Shamrock Shortbread Cookies
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Shamrock Shortbread Cookies are an easy-to-make tender, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth classic shortbread cutout cookie that holds its shape in the oven. And utterly delicious!
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Let’s bake some festive fun with these Shamrock Shortbread Cookies! Buttery, melt-in-your-mouth, and shaped like lucky shamrocks, are the perfect treat for St. Patrick’s Day or any occasion that calls for a little Irish charm.
These cookies are the perfect treat for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. Whether you’re hosting a party, looking for a fun baking project, or simply craving a classic shortbread with a festive twist, with simple royal icing in no time, keep reading for step-by-step instructions, pro tips, and easy ways to decorate your Shamrock Shortbread Cookies for a holiday treat!
What I Love About Shortbread Cookies
Shortbread cookies, with their utterly simple ingredients, are a perfect holiday treat. Whatever the season, I will find a way to make them—for teatime snacks or anytime I’m craving a buttery treat. And simple? Absolutely!
You can tell I love them with a simple recipe search on the site. You will find Scottish shortbread cookies shaped into petticoat tails, which I make often during the holidays and for gifts.
You can also find Buckingham Palace shortbread cookies, which I make all year. They are buttery and sweet and a favorite of the late Queen Elizabeth.
Of course, I had to make an Irish-inspired shortbread cookie specifically for St. Patrick’s Day. Enjoy!
Ingredients for Shamrock Shortbread Cookies
Classic shortbread is made with butter, sugar, and flour. I’ve tweaked the ingredients just a tad for these soft, buttery cutout cookies. Here’s what you need for the recipe.
- Butter: European butter is a delicious upgrade. It contains lower moisture and 82% fat, which gives you a more tender, soft, and delicious cookie. You can always use standard butter too!
- Powdered sugar: Also known as 10x sugar or icing sugar, provides the perfect lightly sweet flavor for these cookies.
- Vanilla extract: While not traditional, it gives these shortbread cookies an irresistible flavor.
- Flour: For these cookies, you’ll need all-purpose or plain flour. Self-rising flour doesn’t work well in this recipe.
- Cornstarch: This simple ingredient gives these cookies a tender, melt-in-your-mouth texture you’ll love! It also helps prevent the cookies from spreading too much, so they hold their shape beautifully!
Easy Royal Icing Ingredients
- Powdered sugar (also known as confectioners’ sugar or icing sugar)
- Meringue powder: This ingredient replaces raw egg whites found in traditional royal icing recipes. It eliminates the need for raw fresh eggs but provides the same consistency. You can find it in some markets’ baking aisles and online. I buy it on Amazon, and it lasts for quite a while.
- Optional: Gel food coloring (green). Here’s the food coloring kit I buy on Amazon.
How to Make Shamrock Shortbread Cookies
This shortbread cookie recipe has only a few easy steps: making the batter, chilling the dough, rolling, and baking.
Step 1: Cream the butter and sugar
In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the powdered sugar until combined, then beat in the vanilla.
Step 2: Add the dry ingredients
Whisk together the flour, cornstarch, and salt in a separate bowl. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture until completely combined. Shape into a disc, wrap in plastic, and chill for 20-30 minutes while preheating the oven to 350℉.
Step 3: Roll and cut out the dough
Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface (or parchment paper) until it is about ¼ inches thick. Flour the cookie cutter and cut shapes from the dough, then transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Reroll dough scraps to make more cookies.
Step 4: Bake the cookies
Bake for 9-11 minutes or until the edges are beginning to a light golden color. Baking time will depend on how large and thick the cookies are.
How to Make the Royal Icing
- Add confectioners’ sugar, meringue powder, and 9 tablespoons water to a large bowl. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the icing on high speed for 1-2 minutes.
- The icing is ready when you lift the whisk out of the icing, and it drizzles down into the bowl and smoothes out within 5-10 seconds. Add additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it reaches the desired consistency. The more you beat the icing, the thicker it becomes.
- Add a tiny amount of gel food coloring (I use a toothpick) and mix to tint the icing. A small amount goes a long way, and you can always add more coloring if needed.
Decorating Shamrock Shortbread Cookies
Transfer the icing into a piping bag fitted with a small round tip. Pipe an outline of icing around the shape of the cooled cookies. Then, fill (or flood) the center of the cookies with icing and let them sit undisturbed until the icing is dry, about 1 hour. If desired, add sprinkles (I used sparkling sugar) while the icing is still wet.
Make Ahead Tip
The shortbread dough keeps well in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or you can freeze it for longer. When you remove it from the refrigerator, let it sit at room temperature to soften up a bit for rolling.
The royal icing can be made 2-3 days ahead of time. I recommend refrigerating it in a small bowl with a tight seal for up to 3 days. When you’re ready to use, bring the icing to room temperature, then mix with a whisk as it may separate. You can also whisk in a few drops of water if it’s thickened.
Kitchen Tools I Used
- Piping bags for the royal icing with a small round Wilton #4 tip for both outlining and flooding the icing onto the cookie.
- Baking Sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Electric mixer or stand mixer for both the cookies and the icing.
- Shamrock Cookie Cutters: Most kitchen stores (at this time of the year) carry Shamrock cookie cutters. Here’s the one I bought on Amazon.
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Shamrock Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Royal Icing
- 4 cups confectioners' sugar sifted
- 3 tablespoons meringue powder
- 9-10 tablespoons room temperature water
- optional: gel food coloring (I use this food coloring kit)
Instructions
For the Shortbread
- In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to beat (1 cup unsalted butter) until lightened, smooth and creamy. Gradually add (3/4 cup powdered sugar) until combined. Add (1 teaspoon vanilla extract) and mix until incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together (2 cups all-purpose flour), (2 tablespoons cornstarch), and (1/2 teaspoon salt).
- Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and stir until completely combined. Shape into a disc shape, cover with plastic, and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes as you preheat the oven to 350℉.
- Roll the chilled dough out on a lightly floured surface (or parchment paper) until it is about ¼ thick. Press a cookie cutter directly into the dough and transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet, about 2 inches apart—Reroll dough scraps to make more cookies.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes or until the edges are beginning to a light golden color. Baking time will depend on how large and thick the cookies are.
Royal Icing
- Add (4 cups confectioners' sugar), (3 tablespoons meringue powder), and 9 tablespoons water into a large bowl. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat icing on high speed for 1-2 minutes.
- The icing is ready when you lift the whisk out of the icing and it drizzles down into the bowl and smoothes out within 5-10 seconds. Add additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it reaches desired consistency. The more you beat the icing, the thicker it becomes.
- To tint the icing, add a tiny amount of gel food coloring and mix. A small amount goes a long way. You can always add more coloring if needed.
To Decorate
- Transfer the icing into a piping bag fitted with a small round tip. Pipe an outline of icing around the shape of the cooled cookies. Then, fill the center of the cookies with icing (we call this flooding) and let them sit undisturbed for about an hour to dry. If desired, you can add sprinkles (I used sparkling sugar) while the icing is still wet.
Notes
-
- Butter: European butter is a delicious upgrade. It contains lower moisture and 82% fat, which gives you a more tender, soft, and delicious cookie. You can always use standard butter too!
- Powdered sugar: Also known as 10x sugar or icing sugar, provides the perfect lightly sweet flavor for these cookies.
- Cornstarch: This simple ingredient gives these cookies a tender, melt-in-your-mouth texture you’ll love! It also helps prevent the cookies from spreading too much, so they hold their shape beautifully!
- Meringue powder: This ingredient replaces raw egg whites found in traditional royal icing recipes. It eliminates the need for raw fresh eggs but provides the same consistency. You can find it in some markets’ baking aisles and online. I buy it on Amazon, and it lasts for quite a while.
- Make Ahead: The shortbread dough keeps well in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or you can freeze it for longer. When you remove it from the refrigerator, let it sit at room temperature to soften up a bit for rolling. The royal icing can be made 2-3 days ahead of time. I recommend refrigerating it in a small bowl with a tight seal for up to 3 days. When you’re ready to use, bring the icing to room temperature, then mix with a whisk as it may separate. You can also whisk in a few drops of water if it’s thickened.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.