Christmas stained glass cookies are perfect for gifting or preparing during the Christmas holidays.
Making Stained Glass Effect Cookies is really fun, especially if you involve your kids.
You can also package these enchanting cookies to use as decorations for your Christmas tree or as a special “package closure.” Or simply gift them to friends as holiday greetings.
In this case, they are made with the technique used to create glass cookies, very scenic.
They become real decorations even for your Christmas tree.
These delicious cookies are perfect for breakfast, snack, or as a dessert. To make my stained glass cookies, I used easy and soft shortcrust pastry, but if you prefer, you can use the classic buckwheat shortcrust pastry or the spiced shortcrust pastry.
Just make a small hole at the top before baking, and thread a ribbon through once they’re baked and cooled.
You can make them in any shape you like; in this case, I chose stars, but you can also use trees, hearts, or snowflakes of different sizes.
Depending on the candies you use, the inner part can be Transparent or Colored.
Use hard candies (not filled).
If you prepare them now during this Christmas period, you can use cookie cutters with Christmas shapes and they are perfect for gifting.
Here is the recipe and some useful tips.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very economical
- Rest time: 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 8/10 people
- Cooking methods: Electric oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Christmas
- Energy 197.02 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 30.33 (g) of which sugars 16.20 (g)
- Proteins 2.88 (g)
- Fat 7.90 (g) of which saturated 4.96 (g)of which unsaturated 2.82 (g)
- Fibers 0.47 (g)
- Sodium 100.90 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 40 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for Stained Glass Cookies
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup butter (cold from fridge "or 3 oz vegetable oil")
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 egg (whole at room temperature)
- lemon (zested)
- 1 orange (zested)
- salt (pinch)
- as needed hard candies (colored)
Tools
- Work surface
- Baking trays
- Parchment paper
- Food scales
- Molds
- Rolling pin
Steps for Stained Glass Cookies
Place the flour, baking powder in the center of a work surface along with the butter in pieces and zest of half a lemon and an orange. (Use untreated fruit).
(Cold butter from the fridge).
Start to create fine crumbs with your hands, then add the sugar, continuing to work it all together.
Break an egg and add the salt.
(Eggs at room temperature).
At this point, handle it briefly just enough to compact it.
A small but important tip: once compacted, do not handle it further as it should not heat up.
At this point, wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator to firm up for about 30 minutes.
Roll out the shortcrust pastry between two sheets of parchment paper.
With a large star cutter, cut out the cookies.
Place a smaller star cutter in the center of the cookie and cut the star to get a large star with a central hole.
Tip: (before cutting the inner part of the star, place it on the baking sheet lined with parchment paper. This way it doesn’t deform when transporting it).
With a toothpick or the small round nozzle of the pastry bag, make a hole in one of the points of the stars so you can hang the cookie on the tree.
Place a candy in the center if the star is large. Use a piece if the star is small.
Bake the stained glass cookies in a preheated oven at 350°F (convection mode) for about 12-15 minutes.
Once you remove the cookies from the oven, wait a couple of minutes before removing them from the pan since the candy filling remains soft until it’s hot.
Once the cookies cool, you can remove them from the pan.
Tip (if you want to decorate them internally, position the decorations inside the cookie as soon as they come out of the oven, being careful since the candy is hot; this way they stick very well).
When the cookies are cold, insert the ribbon you prefer.
Your stained glass cookies are ready and they keep very well inside a cookie tin.
An excellent idea as a gift, believe me, it will make a great impression.
Enjoy your meal.
Happy Holidays from your Angie.
Tips
If your pastry doesn’t compact but tends to crumble, it means it has curdled!
No worries: you can fix it by adding one or two tablespoons of cold egg white or ice water and knead again.
Stained glass cookies keep well in a tin box for 1 week.
With just a few simple items, you can create a unique gift and embellish the Christmas cookies to give away.
We can use many recycled items and just complete with ribbons, rosemary or holly sprigs to highlight the delicious decorated cookies.
Here are the simplest and most original ideas.
The box for Christmas cookies can be new or old-fashioned, like those beautiful ones found at flea markets and grandma’s cupboards.
We just need to line the inside with tissue paper, and it’s done!
Glass jar with airtight seal, to decorate with a ribbon or wrap in tissue paper.
Transparent food bag to close with a colored ribbon: it’s a very economical package that highlights the cookies.
Ceramic tray: arrange the cookies and wrap them like candy with transparent food sheets.
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FAQ (Questions and Answers)
Can I use vegetable oil instead of butter?
Yes, certainly, and use 3 oz of vegetable oil.
Can I substitute sugar and in what quantities?
You can use 1 oz of stevia or 3.5 oz of erythritol instead of sugar, but you need to use sugar-free candies.
Can I use whole wheat flour?
Certainly, in the quantity indicated in the recipe.
