Hi my dear readers...How about your Christmas preparations...? Whenever I go out I could feel the celebration mood. Everywhere decorated with illuminations, wraths, snowman, Santa's, reindeers,....and it goes on....My heart is also getting ready for the Christmas.....In my home town, at the Christmas time, almost every house will be lighted up with at least a single star. Moreover, in my school days, Christmas is a time for holidays.....I never bothered about how I did my exams and all, but my heart would be filled with the joy of celebrations. The most exciting thing was meeting all my cousins including my little sissies in my mother's big family home.
I thought, I must start up my X'mas season recipes with something special for you. By God's grace, I came across stained glass cookies and I made my own customization for making the almond cookie. This is a simple recipe with no baking powder or baking soda.
These cookies glows when light falls on it...... :-)
Ingredients:
Cookie
One stick (1/2 cup or 8 oz) of butter
2 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 cup of granulated white sugar
1/2 cup of brown sugar
One large egg
One teaspoon of almond extract (or vanilla extract)
Stained Glass
Colored hard candy (like poppins or rose or lemon candy or Jolly rancher)
Cookie cutter (optional)(or you can cut the dough with the top of glass or knife to your desired shape)
Method:
Beat the butter and sugars- both white and brown on medium speed about three minutes till they are light and fluffy (with paddle attachment).
Add the egg and the flavoring- almond (or vanilla according to your taste requirement) , mix until it is incorporated.
Insert the flour into the mixture as a rain while running the beater (or add the flour in three batches ).
Take some cling or any plastic wrap and chill the dough for one hour.
Place a baking tray with parchment paper.
Now roll into 1/4 inch thick and cut into desired shape with cookie cutter or knife and place it in the baking tray with parchment paper.
Make a hole or any shape inside each cookies and put the candy inside it and bake at 3500F for about 8 minutes.
Cool it completely for about 10 minutes and carefully remove it with a spatula.
Note:
I made almond cookies but you are free to choose any sugar cookies and the basic logic is to make a hole at the center and put a hard candy into it.
Do not fill the center of the cookie with candy as you will not get a glass effect.
Before placing the cookies to the oven, put a small hole in the top so that when it is out, you can easily put a thread or decorating ribbon and hang it on the Christmas tree and surprise your kids :-)
You can also crush the candy placed in a plastic bag and pour it in the center.
I used Wilton's almond extract. The cookies were heavenly and a hard but brittle candy at the center ....So light up your Christmas preparations with the almond stained glass cookies and surprise your family..... :-)
Sending this post to the event cook & celebrate hosted by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Yen from Eat Your Heart Out and Dianna from The Domestic Goddess Wannabe
