Stained Glass Window Cookies

These Stained Glass Window Cookies are one of the prettiest Christmas treats you can ever make. They look fancy, and beautiful with their colorful candy centers, but with this recipe they’re actually delicious to eat too, with a simple sugar cookie base.

These Stained Glass Window Cookies will sparkle on your cookie plates, and look so amazing wrapped up as holiday gifts. The cookie dough is easy to work with, and the cookies will hold their shapes so nicely.

Why you’ll Love these Cookies

• Beautiful Cookies: These cookies are so stunning, and will look lovely on any holiday cookie tray!
• Easy Dough: A simple sugar cookie dough that rolls out so nicely, and only needs to be chilled for a short time to hold their shapes.

Ingredients Needed

This is a quick overview of some of the ingredients you’ll need for this Stained Glass Window Cookie Recipe. Specific measurements and full recipe instructions are in the printable recipe card below.

• All Purpose Flour: Make sure to carefully measure the flour by spooning and leveling it, or even more accurately weighing it out.
• Salt: Just a little for flavor
• Unsalted Butter: Gives the dough a buttery flavor. Make sure to let it come to room temperature, but not get too warm.
• Granulated Sugar: Sweetens the dough
• Eggs: Helps bind everything together.
• Vanilla Extract: Adds a little flavor, you can also try almond extract if you like the flavor
• Hard Candies: Use a clear hard candy like Jolly Ranchers or Lifesavers. If you can’t find these you can make a homemade hard candy, and use that.

How to make Stained Glass Window Cookies

Step 1: Cream the Butter and Sugar. You’ll mix them together for about 2 minutes to get the mixture light and fluffy. Then add in the egg and vanilla.

Step 2: Add in the Dry Ingredients. Add in the flour, baking powder and salt, the dough will look dry at first, but continue mixing until it comes together and can form a soft ball (similar texture to playdough).

Step 3: Roll out the Dough. Divide the dough into two portions, and roll them each out until they are about 1/4 inch thick. Cut the dough into shapes, as many as you can, then cut out the centers with a smaller version of the shape, or circle. Place the cookies onto a cookie sheet and chill the sheets for 1 hour. (If you don’t have room to chill multiple cookie sheets, chill the rolled out cookie dough on parchment paper for 1 to 2 hours).

Step 4: Crush the Candies. Add the hard candies to ziplock bags, separated by color. Crush them with a rolling pin or meat mallet. You don’t want a powder, but a pebble like texture.

Step 5: Add the Candy. Fill the centers of the cookies about 3/4 of the way full with crushed candies. Spread it evenly into the middles of the cookies, but do not over fill them, we don’t want the candy bubbling up over the top.

Step 6: Bake the Cookies. Bake the cookies until the candy in the center is melted and the cookies are lightly golden on the edges. Let the cookies cool on the tray until the candy is set, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Storage Instructions

Store the cookies at room temperature in an airtight container. They can be stored for up to 4 days. Place parchment paper between layers of the cookies to prevent them from sticking to each other.

Instead of freezing the cookies, I recommend freezing the dough. The dough can be wrapped and frozen for up to 3 months. Let it thaw in the fridge, then roll it out and follow the steps for cutting out the cookies.

These Stained Glass Window Cookies look extra extravagant, but they’re so easy to make. They have beautiful colors, and shapes, and will be such a sparkly cookie to add to your plates this season!

More Cookie Recipes

• Thumbprint jam cookies
• Pumpkin S’mores Cookies
• Butter Pecan Cookies
• Christmas Tree Sugar Cookies
• Gingerbread Men Cookies
• Gingerbread Whoopie Pies // Best Christmas Desserts
• Church Windows // Best Christmas Desserts

These Stained Glass Window Cookies were first posted on December 13, 2013. The photos and blog text were updated for clarity on November 21, 2025.