Amazing Stained Glass Cookies – Festive Christmas Cookies

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These stained glass cookies are a gorgeous Christmas treat to make during the holiday season perfect for gifting or a fun baking activity!

Christmas is a time when families come together and memories are made. Kids love making cookies and milk for Santa. This is a perfect activity for kids who love stained glass cookies! 

While kids love them, so do adults. You can decorate these cookies any way you like, and make them special for someone special. Or leave them plain for the beautiful stained glass effect to shine through. 

Unlike other cookies, these Christmas stained glass cookies can be made any time of year. There is no need to wait for the holidays! They’re a fun star shape here but you can make them into any other shapes as long as the center is cut out for the glass effect. 

 With the perfect mix of sugar cookies with candy, these Christmas Stained Glass Cookies will be sure to evoke happy memories for your guests! 

This Christmas cookie recipe is one of our favorites to make with kids! As you can see below my 5-year-old son @DashBakesTheGreats had a great time baking these special cookies. 

Let’s get started and make some Christmas Stained Glass Cookies!

Stained Glass Cookies – Ingredients:

• All purpose flour
• Butter
• Kosher salt
• Sugar
• Star cookie cutters (We used 4″ and 3″)
• Colored Candy (we recommend Jolly Ranchers for the most vibrant flavors)

How to add a little extra Creativity to the Cookies

Use a mix of colors

If you want to make these cookies extra colorful, you can use a mix of colors in both the dough and the candy center. For example, add red, green, and blue food coloring to your dough beforebaking. 

This would not only add a little color but also help portray the holidays even more!

Add edible glitter

If you want to add a little extra flair without much work involved, you can use edible glitter or sprinkles by adding them when the candy is still cooling so they stick. 

Try a different candy

If you don’t like crushed candies, you could try other types of candy like crushed peppermints. However, this may change the flavor of the cookies a bit, and will take away the glass factor. 

By varying the type of candy, you can create different cookie flavors for your Christmas party.

Sprinkle some edible sugar crystals

If you want to add something really special, you could try sprinkling edible sugar crystals on top of the cookies. These will give them a beautiful sparkle. 

You could use different colors for the crystals or you could use one color throughout. This is a really fun and unique way to decorate your cookies and make them really stand out.

Add a light coat of frosting

If you want to add a little extra frosting, you could brush it on the sugar cookies lightly with a light coat. This will give the cookies an extra smooth look and feel. Add sprinkles to give the edges some flair. 

Some people also like to add a little bit of food coloring to the frosting for a more festive look. You could use different colors for the food coloring, or you could leave it white.

Perfect Ways to Serve Stained Glass Cookies

Serve with a cup of hot chocolate

If you want to serve the cookies with a cup of hot chocolate, you could use different flavors. For example, you could use marshmallows or mint hot chocolate. 

Alternatively, you could use chocolate or caramel hot chocolate so that they taste like Christmas! If you want to make this more special, you could add some crushed mallow or mints.

Throw them in a Cookie Jar

Cookie jars are a classic way to store cookies. You could put the cookies in a glass jar or metal container. This is a great way to bring the cookies out and show them off whenever you want. 

Alternatively, you could buy some cookie jars and display them on your countertop and paint festive Santa designs on them!

Make holiday favors

Since each cookie is so impressive you can bag one up in a clear cello bag and tie it up with twine with a festive tag to send home as holiday party favors! 

How to Make Stained Glass Cookies

Step One: Crush the Candy

Unwrap the candy and place them in zipper bags by color. 

Use a rolling pin to smash the into candy bits. You don’t want them to be super crushed so they are powdery. They should be the size of tiny crystals. Refer to the photo or videos in this post to get a gauge on size. 

Step Two: Prepare the Cookie Dough

Cream the butter and sugar together using a stand mixer or hand mixer on medium to high speed until fluffy, about 5-6 minutes. Scrape the bowl in between mixing. 

Add flour and salt in a bowl and whisk. Add to the butter and sugar mixture and beat on low speed until a soft ball of dough forms. 

Step Three: Start Shaping the Dough

Portion the dough into two balls and place each ball under two pieces of parchment paper to prep for rolling out. Using parchment is a trick to keep the dough from sticking without using flour!

Using a rolling pin, roll out to about 3/8 inches width. Place parchment with dough on a baking pan and place in the refrigerator to chill for 15-20 minutes before cutting. Repeat with the other ball of dough. 

While the cookies are chilling this is a good time to preheat your oven to 350 degrees. 

Step Four: Cut out Cookies

Remove the pan from the refrigerator and cut out using your large star c0okie cutter and placing the smaller one in the center of the large. Remove the star shape with the center cut out and place on another parchment lined baking pan 2″ apart to get ready for baking. 

Since our cookies were on the larger size we placed 6 cookies per pan. 

Step Five: Place Candy in the Cookies 

Fill the center of the stars with the crushed candies per color. Make sure to add an even layer filling in the center so there are no holes. Place the pan in the refrigerator to keep the cookies chilled while you work on cutting out more dough. 

Step Six: Bake the Cookies

Place one pan in a preheated 350 degree oven for around 15 minutes, rotating pan in between baking. Remove when the edges turn barely brown. The center will look bubbly but as soon as you remove the pan the candy will start to harden. Let the cookies cool on the plan for at least 10 minutes before removing to cool further. The candy center should be hard and set. 

Repeat with the other remaining cookies. 

Note: Re-roll your dough scraps to make more cookies. 

For the inner stars, you can bake those up just as they are! They will require less baking time since they are smaller, about 10 minutes total. 

Takeaway

Stained glass cookies are a great way to add some extra festive flavor to your holiday celebration. By using different colors and flavors, you can create unique and special treats! 

Kids will love the festive look and feel of these cookies, while adults will appreciate their unique flavor combinations. 

Plus, if you want to make them even more special, you could serve them with a cup of hot chocolate or make holiday favors. You won’t be able to get enough of these delicious cookies!

Check out Dash’s baking Instagram @DashBakesTheGreats for more kids baking ideas and inspiration. Check out all his recipes HERE.