Pretty little stained glass sugar cookies were served at our ornament making party–that and a cup of hot cocoa topped with a peppermint stick and the kids were in total bliss! Just like with the sugar cookie snack mix I showed you yesterday, you start this recipe with a bag of sugar cookie mix. That means the prep on these is just a tad bit easier and a lot less daunting! To make the windowpanes in the cookies, it’s not complicated. You’re just going to melt some candy in the middle at the same time your cookies are baking up.

This recipe is great to get the kids in on making, even if it’s just smashing up the hard candy. They’ll be amazed to see them turn from crunchy pieces to clear windows on the cookie sheet! A Sil-pat that is easily cleanable is advised for these cookies, as the melted hard candy it difficult to get up off anything else.

Window Pane Cookies

1 17 oz bag instant sugar cookie mix
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
1 egg
¼ cup flour
¼ cup each or red and green crushed hard candy (Jolly Ranchers work great!)

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl.

Flour a surface and roll out the dough until ¼ inch thick. Cut circles from the rolled dough and place on a sil-pat or parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Cut stars (or other shapes) from the circles once they are on the cookie sheets.

Fill the cut out centers with several pieces of the crushed jolly ranchers, about a teaspoon. Bake for 7 minutes. Let cookies cool on the cookie sheet; the candy centers will stick to the sheet until they have re-hardened.

Our girls were all smiles when they got to try these out! Since they aren’t that complicated to make, they’re definitely a keeper in our Christmas cookie repertoire.