Stained Glass Cookies Recipe (2024)

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Delicious and crisp sugar cookies are cut into shapes and filled with hard candies, which give a beautiful stained-glass effect after they are baked.These cookies are easy to make and look gorgeous. A delightful, simple, and mouthwatering treat to add to your Christmas cookies list.

These super-easy but stunning stained glass cookies with jewel-toned candy centers are a delicious holiday cookie treat. These fun and festive stained glass window cookies are made with sugar cookie dough and crushed hard candies.

Stained Glass Cookies Recipe

If you used to make stained glass window cookies back in the olden days, burned fingers and ugly cookies is probably what you remember most. I stopped making them because they were difficult to do, and this resulted in more than one icing session on my hand.

So, what changed? Silicone mats. You no longer have to double the dough, watch the stained glass slide out onto the cookie sheet, and no longer have to suffer burns. Using a silicone mat allows for one-layer cookies, the ability to let the cookies cool on the baking sheet, and then you can simply lift them off onto a wire rack. Easy-peasy.

While these delicious cookies are Christmas Tree shaped, you can make stained glass cookies in any shape you desire:While appropriate for your Christmas cookie tray, cookie exchange, or as holiday food gifts, by changing the cookie shapes, you can make these any time of year! An egg for Easter would be colorful and fun; cut-out jack-o-lanterns would be fabulous for Halloween! When using different shapes, simply adjust the number of hard candies you may need to fill the open spaces of your cookie dough.

Tips and notes for making these stained glass cookies:

● Pull out your butter about an hour ahead of when you plan on baking, and allow it to sit on the cupboard and soften.
● Do NOT substitute margarine for butter.
● In the United States 8 tablespoons of butter = 1 stick, and 1 stick of butter = ½ a cup. This recipe uses two (2) sticks of butter or 1 cup.
● For my UK and Australian friends: confectioners sugar is icing sugar (powdered sugar, 10x).
● How to make vanilla extract.
● Instead of two alike different-sized cookie cutters, try one large one and a different small one. Maybe a circular cookie with a square inside for the stained glass? Or an ornament shape with precut small pieces, so you don’t have to cut out a smaller shape?
● Any colored, semi-translucent hard candy will work to make the stained glass. This recipe used jolly ranchers, but Life Savers, lollipops, fruit-flavored hard candies, etc., may be used instead.
● Once baked, let the stained glass cookies cool completely on the silicone mat in order to lift them off the baking tray.
● You can use parchment paper, but I do not advise it. You need to let the stained glass cookies cool completely on the parchment paper before lifting them off. If the cookies are not cooled completely, the parchment paper can get stuck to the candies while lifting. It is better to use asilicone mat if you want to avoid this.
● Store the stained glass cookies in an airtight container for up to three days at room temperature or for approximately two weeks in the refrigerator.
● Ingredients for this recipe are commonly found at your local grocery store.

More Christmas cookie recipes for you to make this holiday season:

● Christmas Butter Cookie Recipe
● Hungarian Christmas Cookies Recipe
● Kris Kringle Cookie and Frosting Recipe

Stained Glass Cookies Recipe Ingredients:

● 16 Tablespoons of unsalted Butter, softened
● 2 large Eggs
● 2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
● 1 cup Confectioners’ Sugar
● 3 cups All-purpose Flour
● ¼ tsp Salt
● 25 Jolly Ranchers Hard Candies (green, blue, red)

Stained Glass Cookies Mise en Place:

● Silicone Baking Mats
● Stand Mixer (paddle attachment, whisk, bowls, etc.) or Hand Mixer
● Baking Sheets
● Measuring Cup
● Measuring Spoons
● Rubber Spatula
● Plastic Wrap
● Plastic Bags
● Rolling Pin
● Rubber Mallet
● Wire Racks
● Cookie Cutters: large and small
● Large Bowl

Stained Glass Cookies Recipe Directions:

1. Line your baking tray with a silicone mat and set it aside.
2. Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, in a large mixing bowl, combine the butter, eggs, vanilla extract, and confectioners sugar on medium speed until the batter is combined and turns creamy.

3. Add the flour and salt into the butter mixture and mix together to form a dough.
4. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour or overnight.
5. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

6. Remove the chilled dough from the fridge and roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to ¼-inch thickness.
7. Cut out cookies using any desired shape using a large cookie cutter.

8. Using a smaller cookie cutter, cut out a shape on the inside of the cookie dough.
9. Transfer the cut-out cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet (lined with a silicone baking mat).

10. Separate Jolly Ranchers into each color and place them in separate resealable plastic bags. Crush into small bits using a rubber mallet or rolling pin.

11. Fill the cut-out centers of the cookie dough with crushed candy.
12. Bake the cookies in the preheated 350°F oven until they are set and the hard candy center has melted, approximately 12-14 minutes.

13. Allow the baked stained glass windows to cool for 5-10 minutes on the baking sheet; the center should be cooled and hardened before the cookie is removed from the silicone mat.
14. Store the stained glass cookies in an airtight container for up to three days at room temperature or for approximately two weeks in the refrigerator.

Stained Glass Cookies Recipe

Stained Glass Cookies Recipe. Delicious and crisp sugar cookies are cut into shapes and filled with hard candies, which give a beautiful stained-glass effect after they are baked.These cookies are easy to make and look gorgeous. A delightful, simple, and mouthwatering treat to add to your Christmas cookies list.

Prep Time30 minutes

Cook Time14 minutes

Additional Time1 hour 15 minutes

Total Time1 hour 59 minutes

Ingredients

16 Tablespoons of unsalted Butter, softened
2 large Eggs
2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 cup Confectioners' Sugar
3 cups All-purpose Flour
¼ tsp Salt
25 Jolly Ranchers Hard Candies (green, blue, red)

Instructions

Line your baking tray with a silicone mat and set it aside.
Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, in a large mixing bowl, combine the butter, eggs, vanilla extract, and confectioners sugar on medium speed until the batter is combined and turns creamy.
Add the flour and salt to the butter mixture and mix together to form a dough.
Cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour or overnight.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Remove the chilled dough from the fridge and roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to ¼-inch thickness.
Cut out cookies using any desired shape using a large cookie cutter.
Using a smaller cookie cutter, cut out a shape on the inside of the cookie dough.
Transfer the cut-out cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet (lined with a silicone baking mat).
Separate Jolly Ranchers into each color and place them in separate resealable plastic bags. Crush into small bits using a rubber mallet or rolling pin.
Fill the cut-out centers of the cookie dough with crushed candy.
Bake the cookies in the preheated 350°F oven until they are set and the hard candy center has melted, approximately 12-14 minutes.
Allow the baked stained glass windows to cool for 5-10 minutes on the baking sheet; the center should be cooled and hardened before the cookie is removed from the silicone mat.
Store the stained glass cookies in an airtight container for up to three days at room temperature or approximately two weeks in the refrigerator.