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Bake Christmas stained glass gingerbread cookies

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Christmas cookies

   

Our house smells like Christmas today! We made some stained glass Christmas cookies, one of our favourite Christmas activities. They are easy to make using my basic gingerbread recipe (see below for a few adaptations) and look amazing.

Ingredient list:

14 oz plain flour

4 teaspoons ground ginger

2 teaspoons mixed spice

6 oz butter

4 tablespoons golden syrup

4 oz sugar

2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2 desert spoon of water

some red boiled sweets (we used one per cookie, but it depends what size you have)

 
play academy play academy
 

a large and a small heart shaped cookie cutter (the small one needs to fit into the big one with a border of at least 1cm all round)

good non-stick baking paper and some baking trays

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 5 / 190 C and grease two baking trays with butter. Get your ingredients ready.
 
stained glass gingerbread cookies
 
2. Sift the flour and spices into a bowl.
 
stained glass gingerbread cookies
 
3.Heat the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a pan, but don’t let them boil.
 
stained glass gingerbread cookies
 
4. Pour the butter mix into the flour and spices.
 
stained glass gingerbread cookies
 
5. Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in the water and add to the mixture. Stir the ingredients together.
 
stained glass gingerbread cookies
 
6. Knead it into a ball and then roll out on to a floured surface. Cut out a large heart shaped cookie. Then cut out a small heart shape from the centre of the big heart.
 
stained glass gingerbread cookies
 
7. Place the hearts onto a non-stick baking paper on a baking tray. Pop a boiled sweet into each heart space. DON’T FORGET – to make a small hole in each cookie so you can thread a ribbon through. (I forget this every year and have to fish the cookies out of the oven half way through!)
 
stained glass gingerbread cookies
 
8. Bake until golden (time will depend on how big your cookies are, but check after 10 minutes). Hey presto the boiled sweet has melted to create your stained glass window.
 
stained glass gingerbread cookies
 
9. When they come out of the oven check to see that the hole is still there (the cookies will spread a little while cooking) and make the holes a little bigger if you need to. You can sprinkle on some sugar while they’re still warm to give a frosty look if you want to. Leave the cookies to cool completely on the baking paper and then gently peel the paper off. Add a ribbon and hang them on the tree or in your window. They make lovely presents too – wrap in cellophane and tie with a ribbon. If you’re hanging them on your Christmas tree try and position them so a fairy light shines through the ‘glass’ – they’ll look beautiful and smell wonderful!
 
stained glass gingerbread cookies
 
 

Download the complete Gingerbread Unit

 

A deliciously educational unit of learning! The Gingerbread Unit gives you everything you need to teach an engaging program of activities all based around The Gingerbread Man.

With ideas for math, literacy, science, play, sensory, arts and crafts your children will love learning through baking, play, and exploration.

:: over 45 pages of lessons, activities, and printables

:: a complete unit of gingerbread-themed math, science, literacy, arts and crafts, sensory, and play

:: materials lists and bonus printables make it so easy!

:: everything planned for you, so you can enjoy it as much as your children do

:: fun and delicious, and packed with engaging learning

Click here to get your complete Gingerbread Unit.

 

 

Comments

  1. Sue says

    I’ve always wanted to make stained glass cookies, but never have:( Yours look so beautiful! I love ’em! Happy New Year!

  3. Cathy says

    Thanks for your comments – lovely to hear from you. You should definitely try these, they’re so easy.

    • Cathy @ NurtureStore says

      Thanks angelsandurchinsblog – I like things that look great but are easy!

  13. Jyoti says

    WOW!! Amazing idea….seems easy for a non baker like me!! gonna gie it a try!! *fingers crossed*

  14. Tami says

    I’m just wondering what boiled sweets are? There might be a language gap, I’m in Canada and not familiar with that. Thanks for the great idea!

    • Cathy James says

      Hi Tami. After having written this site for years I thought I knew most of the UK/US/Canada translations, but I never thought about others not knowing what boiled sweets are! I guess you might call them hard candy?

  15. Kimberly says

    I had that question, too!

    These are beautiful and I can’t and I will definitely be making them. ???? Another question:. Is “golden syrup” what’s called corn syrup in the States? If so, would it be the Light kind or the Dark?

    Thank you. ☺️

    • Cathy James says

      Hi Kimberly. Yes, I think you can use corn syrup instead and I’d guess it would be the light kind. Let me know how they turn out!

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