Cream Cheese-Buttercream Cookie Icing

The kids and I spent a few hours last night
decorating dozens of cookies! :)

I'm not really sure what to call this frosting recipe... besides "good." ;)  I've combined a few frosting recipes into one that tastes really good, goes on smoothly, holds its shape, and dries well enough that the cookies can be lightly stacked on top of each other without smushing - as long as you have a few layers of waxed paper in between each layer of cookies to help spread out the weight.  It goes very well with sugar cookies or other light cutouts (my favorite this year is a melt-in-your-mouth cream cheese cutout recipe), as well as with spiced cookies, such as gingerbread.  You can even use it to frost or decorate a cake. :)  Best of all - it's really yummy... and that's saying a lot, coming from a person who doesn't generally care for frosting. ;) 

This recipe makes about 4-1/2 cups or so of frosting, but can be easily cut in half if you don't have 6+ dozen cookies to frost. :)  Likewise, the flavorings can be easily varied to suit your taste.

Happy decorating!!

Ingredients:

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
6-7 cups confectioners' sugar (sifted if possible)
3/4 tsp almond extract
1/4 tsp rum extract (optional - but I LOVE this addition... it's so subtle you'd never guess it was in there, but it's very noticeable when it's not. :) )
Heavy cream

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese and butter and beat until light and fluffy.  Beat in the vanilla.  Gradually add 5 cups of the confectioners' sugar, 1 cup at a time, and beat until smooth and fluffy after each addition.  Beat in the remaining extracts, followed by the final 1 - 2 cups of confectioners' sugar (the amount will vary, based on the desired stiffness of your frosting, as well as the heat and humidity in your kitchen.)  The frosting should be easily spreadable and not too stiff, but stiff enough to hold its shape.  If you find it too thick for spreading, or if you wish to make a thinner icing to drizzle on top of some of the cookies (frosted or unfrosted) you can mix in heavy cream, a teaspoon at a time per cup of icing, until the desired consistency is reached.  Leftover icing may be covered and chilled until needed - rebeat before using.

Tint, frost, decorate, and enjoy!