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Gorgeous Stained Glass Easter Cookies

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Gorgeous Stained Glass Easter Cookies

Are you looking for something special to bake for Easter this year?  If you celebrate Easter as a religious holiday and need the perfect treat to take to a church or family gathering, these stained glass Easter cookies are for you!

They are gorgeous, tasty, and simpler to make than they look. In a line-up of Easter goodies, these cookies will stand out from the crowd of eggs-and-bunny-inspired treats.

If you have kids helping you in the kitchen, they will love cutting out the shapes and helping you smash up the Jolly Ranchers that form the stained glass! Give them a try and let us know what you think!

For the Dough:

Before you get to cooking, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Then you can start on your dough.

This recipe is similar to a basic sugar cookie, but the addition of almond extract gives it an elevated twist!

  • First, you will combine your dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, and salt. Set these aside.
  • Next, you will whip together your butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. As you continue to beat these together, add the egg, almond, and vanilla extract.
  • Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until combined.
  • Flip the dough out onto a surface that has been coated with confectioner’s sugar or flour. This will keep it from sticking.
  • After this, use a rolling pin to flatten the dough until it is about 1/4 inch thick.

Now it’s time to cut out the shapes! You will need a large cross-shaped cookie cutter and a smaller one. Kids love to help with this part!

  • Cut the large cross shape and then cut the smaller shape out of the center.
  • Use a flat spatula to transfer cookies (both the large ones and the smaller ones that you cut out of the centers of the large ones) to your parchment-lined pan. (TIP: I’ve found that it’s helpful to dip the spatula in some confectioner’s sugar or flour after transferring a few cookies to help keep the spatula from sticking to the cookies and breaking them.)

For the Stained Glass

Grab your Jolly Ranchers because it’s time to make the stained glass!

  • Separate the candy by color (I chose blue for these).
  • Unwrap them and place in a quart-size freezer bag (or you can do a few different colors in different quart-sized bags if you feel like having a variety).
  • Place all bags into a larger gallon-sized freezer bag.
  • Sandwich the gallon-sized freezer bag between two towels and beat candies with the flat side of a meat mallet until crushed. Candy will pierce BOTH bags, so be prepared. Feel free to pop a Jolly Rancher in your mouth while you bake! No judgment! 
  • Scoop candy pieces into the cut opening of each large cookie. The crushed candy should fill most of the hole and mound a little on top. This will amount to approximately 1 candy for each cookie.

  • After this, place cookies (both sizes) in your preheated oven and bake for 7 to 9 minutes. Because these will remain light-colored as they bake, don’t wait for them to brown–unless you like burned cookies!
  • Allow cookies to cool for at least 20 minutes on the baking sheet before carefully removing to a cooling rack.

  • When your cookies are cooled and ready to go, store them in an airtight container between layers of parchment paper. This will them from sticking together.

Want your cookies to look extra special?

These cookies look beautiful without any additional decoration. However, you may choose to decorate them further with some plain white frosting (store-bought or homemade) and sprinkles, as pictured below.  Either way, they are sure to be a beautiful and delicious treat to share with others this Easter!

Be sure to print the recipe below, and pay attention to the “notes” section which shares some tips you’ll want to know about! 

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Gorgeous Stained Glass Cross Cookies

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  • Author: Wendy Hilton
  • Prep Time: 35 minutes
  • Cook Time: 7-9 minutes
  • Total Time: Approx: 45 minutes

Description

These gorgeous stained glass cross cookies are the perfect treat to take to church or family gatherings throughout the Easter season! The stained glass feature makes them look like works of art, but they are pretty simple. I hope you enjoy making (and eating) them!


Ingredients

Scale
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 (2 sticks) cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • ½ teaspoon almond extract
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Powdered sugar or flour, for rolling
  • Jolly Rancher hard candies (approximately one candy per cookie)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degree. Prepare your baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper.
  2. Whisk together your dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, and salt. Set these aside.
  3. In a mixing bowl, blend the butter and sugar until creamy and light. Add egg, almond extract, and vanilla extract. Mix well. Slowly add dry ingredients and mix until combined. Dough may be a little crumbly.
  4. Turn out the dough onto a surfaced sprinkled with powdered sugar or flour. Press into a ball and then roll out to ¼ inch thickness. Use cookie cutters to create shapes. Carefully lift shaped cookies to the baking sheet. Using a flat spatula is recommended to help the cookies maintain their shape.
  5. Separate Jolly Rancher hard candies by color (I used blue for the cookies pictured). Place like-colored candies into quart-sized freezer bags. Next, place the quart-sized bag into a larger gallon-sized freezer bag. Sandwich the gallon-sized freezer bag between two towels and beat candies with the flat side of a meat mallet until crushed. Candy will pierce BOTH bags, so be prepared!
  6. Scoop candy pieces into the cut opening of each cookie. The crushed candy should fill most of the hole and mound a little on top. Depending on the size of your opening, you will use the equivalent of approximately 1 candy for each cookie.
  7. Bake cookies for 7 to 9 minutes. Do not brown the cookies. Allow cookies to cool for at least 20 minutes on the baking sheet before carefully removing to a cooling rack.
  8. Store in an airtight container between layers of parchment paper to keep the candy from attaching to the candy in other cookies.

Notes

Do not crush the Jolly Rancher candies prior to using as they will adhere to one another and become a hardened mass of candy.

Also, if the dough is rolled too thin, keeping these cookies intact while moving them to a baking sheet will be very difficult. Using a flat cookie spatula will help, but make sure the cookie dough is at least ¼ inch. Thicker cookies will require more crushed candy.

A basting brush can help keep the tiny pieces of candy inside the cookie opening.

Once cookies have cooled, serve as is or decorate with simple icing and sprinkles.

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