Valentines Stained-Glass Cookies

My sweet friend, Jen, made some of these fun cookies with our boys at preschool at her house. They were so cute! She told me she found the recipe in The Friend Magazine, December 2009. I took out my magazine, and sure enough, there it was! The idea from the magazine was actually for Christmas, and they called them Shining Star Cookies. I like how versatile the idea is; it can be used for any holiday, really. You just need different sizes of the same shape to make it really cute. But I think these cookies are especially perfect for Valentines.  I doubled the recipe and it made almost three cookie sheets of hearts.

 

Valentines Stained-Glass Cookies
Submitted by Erin ~ http://www.thesisterscafe.com
Printable Recipe
 

1 stick butter, softened
½ c. sugar
½ tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 ½ cups flour
1 c. colored hard candies

Unwrap candies and double bag them. You may want to wrap the bag in a dish towel as well. Break the candies into small pieces with a rolling pin. Set aside.
Mix butter and sugar together until they are smooth. Add the egg and vanilla. Add flour and stir until combined. Take batter out of bowl and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
On a floured surface, roll out dough 1/3 at a time, to 1/3-inch thickness. Cut out cookies with heart shapes, then cut out the middles with smaller hearts.
Cover a cookie sheet with foil and coat with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 4 minutes. Take out cookie sheet and carefully put candy pieces inside each heart cookie, filling the tips of the hearts. Put cookies back in the oven for 5-7 minutes, or until the candy is melted and the dough is golden. Let sit for a few minutes before removing from foil, to allow the candy to harden.