Stained Glass Cookies

Look how fun and festive these are!! They are super easy to make and come together in a flash. You can use any cookie cutters you have just make sure the inner shape is small enough and there is enough cookie to hold the the hard sugar (stained glass) in the center. Also when rolling it out make sure the edges don’t get to thin or they will burn. These are also beautiful as ornaments. Just poke a little hole in the top and string a ribbon through. They should keep for up to a week.

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), room temp
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup hard colored candies of your choice (I used Jolly Ranchers)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl with and electric mixer or paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar. Add in the eggs one at a time. Make sure to scrape down the edges. Add in the vanilla extract.

In a medium size bowl whisk together the dry ingredients, flour, cornstarch, salt. Gently mix the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Mix until the dough starts to come together. Pour the dough out onto a floured surface and form into two large disks. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 1 hour.

Once the dough has chilled roll out to about 1/4 inch thickness. Using the cookie cutters cut out the large shapes and then the inner window shapes. Poke a hole in the top if you’re going to use them as ornaments.

Place cookies on a silpat lined baking pan.

Add the hard candies into a zip lock bag and crush up finely and distribute into the centers of each cookie. Bake for 12 minutes. Let cool completely on the sheet pan before starting another batch. Once cooled add ribbons or hooks if hanging.

*Make sure to keep these away from any humidity or water as they will get sticky!

*You also really need a silpat for this so the sugar doesn’t stick to the pan, parchment MIGHT work if you’re in a pinch though.