Stained Glass Cookies
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
Ingredients you need per step are listed below the step in Italic
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: 235kcal | Carbohydrates: 36g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 29mg | Sodium: 82mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 17g | Vitamin A: 259IU | Iron: 1mg
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