Easy St. Patrick’s Day Cookies

Easy St. Patrick’s Day Cookies

These Easy St. Patrick’s Day Cookies are the perfect recipe to involve the kids! The cookies are just 4 ingredients, add frosting and decorate!

It is always helpful to have quick and simple recipes for holiday baking. These Easy St. Patrick’s Day Cookies are just the ticket! The kids will love helping to make these fun and pretty cookies.

By using a cake mix, packaged frosting, and candies and sprinkles to decorate, you will quickly have a fun dessert ready to enjoy.

Also try my Easy Valentine’s Day Cookies!

This recipe has been shared in Weekend Potluck. Head on over to these great sites for LOTS of new recipes each week!

Other fun St. Patrick’s Day Games and Treats:

Check out my St. Patrick’s Day Word Scramble and St. Patrick’s Day Word Search (both in 2 free printable levels), St. Patrick’s Day I Spy printables, St. Patrick’s Day How Many Words Printables and my Homeschool St. Patrick Day Unit Study. It has all you need to learn about St Patrick’s Day with your students in a fun way with crafts, games, printables, books and even recipes!

We also have 105 St. Patrick Day Jokes for Kids, Free Printable St. Patrick’s Day Memory Matching Game, Free St. Patrick’s Day BINGO Printables, and 10 Free St. Patrick’s Day Coloring Pages.

We have St. Patrick’s Day Deviled Jell-O Eggs,  St. Patrick’s Day Bark,  St. Patrick’s Day Magical Trail Mix and Easy St. Patrick’s Day Cookies to add to your easy recipe collection! We also have 91 St. Patrick’s Day Desserts and Treats on our recipe site!

Follow my St. Patrick’s Day Pinterest Board for dozens of ideas from all around the web! I am constantly finding new things to add so there will be new things all the time!

The Cake Mix:

I used Betty Crocker white cake mix. Use any brand you like. You could also use any flavor you like as long as it is light colored to mix the green food coloring into.

The vanilla (affiliate link) extract is optional but it is recommended. It does give the cookies good flavor. Without it, they are very plain.

The Frosting:

I used Betty Crocker cream cheese frosting so that is what I listed in the ingredients. Any white frosting would work just fine. You could even color it green if you like but I thought the green candy and sprinkles showed up best with white frosting.

The M&M’s:

Usually when I make trail mix or bark, I just buy a big bag of M&M’s and pick out what colors I want. It worked out fine until this time when I found only about a quarter cup of red ones. BUT! My son found on Amazon a great 62oz container of reds and greens and knowing that I would want to make St. Patrick Day treats and more Valentine’s treats so would need more reds, I ordered one. It was perfect! If you like that idea, I linked it below.

The Sprinkles:

I found these sprinkles at Michael’s. For some reason, I did not have an easy time finding St. Patrick’s Day sprinkles! If you can’t find specifically themed sprinkles, green colored sugar is easy to find and that would work too.  

St. Patrick's Day sprinkles

Tip when you are decorating: don’t wait long to apply the sprinkles! The frosting dries quicker than you may think—quicker than I thought anyway, and those little balls in the sprinkles were rolling off fast! Get those right on there!

Can Easy St. Patrick’s Day Cookies Be Made Ahead of Time?

These could be made a day or so ahead. Store them in an airtight container and do not pile them on top of each other. If the main event is over and a little imperfection is OK, store them carefully in a couple of layers with parchment or wax paper between layers. As long as the frosting has had time to dry, you are very gentle and there is a layer of parchment or wax paper between, they will be OK in a few layers.

Can Easy St. Patrick’s Day Cookies Be Frozen?

Yes! They can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Don’t pack them too tightly and put a sheet of parchment paper (affiliate link) or wax paper between layers to protect them from each other. See picture above.

Ingredients:

Easy St. Patrick’s Day Cookies ingredients

Betty Crocker white cake mix

eggs

vegetable oil

vanilla (affiliate link) extract, optional

green food coloring

Betty Crocker cream cheese frosting

green M&M’s

St. Patrick’s Day sprinkles

Instructions:

Add cake mix, eggs, oil and vanilla (if using) to a bowl.

Easy St. Patrick’s Day Cookies ingredients in bowl

Mix well with mixer, wooden spoon or whisk.

Easy St. Patrick’s Day Cookies ingredients in bowl

Add in several drops of food coloring and stir in. Add a few more at a time and stir after each addition until desired color.

green food coloring drops in white cake batter
green cookie batter

Refrigerate dough for about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350* or 325* if you are using dark, nonstick pans.

Place 2 Tbsp of dough rolled into balls and flattened with palms of your hand on ungreased or parchment lined cookie sheets. They will spread some. Eight on each cookie sheet fit well.

scooping green cookie batter
green cookie dough in palm of hand showing size of ball to make
green cookie dough in palm of hand showing size of ball to make
green cookie dough in palm of hand showing how to flatten
green cookies on cookie sheet unbaked

Bake at 350* (or 325* for dark, non-stick pans) for 8-10 minutes. Ovens vary so check after 8 and add another minute or two if needed.

Remove from oven and let sit on cookie sheet for about 2 minutes for soft, chewy cookies.

green cookies on cookie sheet baked

Remove to cool completely on wire racks.

cookies on wire cooling rack

When cooled, frost with frosting and decorate with M&M’s and sprinkles.

Easy St. Patrick’s Day Cookies with icing
Easy St. Patrick’s Day Cookies

Yield: 22 cookies

Notes:

Decorate when frosting is freshly applied. If it is dry, the M&M’s and sprinkles won’t stick well. Frost a few cookies at a time and apply decorations quickly. The sprinkles especially won’t stick well if you wait very long.

Store in airtight container.

St. Patrick's Day Cookies stored in an airtight container

Cookies can be frozen in airtight container for up to 3 months.

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Easy St. Patrick’s Day Cookies Pinterest Pin

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Easy St. Patrick’s Day Cookies

Easy St. Patrick’s Day Cookies

Yield: 22 Cookies
Prep Time: 35 minutes
Cook Time: 8 minutes
Additional Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 53 minutes

These Easy St. Patrick’s Day Cookies are the perfect recipe to involve the kids! The cookies are just 4 ingredients, add frosting and decorate!

Ingredients

  • 1 box Betty Crocker white cake mix
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract, optional
  • About 20 drops of green food coloring
  • 1 ½ 16 oz. tubs Betty Crocker cream cheese frosting
  • 1 cup green M&M’s
  • 4 Tbsp. St. Patrick’s Day sprinkles

Instructions

Add cake mix, eggs, oil and vanilla (if using) to a bowl.

Mix well with mixer, wooden spoon or whisk.

Add in several drops of food coloring and stir in. Add a few more at a time and stir after each addition until desired color.

Refrigerate dough for about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350* or 325* if you are using dark, nonstick pans.

Place 2 Tbsp. of dough rolled into balls and flattened with palms of your hand on ungreased or parchment lined cookie sheets. They will spread some. Eight on each cookie sheet fit well.

Bake at 350* (or 325* for dark, non-stick pans) for 8-10 minutes. Ovens vary so check after 8 and add another minute or two if needed.

Remove from oven and let sit on cookie sheet for about 2 minutes for soft, chewy cookies.

Remove to cool completely on wire racks.

When cooled, frost with frosting and decorate with M&M’s and sprinkles.

Yield: 22 cookies



Notes

Decorate when frosting is freshly applied. If it is dry, the M&M’s and sprinkles won’t stick well. Frost a few cookies at a time and apply decorations quickly. The sprinkles especially won’t stick well if you wait very long.

Store in airtight container.

Cookies can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 months.



Nutrition Information
Yield 22 Serving Size 1
Amount Per Serving Calories 249Total Fat 14gSaturated Fat 3gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 9gCholesterol 18mgSodium 82mgCarbohydrates 31gFiber 0gSugar 28gProtein 1g

This data was provided and calculated by Nutritionix using unknown brands unless named in the recipe. If nutrition is important to you, I highly encourage you to verify any data you see here with your favorite nutrition calculator. Also, you can put in exactly what you used so it is the most accurate. This is just to give you an idea, as any nutrition calculation is not exactly accurate unless every single product brand used is entered. Please note also that I am not a certified nutritionist or health professional of any kind. Please consult a doctor or trained professional for medical advice.

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