We first made these a few years ago, when I couldn’t seem to get a day to myself to work, because the kids kept alternating school viruses. As one does. I remember that Scarlet had a wicked virus, and THREE WEEKS LATER, Des got the exact one. I have no idea how that happens and I can’t pretend to know science. These days, I don’t get days alone to work and I don’t want them either. The kids have been relatively healthy for the last two years, but now I have Rider home with me. Pretty soon, there will be two babies. Maybe when they tandem nap, IF they tandem nap, I will have time for cookie baking. For now, though, luckily I did it SO MUCH in the past that I have a lot I can share with you. Time to run – because Rider is on the prowl! Enjoy:

St. Patrick’s Day Stained Glass Cookies:

What You Need:

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
½ teaspoon salt
1 (2 sticks) cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
½ teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Powdered sugar or flour, for rolling
Jolly Rancher hard candies, approximately one candy per cookie

What You Do:

1 – First, preheat oven to 350 degrees and then prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper

2 – Next, whisk together dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, and salt, and set aside

3 – In a mixing bowl, blend the butter and sugar until creamy and light

4 – Add egg, almond extract, and vanilla extract and mix well

5 – Slowly add dry ingredients and mix until combined – dough may be a little crumbly

6 – Turn out the dough onto a surfaced sprinkled with powdered sugar or flour

7 – Press into a ball and then roll out to ¼ inch thickness, and use cookie cutters to create shapes

8 – Then, carefully lift shaped cookies to the baking sheet

9 – Using a flat spatula is recommended to help the cookies maintain their shape

10 – Separate Jolly Rancher hard candies by color and place inside a quart-sized freezer bag

11 – Place all bags into a larger gallon-sized freezer bag and sandwich the gallon-sized freezer bag between two towels and beat candies with the flat side of a meat mallet until crushed – candy will pierce BOTH bags so be prepared

12 – Scoop candy pieces into the cut opening of each cookie – the crushed candy should fill most of the hole and mound a little on top. Depending on the size of your opening, you will use the equivalent of approximately 1 candy for each cookie

13 – Bake cookies for 7 to 9 minutes – do not brown the cookies

14 – Allow cookies to cool for at least 20 minutes on the baking sheet before carefully removing to a cooling rack

15 – Lastly, store in an airtight container between layers of parchment paper to keep the candy from attaching to the candy in other cookies.

Pro Tip:

IMPORTANT: Do not crush the Jolly Rancher candies prior to using because they will adhere to one another and become a hardened mass of candy. Also, if the dough is rolled too thin, keeping the cookies together while moving them to a baking sheet will be very difficult. Using a flat cookie spatula will help but make sure the cookie dough is at least ¼ inch. Thicker cookies will require more crushed candy. A basting brush can help keep the tiny piece of candy inside the cookie opening.