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

Print

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.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Stained Glass Window Cookies, sugar cookies

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Chilling Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 36 cookies

Calories 120kcal

Ingredients

• 1 cup Unsalted Butter
• 1 cup Granulated Sugar
• 2 large Eggs
• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 3 cups All Purpose Flour
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 20 Hard Candies (like Jolly Ranchers)

Instructions

• Cream together the butter and sugar in a large bowl (the bowl of a stand mixer), or with a hand mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. 1 cup Unsalted Butter, 1 cup Granulated Sugar
• Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until combined, scraping the edges and side of the bowl as needed.  2 large Eggs, 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• Add in the flour, and salt, and mix until you have a nice soft cookie dough. 3 cups All Purpose Flour, 1/2 tsp Salt
• Lay out a piece of parchment paper and roll the cookie dough out on it about 1/4 inch. Transfer it to the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
• Cut dough into shapes. Cut out the center of each cookie with a smaller cookie cutter.
• Place cookies about 1 inch apart, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone liner. Re roll the scraps of dough to get as many cookies as you can.
• Place the cookie sheet into the fridge to chill for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
• While the dough is cooking, separate the candies by color and put them into ziplock bags. Crush the candies with a rolling pin or meat mallet, into pebble sized pieces. 20 Hard Candies
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Fill the center of the cookies with some of the crushed candy, filling them about 3/4 of the way full. Do not over fill them or the candy will bubble over.
• Bake the cookies until the candy in the center is melted, and the cookies are very lightly golden browned on the edges. This will take 8 to 12 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool for 15 minutes on the cookie sheet, or until the candy has reset in the middle. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Notes

• Don’t Skip Chilling: The Cookie dough needs to chill to make sure the cookies hold their shapes.
• Make Ornaments: Use a skewer to poke a hole in the cookie dough when you’re cutting out the shapes to turn them into ornaments you can hang on your tree.
• Clean Cookies: Don’t get any candy pieces on the sugar cookie dough or it will melt into the cookies, and give them a messy look.
• Bubbles: If you have any bubbles that form in the candy portion while the cookies bake, gently pop them with the toothpick when the candy is still hot.

Nutrition

Calories: 120kcal | Carbohydrates: 16g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 24mg | Sodium: 37mg | Potassium: 23mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 173IU | Calcium: 7mg | Iron: 1mg

These Stained Glass Window Cookies were first posted on December 13, 2013. The photos and blog text were updated for clarity on November 28, 2025.

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