Day 8 Pinterest Challenge: Chirstmas Cookie Ornaments

For this wonderful Seasonal Thursday post, I thought these tastefully fun ornament cookies would make the perfect post. I used this recipe to the T, except I added a teaspoon of cinnamon.  The kids LOVED making these and the mess stayed pretty confined.


Stained Glass Cookie Ornaments


Ingredients:

-1/2 c butter

-1/2 cup sugar

-1/4 c brown sugar

-1 tbs molasses

-1/2 tsp vanilla extract

-1 egg

-2 c flour

-1/4 tsp salt

-3/4 tsp baking powder

-1 tsp cinnamon (my add)

-30 or so hard candies (We used jolly ranchers.  I read good things about life savers too.)

-parchment paper



Directions:


Step 1:

Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.   Next, add vanilla extract and molasses.  Mix well.  Then, add egg and mix until smooth.

Step 2:

Add the baking powder, salt, cinnamon and flour now.  Mix until its a nice cookie dough.  Refrigerate for at least an hour and no more than two days.

Step 3:

While the dough sits in the fridge, crush the hard candies into little pieces.  The original recipe suggests a mallet and ziplock bag.  I just used my awesome pampered chef chopper to chop it up, and it worked really well.  Be sure to keep the colors/flavors separated.  We also chopped up some nuts/chocolate chips to put along the outside of the cookies too.

Step 4:

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Roll the dough out on parchment paper.  I did it on individual pieces so each kid could make their own without it being a huge kid cluster.

Step 5:

Cut out the intended shape, and then a smaller version of the intended shape.  Remove the middle shape so that the inside is empty.

Step 6:

Fill the center with the candies.  Then, if you feel like it, add nuts and chocolate on the cookie dough part.

Also, don't forget to poke a hole in the dough for hanging on the tree!  Toothpicks work best.

Step 7:

Place parchment paper/cookies on baking pan.  Bake at 375 F for 9-10 mintues.  Candy should be fully melted and bubbly.  Cookies should be barely starting to brown.

Just let cool completely before removing from paper.  Once cooled, remove the cookie and tie a ribbon or some yarn through the hole and hang on your tree!  Edible and colorful!  Also, it will last about 3 or so weeks.

If you don't feel like eating them and want to keep them awhile, use some sealant like mod podge or shellack to keep them around for a few years.

Once again, even the kids enjoyed it!

All the best and happy cooking/decorating!

Curious as to what I'm doing?  See the original post here.