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:

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 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.  

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 or wax paper between layers to protect them from each other. See picture above.

Ingredients:

Betty Crocker white cake mix

eggs

vegetable oil

vanilla 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.

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 airtight container for up to 3 months.

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