Cookies and Valentine’s Day? COME ON, IT’S PERFECT

A good project to do with your kids

During these cold February days before Valentine’s Day, why not have fun making some unique heart-shaped stained glass window cookies — they are beautiful to look at and taste delicious.

Kids will find this cookie-making experience to be the perfect combination of boisterous craft and serene baking as the craft involves smashing and melting hard candies into yummy, colourful centres of heart shaped cookies. After they are baked and have cooled they can be enjoyed with the classic accompaniment, a tall glass of cold milk.

The finished cookies are the perfect colourful addition to any Valentine’s Day sweet tray, for all the sweeties in your life.

Stained Glass Heart Cookies

1/2 cup of salted butter 1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup Egg Beaters 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 3 cups all purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of salt

20 red lollipops or 20 hard candies

1. Mix together butter, sugar, honey, Egg Beaters, and vanilla extract in bowl using electric mixer until creamy. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together and add to the bowl beating until thoroughly mixed.

2. Cover the dough and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

3. Roll dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut dough into desired shapes using approximately 2 1/2 to 3-inch size cookie cutters. Using smaller cookie cutters to cut and remove the centres of the cut cookie shapes.

4. Place cut-out shapes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Repeat with reserved dough, rerolling scraps as necessary.

5. Crush candy in a freezer bag and pour into a small bowl. Spoon crushed candy inside centres of cutout cookie shapes.

6. Bake in 350 C oven for 6-8 minutes or until candy is melted and cookies are lightly browned.

7. Allow cookies to cool completely before removing from parchment paper.

Stained glass cookies baking in the oven. The crushed candy in the centre melts in the heat.

After cooling in the refrigerator for two hours, the cookie dough is rolled out into 1/4-inch thickness. Heart-shaped cookie cutters in two sizes are used to create the hollowed out hearts that will soon be filled with a candy centre.

The finished plate of stained glass hearts as well as some iced hearts with sprinkles. Making stained glass cookies is a fun and tasty project for kids of all ages.

Ingredients required to make Stain Glass Window Cookies. Butter, egg whites, sugar, honey and vanilla, flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.

Finished cookies on a cooling rack and some in the cookie tin waiting to be decorated.

A finished cookie held up to the window.