Stained Glass Sugar Cookies

What's better than candy and cookies? Mixing them together!

It may seem like a strange combo but the flavors work and look beautiful. I used Jolly Ranchers to make my stained glass effect - it melts to a thin, crunchy, yummy layer.

Sugar cookie dough

Rolling pin

Parchment paper or silicone baking mat

Cookie sheet

Large cookie cutter

Small cookie cutter

Hard candies such as Jolly Ranchers

You can make the stained glass effect on any sugar cookie recipe. Use your favorite recipe or follow my instructions for vegan sugar cookies!

Ingredients:

1 flax egg (1 Tablespoon ground flax seed mixed with 2 Tablespoons of WARM water let sit for at least 5 minutes)

1 Cup softened butter (my favorite is Earth Balance)

1 Cup granulated white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 Cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

1. Start by creaming your softened butter with a hand or stand mixer. You want the butter to get fluffy and light.

2. Add in your flax egg and granulated sugar. Mix it together until creamy and fluffy.

3. Add in your vanilla extract, baking powder and salt. Combine well.

4. Add your flour one half cup at a time. Add one half cup, mix the dough well. Continue until all flour is used.

5. Separate your dough into two balls(yes, it may seem a little crumbly but it will mold together) wrap in plastic and smash down a little to make a disk shape.

6. Chill your dough in the fridge for at least one half hour.

Once your dough has chilled in the fridge and you're ready to start baking - Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, prepare your baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. ***Through this process I have learned that the silicone baking mat will cause the "stained glass" to have air bubbles when cooled, it could potentially just be the mat I have. If you absolutely do not want the bubble look I would stick with the parchment paper.***

Place your dough disk on a well floured surface and roll to one eighth inch thickness.

Use your desired large cookie cutters to cut out a shape. I have chosen to use a circle and larger snowflake.

Once you have your large cookie shape cut out you want to transfer to your lined baking sheet.

Next, you will be using your small cookie cutter to cut out the inside of the cookies you just placed on your baking mat. The small shape will be what is filled with the candies to create the stained glass shape.

You can take your small cookie cutter and cut in the center of your cookie and use a spatula to get the small shape out. Or, you can dip your small cookie cutter into flour and press hard on the center of your cookie to get the small shape to come out inside the small cookie cutter.

You're going to take your hard candies and unwrap them. Get a different bag for each color, place the candies in the bag and smash! You can use anything you find best to smash the candies, I just used my rolling pin.

***Through this process I have learned jolly ranchers will break through the bag when you whack them. If you don't want your counter to be a sticky mess maybe prepare your surface with parchment paper or crush the bags on a cookie sheet. It wasn't an awful mess to clean up but if you'd like to skip cleaning sticky candy pieces I suggest hitting the bags on a prepared surface***

Fill the center cutouts of your cookies with your crushed candies. You want to make sure the center cutout is full, it will melt very thin. Use a toothpick to spread the crushed candies evenly.

Bake the cookies in your preheated oven for 12 minutes. The candies should be completely melted and the edges of your sugar cookies browned.

Let cool completely on the baking tray.

Once your cookies are cooled you can choose to decorate or not. I think they look pretty just on their own.

And your stained glass cookies are complete!