Deliciously buttery reindeer biscuits, with edible sweetie stained glass ‘noses’. These Vegan Stained Glass Cookies make the perfect gift and are ideal for hanging on the Christmas tree. Great for getting the kids involved!
Vegan Stained Glass Cookies
Christmas is right around the corner, and I am THRILLED to be back in the kitchen festive baking. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had an absolute blast making spooky, Halloween recipes but there’s just something so magical about putting up the tree, hanging the lights, smelling gingerbread and drinking hot cocoa whilst something warming bakes in the oven.
Cookies are a must-make during the Holidays, and what better way to combine decorating for Christmas AND cookies. These cookies have a gorgeous stained glass effect using boiled sweets (or hard candies for my US friends) which means when you hang them on the tree, the fairy lights shine through, it’s magical!
Reasons why you’ll love these stained glass cookies:
- They’re VEGAN : This recipe doesn’t contain any animal derived ingredients!
- Gluten-free option : Can be made gluten-free if you use a gluten-free / wheat-free flour blend.
- Simple but effective design.
- Fantastic edible decorations for Christmas / hanging on the tree!
- Can be made in all different colours : Depending what boiled sweet flavour you go for, Rudolph could have a yellow, green, purple or red nose, haha!
- Amazing for kids to make and decorate!
- Great fun festive baking activity.
- They make fantastic gifts!
What are the ingredients for vegan stained glass cookies?
- Dairy-free butter : Make sure to use vegan blocked butter for these cookies. If you use margarine, the cookies will be very soft and are likely to spread out when baking. I like to use either Naturli Vegan Block or Flora Plant Butter. Other brands include Violife and Vegan Gold butter.
- Plain / all purpose flour: As we don’t want the cookies to rise unlike cakes and cupcakes, you’ll want to use a plain flour. You can also switch this to a gluten-free blend, just be sure to use a good / high quality branded flour like Doves Farm for best results.
- Sugar: You want to use a fine, white sugar for this recipe. As an alternative you could use granulated sugar, but it might result in a slightly grainy cookie as opposed to a soft, buttery cookie.
- Ground ginger, ground nutmeg and ground cinnamon : The slight spice in the cookie dough makes the cookies not only taste of christmas, but your house SMELL like christmas too. It is completely optional though. If you leave it out, the’ll taste like regular (but VERY delicious) sugar cookies.
- Ice-water: A bowl with ice and some water. Adding a a teaspoon of ice-water will help bring the dough together. Mix up the ice-water just before starting to make the dough.
- Sweets / candies : Here in the UK we call them ‘boiled sweets’ but I know in the US and other countries you call them ‘hard candies’. I use the ASDA Fruit Drops as they’re vegan friendly.
- Dark Chocolate: You can use whatever dairy-free / vegan friendly chocolate to decorate the reindeer. I opt for a 70% dark chocolate as it pairs really nice with the warming spices and also gives a nice contract in colour.
How to make stained Glass Cookies?
These stained glass cookies are pretty simple to make. You can find the fill written recipe including method and ingredients in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Cookie dough
We start by making the sugar cookie dough, which is simply beating the dairy-free butter, sugar, flour and spices together with ice-water to bring it all together until smooth dough forms. This will be refrigerated until firm.
- Shaping the dough
Next, roll it out into a rectangle, then using a gingerbread man shaped cookie cutter or reindeer cutter, chomp out the shapes and place on a lined baking tray. Using a smaller round cookie cutter OR the end of a piping tip, chomp out a circle where the reindeer nose will be (refer to images for reference).
- Sweets / candies
Crush the sweets / candies then spoon into the the centre of the cookies. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes or until sweets / candies have melted and the cookies are lightly browned around the edges. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
- Decoration
Melt the chocolate, transfer into a piping bag and once the cookies have cooled, pipe on two dots for the eyes and antlers.
- Optional
Serve on a plate or make a hole in the cookie using a cocktail stick or skewer, tie on some string and hang on your Christmas tree.
Looking for more Christmas recipes to try, check these out:
- Gluten-free Vegan Yule Log
- Vegan Gingerbread Cinnamon Rolls
- Vegan Reindeer Cherry Bakewell Bars
- No-Bake Gingerbread Man Truffles
- Vegan Polar Bear Cupcakes
- Gluten-free Vegan Mini Yule Logs
If you make, and love this recipe, please leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating below. Thank you & happy baking! Make sure to tag me in your photos on Instagram , TikTok and Facebook! And if you want to pin this recipe for later, you can use the button on the recipe card, above or below this post, or on any of the photos. Happy baking all!
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Vegan Stained Glass Cookies
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 10–12 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
How to make adorable, yet DELICIOUS Vegan Stain Glass Cookies shaped as Rudolph with a see-through nose, perfect for hanging on your Christmas tree.
Ingredients
Ingredients for the cookies
- 200g of dairy-free block butter
- 100g of caster sugar
- 300g of plain / all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons of ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
- Ice-water (see step 1 for details)
Ingredients for the decorations
- Boiled sweets / hard candies (you want to use the red ones)
- 50g of dairy-free dark chocolate
Instructions
Method (cookies)
- Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Sift in the flour and spices, mix into a thick dough. You may want to add in a teaspoon or two of ice-water to get it to the right ‘dough’ consistency. Transfer the dough into plastic wrap or baking paper and chill in the fridge for at least 40 minutes -1 hour to firm up.
- In the meantime, preheat the oven to 170°C fan and line a baking tray with grease proof paper.
- Once the dough is chilled and firm to the touch, roll out to approximately ½ cm thickness on a heavily floured work surface (this prevents the dough from sticking). Cut into shapes using a gingerbread man cookie cutter. Place the shapes on the lined baking tray. An upside down gingerbread man is the perfect shape for a reindeer.
- Use a small round cookie cutter or the end of a nozzle to chomp out a circle where the reindeer ‘nose’ is (refer to photos for reference).
- Add the boiled sweets / hard candies into a blender and blitz until fine. Spoon into the holes made for the reindeer nose. You want to be very neat and not get any of the sweets on the cookie dough itself.
- Bake in the middle of the oven for 10-12 minutes. You can even turn the tray half way through to ensure an even baking. The cookies will bake to a light golden brown and the sweets should be melted and slightly bubbling.
- Once baked, remove from the oven and allow the cookies to cool FULLY on the tray before transferring to a wire rack. Repeat until all the cookies are baked. Tip: The sweets will harden once out of the oven, you’ll want to leave them to cool for at least 10 minutes before picking them up.
- You can use a skewer of cocktail stick to poke a hole in the top of the cookies and tie on some string for hanging on the trees.
- Fill a small saucepan 1/4 full with water and place on the hob over medium heat. Add the dairy-free chocolate into a heat proof bowl. Place the bowl over the pan, creating a bain-marie. Allow the chocolate to melt, stirring with a heat proof spatula. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for a few minutes then transfer into a piping bag, snip off the tip.
- Pipe two dots above the red nose for the eyes and two antlers.
- Allow the chocolate to set. You can also put the cookies in the fridge to speed up the process. Alternatively you could use a chocolate spread such as vegan ‘Nutella’ but it won’t set.
- Serve and enjoy.
Notes
To store: Store in the fridge in a sealed / air tight container. Best enjoyed within 4 days of making. The sweet ‘ candy’ part of the cookie might get sticky over time. Cookies can also be left at room temperature for up to a week but again, the sweet / candy part of the cookie may go alittle sticky.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 10-12 minutes
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
