Stained Glass Cookies

Directions

1. Use an electric mixer with a metal mixing bowl. Mix the butter, salt, and sugar on low until fluffy.
2. Next, mix in the eggs one by one to prevent any splattering. Once the eggs are fully mixed into the batter, add the vanilla.
3. On the lowest speed setting, slowly pour in ½ cup of flour at a time and mix until the flour has completely incorporated into the dough.
4. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and shape it into a rectangle. Wrap it in plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator to chill for at least 1 hour.
5. While the dough is chilling, unwrap and separate the different flavours of Jolly Ranchers. Place each colour into one of five small resealable bags. We recommend using about 4 or 5 of each colour. Cover the bags with a dish towel and crush the whole candies into small pieces using a mallet or hammer.
6. Remove the chilled dough from the fridge. Divide the dough into thirds. Leave one portion out to work with and put the rest back in the fridge. Preheat the oven to 176°C.
7. Take two large pieces of parchment paper to sandwich the dough between to roll it out. Flour the bottom sheet and place the dough on it. Lightly flour the top side of the dough and place the other piece of parchment paper on top. Roll the dough out, turning the parchment papers as you roll to make it as wide as possible, leaving the dough about ⅕ of an inch thick. Using a medium-sized cookie cutter, make as many cookies as possible. Roll out the dough until it’s used up. We recommend using a simple-shaped cookie cutter for this step such as a circle, heart, star, snowflake, square, or triangle.
8. Move the large cut cookies to a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat. The silicone baking mat will come in handy for removing the cookies later. Cut a centre shape in the large cookies with a smaller cookie cutter and remove that centre dough. We did the same shape for this recipe, but you can get creative with it. Make sure that your shape doesn't make the large cookie perimeter too thin. Otherwise, you might experience some breakage.
9. Take the Jolly Rancher pieces and fill the centre cavities of the cookies most of the way. Don’t worry about them being perfect, the candy will melt and fill in all the gaps. Fill the cut-out centres about 3/4 of the way with crushed Jolly Ranchers. Place the cookies on the baking sheet in the fridge for 10 minutes so they can firm up and prevent any spreading.
10. Bake the cookies for 12-13 minutes.
11. Cool the cookies on the silicone baking mat until the Jolly Ranchers have hardened in the middle. Transfer the cookies to an airtight container for storage. Repeat Steps 6–11 for the remaining dough.