Beststainedglasscookies Recipes

Steps:

• Beat butter, sugar, honey, egg and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; mix well. Cover. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Place dough on lightly floured surface; roll out to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with 2-1/2- to 3-inch floured cookie cutters. Trace smaller version of each cookie shape on dough, leaving 1/2- to 3/4-inch border of dough. Cut out and remove dough from center of each shape; set aside. Place cutouts on baking sheets covered with foil. Shape remaining dough into ball; re-roll to make additional cutouts.
• Crush each color of candy separately between 2 layers of wax paper with mallet. Spoon crushed candy inside centers of cutouts.
• Bake 6 to 8 minutes or until candy is melted and cookies are lightly browned. Cool cookies completely before removing from foil.

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium-high until light and fluffy, 3 minutes. Add egg yolks and vanilla and beat to combine. With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture and beat to combine. Form dough into 2 disks, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough between floured parchment paper to 1/8-inch thickness. Stack dough in parchment on a baking sheet; refrigerate until firm, 30 minutes. With a 2 1/2-inch Christmas-ball-shaped cutter, cut out dough (reroll scraps, if desired). Place cookies, 1 inch apart, on two parchment-lined baking sheets. With a 1-inch star cutter, cut out dough in center of each cookie. Bake until cookies are pale but set, 8 to 10 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Remove sheets from oven; fill cutouts with crushed candy. Bake until cookies begin to brown at edges and candy is melted, 3 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks.

Steps:

• Cream the butter and sugar; add in the egg, honey, and almond. Sift flour and baking soda together and add; use hands as needed to mix if the electric mixer isn't getting it.
• Refrigerate two hours or overnight (you can make this days in advance and refrigerate up to 5 days before making in an airtight container.).
• Crush the jolly ranchers in a plastic bag with a hammer, we use five different colors with separate bag for each one, and set aside in separate containers. (paper muffin cups work well and no dishes!).
• Line two large baking pans with wax paper; roll out a little over 1/8 inch thick and cut out desired shapes of cookies. Using a clean, sharp knife cut out various shapes in the middle, rerolling scraps until all dough is used up. Place cookies on wax paper and bake at 375°F for 5 minutes (lightly golden). Fill the areas that you had cut out in advance with crushed candies very full, as candies will melt down.
• Bake at 375°F 3 more minutes (candies melted) and cool; peel off wax paper and store in an airtight container.
• *NOTE: Placing a few slices of bread between the cookies will help soak up moisture and prevent the candy center from becoming too hard.

Steps:

• Line baking sheets with aluminum foil and spray lightly with cooking spray. Alternatively, you can use a silicone baking mat.
• In a large bowl, stir together all ingredients, except hard candies, until dough ball forms. Split dough in half and form into disks.
• Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/4-inch thick. Cut out cookies with oversized (4 to 5-inch) ornament-shaped cookie cutters. Place cookies on prepared baking sheets spaced 1-inch apart. On each of the large cookies, cut out 3 or 4 smaller shapes using 1/2 to 1-inch cookie cutters. If cookies are to be used as ornaments, make a hole at the top with a straw. Chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
• While cookies chill, place unwrapped hard candies, sorted by color, in separate zip-top resealable bags. Squeeze air from bags and seal; crush candies with rolling pin. Set aside.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Remove cookies from refrigerator and fill centers of cookies with
• crushed hard candies.
• Bake for 9 to 12 minutes or until edges just start to turn golden. Cool completely on baking sheet on a rack.
• Repeat with remaining dough.
• Store completely cooled cookies separated by waxed paper in an air-tight container for 1 week.

Steps:

• Cream the butter and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium-high speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and add the eggs 1 at a time, mixing after each addition until fully incorporated. Add the vanilla and then slowly mix in the flour until well combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Remove the dough, press into a flat rectangle, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to overnight.
• Position oven racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.
• Cut the dough into thirds, wrap 1 piece back in the plastic wrap and return it to the refrigerator. Dust your work surface and the remaining 2 pieces of dough well with flour and roll out each to 3/16 inch with a rolling pin, moving the dough and dusting the top and bottom with additional flour if it becomes sticky. Cut out as many large stars as possible with a 4-inch star cookie cutter and place on the prepared baking sheets. Gather the scraps and reroll once to cut out more cookies. You should have a total of 12 stars. Cut a small star out of the middle of each large star with a 2-inch star cookie cutter and reserve for another use. (You can chill and bake the small stars separately or freeze for later.) Refrigerate the baking sheets until the dough is firm, 15 to 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, separate the candy by color and place each color in a separate resealable plastic bag. Place a kitchen towel over the bags and crush the candy into small pieces using a rolling pin or meat mallet; do not pulverize. Fill the cut-out areas of the cookies two-thirds full with the crushed candy.
• Bake the cookies, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through, until light golden brown and the candy has melted, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely. Repeat the rolling, cutting, filling and baking process with the remaining piece of dough.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and cloves; set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream margarine and dark-brown sugar until fluffy. Add molasses and beat until combined. Add flour mixture, alternating with 1/3 cup water; beating on low until combined. Divide dough in half, pat each half into a rectangle, and wrap in plastic. Chill for at least 1 hour and up to overnight.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Working with one piece of dough at a time, on a well-floured Silpat (a French nonstick baking mat), roll out dough to a rectangle slightly thicker than 1/8 inch. Chill for 10 minutes. Gather together scraps and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate dough before rerolling.
• Using a 7-inch star-shaped cutter, cut out dough. (For best results press cutter into the dough and remove the excess before taking away the cutter.) Remove centers of stars using a 3-inch star cutter. Use a skewer to make a hole in a tip of each star.
• Bake until crisp but not darkened, about 20 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool. When cookies are cool, line baking sheets with clean Silpats or parchment paper. Arrange cookies on prepared baking sheets; set aside.
• Prepare an ice bath; set aside. To make the caramel: Combine granulated sugar, 1/3 cup water, and lemon juice in a small saucepan, and place over medium-high heat. Stir continuously to dissolve sugar. If at any time your hand comes into contact with the hot sugar, immediately plunge it into the ice bath. This should prevent further injury. When sugar is dissolved, stop stirring. Continue to cook, without stirring, until mixture turns amber in color, 5 to 10 minutes. Occasionally wash down sides of the pan using a clean brush dipped in cold water to prevent crystals from forming.
• Carefully fill the centers of the cookies with caramel. Let stand until cool. Thread a piece of wax twine through the hole in each cookie, and tie to create a loop. Do not hang ornaments in direct light or in a humid area, as the caramel can melt.