Stained Glass Snowflake Cookies

The hardest part about making these darling stained glass cookies is waiting for the royal icing to set—you’ll want to dig in and eat them right away! Don’t be afraid to tackle the candy window: it’s incredibly do-able once you know how.

Prep

Cook

Servings

Level

Easy

Ingredients

Sugar Cookies

  • 2¾ cups all-purpose flour
  • ¼ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon fine salt
  • 2 sticks (1 cup) Challenge Unsalted Butter, softened
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ¼ teaspoon almond extract

Blue Glass Window

  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • ½ cup water
  • ⅓ cup corn syrup
  • blue food coloring

Royal Icing

  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • 3 Tablespoons meringue powder
  • 6-10 Tablespoons water

Directions

Sugar Cookies

  • 1

    In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. In the bowl of stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

  • 2

    Beat in egg, vanilla extract and almond extract, scraping down bowl as needed. Slowly mix in dry ingredients until just combined.

  • 3

    Divide dough in half. Place one piece of dough between two pieces of parchment paper and roll out to ¼-inch thick slab. Repeat with remaining dough. Transfer both slabs to a baking sheet and chill at least 1 hour or overnight.

  • 4

    Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

  • 5

    Cut dough into 2-inch circles, re-rolling scraps as needed. Use a small (1½-inch) snowflake cookie cutter to cut out the center of each circle. Arrange cookies an inch apart on prepared baking sheet. Store any unbaked cookies in the refrigerator until needed.

  • 6

    Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until lightly browned on edges. Let cool 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then carefully transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Continue baking cookies until all of the dough has been used.

Blue Glass Window

  • 7

    When cookies have cooled, transfer to two lightly greased foil-lined baking sheets. Combine sugar and water in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, swirling occasionally, until sugar is dissolved. Add corn syrup, increase heat to high, and boil until mixture reaches 290° F. Remove from heat and add a few drops of blue food coloring.

  • 8

    Working quickly, carefully spoon hot candy into the center of each snowflake, making sure it touches all of the edges of the cookie. Let cool completely.

Royal Icing

  • 9

    In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, slowly mix powdered sugar and meringue powder until combined. Add 6 tablespoons water and beat on high speed for about 3 minutes, until glossy and stiff.

  • 10

    Pull off about 1 cup of stiff frosting and put it in a piping bag filled with a small round tip.

  • 11

    Add more water, a tablespoon at a time, until desired thickness is reached for flooding the cookies.

  • 12

    Use the stiff frosting to outline the cookies. Flood inside the outlines with the looser frosting, using a toothpick to help spread the frosting all over the surface. Let stand 3-4 hours to completely set.

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