Stained glass cookies would be fun to make for Valentine’s Day – or any holiday! If you search for “stained glass cookies” on Pinterest you will find so many ideas – from spring flowers to Christmas ornaments.

These would add a fun pop of color to your holiday arrangements – and you get to combine cookies and candy!

Start by making your favorite sugar cookie dough. You want to hold a nice crisp shape, so choose a sugar cookie dough that is refrigerated. It works better if you roll out the cookie dough between two pieces of parchment paper before you refrigerate it. Then you are ready to cut the shapes as soon as it is chilled. I used the recipe below:

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/best-sugar-cookies/

I used alphabet stamps similar to this one to stamp “LOVE” on the cookies:

https://www.amazon.com/Cutters-Plastic-Alphabet-Numbers-Fondant/dp/B07RGGHSKL/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=baking+alphabet+stamps&qid=1575648430&s=office-products&sr=1-1

You use hard candies for the center. Place the candy in ziplock bags, cover with a kitchen towel and crush into small pieces with a rolling pin or meat mallet. Don’t crush up really fine, you want tiny shards of candy, not a fine powder. The crushed candy is sharp and tears the bag easily, so I found it helps to double up the bags , placing one inside the other. Place the candies in the inside bag and secure the top before crushing.

I tried Jolly Rancher and Life Saver candies for comparison. The Jolly Rancher cookies are on the left. I though that they had the best transparent stained glass effect. With the Life Saver cookies, on the right, the color was not as pretty. It was darker and did not smooth out as well once it was cooled.

Roll out your cookie dough about 1/4 inch thick, cut out your designs and put on a prepared baking sheet. The silicone mats work really well for this, but you could also use parchment paper.

Place your crushed up candy in a bowl and fill the area that you want to look like stained glass. Fill until almost full and then use a toothpick to spread the crushed candy evenly and into all the nooks and crannies. Be very careful – any candy specks that fall on the dough will color the cookie. You can use a damp paper towel to remove small pieces of the candy from the cookie.

When I was experimenting with different designs, I found that the cookies with large center openings looked better. The “stained glass” effect was much prettier, and if you are doing this with kids, they are much easier to fill.

When you first take the cookies out of the oven, the candy will be bubbling. This is normal, it will spread out and the bubbles will disappear as the cookies cool. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet until the cookies are completely cooled and the candy has hardened.

These were made with cherry flavored Jolly Ranchers, I found it to be the best flavor to use for a bright red color.

Blue raspberry Jolly Rancher candies made pretty snowflakes and hearts.

Sprinkle a little pearl sugar on them for a snow effect.

Have fun playing with these stained glass cookies! Enjoy!