Christmas Almond Sugar Cookies

Course: Cookie, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 18

Cook Time: 12

Chill Time: 2

Total Time: 2 30

Servings: cookies

Calories: 94kcal

Author: Emily

Christmas Almond Sugar Cookies are made with amaretto, cream cheese, and chocolate kisses and taste like chocolate-covered cherries!

Place the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium mixing bowl, whisk to combine, and then set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a mixing bowl and a hand mixer), cream together the butter, cream cheese, and sugar until light and fluffy. This takes about 5 minutes.
Add the egg and mix in. Then add the amaretto, almond extract, and vanilla extract and fully combine. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and stir just until combined. Use a spatula to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and give a few more turns to get everything mixed in.
Put down a piece of plastic wrap and place the dough on top. Form a ball with the dough while tightly wrapping it up. Chill the dough in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours.
Once the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare cookie sheets with a silicone mat or parchment paper and place the sprinkles in a small mixing bowl for rolling.
Scoop the dough and roll into equal-sized balls using your hands. Roll each ball in the bowl of sprinkles and place it on the prepared cookie sheet.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, just until set. The cookies will continue to firm up once removed from the oven. Gently press a chocolate piece on top of each cookie. Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for 5 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely. Enjoy!

These cookies will last 4-5 days in a sealed container.
If you don't want to use Amaretto, just substitute an additional ½ teaspoon almond extract instead of the alcohol
Once you place the chocolate kiss on top of the baked cookies, don't touch them until they have completely cooled! The chocolate will become very soft from the warmth of the cookies straight out of the oven.
These cookies don't spread very much, but make sure you still give them a little room to grow on the pan.
Since this batter is so sticky, silicone mats work amazing for these cookies. If you don't have one, use parchment paper so your cookies don't stick.
I found that a regular spoon worked the best to scoop out the dough onto my hands to create a ball.
You need A LOT of sprinkles to make all of these cookies. Nonpareils seemed to work the best and have a nice crunch. Regular sugar sprinkles melted just a bit but still looked good. Use your favorite or a few different types as I did!