Shamrock Sugar Cookies
Shamrock Sugar Cookies are perfect for St. Patrick’s Day or any Irish Day occasion! Decorate these yummy cookies with Royal Icing in the natural Pearl White or colored with green food coloring. Finish with white or green pearl candy, sprinkles, mint covered almonds or any creative ideal fitting the Irish theme. I like to make and decorate the cookies over a three-day time period. Read on for my tips! We provide answers to questions we receive on making sugar cookies. Let us know if there are other questions we can address.
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Q & A’s on Making Shamrock Sugar Cookies
Below are a few questions we receive on making Shamrock Sugar Cookies. Let us know if you have any other questions we can address.
What type of icing should we use for the cookies?
Your best option is an edible icing that hardens. We use Royal Icing which is perfect for these cookies. The Royal Icing provides enough time to decorate the cookies which then hardens for a beautiful finish!
Can sugar cookies be frozen?
Absolutely! The time to make, bake, and decorate cookies can be time consuming. I manage these activities by first baking the cookies and freezing until the big day. Place cooled cookies in a single layer on a baking sheet, freeze, and place cookies in a freezer zip lock bag separated by wax paper. Take them out of the freezer to thaw for an hour or overnight.
Should I chill the dough?
Yes, chilling the dough makes rolling the dough and cutting out the Shamrock Sugar Cookies so much easier. I make my dough the prior day letting it chill in the refrigerator. If you do not have time, then refrigerate the dough for an hour or place in the freezer. Divide the dough into small sections to speed up the chilling process.
Can I bake and decorate the cookies on different days?
Yes you can! Often, I make my Shamrock Sugar Cookies over a 3-day time period. I make the dough Friday night placing in the refrigerator. Saturday’s focus is cutting out the cookies and baking them. Then on Sunday my focus is on the creative part of decorating the cookies! My preference is to focus on the cookie dough and clean up separately from baking and decorating them.
When to decorate sugar cookies?
Wait until the Shamrock Sugar Cookies are cool to decorate with Royal Icing. While the icing is still wet, add any sprinkles or other edible decorations. Let the Royal Icing harden at room temperature before storing in an airtight container.
St. Patrick’s Day Shamrock Sugar Cookies
When it is time to decorate your cookies, assemble your decorative items before making the Royal Icing. Divide the icing into small bowls adding green food coloring to one of the bowls. I like to complete one cookie at a time with first adding the icing and then decorate. This helps ensure there is variety among the finished cookies. Store the finished cookies in an air-tight container in a cool area.
Icing Cutout Cookies 1 
Icing Cutout Cookies 2 
Icing Cutout Cookies 3 
Icing Cutout Cookies 4 
Icing Cutout Cookies 5 
Chewy Cutout Cookies
Shamrock Sugar Cookies
Pin RecipeEquipment
- Mixing bowl and mixer (ie., stand up mixer or hand mixer)
- Flour sifter
- Medium bowl
- Cookie sheets
- Parchment paper
- Cookie cooling rack
- Cookie cutters
- Board to rollout cookie dough
- Rolling Pin
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups Bread Flour sifted
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Salt
Wet Ingredients
- 1 cup Margarine softened
- 1 cup White Sugar
- ½ cup Dark Brown Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 2 tsp Vanilla
Instructions
Making the Shamrock Cookie Dough
- In a medium size bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Using a stand up mixer cream together the margarine white sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the eggs one at a time, and then stir in the vanilla.
- Gradually blend in the sifted ingredients.
- Cover dough, and chill for a couple of hours or overnight.
Making the Shamrock Cutout Cookies
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line baking pans with parchment paper.
- On a clean floured surface roll out small portions of the chilled dough to about 1/4-inch thickness.
- Cut out shapes using cookie cutters.
- Bake 5 to 7 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are barely brown.
- Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks
- Decorate with Royal Icing and holiday sprinkles if so desired. They also store nicely without any icing until you need them.
Recipe Notes
Thank You For Following Supper Plate
Other Recipes That You May Enjoy!
Chewy Chocolate Mint Cookies
Double Chocolate Mint Cookies
Royal Icing with Meringue Powder
These cookies look wonderful. Cut-out cookies are so much fun to make. Even though my children are all grown, we often make cut-out cookies when they return home for various holidays.
Thank you! That sounds like fun that as a family you still bake together!
Wonderful recipes! I love royal icing. I like to outlined the cookie, then flood the center with different colors. I haven’t used royal icing in a long time.Thank you!
Thank you! I always stayed away from cutout cookies due to the time they take. But managing them in steps make it enjoyable! I am planning on trying different types of recipes for each holiday. Right now I am focused on St. Patrick’s Day. 🙂
Your cookies look great. They make me want to bake. I love your idea of making cookies in steps. That would be especially good when working with children.
Thank you!! 💕 That is a good idea for the children. They could be baked and ready for them to decorate. 💕
Cookies look delish! I’ve never used meringue powder. It is a game changer! Thanks for the tips.
Thank you! They were wonderful! The meringue powder was easy to use. I have a hard time getting past egg whites not being cooked. I just ordered more through Amazon. I am going to try a lemon meringue pie.
Oooooh! You know, I’ve been desperately looking for an excuse to bake and ice cutout cookies – Easter and Christmas are too far away to justify that. But green shamrock cookies for St. Patrick’s Day… such a brilliant idea!
There you go! St. Patrick’s Day need some love too! I hope you make some cookies to treat yourself! I love a chewy cutout cookie!
Hello Bernice, Thank you for popping by my blog 🙂
Yummy icing recipe, thank you for sharing it and these cookie recipes, I am going to try them..
Blessings, your new follower
https://faithandfamily3.wordpress.com/
Thank you for following Supper Plate! I am also following your blog. Looking forward to the inspiration!
These look so festive and yummy Bernice!
Thanks Sandhya! They are chewy and delicious! A great recipe for any type of cutout cookies.
These are so pretty! I love making cut out cookies. 🙂
Thank you so much! I can’t wait to make them again and try other cut-out cookies. I might try to make cut-out cookies for different holidays! 🙂
Beautiful cookies👍
Thank you for letting me know. They are delicious and so festive for St Patrick’s Day! 💚💚💚
These cookies are just perfect for upcoming St-Patrick’s day, love it!
Thank you! They are one of my favorites cutouts! So much fun to decorate and plating. Almost hated to eat them! 💕 💕 💕
They look really nice. I should try them!
Thank you! They are delicious! I need to make more for St Patrick’s Day! 💚 💚 💚
These cookies are so fun and cute! 🙂
Thank you for letting me know! They were so much fun to decorate and plate. Plus they were delicious!! 🙂
This is an awesome idea! I’ve never thought of freezing them!
It worked out well for me. I loved breaking up the process. I enjoyed decorating them since I was not tired from the baking process.
Exactly! I’d feel the same way! I will have to try this the next stay at home weekend…
Let me know how it works for you! Happy baking and decorating! 💚
Your concepts are mind-blowing!
Thank you so much for your kind words and support!
You deserve it!
Thank you so much! 🙂
You are welcome!
🙂
they look amazing! yummy!
Thank you for your kind comment! They were fun to decorate and were delicious!