Snowflake Cookies

5 from 19 votes

These Snowflake Cookies are a fun Christmas project for kids and grown-ups. Made with my no-spread gingerbread sugar cookie dough these use candy to create a stained-glass window effect. Spiced with ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and molasses this is a surprisingly simple and easy recipe to make.

Course Breakfast, High Tea

Cuisine American

Keyword Christmas cookies Recipe, Snowflake cookies

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings Cookies

Calories 146kcal

Author Veena Azmanov

Cost $5

Equipment

Stand Mixer
Kitchen Scale
Meas Cups and Spoons
Snowflake Cookie Cutters

Ingredients

2 ½ cup All-purpose flour
4 oz Butter (1 stick, ½ cup) unsalted, room temperature
¼ cup Sugar
½ cup Light brown sugar
¼ cup Molasses
1 Egg large
¼ tsp Salt
1 ½ tsp Ground ginger
1 tsp Cinnamon powder
½ tsp Ground cloves
1 tsp Vanilla extract

Candy

20 Candies various colors

Metric - US customary

Instructions

Prepare the gingerbread sugar cookie dough

Combine flour, spices(cloves, cinnamon, ginger,) and salt.
Cream butter and both sugars until light and fluffy.
Add in the molasses and egg.
Next, add in the flour mixture - combine well.
Bring it all together - the dough will be soft.
Divide into two, wrap in plastic/cling wrap and chill for a couple of an hour or overnight.

Roll and cut snowflake cookies

Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface.
Use a snowflake cookie cutter - cut the shape and place it on a parchment-lined baking tray
Use a smaller snowflake cutter about two sizes smaller for the center.
(You can use the center as a small size snowflake cookie as well).
Crush the candies with a rolling pin. You want small pieces almost crushed to a powder.
Fill the cavity with crushed candy keeping it well within the cavity.

Chill and Bake

I usually prefer to chill my cookies in the fridge for 15 minutes while the oven is preheating.
Preheat the oven at 170 C/ 340 F
Bake in a preheated oven for about 10 to 12 minutes.
When baked let the cookies cool in the baking tray. If you move the cookies while they are hot the melted cookies will spread. Plus you can get scald yourself with hot melted sugar.
When cool use a flat spatula to remove them from the tray
Cool on a cooling rack completely before you transfer to a cookie jar.

Video

Notes

Use a cookie dough that can take a bit of handling. Kids take longer to work with these so a rich butter cookie might not work well with the kids. This gingerbread flavored cookie dough does well because when chilled it does really well.
If you notice the kid's cookies above are a bit thicker with a smaller center cut out making the cookie border thicker. Unlike mine which is thinner with a larger center. It's better this way for the kids to handle the cookie cut out and move them from the rolling mat to the cookie sheet
Place the whole cookie on the baking tray first before you use the smaller cookie cutter. That way you don't distort the shape.
Make sure you crush the candy well before you fill the centers so it will melt evenly.
Chill the cookies before you bake them, I find they work better.
I usually bake most cookies for 10 minutes but for these, I baked them for 11 to 12 minutes - so they baked a bit on the firm side.
When the cookie is done. The centers will still be melted and bubbling. CAUTION!! Keep the kids away as the sugar center is really hot.
Do not try to move the cookies from the baking tray until they are completely cooled. This can cause the center to break off.
I waited for 10 minutes until I could move the spatula under each cookie. Then I moved it to the drying rack.
Attempted to add a ribbon through the hole only when completely cooled.

Nutrition