Looking for fun St. Patrick's Day ideas? You'll love these adorable Shamrock Cookies! These festive sugar cookies are easy to make and have a delicious flavor. Decorate them with icing or frosting ... either way, they're the perfect St. Patty's Day treat!
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Looking for a fun St. Patrick's Day recipe? I've love finding clever ways to celebrate this spend this holiday, and this delicious Shamrock Cookies recipe is a favorite!
You are going to LOVE these tasty Clover Cookies! They're made with my favorite Sour Cream Cookie Dough, which gives the sugar cookies a wonderful flavor and texture. And they're so easy to make!
Customize the cookies by decorating them with frosting or icing. I've included recipes for both, and they turn out so cute either way. You could even add a little mint extract for a tasty Shamrock Shake-inspired flavor!
Ready to get started? Then keep reading for all the details!
Ingredients
This recipe uses simple ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry! Here's what you'll need:
- Sour Cream - The secret ingredients in these cookies is sour cream! It gives these unique sugar cookies a wonderful flavor and texture. Make sure to use full fat sour cream for the best results (I like Daisy).
- Flour - You'll also need all-purpose flour. Tip: When measuring the flour, scoop it into the measuring cup. Once the cup is full, level off the top with a flat knife.
- Sugar - The cookies are sweetened with granulated sugar.
- Butter - This recipe calls for unsalted butter. Make sure to let it soften to room temperature before preparing the dough.
- Vanilla - A little vanilla extract makes the cookies dough extra tasty.
- Leavener - This recipe using a combination of baking soda and baking powder, which gives the cookies a nice light texture.
- Eggs - You'll also need need two large eggs.
- Decorating - You can decorated these cookies with frosting or icing. I've included recipes for my favorite Sour Cream Frosting and an easy Cooking Icing. You'll also need some green sprinkles and green food coloring. I recommend using gel food coloring, because you don't need a lot, and it won't add excess liquid the frosting.
You'll Also Need
To make this recipe, you’ll need a stand mixer to prepare the dough, along with a rolling pin, a couple baking sheets, and a baking rack to cool the finished cookies. If you want to ice the cookies, you'll also need some squeeze bottles (or a decorating bulb) to hold and apply the icing. I used a mini silicone spatula to apply the frosting, but an offset spatula would also work great.
Cookies Cutters
Of course, you'll also need a cookie cutter! I used this shamrock cookie cutter, which also comes in a set with mini, medium, and large shamrocks. If you're looking for clovers, you'll love this four-leap clover cutter (with stem), and this three piece four-leaf clover set (without stems) is also super cute. Planning to do lots of holiday baking? Then this St. Patrick's Day cookie cutter set—which has two shamrocks, a pot of gold, leprechaun hat, rainbow, and a beer mug—is for you!
How to Make Shamrock Cookies
These adorable Clover Cookies couldn't be easier to make! You'll find a detailed recipe card below, but here's an overview of the steps:
- Make + chill dough. To make the dough, start by whisking together the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder). Set that aside, then mix the butter and sugar together with your mixer. Blend in the vanilla and eggs, then mix in half the sour cream, followed by half the flour mixture. Repeat with the remaining sour cream and flour. Divide the dough in half, then shape each half into a flat disk (about one-inch thick). Wrap with plastic wrap, then chill the disks for two hours (or more). Tip: The cookie dough is very soft, so you MUST chill it for at least two hours (I actually refrigerated mine overnight). If you don't chill the dough, the cookies won't hold their shape.
- Cut out shamrocks. Once the dough has chilled, roll it out ¼-inch thick on a lightly floured board. Then, use your cookie cutters to cut the dough. You should be able to get about four to five dozen cookies, depending on how thinly you roll out the dough, how large your cutters are, and how closely you cut the cookies. Tips: To prevent sticking, dip your cookie cutters into a little flour before cutting. I'd recommend re-rolling the scraps no more than once.
- Transfer cookies to baking sheet. Carefully place the cookies on a baking sheet, at least an inch apart. Tip: Spray the baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray first, or line them with parchment paper.
- Bake. Transfer the baking sheet to your oven, then bake the cookies until they're golden brown on the bottom. Let the cookies cool for about five minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer them to a rack to cool completely before decorating.
- Decorate cookies. You can decorated these cookies with frosting or with icing ... it's up to you! Keep reading for more decorating tips.
Don't these Shamrock Cookies turn out cute? And they're totally delish, too. Make them for St. Patrick's Day, or anytime you need a little luck!
Decorating the Cookies
Now for the fun part ... decorating these St. Patty's Day Cookies! I've included recipes for a delicious Frosting with Sour Cream and an easy Sugar Cooking Icing in the recipe card below. It's quicker and easier to frost the cookies, but if you have a little time and patience, icing them isn't too difficult either.
Frosting the Cookies
When frosting these cookie, I divided the frosting in half, then colored one half with this gel food coloring. It's very concentrated, so you don't need a ton ... use a toothpick to add it to the frosting. Then I decorated half the cookies with the white frosting and half with the green, topping everything with these sparkly green sugar sprinkles.
You could, of course, use all green frosting (or all white) ... it's up to you! If you're decorating the cookies with young kids, I think frosting is the way to go, because it's quick, easy, and fun!
Tip: Using something small, like a butter knife, a mini spatula (like I did), or an offset spatula to apply the frosting, will help you get in all the corners.
Icing the Cookies
If you'd prefer to ice the cookies, you will need at least two batches of icing: a thick icing for outlining the cookies (made with less milk); and a thinner icing for filling in the cookies. You'll also need a couple squeeze bottles, decorating bulbs (I find these easiest to handle), or pastry decorating bags to hold the icing.
Once you've made the icing, here's how to use it:
- Outline the cookies with the thick icing. Although it seems counter-intuitive, I find that I get the neatest outlines when I'm moving quickly while outlining the shapes.
- Fill in the cookies with the thinner icing. Next, you'll flood the cookies (fill the space inside the outlines) with the thin icing. Try to strike a balance between covering the cookies without adding so much icing that it overflows the outline. Use a toothpick to gently spread the icing into any hard-to-reach corners. Tip: If you'd like to add sprinkles, make sure to add them while the icing is still wet.
- Let the icing dry. Once the cookies are decorated, let them sit out to dry. It can take up to 24 hours for the icing to harden, but once it does, you'll be able to stack the cookies. Tip: You can speed the drying process up by refrigerating the cookies (in a single layer), although it will still take a few hours.
This process is much easier than it seems. I think older kids would have a blast decorating the cookies with icing. It's really fun!
Storage
Store any Shamrock Sugar Cookies that you don't eat right away in an airtight container in your refrigerator. They will stay fresh for about one week.
Related Recipes
Looking for more St. Patrick's Day recipes? Try one of these creative ideas next:
- Mini St. Patrick's Day Cakes
- Green Burgers
- Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie
- Irish Veggie Stew
- Irish Coffee (or Iced Irish Coffee)
- Green Beer
Searching for more sweet treats? I've got many more delicious cookie recipes (like these scrumptious Honey Cookies and these yummy Coffee Flavored Cookies) for you try, plus plenty of tempting desserts, too!
Shamrock Cookies
Ingredients
For Cookies:
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ⅔ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup sour cream
- nonstick cooking spray
For Frosting:
- ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ⅓ cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- food coloring
- green sugar sprinkles
For Icing:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 to 3 tablespoons milk
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- green food coloring
Instructions
Prepare Cookies:
- Whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Using stand mixer, mix together butter and sugar. Add vanilla extract and eggs (one at a time).
- Mix in ½ the sour cream, then ½ the flour. Repeat with remaining ingredients.
- Divide dough in half, then shape each half into a ball. Flatten balls into disks about 1-inch thick. Wrap disks in plastic wrap, then chill for at least 2 hours (or overnight).
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly spray two baking sheets with nonstick spray.
- Using rolling pin, roll out one disk of dough about ¼-inch thick on a lightly floured board.
- Use cookie cutters to cut dough, then transfer cookies to baking sheet, spacing at least 1-inch apart.
- Bake cookies for about 8 minutes, or until cookie bottoms are golden brown. Let cookies cool on pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a baking rack to cool completely.
- Once cookies have cooled, decorate with frosting and sprinkles, or icing. Enjoy!
Prepare Frosting:
- Using stand mixer, mix butter until smooth. Blend in sour cream, vanilla extract, and salt.
- Mix in powdered sugar until smooth. Then add food coloring, if desired.
- If frosting is too thin, add more powdered sugar until it reaches desired consistency. If frosting is too thick, add additional sour cream (or milk), about ½ teaspoon at a time, until frosting reaches desired consistency.
- Spread frosting over cookies with a butter knife or small offset spatula. Add sprinkles, if desired.
Prepare Icing:
- Combine powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract in a small bowl, mixing until smooth. Add food coloring, if desired.
- For thick icing (for lines), you will need about 1 to 1 ½ tablespoon milk. The consistency should be barely pourable. For thinner icing (used to flood cookies), you will need about 1 ½ to 2 tablespoons milk. Start with the smaller amount of milk, then add more (a few drops at a time) to reach desired consistency. If icing gets too thin, just add more powdered sugar.
- Transfer finished icing to decorating bulbs or squeeze bottles. Outline cookies with thick icing first, then fill in with thinner icing.
- Let icing harden before storing cookies. It can take up to 24 hours (chill cookies in refrigerator to speed up process).
Notes
