Looking for an easy dessert to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day? Look no further than these shamrock-shaped cookies. Our sugar cookie recipe and simple royal icing makes these ridiculously easy to make and decorate—you don’t have to be a baking whiz to create these festive cookies. If you’re in need of an adorable (and delicious) good luck charm this St. Paddy’s day, you can’t go wrong with snackin’ on these cookies all day long.
The cookies.
We use our easy sugar cookie dough in this recipe—it’s our go-to when creating festive cookies. It’s easy to make and keeps its shape while baking, so you can rest assured that your shamrock leaves will all come out perfectly round and defined.
The icing.
We love decorating with royal icing, but you could also use a simple buttercream frosting if you prefer. We flavored our royal icing with almond extract, but you can also use vanilla! When creating your icing, keep in mind that we’re looking for two textures. First, a thick enough icing that will hold its shape when piped to outline our cookies. After that is created and set aside, we’re going to thin out our icing so that it can properly flood our cookies.
Tip: Add your milk 1 tablespoon at a time—this way, you can make sure your icing reaches the desired consistency without getting too-thin.
Decorating.
These shamrock cookies really only need some green icing to transform them into the most-festive treats, but you can really go as extra as you’d like when it comes to decorating! Use white icing to create dots or stripes on your cookies, or leave them completely plain. These good luck charms will be adorable no matter how you choose to decorate.
Made these? Let us know how they came out in the comments below!
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- Total Time:
- 2 hrs 30 mins
For the cookies
- 3 c.
all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
- 1 tsp.
baking powder
- 1/2 tsp.
kosher salt
- 1 c.
(2 sticks) butter, softened
- 1 c.
granulated sugar
- 1
large egg
- 1 tbsp.
milk
- 1 tsp.
pure vanilla extract
For the royal icing
- 5 c.
powdered sugar
- 1/3 c.
light corn syrup
- 1/4 c.
milk, plus more for thinning
- 1/4 tsp.
almond extract (or vanilla)
-
Green food coloring
Directions
-
- Step 1In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In another large bowl, beat butter and sugar until fluffy and pale in color. Add egg, milk, and vanilla and beat until incorporated, then add flour mixture gradually until just combined. Shape into a disk and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate 1 hour.
- Step 2When ready to roll, preheat oven to 350º and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Lightly flour a clean work surface and roll out dough until 1/8” thick. Use a shamrock cookie cutter to cut out shapes and transfer to prepared baking sheets. Freeze 10 minutes.
- Step 3Bake cookies until edges are lightly golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool completely.
- Step 4Meanwhile, make icing: In a large bowl, combine powdered sugar, corn syrup, milk, and extract. Add more milk a teaspoon at a time, if necessary, to thin out frosting. You want it to be thick enough that it holds its shape when piped for outlining the cookies. Add green food coloring until desired color is reached.
- Step 5Transfer about ⅓ of the icing to a piping bag fitted with a small round tip. Pipe around the edges of cookies to create a border.
- Step 6Add 1 tablespoon milk to remaining icing to create a thinner consistency for flooding the cookies. Add more milk 1 teaspoon at a time to thin it out more, if necessary.
- Step 7Transfer icing to a piping bag fitted with a small round tip. Pipe icing into center of cookie to fill it in completely. Use a toothpick to pop any air bubbles or help the icing spread into corners. Let dry at room temperature.