Sweet Pea’s Stained Glass Star Cookies

Ingredients

• Hard candy such as Jolly Ranchers (10 or more pieces)

• ½ cup softened butter

• ⅛ tsp salt

• ¾ cup sugar

• 1 large egg

• ½ tsp vanilla extract

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour leveled, plus more for dusting

• 3 inch and 1 ½ inch star cookie cutter

 

Instructions

1. Unwrap and separate hard candy by color and put in resealable bags. Crush into small bits. Set aside.

2. Blend together butter, sugar, and salt until well mixed.

3. Mix in egg and vanilla. Blend in flour slowly until well mixed.

4. Form dough into a rectangle, wrap in plastic wrap, refrigerate for 1 hour.

5. Cut dough into thirds. Work with one portion at a time and refrigerate the remaining dough.

6. Roll the dough out onto a floured surface (not too thin). Cut out as many large stars as you can using a 3 inch star cookie cutter.

7. Put the cut stars on the baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cut smaller stars with a 1 ½ inch star cookie cutter from the center of each and remove.

8. Roll and cut more cookies from the remaining dough.

9. Fill cut out centers ½ to ¾ of the way with the crushed hard candy. Preheat the oven to 350. Refrigerate until firm for 20 minutes.

10. Bake cookies 10-14 minutes until the candy center has melted and cookies are done.

11. Let cookies cool on the baking sheet until the hard candy has set.

12. Store cookies in an airtight container.