Stained Glass Cookies
Oh, stained glass window cookies. They’re the prettiest cookies on the plate. They’re so pretty, you can use them as ornaments. And, they’re easy to make. But! They’re hard to make pretty.
Sheet after sheet and mistake after mistake, we learned just how hard.
Too thin. Too thick. Too crispy. Too soft. Where’d the window go? What shape is this one supposed to be?
Still, we had fun. And you can, too. Who knows? Maybe you can even make them pretty.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Refrigerated cookie dough
- Flour
- Rolling pin
- Hard candies (like Lifesavers or Jolly Ranchers)
- Sandwich bags
- Parchment paper
- Cookie sheets
- Assorted cookie cutters/Knife
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Remove the wrappers from the candies and sort them by color into sandwich bags.
- Crush the candies with a rolling pin.
- Roll out the refrigerated dough on a floured surface to about 1/4 inch thickness. (You can make your own dough or use store-bought to save time, like we did.)
- Use cookies cutters or a knife to cut the dough into shapes.
- Transfer the shapes onto parchment paper on a cookie sheet.
- Use a smaller cookie cutter or a knife to cut shapes into the center of the cookies.
- If the cookies will be used as ornaments, poke a hole in the top of each cookie with a straw or a toothpick.
- Sprinkle crushed candy into the hollowed parts of the cookies. Fill them all the way to the edges.
- Bake approximately 8 minutes.
- Place baking sheets on a wire rack to cool at least 10 minutes.
- Eat them, hang them, or store them in an airtight container for later.
A few tips:
- Don’t want to use cookie cutters? Roll your dough into strips about 1/4 inch thick and use them to make outlines on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Fill with candy and bake per the directions above.
- Keep your cookies thin. If you make them too thick, your stained glass window will nearly disappear when the dough puffs up as it bakes.
- It’s easy to overbake these cookies, so check them often. They should just be starting to brown when you remove them from the oven.
- Be sure to let the cookies cool completely before removing them from the sheet, otherwise the candy will separate from the dough.
