Make Shamrock Sugar Cookies for St. Patrick's Day! You'll love these soft cookies, which can be decorated with green 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.
Shamrock Sugar Cookies https://www.thegratefulgirlcooks.com/shamrock-sugar-cookies/