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Stained Glass Valentine Cookies Recipe

Make these pretty Stained Glass Valentine Cookies for a fun Valentine’s Day dessert.

These are sweet heart cookies to make for your kids. They can even help with rolling out the dough and cutting out the heart shapes.

Want more Valentine’s Day ideas? Check out these Glitter Brownie Pops for another sweet treat and these homemade lemonade recipes too. 

Need printable classroom valentines? Don’t miss our Zoo Animal valentine cards, Shopkins lollipop covers, and these last minute pencil and bubbles valentines.

Heart shaped sugar cookies with melted candy centers arranged on white marble counter top and in small white rectangular serving dish.

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Stained Glass Heart Sugar Cookies

Have you ever wondered how cookies with a stained glass window in the middle are made? It’s easy if you have some translucent hard candy on hand!

These Valentine heart stained glass cookies are made with Jolly Ranchers. The melted hard candy creates a gorgeous stained glass effect. They are pretty and yummy!

Package these delightful heart-shaped cookies up for a homemade Valentine’s Day gift or serve them as dessert at a Valentine’s Day (or even Galentine’s Day!) party.

Stained Glass Sugar Cookies Ingredients:

This recipe yields about 15 to 18 cookies.

  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg, room temperature
  • ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (plus extra for rolling dough)
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • Pinch of salt
  • 8-9 Jolly Rancher candies (a mix of cherry and watermelon)

Helpful Baking Tools:

How to Make Valentine Stained Glass Cookies

In a large mixing bowl, beat the sugar and egg together until creamy.

Add room temperature butter and vanilla extract and mix until all of the ingredients are well incorporated.

Mixing sugar cookie dough ingredients in silver mixing bowl with wooden spoon.

In a small mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt.

Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until cookie dough forms.

Sugar cookie dough in a ball and wrapped in plastic. Ball of dough is siting on blue kitchen towel with little flowers and next to a marble rolling pin.

Wrap your cookie dough with plastic and chill in the refrigerator for at least one hour.

Remove the cookie dough from refrigerator and dust a smooth, clean surface with flour. Also, prepare a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

Cover your rolling pin with flour and roll out the cookie dough so that it’s about ¼ of an inch thick.

One dozen cut out heart sugar cookies on lined baking sheet before baking.

Use a heart-shaped cookie cutter (about 2 ½ inches at its widest) and cut out 15-18 heart-shaped cookies. Place each one gently on the lined baking sheet.

Unwrap the Jolly Rancher candies and place in a zip top sandwich bag. Use a heavy item (rolling pin, meat mallet, etc.) to crush them into small pieces. You do not want them broken down into a powder – only break them up into small chunks.

Using small heart cookie cutter to remove inside part of sugar cookies.

Use a miniature heart-shaped cookie cutter (about 1 inch in size) and cut out a heart-shaped hole in the middle of each cookie.

Heart sugar cookie cut outs on baking sheet with crushed candy in center.

Fill the heart-shaped cavity with crushed Jolly Rancher candy. You want it full, but not overflowing. The candy will melt and shrink while baking.

Place the pan of cookies back into the refrigerator and allow to chill for another 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Bake cookies for 12 to 14 minutes. Edges should be turning golden and candy should be melted.

Close up view of heart shaped stained glass cookies stacked on white marble counter in front of small white serving dish. Pink and white striped paper straws laying nearby.

Allow the cookies to cool completely on a wire rack before serving.

More Cookie Recipes:

Valentines Activities:

Close up view of heart shaped stained glass cookies stacked on white marble counter in front of small white serving dish. Pink and white striped paper straws laying nearby.

Valentine Heart Stained Glass Cookies

Yield: 15-18
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 14 minutes
Additional Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 44 minutes

Make these pretty heart shaped Stained Glass Valentine Cookies for a fun Valentine’s Day dessert. They are a fun twist on Valentine's Day sugar cookies!

Ingredients

  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg, room temperature
  • ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (plus extra for rolling dough)
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • Pinch of salt
  • 8-9 Jolly Rancher candies (a mix of cherry and watermelon)
  • Heart cookie cutters (about 2.5 inches and 1 inch sizes)

Instructions

  1. In a large mixing bowl, beat the sugar and egg together until creamy.
  2. Add room temperature butter and vanilla extract and mix until all of the ingredients are well incorporated.
  3. In a small mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
  4. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until cookie dough forms.
  5. Wrap your cookie dough with plastic and chill in the refrigerator for at least one hour.
  6. Remove the cookie dough from refrigerator and dust a smooth, clean surface with flour. Also, prepare a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
  7. Cover your rolling pin with flour and roll out the cookie dough so that it’s about ¼ of an inch thick.
  8. Use a heart-shaped cookie cutter (about 2 ½ inches at its widest) and cut out 15-18 heart-shaped cookies. Place each one gently on the lined baking sheet.
  9. Unwrap the Jolly Rancher candies and place in a zip top sandwich bag. Use a heavy item (rolling pin, meat mallet, etc.) to crush them into small pieces. You do not want them broken down into a powder - only break them up into small chunks.
  10. Use a miniature heart-shaped cookie cutter (about 1 inch in size) and cut out a heart-shaped hole in the middle of each cookie.
  11. Fill the heart-shaped cavity with crushed Jolly Rancher candy. You want it full, but not overflowing. The candy will melt and shrink while baking.
  12. Place the pan of cookies back into the refrigerator and allow to chill for another 15 minutes.
  13. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  14. Bake cookies for 12 to 14 minutes. Edges should be turning golden and candy should be melted.
  15. Allow the cookies to cool completely on a wire rack before serving.

Notes

Crush the candy into pieces but not into a fine powder.

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 18 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 88Total Fat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 11mgSodium: 48mgCarbohydrates: 18gFiber: 0gSugar: 8gProtein: 2g

Nutrition information isn't always accurate and may vary based on ingredients and measurements used.

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Collage of two images of baked heart stained glass cookies with text overlay.

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