These gluten free stained glass cookies look so cheerful and taste so delicious for the holidays. We start with our chewy and buttery gluten free sugar cookies recipe and fill them with delicious hard candies that create a gorgeous stained glass cutout that everyone will love!
I remember stained glass cookies from the 90's and always thought they were super cool. Once I nailed my gluten free sugar cooke recipe I knew it would be the perfect base for a stained glass cookie recipe.
They are so fun in a holiday cookie box along with our gluten free candy cane cookies, gluten free fruitcake cookies and gluten free Christmas crack. These are always going to be a win that you can count on and neighbors love receiving them as a gift during the season of giving.
WHAT MAKES THESE THE BEST STAINED GLASS COOKIES
- They are seriously, the perfect texture: With golden brown, slightly crisp edges (thanks to the almond flour) and a soft & chewy tender inside, these cookies are perfect for icing and decorating. They are great as cut out stained glass cookies because they hold their shape perfectly.
- Holiday tradition worthy: Everyone deserves sugar cookies during the holidays whether they are gluten free or not. Thanks to this delicious recipe, it doesn't matter if you have one person who needs them or the whole group because they are THAT good. My friend who always said her sister's gluten filled sugar cookies were her favorite now says mine are, which is huge! I decided to give them a bit of a glow up with the stained glass candy centers and they sure turned out great.
- Customizable: Easily personalize this recipe with different spices, frosting, or sprinkles. You can add fruit extract instead of almond if you would like to emphasize the fruity flavors of the hard candies.
THE ingredients that make all the difference
- Butter & Sugar: As you can imagine, butter and sugar are two key ingredients in our sugar cookies, just like he classics. I make them dairy free all the time and they still work fantastic! Make sure if you are using real butter, get one with rich flavor like Irish butter. If using dairy free, I recommend Miyokos or Country Crock plan based sticks. For the sugar, we found that just regular everyday sugar works great.
- Hard Candies: You can use any brand of hard candies but I love Jolly Ranchers. They are easy to crush and make a great stained glass cookie center every time.
- Almond Extract: This adds a slightly nutty flavor that brings more depth to the cookies.
- Almond Flour: Almond flour gives these cookies the perfect slightly crisp edges that you love. When combined with the gluten free all purpose flour, it makes the best base for these cookies.
- Gluten Free Flour: King Aurthur's Gluten Free Flour Blend is my favorite kind of gf all purpose flour, but you can use your favorite kind. It is what is mostly used but when combined with the almond flour, it creates the perfect cookie.
Time to create one unique cookie!
To do a colorful holiday look, be sure to use al the colors of hard candy. You can also go super traditional with just red and green which I also love.
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Gluten Free Stained Glass Cookies
These gluten free stained glass cookies look so cheerful and taste so delicious for the holidays. We start with our chewy and buttery gluten free sugar cookies recipe and fill them with delicious hard candies that create a gorgeous stained glass cutout that everyone will love!
Servings: 24 cookies
Calories: 231kcal
Ingredients
- 1 ⅓ cups butter softened
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon almond extract (optional)
- 1 egg
- 3 ½ cups gluten-free all-purpose flour (King Arthur gluten-free blend is my favorite, regular flour works as well)
- ½ cup almond flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 16 hard candies
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- In a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy then add egg, vanilla and almond extracts
- In another bowl, combine remaining ingredients then slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until well combined
- Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes to an hour
- Heavily flour your work surface with white rice flour and place half the dough on to surface and top with more white rice flour
- Roll out dough and cut out shapes with cookie cutters including the mini center cutout for the hard candy center
- Gently place cookies on a greased or silicone mat lined baking sheet (I use a spatula)
- Crush hard candies one color at a time in a bag then add to the middle of the cut cookies (make sure to fill completely).
- Bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes or until slightly golden brown
- Cool on pan 15 minutes until candy hardens completely then transfer to a wire rack
- Continue with the other half of the dough
Notes
Because of how buttery and delicious these cookies are, they are a bit more fragile. Just use lots of white rice flour on the surface you are working on as well as on top of the dough when rolling it out.
Top tip: Make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl to get all of the frosting. Trust me, you'll want every last taste
How to store leftovers
Allow the cookies to reach room temperature before storing the leftover cookies. Place them in an airtight container with parchment paper between each layer of cookies so they don't stick together. They can sit on the counter for 3-4 days.Can you freeze them?
Absolutely! Allow the cookies to cool to room temperature first. Then, put them in a freezer-safe bag. You can freeze them with the frosting on, but I usually like to have fresh frosting. It doesn't take long at all to make the frosting for this recipe. They will last 3-6 months in the freezer.Nutrition
Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 231kcal | Carbohydrates: 36g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 25mg | Sodium: 143mg | Potassium: 91mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 22g | Vitamin A: 290IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 20mg | Iron: 0.2mg
Katie says
Such a fun idea! I love the bright colors that the candy adds!
Chandice Probst says
They really are a fun one to serve. Thanks Katie!
Tana Besendorfer says
What beautiful cookies! So festive and fun!