Learn how to make some St. Patrick's Day shamrock and leprechaun treasure decorated sugar cookies with this royal icing cookie decorating tutorial!!
Did you know that March comes after February? Like... EVERY YEAR?!?!
I don't know why this continues to be a surprise to me. I mean... I LOVE making Saint Patrick's Day cookies. I start thinking about them in January. (I'm not kidding. My neighbors wish I was kidding. ) You would think that at some point I would realize that the day after February is, in fact, March.
But somehow my brain continues to think that February will never ever, ever, ever, ever, under any circumstances actually end.
Clearly, I only have winter to blame. The icy gray frozen tundra that is my life blocks reality and hope and happiness and all ability to look at my calendar.
So Winter - this one is on you. It's your fault this tutorial very nearly disappeared into blogging oblivion. It couldn't possibly be because I lack time management skills. Or a desire to wake up in the mornings on purpose. And definitely has nothing to do with the fact that I spent all of last week at the world's biggest cookie party!!
To make up for it... I'm giving you a jillion tutorials in one!!
Enjoy!!
How to make shamrock and leprechaun treasure decorated sugar cookies:
Step 1.
Outline and fill the entire shamrock sugar cookie with a medium consistency green royal icing. Let the icing dry for at least 4 hours.
Step 2.
Starting at the bottom of the stem, outline the shamrock in one continuous movement.
Step 1.
Outline and fill the entire shamrock sugar cookie with green royal icing. Let dry overnight or for at least 8 hours
Step 2.
Fold a paper towel in half a few times until you have a small square. Pipe a blob of green royal icing on the paper towel. Gently dab the royal icing all over the cookie. If you have too much icing anywhere, use a clean, dry corner of the paper towel to gently pat some off again.
Step 1.
Outline and fill the entire cookie with dark green icing. Immediately grab a lighter green icing and pipe 5 dots of icing in a circle in the curvy outside edge of a shamrock petal. Pipe these circles all over the cookie.
Step 2.
With the pointed end of the 2-in-1 tool, pull each dot toward the center of its circle. Don't worry about wiping it off between dots. It gives each petal a veined look.
Place a drop of a lighter colored icing in the center of each daisy.
Step 1.
Outline and fill half of every petal segment with green icing. Let dry for 30 minutes.
Step 2.
Fill in the remaining half segments with the same icing. Let dry for another 30 minutes.
Step 3.
Pipe a stem and let dry for 30 minutes.
Step 4.
Place the green icing in a new piping bag and cut a MUCH smaller opening. (About the size of a #1 tip.) Outline every other half segment. Starting at the center of the segment, pipe 8-10 parallel lines.
Step 5.
Outline the remaining segments and the stem of the shamrock.
Step 1.
Print the shamrock image below. Place it under wax paper or in a plastic sheet protector. Use the yellow icing to pipe over the top of each shamrock. You don't have to use the whole sheet, but make more than you think you'll need. Let them dry overnight or for at least 8 hours. Gently remove the shamrock icing transfers with a thin knife and set aside.
Step 2.
Outline and fill the surface of the circle cookie with yellow icing.
Step 3.
Immediately cover with gold sanding sugar. Shake off the excess.
Step 4.
Gently press a shamrock shape into the center of the cookie.
Step 5.
Use the yellow icing to pipe a small stem on the shamrock.
Click on this photo to make it full size. Right click to save the image. Paste into a document and print at full size. Place in a plastic sheet protector or under wax paper. Pipe over the top of each shamrock. Let dry for at least 12 hours before removing.
See it all come together in this Shamrock Treasure cookie decorating video tutorial.
NEED MORE??
Grab the supplies: Shamrock cutter, round cutter, gold sanding sugar.
My Green Velvet Irish Cream cookie recipe would be PERFECT for these cookies!!
You can add these Happy Shamrock cookies to the mix too!
