Window Cookies

You wait ages for a cookie post to come along and then three come along at once! This is my third cookie post this month...having previously only done one or two since I started blogging. I love these cookies, they're so cute! Most people have made stained glass window cookies at some point in their lives...but these are stained glass window, window cookies complete with flake window sills and skittle flowers...you can't go wrong! :-)

They are also my second entry into this month's Random Recipes hosted by Belleau Kitchen. You may have seen in my last post that once a recipe book was randomly selected, there was a choice as to whether to make the first recipe in the book or the last. The book I selected was Hamlyn's 200 Cakes and Bakes and the recipe on the first page was for these delicious Lemon and Limoncello Mini Cupcakes. On the last page...the window cookies.

The cookies tasted lovely, although there are more sweets and chocolate than actual cookie! I'm sure children would love these...and that obviously makes me a big kid as I love them too!

Ingredients

200g chilled unsalted butter
275g plain flour
100g icing sugar
2 egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla bean paste

175g coloured boiled sweets
Royal Icing
10 chocolate flakes
12 skittles or M&Ms, various colours
Sugar sprinkles

To make the dough, dice the butter and then put it in a food processor with the flour and then mix until if forms a breadcrumb consistency. You can then add the egg yolks, icing sugar and vanilla paste before blending again until the mixture comes together in a dough. This should then be chilled for at least an hour, wrapped in cling film

Whilst the dough is chilling, line 2 baking trays with baking paper and unwrap the boiled sweets. Then when the dough is suitably chilled, roll it out quickly on a floured surface. I rolled mine to roughly the thickness of one and half pound coins. From this you should be able to cut out 10 windows, each around 10cm x 8cm. I made a template out of card before I started to make it easier. At this stage the dough was very soft, so I decided to put the baking trays in the fridge covered in cling film for a bout 20 minutes.

After the 20 minutes in the fridge I used a 3cm square cutter to cut out the window panes before popping a boiled sweet into each one. The cookies should be baked in a preheated oven for 12 minutes at 180c/160c fan/gas 4. The sweets will melt and fill the panes, if they don't you can use a toothpick to tease it into the corners, although I didn't find this to be necessary. The cookies can then cool on the baking trays.

Once cool you can add the finishing touches. Use royal icing to attach a flake to the base of each window. This should be right along the very bottom, otherwise the cookies won't stand up. Finally, attach the sprinkles and skittles and use royal icing in a piping back to add the additional details. Then stand your cookies up and your finished!

* Adapted from Hamlyn's 200 Cakes and Bakes