Make Shamrock Sugar Cookies for St. Patrick’s Day! You’ll love these soft cookies, which can be decorated with green icing (recipe included).
Top o’ the morning to ya! St. Patrick’s Day is right around the corner, so why not make shamrock cookies to mark the occasion? Better yet, why not make the cookies and let the kids (your own little leprechauns) help decorate them?
These soft sugar cookies are easily made, and can be cut into any desired shape. I used two different sized shamrock cookie cutters for this batch, and then added Irish green icing and sprinkles for decoration.
The icing for decorating the cookies is optional, so you can choose to add it or not. Undecorated shamrock cookies are soft, slightly sweet and delicious even without icing. Here’s how to make these festive cookies.
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Make The Cookie Batter
Cream room temperature butter and granulated sugar together in a large bowl, using an electric mixer. Beat until the mixture becomes fully combined, and fluffy.
Add 2 eggs, ONE AT A TIME, beating between each addition. Measure vanilla extract and almond extract into the batter, and continue beating until they’re incorporated into the dough.
Mix Dry Ingredients And Add To Batter
In a separate large bowl, stir (or whisk) flour, baking powder and salt together. Add this dry mixture a little at a time to the batter, while beating on LOW speed until fully combined.
The cookie dough at this point will be fairly thick, a bit sticky, and soft in texture.
Rolling And Chilling the Dough
Equally divide the cookie dough into two portions. Put each piece on a lightly floured silicone mat OR parchment paper (also floured).
Use a rolling pin (lightly floured) to roll each portion of dough out until it is approx. ¼” in thick. If the dough starts to stick, sprinkle the top of the dough and rolling pin with a tiny bit more flour.
After the dough is rolled to ¼” thickness, lightly sprinkle the top of each piece of dough with flour. Cover each portion with plastic wrap, and place them in the refrigerator to chill at least 2 hours (or overnight, if desired).
Cut Out The Cookies
Preheat your oven to 375°F. before cutting out the cookies. Take ONE PORTION of the dough out of the refrigerator (keep other piece refrigerated). Use a shamrock cookie cutter to carefully cut out the cookies.
Place the cutout cookies onto large baking sheets lined with silicone mats, or parchment paper that has been lightly floured. Leave about 2″ between each cookie. Remove the second half of the dough and repeat the process.
TIP: You can use those remaining scrap pieces of dough! Combine the scraps, re-roll the dough and cut out more cookies, then refrigerate cookies for 10 minutes before baking. You want the dough cold and slightly firm again, so the cookies don’t spread out too much while baking, ruining their shape!
On average, this recipe yields about 36 cookies. I used 2 different sized cookie cutters (one was fairly small), so I ended up with about 40 shamrock cookies. The size cookie cutter(s) you use will determine the total quantity of cookies.
Bake The Shamrock Sugar Cookies
Bake the cookies at 375°F. for 8-10 minutes, or ONLY until the cookies are very lightly browned on the bottom. DO NOT OVERBAKE!
Let the cookies rest and cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer them with a spatula to wire racks to finish cooling.
Make The Icing (Optional)
If you want to make decorative icing for the cookies, it’s simple. Measure powdered sugar, 2 Tablespoons of milk (to start), light corn syrup, and vanilla extract into a medium bowl.
TIP: If you want to color the icing, add the gel coloring at this point. Stir until the desired color is reached and evenly distributed in the icing.
Stir until the icing ingredients are combined and lump-free. If the icing is too thick, add a tiny bit of milk (about 1 teaspoon) at a time, stirring until it reaches the desired consistency.
You will want the icing to be spreadable and slightly thick (or pipeable, if using a pastry bag). TIP: Too thick? Add a tiny bit of milk. Too thin? Add a little more powdered sugar.
To Decorate Or Not? That IS The Question!
TRUTH! If there were awards for worst cookie decorator, I’m fairly sure I would rank right up there somewhere near the top of the list. I am not a good or skilled cookie decorator AT ALL.
That being said, if you make the icing and want to decorate your shamrock cookies, go for it! Whether you spread it, pipe it, or dunk the cookies in icing, have fun decorating these shamrock cookies, whatever the result!
Kids LOVE to be creative with their own special decorated cookie creations, so make that icing, and let them have a go at it. Their decorated cookies will probably be better looking than mine… ha ha!
Wait until the cookies have cooled to room temperature before decorating. After decorating, let the cookies rest, so the icing gets firm. Once the icing has hardened, grab a cookie and enjoy a bite! They’re delicious.
Thanks for taking time out of your day to visit my blog. I hope you have the opportunity to try these yummy little shamrock cookies. Remember you can use your favorite cookie cutters to make these cookies for any holiday or occasion, too!
I hope you have a great day, and invite you to come back again soon for more family-friendly recipes. Take care, and may God bless you!
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Original recipe source (and with thanks to): Blair Lonergan, at: theseasonedmom.com/cut-out-sugar-cookies/
↓↓ PRINTABLE RECIPE BELOW ↓↓
Make Shamrock Sugar Cookies for St. Patrick's Day! You'll love these soft cookies, which can be decorated with green icing.
- 2¾ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup butter (=12 Tbl. or 1½ sticks), at room temp.
- 2 large eggs at room temp.
- 1¼ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 3 Tablespoons milk + more as needed
- 2 Tablespoons light corn syrup
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- gel food coloring (optional) to color the icing
Cream butter and sugar together in large bowl, using electric mixer. Beat until fully combined/fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating between each addition. Measure vanilla and almond extracts into batter; continue beating until they're incorporated into dough.
In separate large bowl, stir (or whisk) flour, baking powder and salt together. Add this (a little at a time) to the bowl of batter, while mixing on LOW speed until combined. Cookie dough will be fairly thick, and a bit sticky.
Divide dough into two equal portions. Put each on lightly floured silicone mats OR parchment paper (also floured). Use a rolling pin (lightly floured) to roll each portion of dough out until it is ¼" thick. If dough begins to stick, sprinkle dough and rolling pin with a tiny bit more flour. After dough is rolled to ¼" thickness, lightly sprinkle the top of dough with flour. Cover each portion with plastic wrap; refrigerate at least 2 hours (or overnight, if desired).
Preheat oven to 375°F. before cutting out cookies.
Take 1 portion of chilled dough out of refrigerator (keep other one refrigerated). Use shamrock cookie cutter to cut out cookies. Place cookies on large baking sheets lined with silicone mats, or lightly floured parchment paper. Leave 2" between cookies. Remove remaining half of dough from refrigerator; repeat process. The size cookie cutter(s) you use determines the total quantity of cookies. TIP: You can use those remaining scrap pieces of dough! Combine scraps, re-roll the dough, cut out more cookies, then refrigerate cookies for 10 minutes before baking. You want dough cold/firm again, so cookies don't spread out too much while baking, ruining their shape!
Bake cookies at 375°F. for 8-10 minutes, or ONLY until the cookies are very lightly browned on the bottom. DO NOT OVERBAKE! Let cookies rest on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Measure powdered sugar, 2 Tablespoons of milk (to start), light corn syrup, and vanilla into a medium bowl. If you want colored icing, add gel coloring. Stir until ingredients are fully combined, lump-free, and desired color. If icing is too thick, add a bit of milk (about 1 teaspoon) at a time, stirring until it reaches desired consistency. Icing should be spreadable and slightly thick (or pipeable, if using a pastry bag). TIP: Too thick? Add a tiny bit of milk. Too thin? Add a little more powdered sugar.
Wait until cookies have cooled to room temperature before decorating. After decorating, let cookies rest, so the icing hardens. Serve, and enjoy!
NOTE: Caloric calculation was made for cookies WITHOUT icing. If icing is added to the cookies, their approximate caloric value would increase to 138 per cookie, on average.
Here’s one more to pin on your Pinterest boards!
