I was a little girl, I would have my parents cut out shapes for me and I would decorate them and leave them out for Santa with a glass of milk. Now that I’m older, I bake all these cookies for myself. They are easy to make, fun to decorate, and are a great holiday gift for friends and family. Make these delicious treats a tradition at your house this holiday season.

•  1 cup sugar
• 1 cup margarine or butter, softened
• 3-oz. package cream cheese, softened
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon almond extract
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg yolk (reserve white)
• 2 ¼ cups All purpose flour

First combine sugar, butter, cream cheese, salt, almond extract, vanilla, and egg yolk; blend well in a large bowl. After slowly stirring in the flour until the mixture is well blended, take the dough and roll it into a ball. Cover it with plastic wrap and chill dough for at least 2 hours.

Once the dough is well rested, turn on the oven to 375 degrees and take it out of the fridge. Roll it out on a lightly floured cutting board or clean countertop and cut out shapes with cookie cutters and decorate with sprinkles. Place cookies on tray covered with parchment paper and put in the oven for 8-10 minutes. Let the cookies rest until they are completely cool.

Yields 5 to 6 dozen cookies.

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