• Stained glass cookies are beautiful little delicacies that are a great addition to any party. They can be hung off the backs of chairs with beautiful ribbons or used as place settings. Any shape of cutter can be used.

    Stained glass cookies

    Serves: 12
    Cooking Time: 1 hr

    Ingredients

    • 230g unsalted butter, softened
    • 250g castor sugar
    • 2 egg yolks
    • 10ml vanilla extract
    • 360g cake flour
    • 2ml salt
    • 45ml milk
    • 1 bag of red hard-boiled sweets

    Instructions

    1

    Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper and set aside.

    2

    Beat the butter and castor sugar in a bowl until smooth and creamy. Add the egg yolks and vanilla, and mix for another minute. Scrape down the sides to incorporate all the ingredients.

    3

    Sift the flour and salt into the butter mixture, add 180g cake flour, the milk and then the remaining cake flour. Mix until just combined into a dough and set aside.

    4

    Place the sweets in a heavy duty plastic bag and seal. Wrap the bag in a kitchen towel and using a rolling pin, crush the sweets.

    5

    Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured working surface and cut out shapes with large cookie cutters. Carefully place the shapes on the baking trays and cut out the centres of the shapes with smaller cookie cutters. Continue until all the dough is used. If the dough becomes too soft to handle, put it back into the fridge to firm up.

    6

    Spoon some sweets into the centre of each cookie. The amount will depend on the size of the cut-out. Use just enough to fill the centres and bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes.

    7

    Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool. Using some melted chocolate, pipe different names or shapes onto the biscuits. Store the biscuits in an airtight container until needed.