Fill your Mason Jar Cookies with Candy Glass with your favorite sprinkles or candies for any holiday or special occasion. These stained glass style cookies are perfect for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, birthdays, baby showers, and more.
The idea for these stained glass style mason jar cookies popped into my head last winter after I made my Snowman Cookies with Snowflake Filled Bellies but it took me almost a year to get them made. That’s my life. I have too many ideas and not enough time. I really wanted these ready for you so you could include them on your Christmas cookie trays, but just had too many fun Christmas treat videos to create this year. Oh well, there’s always next Christmas.
The good thing about these cookies is that they will be fun to serve at any holiday or for any special occasion. Just use the appropriate candy or sprinkles to decorate your jars. Use gold stars for New Year’s Eve, mini M&M’s for a birthday, hearts for Valentine’s Day, and pink and blue candy pearls for a baby shower. I even added alphabet and number sprinkles which would be great to give as teacher’s gifts.
My original intent for these cookies was for the candy to be jingling around inside the mason jars like the snowflakes were inside the snowmen. But, as I worked on them, I decided I liked how vibrant the candy looked attached to the top of the candy glass. I also liked that they are a single layer cookie instead of a triple layer cookie. They are much easier to eat.
Biting into one of these Mason Jar Cookies is really fun. It’s crunchy and soft all at the same time and the candy or sprinkles on top add a unique flavor to each cookie. I used crystal clear mints to create the candy windows, but you can use Isomalt or homemade hard candy if you prefer.
I love the combination of the mint candy with the cookie. It’s nice and refreshing but not overwhelmingly minty. The candy glass is super thin so the flavor is very mild and pleasing. If you want a burst of mint flavor, you can add peppermint extract when you make the cookie dough. I added some almond extract which gives the cookies a wonderful flavor too.
Check out the video tutorial. The recipe is below.
Don’t you just love all the different candies in each Mason Jar Cookie? I have a huge drawer, um actually I have 4 drawers, of sprinkles and wanted to use them all. Being this recipe makes about 5 dozen cookies I could use at least half of my sprinkles. Yes, I have that many sprinkles. It’s crazy, I know!
You can find items needed to make these Mason Jar Cookies on amazon (commission earned for sales).
Mason jar shaped cookies filled with candy glass and can be filled with your favorite sprinkles or candies. They are fun treat to make for any occasion.
- 4 – 4 1/4 cups all purpose flour I start with 4 cups, then add more if needed
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup butter softened slightly
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 teaspoon almond or peppermint extract
- 2 large eggs
- 48-60 clear mint candies I used Arcor Crystal Clear Mint Candies
- clear piping gel
- assorted candies minis or sprinkles
- 4 ounces black candy melts, melted
- edible silver luster dust
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Preheat oven to 350.
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Mix the flour, salt, and baking powder together in a bowl. Set aside.
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Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
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Add the vanilla, and almond extract and beat until well combined.
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Mix in the eggs until smooth.
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Stir in the flour mixture just until incorporated.
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Roll out the dough to about 3/16th inch thickness on a silicone mat or a flour dusted cutting board.
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Cut out dough using a 3 1/2 inch mason jar cookie cutter.
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Remove excess dough leaving mason jars in place.
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Cut the centers out using an oblong cookie cutter or knife leaving about 1/2 - 3/4 inch of cookie dough around the outside.
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Remove the center pieces of dough.
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Place the cookies in the freezer for 10 minutes.
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Re-roll dough and repeat creating about 60 cookies.
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Remove and peel the frozen cookies off the silicone mat or cutting board and place them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
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Bake for 10 minutes.
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Meanwhile, crush the clear mint candies into very fine crumbs using a food processor or rolling pin.
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Remove hot cookies from oven and spoon candy crumbs into the center of each cookie, filling them about 1/2 full.
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Return cookies to oven and allow the candy to melt for 3-4 minutes.
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Remove and allow cookies to cool completely before removing them from the cookie sheet.
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Brush a thin layer of piping gel over about 3/4 of the candy glass.
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Sprinkle candies or sprinkles over the piping gel.
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Let the gel dry for about 30 minutes.
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Paint black candy melts over the lid portion of the cookies.
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Let the candy melts dry.
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Brush edible silver luster dust over the black candy lid to create a shine.
When rolling out my cookie dough I like to use a silicone mat and a non-stick rolling pin. I only lightly dust the rolling pin with flour and don’t need anything on the mat. This is great because this cookie dough will be re-rolled a lot and won’t get too stiff with the addition of a lot of flour.
If you don’t have silicone mats you can dust a cutting board with flour instead or roll the cookie dough out on parchment paper.
Once you roll out the dough, cut the mason jars out using a 3 1/2 inch mason jar cutter. Then remove all the excess dough.
Use an oblong cookie cutter or knife to cut out the center piece. You want about 1/2 of an inch around the edge of the cookie.
Then remove the dough from the center of each cookie.
Now you’ll want to freeze the mason jar cookies for about 10 minutes so that they can be moved without ruining their shape. Once they have frozen so that they are firm, you can peel them off and place them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Then bake for 10 minutes.
Once the cookies have baked for 10 minutes you’ll remove them and while still hot, add the candy glass.
I used Alcor Crystal Clear Mints to make my candy windows. I crushed the mints into a fine powder using a food processor. If you don’t have a food processor, place the unwrapped mints in a large zip top bag and smash them with a rolling pin.
Sprinkle some of the powdered candy in the center of each cookie filling them about half full. You want enough candy in each cookie so that it melts into a nice thin layer of candy.
Once you’ve filled all the cookies on the tray, pop them back in the oven for 3- 4 minutes. If you have a window in your oven, watch to see when the candy is melted and remove immediately. If you don’t have a window, keep checking after 3 minutes. If the candy gets too hot you’ll get really big bubbles in the candy glass.
This method works well and is very easy. You can make homemade hard candy and fill the centers if you’d prefer.
To add the candy to the mason jar cookies, brush a thin layer of clear piping gel onto the candy glass and sprinkle on a layer of candy or sprinkles. I used piping gel because it’s clear and once it dries it will hold the candy in place.
You can find piping gel at craft stores or cake decorating shops or you can order them online.
It was really fun making all the different candy filled mason jar cookies. They are all so cute.
I’d love to see how you decorate your Mason Jar Cookies. Be sure to send me a photo so I can share it in my Readers’ Gallery and if you post about these cookies please credit Hungry Happenings and share a link to this post.
Be sure to check out all my fun Christmas Recipes!
After seeing these cookies, I was wondering……..
What if I made a solid ‘mason jar’ & one with the clear window & put the sprinkles in between–I’m thinking about Valentine hearts.
You must hate it when people try to alter your wonderful recipes, the sweet snowman cookies with sprinkles are amazing, but am trying to cut down on sugar for the grandkids.
You would have to turn the cookie with the candy window upside down so that the bottom of the candy would be facing up. Once stacked on the other cookie you would have a very thin space to put some sprinkles. Also the bottom of the candy window is usually a bit more cloudy than the top so you wouldn’t see through it quite as well. That is ultimately why I used a third cookie. Let me know if you give it a try. I’d love to hear how they turn out.
Do you have a cookie book with all these fun recipients in. I’m older and don’t have a computer or printer to copy recipients, only on my kindle & can’t print from it. I would need hard copies also to help me remember the ingredients. I am just a little grandma who would like to make these for my grandbabies.
Hi Susan,
I wish I did have a book with all those recipes in it. I do have a book that is all about making cookies, cupcakes, and more using Candy Clay (modeling chocolate) called Candy Clay Creations and it does have some cookie recipes in it. I’ll have to start working on another book!
I keep trying these, but the candy melting in the cookie never comes out clear. It comes out white? Any ideas what I am doing wrong?
Hi Laura,
You may be adding too much candy to the middle of the cookies. You want the candy to melt in a really thin layer. Try adding less and allow them to stay in the oven until they melt all the way. Make sure the pan has just come out of the oven and is very hot. This will help melt the candy quicker. I only bake one tray at a time so that I can get all of them filled quickly and get them back in the oven. If you have hot spots in your oven you may find that some candy filled cookies will melt quicker than others.
Good luck. I hope they turn out for you!
I love these cookies! Do you have a suggestion on a way to paint the candy melts if I wanted to use this method to make a sort of stained glass window design?
Thanks Sherri, I’m so glad you like the cookies! I’m not exactly sure what you are asking here. Are you wanting to paint onto the hard candy using candy melts? If so, the color will be opache. If you want to make the hard candy window to have several colors in it, you could crush up a variety of colored candy and sprinkle in the candy in sections. I hope this answers your question. If not, would you please clarify? 🙂
Your Mason jar cookies are Ahh-mazing! I too like the fact that they are one layer…easier for me!
And those sprinkles, I have more than I can count and I love it! 🙂
Thanks so much. I really love that they are a single layer and am glad you like that too!
What a great idea! Although they would have been really cute with the sprinkles moving freely like in the snowmen cookies, I do like that these are only a single layer. And so easily customizable for any occasion! My mom and I have been collecting sprinkles for years, so this idea is right up our alley!
These cookies can be made either way, but I really liked the single layer. I shared them with friends and they all enjoyed eating them, even the ones loaded with crunchy sprinkles. They all thought the flavor of the entire cookie with the candy glass was really flavorful and fun! I hope you and your mom bake up a batch of these to use up some of those sprinkles. 🙂
What a cute and brilliant idea for using the glass, each turned out darling. The possibilities are endless!
Thanks so much! These could be used for just about any occasion.
What awesome looking cookies and wonderful video but looks like more work an what I have time for. Great step by step instructions which is very helpful. Thank U. Looks like they will be loads of fun to make. All I need to did find me the jar cookie cutter
Thanks Colleen. They are a bit of work but the response to these cookies has been so amazing that I really feel they are worth the time spent. I ordered my cookie cutter from Amazon. You can get one using this affiliate link – http://amzn.to/2ieA45d 🙂
i’m gonna ask Santa for these cookies but you only have 120 bottles of sprinkles?!? you better ask Santa for more! Lol 😂
LOL! I’m guessing your cupboards are filled with just as many sprinkles or more! I never thought I’d have so many sprinkle drawers before I began blogging about fun food. Now I collect sprinkles. I can’t pass up a bottle of something new. 🙂
Thank you for the easy to follow video!!
You are welcome. I’m glad you enjoyed it!