St. Patrick’s Day Shamrock Cookies Recipe
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If you’re on the lookout for an amazing St. Patrick’s Day cookie recipe, our festive and easy shimmery St. Patrick’s Day Shamrock Cut Out Cookies are ideal for fun celebrating! Perfect for every St. Paddy’s Day celebration, much like this 20 St. Patrick’s Day Desserts roundup!
Pairing up St. Patrick’s cookies and buttercream frosting is one of the best St. Patty’s party ideas ever! It’s like finding the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, plus who can resist their Irish charm? Check out these Lucky Charm Marshmallow Rice Krispies and these 10 Magically Delicious Lucky Charm Desserts!
What are Shamrock Cut Out Cookies?
Shaped like the iconic Irish shamrock, these sugar cookies are soft and delicious, sure to bring a wee bit of luck to all the lads and lassies!
Frosted with a sweet, light light green buttercream, they are sprinkled with sparkling sugar & shimmer dust on top to definitely add some twinkle to your smiling Irish eyes. Even if you’re not Irish, these cookies will give you the St. Patrick’s party feels!
For the cookies themselves, you’ll need butter, sugar, 1 egg, flour, salt, baking powder, vanilla extract and almond extract (optional).
To make the frosting, you’ll need powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, salt, milk and green food coloring. Use either food coloring liquid
or food coloring gel
to tint your frosting . If you’re using gel you won’t need as much as if you’re using liquid. This ingredient is also optional, so you can leave it out if you prefer.
For the tops, use green Green sparkling sugar
, sanding sugar
and/or shimmering edible green sugar dust if you really want to make them sparkle! Of course, St. Patrick’s themed sprinkles
can also be used or leave them off completely!
Why We Love This Shamrock Cut Out Cookies Recipe
- Sugar cookies are one of the simplest cookie recipes to make. Even if you’re a novice at baking, you’ll find this recipe for shamrock cookies is easy to follow to get the sugar cookies you desire !
- There’s no need to chill the dough for hours! We use a foolproof 10 minute flash-freeze method!
- The buttercream frosting is super simple, but you could use a shortcut and use store-bought buttercream easily and just add some green food coloring to tint them a pretty green!
- Pairing up St. Patrick’s cookies and buttercream frosting is one of the best St. Patty’s party ideas ever!
- Not only can you enjoy the tasty, soft shamrock sugar cookies, but you’ll probably be doing an Irish jig on the side! I love this idea!
- Make the shamrock cookies small or big, serve them on a platter to give to friends and family or at any party where you’re celebrating the day!
Ingredients for Shamrock Cut Out Cookies
Cut Out Shamrock Sugar Cookie Recipe
- all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled so you don’t have dry, crumbly cookies
- baking powder
- unsalted butter, cold & cut into cubes (can also use salted butter, omit salt) – butter should be cold so you don’t have to chill dough for hours
- granulated sugar
- egg
- salt
- vanilla extract – makes the cookies taste super yummy with vanilla flavor!
- almond extract, optional – do not add this in like you do vanilla extract as it can be very overwhelming in taste and may ruin your cookies if you add over 1/2 teaspoon.
Easy Buttercream Frosting
- unsalted butter, room temperature
- confectioners’ sugar / powdered sugar
- teaspoon salt
- vanilla extract
- milk of choice or heavy cream
- Green food coloring or gel to tint frosting
- Green sparkling sugar , sanding sugar and/or shimmering edible green sugar dust
Instructions How to Make St. Patrick’s Shamrock Sugar Cookie Recipe
Shamrock Cut Out Sugar Cookie Dough Recipe
- Line baking sheet (s) with parchment paper, set aside.
- Whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder, set aside.
- Using mixer, cream together the cold, cubed butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. Blend in the egg and both extracts. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat until just combined, scraping down the bowl, as needed, including the bottom.
- The dough will be crumbly, so knead it together with your hands as you scoop it out of the bowl until it comes together.
- Roll dough on a lightly floured surface to about 1/3 inch to 3/8 inch thickness preferred using a rolling pin and then cut into shapes using shamrock cookie cutters.
- Place cut out cookies on the prepared baking sheets 2 inches apart and then transfer to the freezer for 10 minutes, while you preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes until just barely golden on the bottoms, being careful to not over-bake.
- Let sit for a few minutes on the sheet, then transfer to a cooling or wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
Easy Buttercream Frosting
- Using mixer, mix together the butter, ½ of the powdered sugar, vanilla, salt and ½ of the milk until mixed well.
- Add remaining powdered sugar and add more milk until you get the consistency you want for your cookies.
- Add a few drops of green food coloring or gel to frosting mixture, mixing it in and adding more if needed to get the color you want for the frosting.
How to Decorate Cut Out Cookies
- To decorate cookies, use an offset spatula or knife to cover the cookies or add frosting to a pastry bag with a small or medium round tip and pipe onto cookies.
- Smooth the frosting out with a spatula and knife, then add green sugar sprinkles or shimmering sugar dust to the tops.
- Allow cookies to set about 3 hours or overnight before stacking.
with a 
Cookie Tips
- Make sure your butter is cold and cut into cubes! This helps the cookie dough stay cold to hold their shape better.
- Once you cut out your cookies with your shamrock cookie cutter, just flash-freeze the dough for 10 minutes in the freezer, then bake away! I’ve found if I put one tray of cut out cookies in the freezer, and put the other cookie sheet in the fridge while I wait for the first batch to bake. By doing this, it keeps the cookies from spreading to hold their lovely shamrock shape!
- Make sure you measure your flour correctly. Fluff up the flour. Lightly spoon the flour into your dry-cup measurement, without packing it down. Scrape off the excess with a straight edge by using the handle of a spoon or knife.
- Don’t over bake your cookies. Overbaking will make them brown colored and they won’t be soft and bakery style cookies!
- Once the cookies are frosted, allow cookies to set about 3 hours or overnight before stacking.
- Frosting can be homemade or you can use store-bought buttercream frosting and add some green food coloring/gel to tint it for an easy shortcut!
How to Store Shamrock Cut Out Cookies
- These cookies can be prepared ahead and served later by keeping them in an airtight container on the countertop for a few days.
- We don’t recommend refrigerating the cookies because that can dry them out faster.
How to Freeze Baked Cookies
- Freezing baked cookies -Freeze baked unfrosted cookies in layers, separated by parchment or waxed paper, in an airtight container. Add frosting after you’ve thawed the cookies out.
Finding your pot of gold at the end of a rainbow is like biting into delicious frosted shamrock cookies! It’s a lucky day!
Enjoy the celebration with this fun Shamrock Cookies Recipe!
More Celebrating!
- Luscious Lime Vodka Jello Shots
- 10 Awesome Chocolate Mint Brownies
- Awesome Rainbow Cookies
- Christmas Cookie Bars
- Mint Chocolate Layered Brownies
- Easter Egg Sugar Cookies
Shamrock Cookies Recipe
If you’re on the lookout for an amazing St. Patrick’s Day cookie recipe, our festive and easy St. Patrick's Day Shamrock Cookies are ideal for fun celebrating!
Ingredients
Cut Out Sugar Cookies
- 3 cups all-purpose flour spooned and leveled
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 cup unsalted butter cold & cut into cubes (can also use salted butter, omit salt)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
Easy Buttercream Frosting
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 3 - 4 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2-4 tablespoons milk of choice or heavy cream
- Green food coloring or gel to tint frosting
- Green sparkling sugar and/or shimmering sugar dust
Instructions
Cut Out Sugar Cookies
- Line baking sheets with parchment paper, set aside.
- Whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder, set aside.
- Using mixer, cream together the cold, cubed butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. Blend in the egg and both extracts. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat until just combined, scraping down the bowl, as needed, including the bottom.
- The dough will be crumbly, so knead it together with your hands as you scoop it out of the bowl until it comes together.
- Roll dough on a lightly floured surface to about 1/3" to 3/8" thickness preferred using a rolling pin and then cut into shapes using shamrock cookie cutters.
- Place cut out cookies on the prepared baking sheets 2 inches apart and then transfer to the freezer for 10 minutes, while you preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes until just barely golden on the bottoms, being careful to not over-bake.
- Let sit for a few minutes on the sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
Easy Buttercream Frosting
- Using mixer, mix together the butter, ½ of the powdered sugar, vanilla, salt and ½ of the milk until mixed well. Add remainder of powdered sugar and add more milk until you get the consistency you want for cookies. Add a few drops of green food coloring or gel to frosting mixture, mixing it in and adding more if needed to get the color you want for the frosting.
- To decorate cookies, use a spatula or knife to cover the cookies or add frosting to a pastry bag with a small or medium tip and pipe onto cookies. Smooth the frosting out with a spatula and knife, then add green sugar sprinkles or shimmering sugar dust to the tops.
- Allow cookies to set about 3 hours or overnight before stacking.
Tried This Recipe?Let us know how it was by commenting below!
Shamrock cookie cutter is ready. Must do since my son just loves your cookies Kim!