Christmas cookies like stained glass windows are lovely. After rolling and cutting homemade sugar cookie dough into your favourite shapes, fill the centre with crushed Jolly Ranchers before baking.
– 3 cups all-purpose flour spooned and leveled (375 grams)– 2 teaspoons baking powder– ½ teaspoon salt– 1 cup shortening (190 grams; I prefer Crisco)
Ingredient
– 1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams)– 1 large egg at room temperature– 2 tablespoons whole milk– 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract– 35 to 40 jolly ranchers I used 35 total, but crushed 50 to have extra
Direction
Add flour, baking powder, and salt to a bowl and mix well. Cream sugar and shortening in a large bowl. This step is best done with an electric mixer, but a whisk works too.
1
2
Mix the egg, milk, and vanilla in with the flour. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl if you need to make sure that all of the wet ingredients are well mixed.
Mix dry ingredients with wet ingredients until just combined. As you mix, the crumbly dough will come together.
3
Flour parchment and half dough. Roll dough 1/4-inch thick on another parchment paper. Repeat with parchment paper and cookie dough. Briefly chill cookie dough.
4
Unwrap and sort Jolly Ranchers by colour (any colour!). Crush Jolly Ranchers one colour at a time in a food processor. Keep crushed Jolly Ranchers in separate bowls.
5
Remove rolled sugar cookie dough from fridge and cut into desired shapes. (I recommend 2.5- to 3-inch cookie cutters.) Put cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
6
Each sugar cookie's centre should be cut out with a smaller cookie cutter. Scoop 1/2–1 teaspoon of crushed Jolly Ranchers into each cookie centre.
7
If needed, use a toothpick to evenly distribute the candy. Bake cookies at 350ºF until set, then let them cool completely on the baking sheet.