These stained glass cookies will impress your guests. Of course, they are tasty, delicious shortbread. And if you hold them up to the light, the light peeks through nicely. Just like with real stained glass windowpanes. And did you know that they are easy to make and super fun to bake with the kids!
Stained Glass Cookies
Baking cookies is an activity for the holidays. To do yourself or together with the children. And these cookies are amazingly delicious and beautiful to look at. In addition to a delightful shortbread dough, you can make these lovely treats with molds. A giant cookie cutter for an outer edge and a smaller one where you can melt the candies.
Since the cookies are thin in the middle, they are not too hard and delicious. And when you make a hole at the top, you can thread a string through it and hang them on the Christmas tree.
And can't get enough of baking cookies? Then look at this page full of cookie recipes such as cinnamon cream cheese rolls, sable cookies, and Christmas jam cookies.
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What do you need for Stained Glass Window Cookies?
To prepare these Stained Glass Cookies, you need the following ingredients. You can find the correct amounts in the recipe card at the bottom of the blog:
- Flour - Use regular wheat flour or patent flour for these cookies.
- Sugar - To sweeten the cookies
- Butter - Use unsalted butter.
- Egg - To bind the dough and for a creamy taste.
- Vanilla Extract - For a hint of vanilla flavor. If you can get it, use natural vanilla extract, which has a slightly deeper flavor than artificial vanilla extract. With this recipe, you can make a homemade vanilla extract (and, if you bake a lot, it is highly recommended because you can use this for a reasonable amount of time).
- Salt - Balances the flavor in the cookies.
- Candies - Hard candies; I used Napoleons in this recipe. But other hard candy, like life savers, is also very suitable.
How to prepare Easy Stained Glass Cookies for the Holidays
You can find a printable recipe with a step-by-step description at the bottom of this blog.
- Mix the sugar with the butter, vanilla extract, and salt until combined. Next, add the egg and mix until incorporated. Finally, add the flour and mix until just combined (dough ball forms).
- Divide the dough in two and roll out each piece to about ¼ inch (½ cm) thickness. This is very easy between two baking papers. Sprinkle the bottom baking paper with some flour, place the dough on it, and flatten it a bit. Dust with flour and place the second parchment paper on top. Roll on! Repeat for both dough and put the pieces of dough in the fridge. Let cool for at least thirty minutes.
- Now remove the top layer of baking paper and use the large cutter to cut cookies out of the dough. Place it on baking paper on a baking tray. Take the second smaller cookie cutter and press it into the center of the large cookie. Carefully remove this dough from the center of the cookie. Repeat until all the dough is used up.
- Bake the cookies for six minutes in a preheated oven at 350 °F (ca. 177 °C). Remove from the oven and place a sourdough in the center of the cookie, in the hole you made. If you have big candies, crumble them in a bag by hitting them with a rolling pin until crumbled, and sprinkle about one teaspoon of sour in the middle of the cookie. Bake the cookies for another nine minutes. Then, remove the baking sheet from the oven and let it cool to room temperature.
Delicious with Nutella Chocolate milk or this hot chocolate with vanilla and herbal liquor for adults.
Tips, Substitutions, and Variations
- It is essential that the cookies keep their shape. That's why you put them in the refrigerator for at least half an hour after rolling the dough.
- Do not roll the dough too thin, about ¼ inch (5 mm); otherwise, it will lose its firmness and break (and the 'glass' will not stay in place).
- Do you have air bubbles after baking? Take a clean needle; immediately after baking, carefully stir through the 'stained glass.'
- Vary - Use different colors of candies. Crush them and sprinkle different colors in the recess of each cookie. When they are still warm from the oven, you can make different effects with a needle by drawing a circle in them.
- Decorate the dough by brushing it with a bit of water and then sprinkling sugar before it goes into the oven.
- Prick a hole at the top with a thick needle or skewer, and you can thread a string through it. So you can hang them on the Christmas tree.
- And because we don't want to waste anything, we bake the small cookies that we remove from the middle of the large cookies next to them.
Did you make this recipe? Tag #byandreajanssen via Instagram. I enjoy seeing what your creation looks like. Video recipes can be found on my YouTube channel. And don't forget to save the recipes on Pinterest so you can easily find them next time!
📖 Recipe
RECIPE CARD
These stained glass cookies will impress your guests. Of course, they are tasty, delicious shortbread. And if you hold them up to the light, the light peeks through nicely. Just like with real stained glass windowpanes. And did you know that they are easy to make and super fun to bake with the kids!
Equipment
- Hand Mixer
- A conventional oven is used. When using a convection oven (with air fan) decrease the temperature with 30 °F / 20 °C
- Baking tray
- Parchment paper
- Cookie cutter
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 ¾ stick butter, unsalted, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 egg, size L
- 3 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 7 oz. Hard candy , crumbled when large
All my recipes are written both in Metric (gram / ml) and US Customary (cups / pounds). Here you can select which type of amount you would like to see.
Instructions
- Line two baking trays with baking paper.
- Mix the sugar, butter, vanilla extract, and salt in a large bowl on high speed for 2 minutes.1 cup sugar, 1 ¾ stick butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ⅛ teaspoon salt
- Add the egg and mix until incorporated.1 egg
- Scoop in the flour and mix until just incorporated into the dough (you don't want to overwork it).3 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- Divide the dough in two.
- Take a piece of parchment paper and sprinkle some flour on top.
- Place a piece of dough on the paper and flatten it with your hands.
- Sprinkle the top with dough and place a second baking paper on top.
- Now roll out with the roller to a thickness of ¼ inch (½ cm). Put this in the fridge for at least 30 minutes and repeat with the second piece of dough.
- Preheat the oven to
350 °F or 320 °F - Take the cold dough and cut cookies out of the dough with the large cutter. Place it on the baking tray.
- Now take the small cutter and press out a piece of dough in the middle of the large cookie. (I put these small cookies next to the big ones, so they bake too). This is easy with a pallet knife or a regular knife.
- Bake the cookies for nine minutes, and remove them from the oven.
- In the center, place a candy (not too big) or one teaspoon of crushed candies.7 oz. Hard candy
- Return the baking sheet to the oven and bake for another nine minutes.
- Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let the cookies cool completely.
Notes
1. Vanilla extract - With this recipe, you can make a homemade vanilla extract (and, if you bake a lot, it is highly recommended because you can use this for a reasonable amount of time).
2. Hard candies - I used Napoleons in this recipe. But other hard candy, like life savers, is also very suitable.
3. Stained Glass Cookie Baking Tips
- It is essential that the cookies keep their shape. That's why you put them in the refrigerator for at least half an hour after rolling the dough.
- Do not roll the dough too thin, about ¼ inch (5 mm); otherwise, it will lose its firmness and break (and the 'glass' will not stay in place.
- Do you have air bubbles after baking? Take a clean needle and carefully stir through the 'stained glass' immediately after baking.
- Prick a hole at the top with a thick needle or skewer, and you can thread a string through it. So you can hang them on the Christmas tree.
- And because we don't want to waste anything, we also bake the small cookies that we remove from the middle next to the large cookies on the baking plate.
- Use different colors of candies. Crush them and sprinkle different colors in the recess of each cookie. When they are still warm from the oven, you can make different effects with a needle by drawing a circle in them.
- Decorate the dough by brushing it with a bit of water and then sprinkling sugar before it goes into the oven.
- Room temperature - The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 5 days. In a humid environment, the biscuits become soft, and the stained glass becomes sticky.
- Freezer - Freezing will fade the color of the 'glass' and I don't recommend it.
Nutrition
Calories: 235kcalCarbohydrates: 36gProtein: 3gFat: 8gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.4gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0.3gCholesterol: 29mgSodium: 82mgFiber: 1gSugar: 17gVitamin A: 259IUIron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Cpg says
Making these aging for the 4th of July!