Stained glass cookies or stained glass window cookies are a holiday-time treat and perfect for gifting for Christmas. They are easy to make at home in a variety of shapes and colors.
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Ingredients
Basic sugar cookie ingredients are needed for making stained glass cookies. All-purpose flour, icing sugar, vanilla extract, and unsalted butter are needed for the cookies.
These are no-egg cookies made without baking soda or baking powder. For making the stained glass windows, hard candies like Jolly Ranchers are used.
Instructions
To make the cookie dough, use room temperature butter and whisk it using a wire attachment of a stand blender or a wire attachment of a hand blender.
Whisk on medium speed until it is fluffy and then add the icing sugar. Add in the flour, salt, and vanilla extract and make a soft dough using the stand mixer flat beater attachment at medium speed. Wrap and chill the dough for about 30 minutes.
Step 1: Whisk butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the rest of the ingredients and make a soft dough.
Take some dough, make a ball, and then place it between two wax papers. Roll it with a rolling pin to 5 mm thickness.
Use cookie cutters and cut out different shapes. Remove any excess dough from the sides.
Step 2: Place a wax paper on the dough and roll it into a 5 mm thickness sheet.
Step 3: Using a cookie cutter cut into various shapes.
Using small cookie cutters, cut out the centers of the larger cookies. You can bake them as well or mix them back into the dough to roll out more cookies.
Place all the cookies on a silicone mat. Don't place the cookies directly into the tray as the candies will melt and stick to the tray and can be difficult to take them out.
Step 4: Use a small cookie cutter and cut out from the center.
Step 5: Place all the cookies on a silicone mat.
Crush assorted colors of candies and place them at the center of the cookies. Once they melt, they will spread and give a stained-glass effect.
Preheat the oven to 350°F and bake the cookies for about 8-10 minutes or until the edges start turning golden brown.
Take the tray out of the oven and let the cookies cool down completely.
Step 6: Put crushed candies at the center.
Step 7: Bake in the oven at 350°F for 8-10 minutes.
Substitutions
Instead of icing sugar, powdered sugar and a tablespoon of cornstarch can be used.
Variations
The cookies can be partially coated with chocolate by dipping them in melted chocolate.
Equipment
For making the cookie dough, I have used the KitchenAid stand mixer. To beat the butter and sugar I used the wire attachment and to mix the cookie dough, I used the flat beater.
A variety of shapes of cookie cutters, small and large are used to cut out cookies.
For baking cookies, I have used a baking tray lined with a silicone mat as it allows the cookies to come off easily with the melted candies.
Storage
Stained glass cookies can be stored at room temperature for about a month in a cookie jar or an air-tight container.
Top tip
Chill the cookies after cutting them out for about 15-20 minutes. This ensures that the cookies will keep their shape.
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📖 Recipe
Stained Glass Cookies
Equipment
- Convection Oven
- Rolling Pin
- Cookie cutters (different shapes)
- Silicone liner
Ingredients
For cookies
- ½ cup Butter (unsalted, room temperature)
- ½ cup Icing sugar (or powdered sugar)
- â…› teaspoon Salt
- 1 ¼ cup All-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 15 Jolly Rancher (or other hard candy)
Instructions
Making cookie dough
- Whisk the butter using a stand mixer wire attachment until fluffy.½ cup Butter
- Add the powdered sugar and continue whisking until sugar is well mixed with the butter and the mixture is light and fluffy.½ cup Icing sugar
- Add the all-purpose flour, vanilla extract, and salt and mix well to form a soft dough.⅛ teaspoon Salt, 1 ¼ cup All-purpose flour, ¼ teaspoon Vanilla extract
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill it in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
Cutting out cookies
- Take some dough and roll it to a smooth ball between your palms.
- With a rolling pin, roll the dough by placing it between the wax paper to about 5 mm thickness.
- Cut out the cookie using a cookie cutter.
- Use a small cookie cutter and press at the center of the above cookie and cut it out so you have a large cookie with a gap.
- Carefully place it on the baking tray lined with a silicone mat.
- Continue for the remaining dough and cut out cookies following the above steps.
- Crush the hard candies and place them in the center of the cookies in the gaps.15 Jolly Rancher
- Put the tray with cookies in the fridge for about 15 minutes.
Baking cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350°F with the rack at the middle level.
- Remove the tray from the fridge and put it in the oven.
- Bake the cookies at 350°F for about 8-10 minutes until the sides start browning.
- Remove the tray and allow the cookies to cool down completely.
Notes
- For best and consistent results weigh the flour and sugar using a food scale (click on the metrics link under the ingredients list for weight in grams)
- Do not roll the cookie dough very thin else the cookies will become more brown.
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