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Stained Glass Cookies: In a bowl, whisk the flour
with the baking powder and salt.
In the bowl of your electric stand mixer,
fitted with the paddle attachment (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter until
smooth. Add the sugar and vanilla extract and beat until light and
fluffy. Scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl as needed. Add the egg and
beat until combined. Add the flour mixture and beat until you have a smooth
dough.
Divide the dough
in half and then roll each half
between two sheets of parchment or wax paper until it is about 1/8 - 1/4 inch
thick. As you roll, periodically check the top and bottom sheets of parchment
and smooth out any wrinkles. Place the dough on a baking sheet (along with the
parchment paper) and place in the refrigerator until firm (about 30-60 minutes).
Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F
(180 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the center of the oven.
Once chilled,
remove one half of the dough from the refrigerator and peel off the top piece of parchment paper. Using a
3 inch (7 cm) tree shaped cookie cutter, cut out the cookies. Place the cookies
on a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper, spacing the cookies about 3
inches (7.5 cm) apart. Then use a smaller tree shaped cookie cutter to cut out
the centers of the cookies. (Gather up the scraps and again, roll out the dough,
chill, and then cut out the cookies.)
If you want to
hang the cookies, make a small hole in the top of each cookie with the end of a
wooden skewer.
Separate the hard
candies by color. Unwrap and place each color of candy in a separate plastic freezer bag
and crush (until it looks like coarse sand) using a mallet, rolling pin, or
small hammer.
Fill the entire
cut out of each cookie, right to the top of the dough, with the crushed candy.
(See video for demonstration.) Try not to get any candy crumbs on the top of the
cookie dough as it will color the cookie.
Bake cookies for about 10 minutes (depending on
size) or until the edges are just starting to brown and the candy has completely
melted. Rotate your baking sheet front to back about halfway through baking.
Remove from oven and let the cookies cool completely on the baking sheet before
transferring to a wire rack.
Makes about 24 - 3 inch (7.5 cm) cookies.
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