By Jill Parkin • Published: · Updated:
These fresh, modern Christmas Tree Stained Glass Cookies are bright and eye catching! They use simple ingredients, so it makes it easy for all ages to create these fun and beautiful cookies. They will easily become one of your favorite traditions of the year.
If you are particular about your sugar cookie recipe, you could easily use your own sugar cookie recipe and begin the process of this recipe at the cut out stage.
How to Make Stained Glass Christmas Cookies
To make these Stained Glass Christmas Cookies, you will need flour, eggs, butter, sugar, salt, vanilla, and most of all, Jolly Ranchers!
The fun thing about Jolly Ranchers is that you can find them in all sorts of flavors and colors. So have fun finding your favorite varieties.
First, in a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed. Next, add the eggs, vanilla and salt and continue blending until thoroughly combined. Slowly add the flour, mixing just until combined.
Now, cover the dough and place in the refrigerator for one hour.
While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 350º degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Remove dough from the refrigerator and roll out onto a floured surface about a half of an inch thick. Cut into desired shapes, being sure to cut out hollow areas to place candy.
Time to start baking
Place shapes onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Unwrap the hard candies and place into a plastic bag. Crush into small pieces. Place the candy in the hollowed out areas.
Jolly Ranchers work best for this. I used some off-brand candies and the bubbling was awful. I also tried some butterscotch (I really wanted yellow!) but those got really dull when they dried.
Bottom Line: use Jolly Ranchers.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies are set and the candy centers are melted.
Don’t overcook the cookies. If they are golden brown, you overcooked them. They are done when they are set and no longer shiny, don’t wait for the edges to turn.
Be sure to cool completely before moving o the parchment. Trust me. LOL. I just want you to have the perfect Stained Glass Christmas Cookies.
Stained Glass Cookies will Impress Your guests
The stained glass trees are fun to pair with small star cookies. For the small stars, turn the cut cookies over and press into hard candy powder or sprinkles before placing them into the oven. If you need a good star shaped cookie cutter, I used this star cookie cutter set with multiple sizes.
Also, if you are looking for the silver sprinkles I used, you can find the silver sugar sprinkles here.
These Stained Glass Christmas Cookies make a great addition to holiday cookie platters or gifts to friends. Every year we have fun trying different shapes of cookies for different stained glass looks. Snowmen, little houses, ornaments and stars are just some of the styles we have tried.
Finally, I hope you have a fun time creating your own Stained Glass Cookies! They have become my favorite thing to bake during the Christmas holidays.
Stained Glass Christmas Cookies
These fresh, modern Christmas Tree Stained Glass Cookies are bright and eye catching! Best of all, they are fun to make.
Course Christmas, Cookies, Dessert
Keyword Christmas
Prep Time 15 minutes minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes minutes
Total Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes
Servings 24 cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1-½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3-½ cups all-purpose flour divided
- 24 Clear Hard Candies in desired colors
Instructions
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed.
Add the eggs, vanilla and salt and continue blending until thoroughly combined.
Slowly add the flour, mixing just until combined.
Cover the dough and place in the refrigerator for one hour.
While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Remove dough from the refrigerator and roll out onto a floured surface about a half of an inch thick.
Cut into desired shapes, being sure to cut out hollow areas to place candy.
Place shapes onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Unwrap the hard candies and place into a plastic bag. Crush into small pieces.
Place the candy in the hollowed out areas.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies are set and the candy centers are melted.
Allow to cool on the baking sheet until the candy is completely cooled.
Notes
Note: for the small stars, turn the cut cookies over and press into hard candy powder or sprinkles.
Jolly Ranchers work best for this. I used some off brand candies and the bubbling was awful. I also tried some butterscotch (I really wanted yellow!) but those got really dull when they dried. Bottom Line: use Jolly Ranchers.
Don’t overcook the cookies. If they are golden brown, you overcooked them. They are done when they are set and no longer shiny, don’t wait for the edges to turn.
Be sure to cool completely before moving off the parchment. Trust me.
