Chai Spiced Santa Cookies with White Chocolate Frosting

Instructions

1. 1. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the egg and mix until evenly combined. Add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cardamon, all-spice, and salt, beat until combined and the dough forms a ball.2. Generously flour your work surface. Divide the dough in half and flatten each half into a disk. Roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Make sure you're using enough flour or your dough will stick. Cut out the cookies using a Santa cookie cutter or your favorite holiday shape. Carefully transfer the cookies to a parchment lined baking sheet. Cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap and place the sheet into the freezer, freeze until firm, about 15-20 minutes. Roll out the leftover scraps, and repeat with the remaining disk of dough.3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the cookies on the middle rack of the oven for 10-12 minutes (for soft cookies) or until just lightly golden brown. Do not over bake. Cool on the baking sheet five minutes and then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.4. To make the frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer (or large bowl with a hand mixer) beat together the butter and powdered sugar until smooth and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the melted white chocolate, and vanilla, beat until combined. 5. To decorate. Transfer half the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a small tip or ziplock bag and snip a very small portion of the corner off the bag. Using a knife, frost Santa's hat (the top portion of the Santa cookie) and sprinkle with red sanding sugar. Using the piping bag, draw on the white rim of Santa's hat, and the white ball at the tip of the hat. Now draw on his white beard. Make 2 dots for his eyes, and one for his nose. Place 2 mini chocolate chips in for his eyes, and a red M&M for his nose (use above photos for visuals).6. Store cookies in a single layer in an airtight container for up to 3 days. And of course you can decorate these however you'd like. This is just how I decorated  my cookies!