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St. Patrick’s cookies and buttercream dip are a wonderful and festive treat. Everyone will want one of these shamrock sugar cookies. If you are looking for St. Patty’s party ideas, this Dunkaroos St. Patrick’s Day cookie recipe with sprinkles needs to be on your list.
If you’re on the lookout for a St. Patrick’s Day cookie recipe, you’ll love these soft, crumbly cookies as well as the sweet buttercream dip. You can make shamrock sugar cookies ahead and enjoy them later.
You might also like air fryer lucky charms donuts, rainbow rim green Irish whiskey cocktails or frosted Lucky Charms cookies!
St. Patrick’s Cookies and Buttercream Dip Ingredients
Sugar cookies are one of the simplest cookie recipes to make. Even if you’re a novice at baking these shouldn’t present any problems.
For the cookies themselves you’ll need butter, sugar, eggs, flour, salt, baking soda, and sprinkles. To make the frosting dip, you are going to need icing sugar, butter, vanilla, milk, St. Patrick’s themed or green sprinkles, and (optionally) green food colouring. Icing sugar is the same thing as powdered sugar or confectioners’ sugar.
The recipe calls for unsalted butter but salted butter would be fine too. I often find a touch of salt in a sweet recipe such as dunkaroos brings out the sweet flavours all the more.
Use genuine vanilla extract for the best result and green sprinkles if you have them. As for the milk, use any kind you like, even a dairy-free variety such as oat or soy milk. Use either food colouring liquid or gel. If you’re using gel you won’t need as much as if you’re using liquid. This ingredient is also optional so you can leave it out if you prefer.
St. Patrick’s Day Cookie Recipe Directions
Pairing up St. Patrick’s cookies and buttercream dip is one of the best St. Patty’s party ideas. Not only can you enjoy the tasty, soft, shamrock sugar cookies but also the dip for the dunkaroos.
You will make the cookies and then the dip and serve them together. Let’s take a look at the process of making these delicious treats. First of all you will combine the flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl.
The next stage in the St. Patrick’s Day cookie recipe is to beat the butter and sugar together. This is called ‘creaming’ them because you need to beat them until light and fluffy. This not only helps ensure the ingredients are well blended but also help get a nice, light texture during baking.
Once the shamrock sugar cookies batter is fluffy and light, go ahead and mix in the vanilla and eggs. After that, add in the flour mixture until you have a dough, then mix in the sprinkles.
Roll the dough up, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for an hour or so. This step ensures the cookies don’t spread out too much during baking. Having the dough cold also makes it easier to cut out the cookies neatly.
Cut the dough into cookie shapes, arrange them on parchment paper lined baking sheets and bake until golden. While they are cooking and cooling you can work on the icing for your dunkaroos.
The frosting is simple to make. You just have to mix all the ingredients together, adding more sugar if too thin or milk if too thick. Mix in the sprinkles and some food colouring if using. Serve the St. Patrick’s cookies and buttercream dip and enjoy!
How to Store Shamrock Sugar Cookies
St. Patrick’s cookies and buttercream dip can be prepared ahead and served later. Don’t refrigerate the cookies because that can dry them out faster. Instead keep them in an airtight container on the countertop for a few days.
The frosting will keep for up to a week but do keep it refrigerated in a sealed container. Let the icing come to room temperature before serving the St. Patrick’s Day cookie recipe so the dip softens enough for dipping.
St. Patty’s Day Cookie FAQs
Actually sugar cookies freeze really well so if you’re on the lookout for freezer-friendly St. Patty’s party ideas to make in advance, this would work. Bake the sugar cookies and let them cool completely. After that, arrange them on a baking sheet in a single layer and flash-freeze them. When they’re completely frozen, transfer them into Ziploc freezer bags.
In my experience having anything left over from this recipe is unlikely! If you do have some dip icing left over though, use it as an ice cream topping, spread it on graham crackers or mix it with cream cheese and dip fresh pieces of fruit in it.
St. Patrick’s Cookies and Buttercream Dip Recipe
St. Patrick’s Cookies and Buttercream Dip
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1/2 Cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 Cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 1/2 Cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 Teaspoon salt
- 1/2 Teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 Cup sprinkles
Buttercream Icing
- 1 1/2 Cup icing sugar
- 1/2 Cup unsalted butter
- 1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 Tablespoon milk
- 1/4 Cup sprinkles
- 3-5 Drops food colouring, green, optional
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl, stir together flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
- With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar together. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients to wet and beat, starting on low speed, until a dough is formed. Mix in sprinkles
- Form the dough into a ball, cut in half, Wrap in Saran Wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place parchment paper on two baking sheets.
- Remove dough from refrigerator and roll out, a portion at a tome, to 1/8 inch thick. Cut out shapes Using a cookie cutter of choice. Repeat with remaining dough
- Place cookies on baking sheets and bake 10 to 12 minutes, until edges are lightly browned.
- Wait 5 minutes and then place cookies on cooling rack. Cool completely before dipping in icing.
- While cookies cool, make icing by creaming together all ingredients. If icing is too thick, add milk in small amounts at a time. If too thin, add additional icing sugar. Stir in food coloring (if desired) and sprinkles.
- Place icing into a bowl and serve with cookies on the side.
Nutrition
These St. Patrick’s cookies and buttercream dip are just just like Dunkaroos and perfect for St. Patrick’s Day. You can make the cookies a day or so ahead without sacrificing any quality and the icing up to a week ahead. This shamrock shaped cookie cutter makes light work of these St. Patty’s Day treats!
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Bella Bucchiotti
Bella Bucchiotti is a Canadian-based syndicated food, travel, and lifestyle writer, photographer, and creator at xoxoBella. She founded xoxoBella in 2015, where she shares her love for food, dogs, sustainability, fitness, crafts, outdoor adventures, travel, and philanthropy to encourage others to run the extra mile, try new recipes, visit unfamiliar places, and stand for a cause. Bella creates stress-free and family-friendly recipes for weeknight dinners and festive feasts.
can’t wait to make these for the kids