"Stained Glass" Christmas Cookies

Make a mixture of some plain cookies and some with sweet centers. If you want to hang the cookies from your tree as edible decorations, make a small hole in the top of each shape before baking them.

Ingredients

Makes 12 cookies

1 stick butter
1-1/4 cups superfine sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
4-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
a little milk
a handful of hard candies, crushed (put candies of one color in a clean plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Place buttered wax paper over two large baking sheets. Cream together the butter and sugar in a large bowl. Add the vanilla extract and stir in the eggs.

2. Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt into a separate bowl. Add the egg mix and then the milk, a little at a time, and mix into the dough. Chill for 30 minutes.

3. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until 1/4-inch thick. Cut shapes using a cutter. Use a smaller cutter to make the holes and fill each with a few crushed sweets.

4. Bake for 10 minutes. Leave the baked cookies on the paper and transfer the paper onto a wire rack. Allow the cookies to cool completely before removing them from the paper.