St Patricks Day Sugar Cookies with Printable Gift Tag
This St. Patrick’s Day Sugar Cookie Recipe is perfect for making these fun cookies with royal icing for St. Patrick’s Day! Grab the free printable tag below – it makes gifting these cookies really easy.
These classic sugar cookies are a fun way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day at your next event or party! I’m a huge fan of creating treats for all our favorite holidays, especially delicious ones like these.
Too busy to make this right away? Pin it for later! Pin this easy recipe to your favorite board on Pinterest and it will be waiting there when you’re ready.
Sugar cookie dough is super versatile and easy to make with only a few ingredients from the grocery store. Start with simple ingredients like butter, granulated sugar and all purpose flour, and you will be enjoying these cookies in no time.
Before you get started on these easy cookies, make sure that you have everything that you need to make and decorate them. I found our cookie cutters and icing bottles at Michaels, but you can also order them from Amazon below.
I think a shamrock cookie cutter would be fun. Or how about little leprechauns or rainbow cookies?
Be sure to set aside enough time to decorate these cookies. You may even want to spread it over a few days.
When adding details, it’s important to wait until the layer of flooded icing is completely dry, otherwise the icing may crack and the colors will bleed.
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Sugar Cookie Supplies:
- KitchenAid Stand Mixer
- Baking sheets
- Parchment paper
- Rolling pin
- Mixing bowls
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Cookie cutters
- Icing bottles
- Wire cooling rack
- Cookie scribe or toothpick
This is my grandma’s classic sugar cookie recipe – time tested and delicious. The only thing that I have changed about the original recipe over the years is to swap out shortening for butter.
How to make sugar cookies:
Ingredients:
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 large egg
- 4 Tbsp milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
Tip: Pre-made Pillsbury refrigerated sugar cookie dough can be used to create these cookies as well. Simply add 1/4 cup of flour to the dough, combine well, and roll it as directed. I love quick mom hacks like this!
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine dry ingredients. Add butter, egg, and milk to the flour mixture, and mix until a soft dough forms.
3. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least one hour. This helps to prevent the dough from spreading when baked.
4. Dust your surface with flour and use a rolling pin to roll the dough to 1/4″ thickness.
5. Use cookie cutters to cut shapes from the dough. Place the cookies on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
6. Bake cookies until they are lightly brown around the edges, about 7 minutes.
7. Place the cookies on a wire rack to cool.
This recipe will make about 60 rectangular shaped cookies.
Use my Easy Royal Icing Recipe to make the best icing for these cookies! You will need dark green, light green, and white royal icing.
Royal Icing Tips:
- If the icing is too hard, add more water one drop at a time.
- If the icing is too soft, add more powdered sugar one teaspoon at a time.
- Icing can be stored at room temperature, in an airtight container, for up to two weeks.
- To use, mix the royal icing with a hand mixer, so that it becomes smooth and shiny again.
- Flood consistency is reached when a spoonful dropped onto a flat surface takes 10 – 15 seconds to become completely smooth.
These instructions will show you how to decorate St. Paddy’s Day cookies like these ones, but have fun with this process! You can decorate them with all sorts of patterns and designs.
How to decorate St. Patrick’s Day sugar cookies:
Additional supplies: edible gold and green sprinkles.
1. Outline each cookie with a line of green icing.
2. Flood the center of each cookie with icing. Use a toothpick or scribe to coax icing into corners or spaces.
3. To create shamrocks, drop dots of white icing in groups of three or four on the green icing before it dries. This method is called wet-on-wet icing.
4. Use a scribe or toothpick to pull through the center of the white dots, creating shamrock shapes.
5. Before the icing dries, drop white polka dots into the green icing. Add lines of white and light green icing to the dark green icing.
6. Use a toothpick or scribe to pull through the white and green lines to create a zig zag effect.
7. Add festive sprinkles to the green icing before it dries.
8. To create a plaid pattern, allow the dark green icing to dry completely before piping light green and white onto the cookie in lines.
Allow the icing to completely harden for at least four hours before packaging or storing the cookies. These St. Patrick’s Day cookies look amazing wrapped in cellophane and packaged up with a bit of twine.
Add my free printable gift tag and voila! You have a fun gift to brighten anyone’s day.
Tips and Tricks:
- Make green cookies by adding a little green food coloring to the dough.
- I love using gel food coloring. I find it provides much more vibrant colors.
- Using meringue powder for royal icing makes the process so simple and avoids the need for raw egg white.
- Include some extra flavor in either your dough or icing. Try lemon, almond, or mint extract.
- Place decorated cookies on a baking sheet to dry. This allows them to be moved easily, without risking the beautiful designs.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
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St Patricks Day Sugar Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup butter room temperature
- 1 large egg
- 4 Tbsp milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- 1. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- 2. In a large bowl with an electric mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment, combine dry ingredients. Add butter, egg, milk and extract. Mix on medium speed until a soft dough forms.
- 3. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least one hour. This helps to prevent the dough from spreading when baked.
- 4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- 5. Dust your surface with flour and use a rolling pin to roll the dough to 1/4" thickness on the floured surface.
- 6. Use cookie cutters to cut shapes from the dough. Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheet.
- 7. Bake until the cookies are lightly brown around the edges, about 7 minutes.
- 8. Place the cookies on a wire rack to cool before decorating with royal icing.