I love St Paddy’s Day!!! When I was younger it was the joy of getting decked out in green and heading to the bar. But now it’s getting my kids decked out in green, making cookies, and watching their joy after finding the gold coins that a leprechaun sprinkled throughout the house.

It doesn’t matter how you celebrate…we’re all a wee bit Irish on St Paddy’s Day 🙂

These cookies are SO good. They are crisp around the edges and soft and chewy in the middle…my favorite. They also have the magic ingredient that every sugar cookie needs……drum roll please……almond extract!

I stuck to a few basic designs.

• Shamrock Green
• Topped with Green Sprinkles
• White Polka-dots
• Topped with Gold Lustre

You’ll need a few items to get started:

–Shamrock Shaped Sugar Cookies (I recommend my recipe)

-Royal Icing (recipe below)

–Green Gel Food Coloring for tinting the frosting on the cookies

– Gold Lustre for sprinkling on top

– Dusting Brush for Gold Lustre

–Disposable Piping Bags

-Piping Tip #2 (and #1 if you plan to do polka dots or any other decorations on top)

-Toothpicks

-Drinking Glass, for filling piping bags

-Optional, Squeeze Bottles

GETTING STARTED

Make sure your cookies are cool, and start making the royal icing.

Royal Icing

• 4 cups Powdered Sugar
• 2 T Meringue Powder
• 6 T Water

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix all ingredients for 7-10 minutes, or until the icing loses it shine.
2. You will want it to pipe easily. If it is too stiff, mix in a few drops of water.

COLOR THE ICING

If you plan to add any white decorations on top of the cookies, place some icing in a small bowl. Cover the bowl with a damp paper towel, this will help prevent the icing from getting hard.

Put a couple of drops of green gel food coloring in the remaining icing, mix. Keep in mind, royal icing dries darker. Again, be sure to cover the bowl with a damp paper towel.

OUTLINE

Fit a piping bag with piping tip #2. Add about 1/4 of the green icing to the piping bag. Pipe an outline around the cookies, be sure not to make the outline too close to the edge. Squeeze out any extra icing into the original bowl.

FLOOD THE COOKIES

You will need to use water to thin out the icing for the center of the cookies. Add a couple drops of water at a time to the green icing. To test: pick up the spoon and let the icing drizzle back into the bowl. If it disappears within 5 seconds, it is ready to use to flood the cookies.

I never have squeeze bottles, so I use a piping bag. Since the icing is thin, it can be more difficult to fill the piping bag. To make this easier, I put the piping bag in a drinking glass.

Fill the piping bag with icing. Cut a 1/4 inch hole in the bottom of the piping bag. Fill most of each cookie with icing. Using a toothpick, spread the icing into the remainder of the cookie. Use a toothpick to get rid of any air bubbles.

Sprinkles

If you are using sprinkles, add them now. This will make sure the sprinkles will stick to the icing before it dries.

Let the remaining cookies set for at least 3-4 hours, until the icing hardens.

Decorating

Polka-Dots

Fit a piping bag with tip #1. Fill with the white icing, and go crazy with polka-dots!

Gold Lustre

Sprinkle a little gold lustre into a bowl. Swirl the dusting brush in it, and tap over the bowl. Spread on harden cookie.

Let cookies dry overnight before covering.

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