Stained-glass Ornament Cookies

Colorful candies turn vanilla cookies into twinkly ornaments pretty enough to hang! Just use a drinking straw to poke a hole near the edge of each before baking, then add a ribbon after decorating! 30 red- and green- colored hard candies 1 cup butter, softened 2/3 cup sugar 1/2 cup light corn syrup 2 tsp. vanilla extract 1/4 tsp. lemon extract, optional 3 cups all-purpose flour 3/4 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt White, red and green fondants Red and green Royal Icing, recipe right, optional

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Place each color candy in separate zip-top plastic freezer bag; seal bags. With rolling pin, coarsely crush candy; set aside.

Beat butter and sugar at medium speed until fluffy. Beat in corn syrup, vanilla and lemon extracts. Gradually beat in flour, baking powder and salt on low speed until blended.

Divide dough in half. Place on floured surface; roll each half to 1/4" thickness. Cut dough with various 3" (including ornamentshaped) cookie cutters. Cut out and remove several smaller dough shapes from each cookie. Place shapes 2" apart on baking sheets. If desired, re-roll small cutouts with remaining dough. Fill each hole in cookies with about 1/2-1 tsp. crushed candy.

Bake 8-10 minutes or until edges are light golden brown and candy is melted. Place baking sheets on racks; cool 8 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks. Cool.

Roll each color fondant to 1/8" thickness. Using ornamentshaped cookie cutters, cut out shapes. Lightly brush cookies with water; press fondant onto surface. Cut out other shapes to decorate. If desired, decorate cookies with Icing. Makes 36 cookies.