Easter Egg Stained-Glass Cookies

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup of sugar
• 2 sticks of margarine or butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 3 cups of flour
• Assorted brightly colored hard candies (ex. Jolly Ranchers, Suckers, Cream Savers, Life Savers, etc)
• Easter Egg cookie cutter
• Small circle cookie cutter (or Karo Syrup lid! )

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a mixer, cream the sugar and butter until smooth. Next, add the egg and extract. Mix in the flour. Remove the dough from the mixer, place in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about one hour.

2. Remove from the refrigerator and roll out the dough on a floured surface into about 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out as many Easter Egg shapes as possible. Repeat with all of the dough. Cut a small circle out of each Easter Egg.

(I didn’t have a tiny round cookie cutter so I ended up using the Karo syrup lid! It worked perfect! ) 

3. Place the hard candy, by color, into small plastic bags. Place a towel over the bags and crush the candy with a soft surface hammer or meat tenderizer.

4. Place all of the cookies on non-stick Silpat cooking sheets or parchment lined sheet pans. In each of the small circles, fill with different colors of crushed hard candies.

5. Bake in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until lightly golden brown, and the candy has melted. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them completely cool before removing them. I found the easiest way to remove them was, to use a sharp knife to slide underneath to loosen the cookie up then they come right off. The key to handling them is patience!

6. You can serve the cookies on a platter or display them by poking a small hole in the top of the Easter Egg and looping a ribbon through to hang them. Aren’t those colors gorgeous!? 

Mackenzie is a follower of Jesus, wife, mama of two toddler boys, teacher at heart, and coffee lover. She was a lower school elementary teacher for over 6 years, with a master's degree in Reading, and is a certificated Reading Specialist. She currently works part-time at a private school allowing her more time at home with her little guys.

Mackenzie has blogged 500 posts here.