I recently saw a recipe for stained glass cookies made with hard candy or boiled sweets. They looked so pretty, but because I'm not a huge fan of those candies, I decided to make my own stained glass Christmas cookies using hard caramels instead.
I chose regular-flavor hard caramels, as well as coffee and lemon flavored ones for a more "grown-up" twist on this recipe. The result is a less transparent cookie for the opaque caramel, but that tastes infinitely better in my opinion! 😉
Stained Glass Cookies Recipe with Caramel
These stained glass caramel cookies look impressive, but are really easy to make. You just need to bear in mind a few things when you make them. I've listed my own tips below to help you create these pretty and delicious stained glass cookies every time! 😉
First, to achieve the stained glass part of the cookies, you simply crush the caramels using a coffee grinder or mixer to create a caramel "dust".
I did try placing the caramels in a plastic bag and bashing the candy using a rolling pin, which is the method suggested by some sites. But the plastic bag that contained the caramels burst open (even though I had placed it onto a tea towel to absorb the shock), and I got a huge mess on my hands, wasting a lot of the caramels in the process. So I would NOT suggest using a rolling pin at all!
If you decide to make these stained glass cookies, be sure to also refrigerate your cookie dough for at least one hour before cutting. This will allow you to cut the cookie shapes a lot more easily.
To making it easier to cut the centers off the cookies, simply place the whole cookie on a parchment paper lined baking tray, then using a smaller cookie cutter, cut of the centers.
This is because the cookies become quite fragile once you take out their centers, making it difficult to lift them off your countertop to be placed onto a baking tray.
These stained glass Christmas cookies are made with a vanilla-flavored shortbread cookie dough, so you get a cookie that is quite crumbly and has a good "snap". But you could perhaps use other flavors of cookie dough like gingerbread or cinnamon.
Also, when filling your cookie centers, be sure NOT overfill them with caramel "dust", otherwise the caramel may bubble over in the oven and your cookie won't look as pretty.
The caramel in the center of the cookies does set hard after baking, but is still a lot softer and than a normal hard-caramel candy. Therefore, you won't risk breaking your teeth when you bite into them. Even my kids who have braces had no problem munching on these! 😉
These cookies keep well at room temperature for 24 hours, but I must also point out that the caramel tends to get softer over time. So for storing them, be sure to place these cookies in a dry, airtight container, because humidity will make the caramels melt.
Apart from the above tips, my only other suggestion would be to play around with the caramel flavors and colors to suit your own taste, and varying the cookie shapes!
I also tried using brown sugar instead of caramel "dust", but the sugar takes a lot longer to melt than the caramel candy, so the cookie burns before the sugar has a chance to melt.
These stained glass caramel cookies are the prefect treat to bake this Christmas with the whole family! They also make great hostess gifts or yummy extras to add to food hampers and gifts! All my packaging comes from Cultura
Yield: 12-15 cookies
Stained Glass Cookies Recipe with Caramel
Stained Glass Cookies Recipe with Caramel - pretty and easy cookies to make with the whole family this Christmas! Makes a great edible hamper gift !
Prep time: 30 MinCook time: 12 Mininactive time: 1 H & 30 MTotal time: 2 H & 11 M
Ingredients
- Hard caramels (I used 9 candies from each flavor - caramel, coffee and lemon)
- 1 cup (226g) salted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups (382g) flour + extra for dusting
Instructions
- Place butter and sugar into a bowl and cream together until fluffy and creamy.
- Add one egg at a time, mixing in between until combined.
- Add vanilla, then add flour in batches, mixing until you get a thick dough.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Roll out the cookie dough to about 1/2 cm (1/4 inch thick).
- Cut out your cookie shapes, then place them onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
- Cut out the centers off the cookies using smaller cookie cutters.
- Crush the caramel candy using a mixer or coffee grinder.
- Add a little of the caramel "dust" to the center of each cookie, level with the cookie surface.
- Refrigerate cookies for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, pre-heat your oven to 180 Deg. Celsius (350 F).
- Bake for about 12 minutes. Check to see if there are any holes or gaps in the caramel centers. If so, simply add a little more caramel "dust" to the centers and return the cookies to the oven for another couple of minutes to melt the caramel centers.
- Let cookies cool down completely on the baking tray until caramel is fully hardened. Lift them off the tray carefully, peeling off the parchment paper underneath.
- Store cookies in a dry, airtight container.
Notes:
Recipe adapted from CookingClassy.com
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Check out my recipe video below!
Hope you like the recipe and feel inspired to have a go! If you do, tag me on social media #BirdsParty so I can see and share your creativity! 😍
I love these! Pinned & will be trying for sure. Thanks for the inspiration.
ReplyDeleteXO- MaryJo
www.masterpiecesofmylife.com
These are so pretty! I love how they turned out!
ReplyDeleteThis is so pretty! Xmas is just around the corner, I'd love to see these hanging on my Xmas tree!
ReplyDeleteI love how your cookies turned out! Absolutely beautiful! Thank you so much for sharing them with us at the TFT party! I am featuring you this week!
ReplyDeleteHappy Christmastime!
It looks magical! Awesome idea. Thank you so much for this recipe!
ReplyDelete