Shamrock Cookies
These festive shamrock cookies are made by topping soft cut-out sugar cookies with green buttercream frosting and sanding sugar. The dough doesn’t have to be chilled, so you can have the entire batch of cookies baked and decorated in no time!
This easy shamrock cookie recipe starts with my favorite cut-out sugar cookie recipe. It’s been a reader favorite for years because it yields perfectly soft cookies every time, plus the dough doesn’t have to be chilled before it’s rolled out or baked.
One of my favorite things about this recipe is that you don’t need any cookie decorating experience to make these cookies. The cookie cutters do most of the work for you, and to keep this recipe beginner-friendly I topped the cookies with a simple buttercream frosting instead of piping on royal icing.
These would be especially perfect for St. Patrick’s Day and fun for kids to help decorate. You can even make the sugar cookies a day or two in advance and frost them later!
Recipe Video
Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
Cookie Dough
I used my classic cut-out sugar cookie recipe, but I think my chocolate cut-out sugar cookies would be delicious too!
Frosting
I recommend sticking with a white-colored frosting, so it’s easy to color green. I used my favorite vanilla buttercream frosting, but ermine frosting or cream cheese frosting would work too. It’s also best to use gel food coloring because too much liquid food coloring can thin out the frosting. I used AmeriColor Leaf Green gel food coloring in mine.
Cookie Cutters & Sanding Sugar
This is the shamrock cookie cutter I used for this recipe, but you can use another size if you prefer. To create a sparkly effect, I also dipped the frosted cookies in green sanding sugar. I can usually find the sanding sugar pretty easily at my local grocery store, but I have used this green sanding sugar before and it works great!
Tips For Rolling The Cookie Dough & Cutting It Out
Since we’re not chilling the sugar cookie dough, it will be a little softer. I always divide the cookie dough in half and place it between two sheets of parchment paper before rolling it out. This makes the whole process so much easier and it won’t stick to your rolling pin.
To get the dough to an even thickness, you can use an adjustable rolling pin. I actually keep ¼-inch dowel rods in my kitchen and just place them on either side of the dough, then roll it out until my rolling pin touches the top of the dowel rods.
I also recommend lightly flouring your cookie cutter or dusting it with some powdered sugar so it doesn’t stick to the dough. You can chill the dough to make it firmer and easier to cut/transfer to a baking sheet, but I usually don’t. I just lightly flour a thin spatula and use that to pick up the cut-out sugar cookie dough and transfer it to a baking sheet.
How To Decorate The Cookies
After the sugar cookies have completely cooled, you can mix up the frosting and transfer it to a piping bag. I typically just snip off the end of the piping bag since I’m not piping fancy shapes or swirls onto the cookies, but you could use a round piping tip (like the Wilton 1A) if you prefer.
Then, use the piping bag to pipe the frosting onto the cookies, making sure to take the frosting almost all the way to the edges. If you need to smooth out the frosting in some spots, I recommend using an angled spatula or the back of a spoon.
Once the frosting is smooth enough, just gently press it directly into the bowl of sanding sugar. This helps the sugar stick to the frosting and coats the cookie more evenly than if you were to just sprinkle the sugar over the top.
Tip: Piping the frosting onto the cookies makes for a prettier presentation and creates clean edges. You can also spread the frosting over the cookies with an angled spatula, but the cookies may look more rustic.
More Decorating Ideas
I kept these shamrock cookies pretty simple, but there’s so much more that you can do with them! Here’s a few more ideas if you want to change things up or make these cookies your own:
- Add ½ to 1 teaspoon of peppermint extract to the frosting (just avoid mint extract because it can taste like toothpaste).
- Use white or gold sanding sugar instead of green.
- Add gold leaf accents with edible gold luster dust or gold sanding sugar.
- Make a two toned frosting by spreading some green frosting around the edges of the piping bag, then adding plain white frosting into the middle of the bag. When you pipe the frosting, it will create a pretty swirled effect!
- Swap the buttercream frosting with colored royal icing or my easy sugar cookie icing instead.
I hope you enjoy these shamrock cookies as much as we did! Don’t forget to leave a comment below letting me know how your cookies turned out and how you ended up decorating them too. Happy Baking!
Shamrock Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
Sugar Cookies
- 3 cups all-purpose flour spooned & leveled (375 grams)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup vegetable shortening (190 grams; I used Crisco)
- 1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams)
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons whole milk (30 ml)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Buttercream Frosting
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened (226 grams; 2 sticks)
- 3 cups powdered sugar (360 grams)
- 2 tablespoons whole milk (30 ml)
- 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- Tiny pinch of salt
- Green gel food coloring (I used AmeriColor leaf green)
Decorations
- Green sanding sugar or white, but I prefer to use green
Instructions
- To make the sugar cookies: Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.3 cups all-purpose flour,2 teaspoons baking powder,½ teaspoon salt
- In a separate large mixing bowl using an electric mixer, mix the shortening and sugar together for 1 to 2 minutes or until well combined. Add the egg, milk, and vanilla extract and mix until fully combined, making sure to stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.1 cup vegetable shortening,1 cup granulated sugar,1 large egg,2 tablespoons whole milk,2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- Add the dry ingredients and mix until fully combined. The mixture will be a little crumbly at first, but it will come together as you continue mixing it. Once the dough comes together, use your hands to form it into a ball.
- Divide the dough in half. Lightly flour a piece of parchment paper, add half of the dough, top with another piece of parchment paper, and roll the dough to ¼-inch thick between both pieces of parchment paper. Repeat with the other half of the dough between two separate pieces of parchment paper. (This dough doesn’t require any dough chilling, but if you prefer colder dough so that it’s easier to work with you can place both pieces of rolled out dough between the parchment paper on a baking sheet and refrigerate for 30 minutes to one hour.)
- Peel off the top layer of parchment paper. Using 3 to 4 inch shamrock cookie cutters, cut the cookie dough into shapes and place them onto the prepared baking sheets, making sure to leave a little room between each one. If the cut out dough is difficult to pick up, lightly flour a thin spatula and use that to transfer the cut out cookies to the baking sheet. Re-roll any scrap pieces of dough between the parchment paper and continue cutting out shapes. Repeat with the other sheet of cookie dough.
- Bake for 11 to 13 minutes or until the tops of the cookies are set and the bottom edges are lightly browned.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the buttercream frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl using a handheld mixer, beat the butter on medium speed for about 1 minute or until smooth.1 cup unsalted butter
- Mix in 1 cup (120 grams) of powdered sugar at a time on low speed, making sure to mix well after each addition.3 cups powdered sugar
- Add the milk, vanilla extract, salt, and green gel food coloring and mix on low speed until the mixture is well combined and creamy. Make sure to stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple of times to ensure that everything is thoroughly mixed together. Continue adding a little more gel food coloring until the frosting has reached your desired color. I try to get mine as close to the color of the sanding sugar as possible.2 tablespoons whole milk,1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract,Tiny pinch of salt,Green gel food coloring
- To decorate the cookies: Pour the green sanding sugar onto a plate. Set aside.Green sanding sugar
- Scoop the frosting into a piping bag and cut the end off of it. You can also use a round piping tip for this step, the Wilton 1A would be a good option!
- Pipe the frosting onto the cooled sugar cookies, making sure not to go all the way to the edges. If the frosting isn’t very level, you can use an angled spatula or the back of a spoon to make it a little smoother. It doesn’t have to be perfect though!
- Gently press the top of a frosted sugar cookie into the green sanding sugar. Make sure not to press too hard or the frosting will start to come over the edge of the cookie. Repeat with the remaining frosted cookies until they’re all covered in sanding sugar.
- Enjoy or store in an airtight container until you’re ready to serve them.
