Food For Our Brood – Chocolate Shamrock Cookies with Mint Buttercream

We’re getting ready to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, and of course we had to make some cookies. Grace And Faithy love using sprinkles (they call them sparkles) whenever they can. We decided to make some shamrock shaped chocolate cookies with some green mint frosting sprinkles.I took the girls to our favorite cake decorating store Bakers Nook and they picked out some beautiful gold flecked sparkles to decorate with along with the green sugar and rainbow sprinkles we had at home. I used a piping bag with a star tip to frost the cookies, and the girls went to town at decorating! It is so much fun to watch a child create their own edible masterpiece, they get really into it!

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Chocolate Shamrock Cookies with Mint Buttercream

Ingredients

For the cookie dough

• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar sifted
• 1 cup 2 sticks butter (slightly softened)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

For the buttercream

• 1 cup butter room temperature
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 6 drops peppermint oil
• 1/8 teaspoon green food coloring paste
• 1 tablespoon whole milk

Instructions

Making the cookies

1. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and powdered sugar.
2. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and zest. Thoroughly combine.
3. In another bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and cream of tartar.
4. Add the dry ingredients in batches to the creamed mixture until you have combined everything well.
5. Cover and refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes. This is to harden up the fat so the cookies don't spread too much.
6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
7. Cut the dough in half.
8. Roll one half out onto a floured surface to around a quarter-inch thickness. Cut the cookies out with a Shamrock cookie cutter
9. Transfer cookies to a parchment or silicone lined half sheet pan. Do no more than 6 cookies on a pan.
10. Bake for 10-14 minutes or until slightly browned around the edges
11. Allow to cool on a wire rack before frosting.

To make the buttercream

1. Whip the butter until it's fluffy.
2. Incorporate the sugar 1 cup at a time.
3. Add the oil and whip frosting until light and fluffy.
4. Add milk as needed to get desired consistency

Recipe Notes

I prefer using paste food coloring. It has more vivid colors and doesn't add moisture to the dough. You can find it at a good baking store or online. Use regular food color if you like.