Homemade Cream Cheese Frosting recipe for Cookies is soft and fluffy, sweet and tangy, and easy to spread or pipe onto your favorite baked goods. Easy to make in minutes with 5 ingredients. Try it on these soft sugar cookies, brown sugar cookies, or red velvet cake whoopie pies.
Cream cheese icing is my favorite frosting ever, and I love it on everything from espresso brownies to soft, pillowy air fryer cinnamon rolls. But I especially love it on cookies. The cream cheese flavor complements deep, rich flavors in cookies like red velvet cookies or chocolate sugar cookies and adds tang to simple sugar cookies and shortbread cookies.
It's just perfect on everything.
❤️You're Going to Love This
- Smooth and creamy texture -- easy to pipe or spread onto cookies
- Sweet and tangy flavor of cream cheese pairs perfectly with everything from classic sugar cookies to carrot cake.
- Easy recipe to customize with gel food coloring or flavor extracts for any occasion.
- Holds its shape beautifully for piping pretty swirls
- Made with simple ingredients —nothing fancy here.
- Perfect cream cheese frosting recipe for holiday baking, birthday treats, and Valentine's Day cookies
🧈Ingredients
See recipe card at the bottom of the post for the full list of ingredients and exact amounts.
- Unsalted butter. Use room temperature butter so it creams easily with the cream cheese.
- Cream cheese. You'll need full-fat block cream cheese -- cream cheese spread in a tub has a thinner texture and won't firm up as well. Soften cream cheese to room temperature so it whips up smoothly without lumps.
- Pure vanilla extract. For pure white frosting, use clear vanilla extract.
- Powdered sugar. No need to sift your powdered sugar (confectioner's sugar) unless it's really clumpy.
🍋Variations
- Flavor extracts. Create the perfect complement to your baked goods with different flavor extracts like orange, maple, peppermint, or almond extract. Peppermint and almond can be quite strong, so start small.
- Citrus zest. Add bright flavor with lime, orange, or lemon zest
- Spices. Warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, or allspice are delicious with cream cheese frosting
- Food coloring. To tint the icing, stir a little gel food coloring into the prepared cream cheese frosting.
🥣Instructions
Step 1: In a large bowl, beat the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium to medium-high speed until smooth and creamy, 2-3 minutes. Mix in the vanilla extract and salt. Gradually add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl . Start on low speed until it's absorbed, then beat on medium to medium high speed until light and fluffy.
Step 2: Frost cooled cookies -- you can spread it on with a butter knife or pipe it on with a piping bag. Decorate as desired with sprinkles, sugars, shaved chocolate, or lemon zest.
👉Top Tip: If the frosting is too soft to pipe at first, refrigerate it for 10-15 minutes to help it firm up.
☑️Tips
- Use room temperature cream cheese and butter for lump-free frosting.
- For thicker frosting, add more powdered sugar, one tablespoon at a time, until it reaches your desired consistency. If it gets too thick, thin it with a little milk.
- No piping bag? No problem! Use a zip-top plastic bag with a corner snipped off. You can even add a piping tip to the bag for more precision—I do this all the time.
- Cream cheese frosting softens at room temperature, so it's best to serve cookies in a single layer. The frosting will firm up again when chilled.
🎁Storage
- Store cream cheese buttercream frosting in an airtight container or ziptop bag in the refrigerator for up to one week. You may need to re-whip it before using it again.
- Store cookies frosted with cream cheese frosting in the refrigerator.
- Freeze cream cheese frosting in a freezer bag for up to one month. Thaw in the refrigerator.
❓FAQs
Yes. Store any cookies, cakes, or cupcakes frosted with cream cheese buttercream in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
If your cream cheese frosting is too soft to easily spread or pipe onto cookies, chill it in the refrigerator to firm it up. You can also thicken it by mixing in more powdered sugar. I've read about cornstarch as a thickener, but when I tested it, I did not care for the texture or taste, so I personally don't endorse that recommendation.
Yes. If cream cheese frosting is overmixed, it can become runny. Mix it until it is well combined and fluffy. Then stop.
🎆Delicious Cookies for Cream Cheese Frosting
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📖 Recipe
Cream Cheese Frosting for Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth and creamy, 1-2 minutes. Mix in the vanilla and salt. Gradually mix in the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until completely combined. Do not overmix or the frosting may become runny.
- Spread or pipe cream cheese frosting onto cookies, cakes, and cupcakes. If the frosting is too soft to pipe, chill for 15-20 minutes.
- Refrigerate frosted cookies, cakes, and cupcakes until ready to serve. Store baked goods frosted with cream cheese frosting in the refrigerator.
Notes
- Use room temperature cream cheese and butter for lump-free frosting.
- If the frosting is too soft to pipe at first, refrigerate it for 10-15 minutes to help it firm up.
- For thicker frosting, add more powdered sugar, one tablespoon at a time, until it reaches your desired consistency. If it gets too thick, thin it with a little milk.
- No piping bag? No problem! Use a zip-top plastic bag with a corner snipped off. You can even add a piping tip to the bag for more precision—I do this all the time.
- This recipe yields approximately 3 cups of frosting, enough for:
- 48 cookies with 1 tablespoon of frosting each
- 24 - 32 whoopie pies with 1 ½ - 2 tablespoons of frosting
- 24 cupcakes with 2 tablespoons of frosting
- One 9 x 13-inch cake
- One 2-layer cake
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