Prep: 15 mins
Cook: 12 mins
Total: 27 mins
There's nothing prettier for the Christmas tree than making your own decorations. Even lovelier is if they're edible. When threaded with a festive ribbon, these easy Christmas stained glass window cookies can be hung from the branches and will twinkle with the lights of the tree reflected in the colored glass.
Make them with children; they will enjoy the process of crushing the sweets, decorating the tree, and, of course, eating them!
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups/300 grams all-purpose flour (and extra for rolling out)
- 1/3 cup/65 grams fine sugar
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 4 ounces/125 grams butter (chilled and cut into small chunks)
- 1/4 cup/60 milliliters heavy cream
- 1 large egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 vanilla pod (seeds removed, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
- 10 to 15 colored hard candies (same or different colors)
Steps to Make It
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Gather the ingredients.
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The quickest and easiest way to make the dough is in a food processor. Put the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and butter in the bowl of the processor. Use the pulse setting and mix until the mixture becomes coarse and sand-like.
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In a separate bowl, lightly mix the cream, whole egg, yolk, and vanilla seeds or extract together.
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Turn the processor to a slow speed and add the egg mix to the dry ingredients. Do not over-mix; stop as soon as the mixture comes together into a dough.
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Empty the dough onto a lightly-floured work surface or board, and gently squeeze to bring the dough together into a ball.
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Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and pop into the fridge for at least 30 minutes to rest, or leave up to 24 hours if making the dough in advance.
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When you're ready to make the cookies, remove the dough from the fridge and allow 15 minutes for the dough to reach room temperature. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 325 F/160 C/Gas 4. Flour a work surface and roll out the dough to 1/2-centimeter thickness.
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Use your favorite Christmas cookie cutter and cut as many cookies out as possible. For these, you will want larger shapes as you will be cutting the center of each away.
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Lay the cookies onto a baking sheet lined with parchment, then, either using a smaller same-shaped cutter or freehand, cut the center away, making sure you leave at least 1/2-inch/1 centimeter margin.
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Using a heavy rolling pin, crush each color of the hard candies into fine crystals, but not dust.
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Sprinkle the crystals into the center of the cookie.
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Bake in oven for 10 to 12 minutes until lightly golden and the sweet crystals have melted.
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Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the tray for 15 minutes. Using a cocktail stick, push a hole into wherever you want the ribbon to go.
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Then lift carefully onto a cooling rack and leave to cool. Thread your Christmas cookies with ribbon and hang from your tree, or store in an airtight tin.
