St Patrick’s Day Cookies Recipe
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These St Patrick’s Day Cookies are just what you have been looking for! Tender and soft, they’re made with by best sugar cookie and icing recipes. Bake up a whole batch for a festive treat that’s as sweet as it is adorable!
St Patrick’s Day Cookies
Since green is the color for St. Patrick’s Day, almost any green dessert can work for this holiday.
And, if the food isn’t already green, you can add a bit of food coloring to make it work.
Of course, there are lots of St. Patrick’s Day desserts to choose from including mint ice cream, Shamrock Shakes, and chocolate cupcakes with green frosting.
But, this sugar cookie recipe is by far one of my favorites!
And with how popular decorated cookies have become, there’s no reason not to make them for every holiday and celebration.
Bundle up these St Patrick’s Day sugar cookies with Leprechaun Munch Mix and some Lucky Charms Marshmallow Treats for a festive and magically delicious goodie bag!
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Unsalted Butter – Soften this before getting started! And if you only have salted sticks on hand, omit the additional salt in the recipe.
- Sugar – Granulated cane sugar is best, since the fine grain creams really well with the butter.
- Eggs – These help bind everything together and add a rich flavor. You’ll get the smoothest dough if these are room temperature when mixed in.
- Vanilla & Almond Extract – I love the flavor this combination makes — slightly sweet but not overpowering!
Feel free to use imitation almond in case of nut allergies, or use all vanilla if you don’t like almond flavoring.
You can also swap in different extracts like mint or lemon for a tasty twist! - Flour – I always use regular all-purpose flour for these St. Patricks Day cookies, but any cup-for-cup gluten-free blend will work too.
- Salt – Kosher salt or sea salt is best for baking. Avoid table salt or your cookies might taste a bit salty.
- Decorator Icing – Use my best-ever recipe, which can be thickened or thinned for piping and flooding.
Tips and Tricks for Making Perfect St Patrick Day Cookies
- Mix until the sugar cookie dough is smooth and tacky.
It shouldn’t be sticky at all, meaning the dough shouldn’t stick to your finger when you touch it and pull your finger away.
Start with 3 cups of flour when mixing, then add more a tablespoon at a time until the consistency is just right.
Because you’ll chill the dough before cutting out St. Patricks Day cookies, don’t worry too much about overmixing. There will be plenty of time for the gluten to relax in the fridge!
- Chill the dough before rolling it out.
This step is very important — chilled dough is firmer and much easier to roll and cut.
Shape the dough into discs with your hands, then wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.
And keep it chilled! You’ll note that the dough is divided into 2 discs. Keep one in the fridge while you work on the other, then roll and cut while the first batch is in the oven.
For even less spread, you can chill the cut-out St Patrick Day cookies again (just for 5-10 minutes) before baking!
- Bake just until the edges are set.
You’ll also see a slight golden color around the edges, and the tops of the cookies should appear matte instead of shiny or wet.
Let your St. Patrick’s Day cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes — they’ll continue baking until fully set using just the heat from the pan.
Then, transfer to wire racks to cool completely before decorating.
Prep Ahead
- Bring butter and eggs to room temp
- Line baking sheets with parchment
Kitchen Tools You Will Need
- Baking Sheets lined with Parchment Paper or Silpat Mats.
- Stand Mixer or large mixing bowl with Hand Mixer for making the dough.
- Rolling Pin – In a pinch, an empty wine bottle will work!
- Shamrock Cookie Cutter, plus a Round Cutter to make leprechaun heads.
- Cooling Racks – Cool a large batch of treats without taking up a lot of counter space.
- Piping Bags with Decorator Piping Tips – Use different shapes and sizes depending on the design you want to make.
- Gel Food Coloring is perfect for baked goods and coloring frosting.
Storing and Freezing St. Patricks Cookies
You can then store decorated sugar cookies in an airtight container for up to a week, or in the fridge for a bit longer.
Just make sure to put a sheet of wax paper or parchment paper between each layer.
For longer storage, freeze these St Patrick’s Day cookies for up to 3 months. Place them carefully in a freezer container using parchment paper or wax paper to separate the layers.
When you want to enjoy a cookie, just remove it from the freezer and allow it to come to room temperature!
St. Patricks Day Cookies FAQ
Don’t worry if you don’t have a cookie cutter shaped like a shamrock. It’s very easy to make them using a stencil made from cardboard!
Freehand draw the shape on a piece of clean, thin cardboard — milk cartons or cereal boxes are great for this. You can also print out a shamrock and trace it if your drawing skills aren’t that great. Then, cut out the shape using an Xacto knife or scissors.
Once you roll out the dough, set the stencil on top and use a sharp knife to cut around the outside. Repeat until you have a whole batch of St. Patricks cookies!
No! The St Patrick Day cookies need something to grip as they bake. Greased pans will only lead to spreading — and then your carefully cut-out shapes will turn into misshapen blobs.
Using a piping bag with a round tip is the easiest way to ice these cookies. But, if you don’t have one, you can take a Ziploc bag and cut a very small hole in one edge, and use that instead.
Or use these decorating squeeze bottles, especially if you’ll have littles helping you ice your St Patrick’s Day cookies!
Decorating St Patrick’s Day Sugar Cookies
My sugar cookie icing recipe is perfect for the job! It’s very easy to make and tastes absolutely incredible.
It also dries hard so you can stack your decorated St. Patricks cookies, but it melts in your mouth as soon as you take a bite.
Divide it up and color each bowl with gel food coloring for the most vibrant hues. Then, pipe a border around the outside of each cookie before filling in the center.
If you want to add designs, let the base layer set before adding more icing on top. A fan will help speed up the drying process!
You could also use a basic buttercream frosting for a simple, tasty treat if you don’t want to spend the time decorating.
Enjoy!
With love, from our simple kitchen to yours.
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Other St. Patrick’s Day Treats
St Patrick’s Day Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, 2 sticks, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Best Ever Sugar Cookie Icing
Instructions
- In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), cream the butter and sugar, on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes).
- Add the eggs, vanilla and almond. Beat until combined. Add the salt and 3 cups of flour; beat until you have a smooth dough. If the dough is sticky (meaning when you touch it and pull your fingers away the dough sticks to you), add more flour a tablespoon at a time until it comes together. Divide the dough in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about one hour or until firm enough to roll.
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat mats.
- Remove half of the chilled dough from the refrigerator and, on a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of 3/8 inch. (Keep turning the dough as you roll, making sure the dough does not stick to the counter.)
- Cut out shamrocks and circles for leprechauns using a lightly floured cookie cutter and transfer cookies to a baking sheet.
- Bake the cookies for about 9-11 minutes (depending on size) or until the edges are just starting to have a hint of golden brown color around the bottom edge. Remove from the oven and let cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- Meanwhile, prepare the Best Ever Sugar Cookie Icing.
- I separated the prepared icing into 4 clear bowls. Clear bowls as I can see the true color of the frosting. I put more into the green bowl as it is the color, I will use the most. White and yellow about ¼ cup and red just a little bit as I only use it for mouth.
- I used Wilton food coloring gel. Green: Kelly Green, Red: Red no taste, Yellow: Lemon Yellow and for black I used Wilton Food Writer
- Once you have the right green color, I then split it again. Reason is I will use a thicker frosting for the edge and thinner for the middle (flooding). The bowl for the flooding, I added 1 teaspoon of milk.
- Once I have all the desire colors, I transfer them to piping bags with round decorating tips.
- I first piped the edge of all cookies (I used the thicker green). By the time I am done doing all the edge and go back to the first one I am ready to do the flooding. 12. What flooding means is I take the thinner greed and fill up the center of my cookie inside the edge. To help the frosting spread evenly, I use a toothpick and gently push the frosting where it needs to go.
- If you want to make dots, I used a thinner round decorating tip and slowly once you have the size of dot you want press down and it release the frosting.
Donna’s Notes
Nutrition
All nutritional information is based on third party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe’s nutritional value will vary depending on the ingredients used, measuring methods, and portion sizes.
Originally published March 2021, updated and republished January 2025
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I have a copy of your yummy sugar cookie recipe from a couple of years ago. The recipe I have uses 3 cups of flour (all other ingredients are exactly like the current recipe). However, the ingredient list above says 4 cups of flour. I know I have made the first recipe in the past. Should I update my copy to four cups of flour?
Made these for my kids to take to school, they had fun decorating them and handing them out to their friends. Will do again. next year!