These Stained Glass Window Cookies have a soft almond cookie with melted hard candy centers. They’re a beautiful cookie to add to your Christmas cookie plate that can be decorated or left as is.
Use your favorite holiday shaped cookie cutters for the larger cookie as well as the small center shape. For Christmas Stained Glass Cookies, I like to use stars and Christmas trees. However, you could turn these into adorable Valentine’s cookies by using hearts, circles, flowers, and even letters.
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Stained Glass Window Cookies
For such an impressive cookie, these Stained Glass Cookies are actually really simple to make. I’ve used a rolled sugar cookie dough flavored with a touch of almond extract as the base. You can cut them out using any kind of festive cookie cutter, or even a simple circle.
For the inside, you’ll need a smaller cookie cutter that will hold the melted candy stained glass. Then just crush up a few different colored hard candies, such as Jolly Ranchers and Life Savers, sprinkle them into the centers, and they will melt as they bake.
Feel free to experiment with different rolled cookie doughs, or add decoration such as crystal sugar or icing. No matter what they will make a beautiful addition to any holiday dessert plate. And for a fun variation, make them into a Taylor Swift Cookie.
Stained Glass Cookie Ingredients
- Flour - all-purpose flour works great.
- Cream of Tartar - this adds a slight flavor but also keeps the cookies nice and soft.
- Salt - sea salt works great for cookie dough.
- Butter - make sure your butter is soft before making the dough. You can pull it out to room temperature ahead of time or gently warm in the microwave for about 10 seconds at a time. You can use unsalted butter or salted, but if you use salted you may want to decrease the additional salt slightly.
- Sugar - you’ll need white granulated sugar for this cookie dough.
- Eggs - any kind of large eggs will work great.
- Vanilla Extract - pure vanilla extract has the best flavor.
- Almond Extract - just a touch of almond extract adds loads of flavor.
- Hard Candy - use any kind of translucent hard candies such as Jolly Ranchers, Life Savers, or lollipops.
How to Make Stained Glass Window Cookies
- Mix the cookie dough. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, and salt and set aside. Place room temperature butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and cream with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy, or about 3 minutes. Slowly add the eggs, almond extract, and vanilla extract and mix again until combined. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until combined. Scrape the bowl to make sure that all of the butter mixture has mixed in completely.
- Chill the dough. Divide the dough into 2 flat patties, then wrap in plastic and chill in the fridge for about 2 hours (or overnight).
- Roll and cut the cookies. Sprinkle the counter and rolling pin lightly with flour. Roll out the dough on your floured surface until it is about ¼" thick. Cut cookies out into desired shapes, then use a smaller cookie cutter to cut out small shapes inside each cookie to make a stained glass window. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat at least 1" apart.
- Add the crushed hard candy. Add the crushed candy and fill with as much candy as possible without overfilling the hole.
- Bake. Bake in a preheated 325 degree F oven for 8-10 minutes, or until the edges are set and there is just a hint of golden brown color.
- Cool. Let the cookies cool for about 2 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a countertop to cool completely.
- Serve. Serve as is, or decorate as desired. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week or in a covered container in the fridge for up to 12 days. Enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
The best candies to use for Stained Glass Cookies are hard candies that are at least semi translucent so that you will be able to see through them once they spread out. Candies like Jolly Ranchers, lollipops, and Life Savers all work great.
Stained Glass Cookies can be stored for up to 1 week in an airtight container at room temperature or up to 12 days in the fridge.
I like to separate the candies by color, then put the candy into a freezer bag and crush with a meat mallet or a rolling pin. The pieces should be fairly small so that they melt quickly.
Storing Instructions
- Room Temperature: store in a single layer, or between parchment paper, in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
- Refrigerator: store in an airtight container for up to 12 days in the fridge.
- Freezer: store in a single layer, or between parchment paper, in an airtight container or freezer bags in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Stained Glass Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Cream of Tartar
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 cup Butter room temperature
- 1 cup Sugar
- 2 large Eggs
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- ½ tsp Almond Extract
- 20-30 pieces Crushed Hard Candy Life Savers, Jolly Ranchers, or other hard candy
Instructions
Making the Cookie Dough
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, and salt and set aside.
- Place room temperature butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and cream with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy, or about 3 minutes. Slowly add the eggs, almond extract, and vanilla extract and mix again until combined.
- Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until combined. Scrape the bowl to make sure that all of the butter mixture has mixed in completely. Cover with plastic and chill in the fridge for about 2 hours (or overnight).
Baking the Stained Glass Cookies
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- Sprinkle the counter and rolling pin lightly with flour. Roll the dough on your floured surface until it is about ¼" thick.
- Cut cookies out into desired shapes, then use a smaller cookie cutter to cut out small shapes inside each cookie to make a stained glass window. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat at least 1" apart. Add the crushed candy and fill with as much candy as possible without overfilling the hole.
- Bake in a preheated 325 degree F oven for 8-10 minutes, or until the edges are set and there is just a hint of golden brown color.
- Let the cookies cool for about 2 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a countertop to cool completely.
- Serve as is, or decorate as desired. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week or in a covered container in the fridge for up to 12 days. Enjoy!
Nutrition
More of the Best Holiday Cookie Recipes
- Heath Toffee Cookies
- Coconut Macaroons
- Dipped Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
- Chocolate Kiss Cookies
- Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Candy Cane Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies
- Best Gingerbread Men Cookies
- Peanut Butter Smores Cups
- Soft Molasses Cookies
- Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies
- More Christmas Cookie Recipes
- More Cookie Recipes
These soft and chewy Stained Glass Window Cookies have a crisp and colorful candy center made from melted hard candies. They taste as good as they look and are super simple to make.
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