Shamrock Cookies for St. Patrick’s Day

Make EASY Shamrock Cookies with rainbow sprinkles this year for St. Patrick’s Day! You can turn a basic sugar cookie recipe into these adorable shamrock sugar cookie sandwiches that everyone will love!

Shamrock Cookies

If you’re looking for easy cookies that you can make for St. Patrick’s Day, these shamrock cookies are the perfect match! You can use a basic sugar cookie dough, cookie frosting, and rainbow sprinkles to make adorable shamrock sugar cookie sandwiches.

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I love making sugar cookies for every holiday, but sometimes I don’t have the time to elaborately decorate each individual cookie. These cookie sandwiches are perfect because they’re adorable and they also come together really quickly.

I filled the middle of the cookie sandwich with soft frosting, and rolled the edges in small rainbow sprinkles. I love how cute they are!

This tutorial will cover how to turn plain sugar cookie dough into these festive shamrock cookies. I used my Cut Out Sugar Cookie Recipe for the cookie dough. You can use whatever sugar cookie recipe you would like, just make sure that it produces a firm cookie. You want a cookie that will hold up to cookie frosting well.

How to Make Shamrock Cookies

Start with the Cut Out Sugar Cookie dough or sugar cookie dough of your choice. I haven’t tried to use store bought dough, so I’m not sure if it will be firm enough after baking to support the icing.

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After you have mixed the dough with a stand mixer, add a small amount (few toothpicks full) of green paste food coloring to the batter. The amount at first can be small. You can always add food coloring but you can’t take it away!

Then mix the dough until the food coloring is evenly mixed in the cookie dough.

I used Wilton Leaf Green Gel Paste Food Coloring. You can see here what an awesome green color the cookie dough is. Perfect for shamrocks!

Divide the dough in 1/2 and flatten each piece into a round disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2-3 hours or until firm.

When the dough is ready, remove it from the refrigerator and place on a floured surface. Roll until 1/4″ thick, adding flour as you go to prevent sticking.

Use a shamrock cookie cutter to cut out cookie shapes.

Re-roll the scraps and continue to cut shamrocks until all of the dough is used.

Place shamrock cutouts on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat style silicone liner. Refrigerate or freeze for 10-15 minutes until the cookies are firm. My freezer won’t fit cookie sheets, so I use the refrigerator.

Bake in a preheated 325 deg F oven for approximately 10 minutes until the cookies are no longer shiny. You do not need to wait until the edges are brown, but you can if you like a harder cookie.

Allow the shamrock sugar cookies to cool completely.

How to Add Frosting to Shamrock Sugar Cookies

Make a batch of buttercream icing of your choice. I use a buttercream frosting similar to this recipe. I will post my recipe soon!

Use a piping bag fitted with a medium round icing tip to fill the cookies. I have a whole set of round icing tips that I use ALL of the time! Turn a shamrock cookie upside down and outline the edge of the cookie. Then fill the outline in with icing. You want the icing to be at least 1/4″ so the sprinkles will stick.

Place another shamrock cookie on top and lightly press down to make your shamrock cookie “sandwich.”

Fill a small bowl (I’m using a small plastic container) with rainbow nonpareil sprinkles and dunk the edges of the cookie. Turn and repeat around the entire edge of the cookie sandwich.

The finished shamrock cookie is perfect for St. Patrick’s Day!

Display on a cake stand or tray to eat immediately.

Alternatively, you can store them in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Don’t forget to pin these shamrock cookies to your favorite St. Patrick’s Day or Cookie board on Pinterest!