Stained Glass Sugar Cookies Made Easy

Cook Time

Prep time: 1 hour 45 min

Cook time: 8 min

Ready in: 1 hour 53 min

Yields: approximately 4 dozen cookies (depending on size)

Recipe for Stained Glass Window Cookies

I've always loved stained glass windows. I was recently inspired to make these cookies while designing a stained glass window art project using crayons. I made these cookies with my mom on Mother's day and we both had a lot of fun. The process goes a little quicker with an extra person and it's a neat way to get an array of different cookies with a second creative mind. My mom made her cookies multi-color while I used one color for each cookie window.

I made my dough the day before and kept it wrapped in plastic in the frig overnight. I did the decorating and baking the second day, which also helped break up the length of the process.

Holiday Sugar Cookie Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 stick butter or margarine, softened
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 bag hard, clear candies

Instructions

1. In large mixing bowl, combine sugar, butter and shortening. Beat with electric mixer until light and fluffy.
2. Add eggs and vanilla, beating until well blended.
3. Add flour, baking powder and salt. Beat until soft dough forms.
4. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour or two. I put mine in a ziplock bag and chilled in frig overnight.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with foil and spray foil lightly with cooking spray.
6. Divide dough into thirds, working with a third at a time. Flour your surface well and roll dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness. Using cookie cutters, cut shapes out of dough. I used the lid of a mason jar (the threaded piece that actually screws onto the jar).
7. Using a knife or smaller cookie cutters, cut out shapes within your cookie to serve as windows. Place on cookie sheet.
8. Crush hard candies. Using a hammer and dish towels, I crushed individually-wrapped lifesavers inside their little packages and had perfect packets of candy dust. This made pouring and clean up VERY EASY. Pour crushed candies into your windows.
9. Bake in oven for 7-10 minutes. Candies should be completely melted. If over-baked (cookies will be too golden), candies will taste bitter.
10. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. Remove carefully from foil.
11. Enjoy!

Tips

• Keep flour handy for dusting your surface, hands, rolling pin etc
• Using too much crushed candy can cause your design to bubble over
• Using too little crushed candy will result in holes in your glass
• Do not remove cookies from pan until 100% cooled. If you do this too soon, the melted "glass" will stick to foil or weaken where it is attached to cookie.

Heather Says: I love how these cookies came out. I don't have an arsenal of cookie cutters (yet) but this cookie idea is perfect for mixing and matching shapes and colors. Use this for holiday cookies or just when you feel like making something beautiful!

photo by Heather Says