Hands down, all throughout my childhood my favorite thing about Christmas was making cream cheese cookies with the old school electric cookie press.  To this day, I still look forward to making these crunchy-chewy-melt-in-your-mouth morsels of holiday goodness.  I realize that I could make these any month out of of the year, but it wouldn't be the same: these glittering, ornament-esque cookies are so special they are worthy of their once a year tradition.  Of course, the cream cheese cookies of my childhood were made of refined white flour, crisco, and lots and lots of dairy, so I created this version as a "healthier" vegan and gluten free alternative.  

You don't need a cookie press to make these cookies but I highly recommend using one.  They are inexpensive and easy to use and you won't get the fun shapes without one.  These are great cookies for kids to help with - they especially love using the cookie press, and, of course, sprinkling the cookies with excessive amounts of sugar.   

Ingredients

-1/2 cup vegan butter (Or regular butter.  I used soy-free Earth Balance) 

-1/2 cup shortening (I used Nutiva Organic Superfood Shortening)

-3/4 cup granulated sugar 

-1 package vegan cream cheese (or regular cream cheese.  I used Daiya brand)

-1 teaspoon vanilla

-Optional: 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt if your butter isn't salted

-2 cups gluten free flour (I used Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 Baking Flour, but all purpose flour would work as well)

-Sparkling sugar for decorating (left clear or mixed with a drop or two of natural food coloring) or already prepared colored sprinkles - these are great and can be found at Whole Foods.

Instructions

Cream butter, shortening, cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer.  Slowly add in flour half a cup at a time and mix until completely incorporated.  Chill in the fridge for about an hour.  Force dough through a cookie press* onto an ungreased cookie sheet and sprinkle with colored sugar.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes, until bottoms and edges of cookies are lightly browned.  Transfer immediately to cooling rack to finish cooling.  Store in an airtight container (but I'm not entirely sure how long they will last because they typically disappear within a day or two!)   

*If you don't have a cookie press you can roll dough into a log and slice it into 1/8"-ish thick rounds.