Stained Glass Valentine Heart Cookies

5 from 35 votes

Stained Glass Valentine Heart Cookies

These stained glass Valentine heart cookies combine buttery dough with sparkling candy centers. They’re a fun way to bake something beautiful for Valentine’s Day.

Prep Time30

Cook Time10

Chill Time2

Total Time2 40

Course: Sweets

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Cookies, Valentine's

Servings: cookies

Author: Bella Bucchiotti

Equipment

Ingredients

¾ Cup unsalted butter at room temperature
¾ Cup granulated sugar
¼ Teaspoon sea salt
2 eggs at room temperature and beaten
1 ½ Teaspoons vanilla extract
red food coloring I used gel food coloring
2 ½ Cups + ¼ Cup all purpose flour
2 Cups hard candy crushed into small pieces

Instructions

Prepare the Cookie Dough

Using a stand mixer and paddle attachment cream together softened butter, granulated sugar, and sea salt until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down sides as needed and continue to mix.
Add in beaten eggs and vanilla and mix until combined, about 1 minute.
Gradually add in 2 ½ cups of the flour and mix on medium-low until well combined. As you are adding in the flour, add a few drops of food coloring until you get the desired shade of red.

Chill the Cookie Dough

Tightly wrap your dough ball in plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours. You can separate it into 2 balls if you prefer to work with smaller batches.
Preheat oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Take your dough out of the fridge.
Use some of the remaining flour to sprinkle on a clean countertop and turn the dough out onto it.

Cut Out and Bake the Cookies

Sprinkle the dough ball with flour and use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to about ¼ inch thick. Use more of the extra flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking to the counter or rolling pin.
Use a large cookie cutter to cut out “panes” of cookie dough and transfer them to the prepared baking sheet.
Use a smaller cookie cutter out of the panes and remove them, adding them to the extra dough that you will roll out for more cookies or use them for smaller mini cookies.
Place crushed hard candies in the cutout of the cookie dough panes. You want to fill it nearly full with the hard candy crumbs and be sure it is in an even layer, not mounded in the centre.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies just begin to brown and the candies are completely melted.

Let Them Cool

Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on the baking sheet before removing.

Notes

Crush candy evenly: Smaller chunks melt more smoothly into the cookie centers.
Don’t overfill: Keep candy level with the dough for even windows that won’t overflow.
Work quickly: Return dough to the fridge if it gets too soft to cut cleanly.
Line the tray: Always use parchment to avoid sticking from melted candy.

Nutrition

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