Shamrock Shortbread Cookies with a Secret for Easy Roll-Out

Name: Shamrock Shortbread Cookies
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: 72 bite-sized cookies
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature; 3/4 cup powdered sugar; 1 tablespoon vanilla extract; 1 teaspoon baking powder; 2 cups flour, all-purpose; 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted; 3 tablespoons milk; 1/2 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract (optional); 2 + drops green food coloring

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Shamrock Shortbread Cookies are classic shortbread cookies cut into shamrock shapes and glazed with green icing. Use a Ziploc bag to roll out dough for easy clean-up.

Shamrock Shortbread Cookies - Plate of frosted green shamrock shortbread cookies

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Do you celebrate holidays at your office with food?

Somebody at my work decided we should all bring green food for a potluck in March. I threatened to bring a green salad. Then I remembered my favorite shortbread cookies.

What do I need to make these cookies?

You will need only a few ingredients and even less talent. A miniature shamrock cookie cutter, green food coloring, shortbread cookie dough, and a simple frosting. That’s it!

The best thing about these cookies?

NO DECORATING!

Wait! There’s more…

If you haven’t tried these cookies in any of the various forms I’ve already blogged about (Pink Shortbread Cookies and Iced Shortbread Cookies for My Valentine), you may not realize how easy they are to make. Unfortunately, rolling out the dough can be a sticky mess.

That’s where this secret I learned from Dorie Greenspan comes into play.

How to roll out shortbread cookies using a zippered plastic bag:

shortbread cookie dough in a zippered plastic bag — Simply put the dough into a Ziploc bag and seal.

rolling out dough inside plastic bag — Roll the dough to a uniform thickness that fills the entire bag.

Cookie dough ready to put in the freezer. — Place the bag into the freezer and chill the dough until hard.

peeling the plastic back from the dough — Uncover dough by trimming two edges and unzipping the top of the bag. Pull back the plastic.

Open the bag on 3 sides and let your cookie-cutter go wild. Because the dough has been thoroughly chilled, the cut-out cookies are easy to pick up with your hands or peel off the plastic before transferring to a cookie sheet, ready to bake.

Cutting out Shamrock Shortbread Cookies with a cookie cutter — Use cookie cutters of choice to cut out cookies. You may need to use a toothpick or dull point of a knife to extract small pieces i.e. legs, tails, stems, etc.

Here’s the best part…

Clean-up is as simple as throwing the bag away. No flour to sweep up. No sticky dough to scrape from your counter or cutting board.

Dorie’s technique is adaptable to almost any roll-out-the-dough-and-cut-into-a shape recipe. Give it a try!

Taste-testing shortbread cookies. Looks like chocolate found its way into a few cookies. — My little taste tester. She wanted to add chocolate to a few of the cookies. Not bad. Not bad at all!

WARNING: These shortbread cookies taste fantastic straight out of the freezer. I suggest you double wrap and hide if you have freezer moles at your house.

Frosting Shamrock Shortbread Cookies with granddaughter — A fun cookie to make with kids. They will love eating them, too.

pinterest image showing plate of frosted shamrock shortbread cookies

If you make this and enjoy the recipe, it would help me and others if you would return to this post and leave a rating (on the recipe card itself underneath the picture). Although always appreciated, no comment is required. Thank you for visiting! Paula

Shamrock Shortbread Cookies

Yield: 72 bite-sized cookies

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Shamrock Shortbread Cookies are classic shortbread cookies cut into shamrock shapes and glazed with green icing. Use a Ziploc bag to roll out dough for easy clean-up.

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups flour, all-purpose
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
3 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract (optional)
2 + drops green food coloring

Instructions

Combine butter and sugar into a large bowl. Beat on medium-high speed until fluffy. Add vanilla and beat until combined.
Combine flour and baking powder separately. Add slowly to butter using low speed. Stop beating as soon as the flour mixture is incorporated. Over-beating will result in toughness.
Form the dough into a slightly-flattened ball. Place into a zippered plastic bag. Chill about 30 minutes. With bag cracked open slightly to allow air to escape, roll dough until evenly distributed throughout bag. Place back into refrigerator until firm--at least another 30 minutes or up to 2 days. Can be frozen at this point.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.
Remove cookie dough from fridge and carefully cut two sides of bag with kitchen shears or scissors, leaving one side intact. Lay top layer of plastic back and use cookie cutter to make cookies. Because the dough is cold and firm, they should peel off the plastic easily. Place onto prepared cookie sheet. Re-roll scraps after replacing plastic over top of new ball and refrigerate a few minutes until firm again. Repeat as needed until all dough is used.
Bake 10 to 12 minutes, until light brown around the edges. Time will vary greatly depending on the size and shape of cookies. Check early and often. Cool 5 minutes before removing to cooling rack and wait until cold before icing.

Icing:

Whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, and extract. If too thick, add more milk a few drops at a time. If too thin, add more powdered sugar or let sit for awhile. Tint with food coloring. Ice cookies and allow to rest until dry. I prefer to turn cookies upside down and dip into icing just enough to cover surface. Goes faster, although a little messy, until you get the hang of it. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week or tightly wrapped in aluminum foil or plastic wrap for 1 month in the freezer.

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Nutrition Information:

Yield: 36 Serving Size: 2 cookies
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 105 Total Fat: 5g Saturated Fat: 3g Trans Fat: 0g Unsaturated Fat: 2g Cholesterol: 14mg Sodium: 15mg Carbohydrates: 14g Fiber: 0g Sugar: 8g Protein: 1g

Recipe adapted from The Pastry Queen by Rebecca Rather (paid link). Technique inspired by Dorie Greenspan.

The post “Shamrock Shortbread Cookies” was originally published in 2011. Updated and republished in March 2019.