These Valentine’s Day Stained Glass Cookies are made with a buttery shortbread cookie base and red Jolly Rancher. Not only are they pretty, they are also super yummy, and just so fun to make. You can even customize the shape of the cutouts and the color of the candy for any holidays.
Needless to say, these stained glass cookies are definitely no ordinary cookies. They are not difficult but they do require a little bit more effort to make. The good thing is that the recipe starts with my super easy 5-ingredient classic shortbread cookies. And then the translucent stained glass windows are made by melting hard candies inside the heart shaped cutouts. I will show you exactly how to do it, step by step, and I promise you it is completely worth it in the end.
You can even make the shortbread portion pink using this strawberry shortbread recipe. Or if you prefer chocolate, use this chocolate espresso shortbread cookie recipe. There are lots of options here to make your perfect stained glass cookies!
Table of Contents
Helpful tools
- You’ll need a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer to make the cookie dough.
- You’ll also need different size cookie cutters to cut out the cookies and the “windows”. I used my Linzer cookie cutter.
- And a rolling pin or some other hard object to crush the hard candies.
Ingredients and substitutions
As always, you’ll find the complete list of ingredients and quantities in the recipe card at the end of this post. Below are some notes and substitution tips:
- Unsalted butter – I don’t recommend substituting salted butter since it could make your cookies too salty.
- Granulated sugar
- Pure vanilla extract
- Flour – all-purpose flour works just fine here, but you can also use cake flour for a more melt-in-your-mouth shortbread cookie texture. Or add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch to the flour mixture.
- Salt – I just use a small amount of kosher salt to enhance the flavor. If using table salt, use about half as much.
- Hard candies – I used Jolly Rancher but any translucent hard candies will work.
How to make stained glass cookies
The following instructions, step-by-step photos, and tips are here to help you visualize how to make the recipe. You can always skip straight to the printable recipe card at the end of this post.
Preparing the shortbread cookie dough
Add softened butter, sugar, and vanilla extract to your stand mixer bowl. Beat with the paddle attachment until combined and fluffy.
In another mixing bowl, sift the flour, and stir in the salt. Add to butter mixture and mix until the dough forms. Scrape the dough out of the mixing bowl, and shape it into a disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 mins to an hour.
When the dough is ready, take it out of the fridge, and roll out to about ¼” thick and cut it with a 2” cookie cutter. Then cut out the heart shapes in the middle. Freeze the cookie dough before baking to help them keep their shape.
Note: You don’t need to reroll the smaller hearts, keep it to bake into little bite size heart shortbread. But if you want to make more stained glass window cookies, you could reroll them and cut out more cookies.
Preparing the candy
Add hard candies to a ziplock bag and wrap the bag inside a kitchen towel. Pound the candies with a rolling pin (but don’t use your favorite rolling pin for this task, you don’t want to ruin your prized wooden rolling pin) or a hard object you can find in your kitchen. You don’t need to crush them into fine powder, variance in size is totally okay.
Baking the cookies
Place frozen cookies on a lined baking sheet, sprinkle the top with granulated sugar, and bake until almost done (10 – 11 mins).
Note: If you kept the bite size hearts, bake them separately for about 8 mins.
Add crushed candies inside the cutouts, enough to fill to the top, and bake again until the candies are melted but not caramelized (3 mins).
Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet until the windows harden before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.
More notes on the candies
I got a bag of all red Jolly Ranchers just for this recipe (cherry, strawberry, watermelon, fruit punch). One whole candy is too much to fill this size cookie, so you’ll need to break them up into smaller pieces.
Half a candy would be enough for one cookie, but it can be difficult to break them up into a clean half. If you can, it would be a perfect fit inside the heart cutout and you don’t have to deal with spooning candy crumbs and brushing it off, etc.
When I tried to break the candies in half individually, I usually get a bigger half and some jagged smaller pieces. So to make it easier, I just tossed all the candies into a plastic bag and pounded it with a rolling pin to get crushed candy pieces.
When you are crushing the candies, make sure to double bag, and wrap a towel around the bag to protect the rolling pin. The jagged candies can cut through the bag and leave marks on your wooden rolling pin. So don’t use your favorite rolling pin for this task.
Variance in size is okay when crushing candies, you don’t need them to become tiny spec of candy dust, so don’t worry about pounding them to their death.
When you are happy with the size of the crushed candy, transfer it to a bowl. Watch for holes on the bags. You’ll need to use it right away because the crushed candy will start to stick together if left out too long.
Storage
Similar to any of my shortbread cookies, these are best the day they are baked and will last up to a week when stored in an airtight container at room temperature.
I don’t recommend freezing the baked cookies since they have hard candy windows which will absorb moisture in the freezer and will get sticky. It is best to freeze the dough and bake these fresh. The dough will last in the freezer for 3 to 6 months.
FAQs
Can I make different shapes stained glass cookies?
I used a Linzer cookie cutter and the heart shape insert to create the fluted look with the heart cutouts for these cookies. You could also use any cookie cutter similar in size, about 2”, round, fluted, or even heart shape and a smaller heart cookie cutter to create the windows.
You can also customize the shape of the cookies and/or the cutouts for different holidays, like Christmas trees and stars for Christmas, cute animals and flowers for Easter, ect.
The Linzer cookie cutter set comes with different shape inserts but they’re generic: heart, star, round, fluted, moon shapes. If you have a Daiso Japan near you, they carry tiny vegetable cutters for bento making in cute shapes that will work for this recipe. Or find them online.
How do I make these ahead?
Since this shortbread dough freezes well, it is the perfect candidate for making ahead. Once you make the dough, cut them into cookies and just freeze them in an airtight container with a piece of parchment paper between each layer.
Bake them when you need them. However, don’t pre-crush the candies, crush them when you are baking the cookies. Crushed candies can get sticky really quickly since they will absorb moisture from the air.
More Valentine’s Day treats
- Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies with heart chocolate
- “Chocolate Covered Strawberry” Truffles
- Heart shape Strawberry Hand Pies with chocolate crust
- Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes
- Raspberry Truffles
- A mini Red Velvet Cake for two (with leftovers!)
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📖 Recipe card
Valentine’s Day Stained Glass Cookies
Equipment
- Linzer Cookie Cutter
- Rolling Pin
Ingredients
- 8 ounce unsalted butter (room temperature, 226 g)
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar (130 g)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cup all-purpose flour (293 g)
- ¼ scant teaspoon kosher salt
- Extra sugar for sprinkling
- 14 red Jolly Ranchers (strawberry, cherry, watermelon, or fruit punch, more as needed)
Instructions
- Add sugar, softened butter, and vanilla extract to the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat using the paddle attachment until combined and fluffy.
- If your flour is not pre-sifted, sift it using a fine mesh sieve. Then whisk together flour, and salt in a mixing bowl and add to the beaten butter mixture. Mix until a dough forms.
- Scrape the dough out of the bowl onto a piece of plastic wrap, shape into a disk or a rectangle. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- When the dough is ready, take it out of the refrigerator and roll dough to about ¼” thick, cut with a Linzer cookie cutter without the insert. Re-roll the scrap dough and cut out more cookies until finished. This will yield about 32 – 34 cookies.
- Now use the heart-shaped Linzer cookie cutter insert to create the heart cutout in the middle of each cookie. Place the cookies and heart cutouts in a container in layers with parchment paper in between and freeze while the oven is preheating.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- In the meantime, unwrap the hard candies, place them inside a plastic bag, wrap the bag with a towel and crush the candies with a rolling pin. Place the crushed candies into a small bowl and set aside.
- When the oven is ready, place the cutout cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet 1 to 2 inches apart. Sprinkle granulated sugar over the top of cookies generously and bake for 10 – 11 minutes.
- Remove the baking sheet from the oven and use a ¼ teaspoon to add crushed candied inside the heart-shaped cutouts, fill it all the way to the top. Place the baking sheet back into the oven, and bake for another 3 minutes until the candies are completely melted.
- Remove the baking sheet from the oven and set it on a wire rack. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet until the melted candy hardens, about 5 – 10 minutes, before moving the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To bake the bite size heart cutouts, place them on a parchment lined baking sheet an inch apart. Sprinkle granulated sugar over the top of cookies generously and bake for 8 minutes.
Notes
- If you don’t want to keep the bite size heart cookies, you can reroll the dough and make more regular size cookies.
- Don’t leave the crushed candies out too long as they will get stuck together in a big clump. Crush them just before you are ready to use them.
- Freezing the cookie dough will help the cookies keep their shape better while baking.
- Increase the baking time by a couple minutes if you like your cookies with more golden brown edges and crispier.
Nutrition
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These are such beautiful little cookies. I’ve never made stained glass cookies before.
What a cute recipe!I makes a good rainy day activity too.
Thanks Lisa!