Recipe: Valentine's Day stained glass cookies

At Flour Power, we love sharing food science experiments with our lil' chefs. We talk about making a hypothesis and letting them make an educated guess about what the outcome might be.

Their eyes beam with excitement at who will be right and what exactly will happen. This recipe is one of our all time favorites! As Chef Hannah and I were recording this video, I was talking to her about how solids become liquids and letting her think through how we could turn that liquid back to a solid again.

You could almost see light bulbs going off in her head as she thought through the process!  This recipe is a great example of letting children explore in the kitchen and learn a science lesson all at the same time! Share this with your favorite lil' valentine soon. 

2 heart-shaped cookie cutters, one larger than the other 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper for easy clean up. Mix sugar cookie mix, egg, softened butter, and flour. If the cookie dough is not stiff enough, add small amounts of flour to get it to the correct stiffness in order to roll out. Set dough aside.

Crush the Jolly Ranchers. On a floured surface and with a floured rolling pin, roll out the cookie dough. Using the larger cookie cutter, cut out a shape in the dough. Be sure to dip your cookie cutters in flour for an easy, clean release from the dough.

With the smaller cookie cutter, cut out a shape in the center of larger cookie and place on parchment paper. I find it easier just to work directly on the parchment lined cookie sheet than trying to transfer it later. Fill in the center with crushed Jolly Ranchers so the candy fills the hole.