Stained Glass Christmas Tree Cookies Food

CHRISTMAS STAINED GLASS COOKIE

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• 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.
• In a separate bowl, lightly mix the cream, whole egg, yolk, and vanilla seeds or extract together.
• 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.
• Empty the dough onto a lightly-floured work surface or board, and gently squeeze to bring the dough together into a ball.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Using a heavy rolling pin , crush each color of the hard candies into fine crystals, but not dust.
• Sprinkle the crystals into the center of the cookie.
• Bake in oven for 10 to 12 minutes until lightly golden and the sweet crystals have melted.
• 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.
• 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.

STAINED-GLASS COOKIE ORNAMENTS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
• In bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg; beat until smooth, 1 minute.
• Add reserved flour mixture, and mix on low speed until thoroughly combined. Stir in vanilla. Wrap dough in plastic, and refrigerate for about 45 minutes.
• Position two racks in oven; preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a Silpat (nonstick baking mat); set aside.
• On a well-floured work surface, roll out chilled dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut out exterior shapes using a cookie cutter or templates. With a metal spatula, transfer whole cookies to the prepared baking sheets. Using tip of a paring knife, make a cutout in center of each cookie to be filled with candy. Using a straw or the narrow end of a plain round pastry tip, cut a hole in the top of each cookie for hanging.
• Chop the candies into 1/4-inch pieces. Sprinkle chopped candy in the center of each cookie, filling the hole. Transfer baking sheet to the refrigerator, and chill until cookie dough is firm, about 15 minutes. Place the baking sheet in the oven, and bake cookies until the candy has melted and completely filled the cut-out area, 6 to 8 minutes. Do not let the cookies brown, or the stained-glass effect will not be as brilliant and the candy centers may become bubbly, not clear.
• Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 3 minutes, and then use a metal spatula to transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

STAINED GLASS COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with silicone baking mats.
• On a clean work surface, dust with flour and roll the sugar cookie dough to 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch thick.
• Using your large Christmas tree or snowflake cutter, cut out shapes and place onto a prepared baking sheet. Re-roll the excess dough to repeat this process until you have used all the dough.
• While on the silicone mat, use the smaller cookie cutters to cut out shapes from the centers of the cookies.
• Place the hard candies into resealable plastic bags and crush using a hammer or the rolling pin until they are almost a dust; you want the pieces to be small enough to fit in your cutouts.
• Sprinkle the crushed hard candy into the cutouts you made in the center of each cookie; be careful not to get any on the top of the cookie. Fill each hole two-thirds of the way.
• If you are planning to use these as ornaments, make a smaller hole towards the top of the cookie using a wooden skewer.
• Bake the cookies until just golden brown around the edges, 10 to 15 minutes; the candy should be melted and bubbling in the center. Allow to cool completely on the pan before attempting to move.
• While cooling, place your royal icing into a pastry bag with a coupler and a decorating tip. Decorate the tops of the cookies with the royal icing. Allow to dry completely before moving.

STAINED GLASS WREATH COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 sheet pans with silicone baking pads.
• Slice dough log at 1/4-inch intervals and place onto prepared baking sheets spaced 1 inch apart.
• Press a 1-inch round cutter into the center of each cookie round. Remove the small circle of dough and replace it with a round hard candy.
• Bake in oven 8 to 10 minutes.
• Remove from oven. While still warm, make a hole at the top of each cookie with a large straw. Place baking sheet on the cooling rack and cool completely.
• When the cookies have completely cooled, use the decorative icing and evenly space 6 icing dots around the edges of each cookie. Lightly push the silver dragees into the icing dots. Allow icing to harden.
• Place the 8-inch piece of ribbon through the hole at the top and tie the ends together.
• Repeat with remaining cookies.
• You can eat your cookies or hang them as ornaments on a Christmas tree or in a window.

STAINED GLASS TREES

Steps:

• Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder into a large bowl; set aside.
• Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg; mix until smooth, 1 minute. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture, and mix until combined. Stir in vanilla.Wrap dough in plastic, and refrigerate until cold, about 45 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Roll out chilled dough on a well-floured surface to a little more than 1/8 inch thick. Cut out shapes using a 5-inch tree-shape cookie cutter. Using a metal spatula, space 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Using the tip of a paring knife, make a triangular cutout in center of each cookie for candy filling. Reroll scraps, and cut.
• Sprinkle candy in a single layer in hole of each cookie, avoiding edges of triangle. Refrigerate until dough is firm, about 15 minutes.
• Bake cookies until candy has melted and completely filled cutout and cookie edges are just starting to turn pale golden brown, 11 to 12 minutes. Do not let the cookies brown, or the candy centers may become bubbly. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks. Use a metal spatula to remove cookies from parchment.

STAINED-GLASS CHRISTMAS TREE COOKIES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Place each color candy in separate resealable freezer plastic bag; seal bag. With rolling pin, coarsely crush candy; set aside.
• In large bowl, beat butter and sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in corn syrup, vanilla and lemon extract. On low speed, gradually beat in flour, baking powder and salt.
• Divide dough in half. On floured cloth-covered work surface, roll each half to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut dough with 3-inch Christmas tree-shaped cookie cutter. Cut out and remove several smaller dough shapes from each cookie. Place tree shapes 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. If desired, reroll small cutouts with remaining dough. Fill each hole in tree shapes with about 1/2 teaspoon crushed candy.
• Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are light golden brown and candy is melted. Place cookie sheets on cooling racks; cool cookies 8 minutes. With back of metal pancake turner, gently lift warm cookies from foil; place on cooling racks. Cool completely, about 15 minutes, before storing in loosely covered containers.