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Saint Patricks Day sugar cookies: Lucky for you, it's like a pot of gold! Watch this video...

Saint Patricks Day sugar cookies that leprechauns--and your customers--will gobble up!

What is in the pot of gold for this page? Lucky you, it's all about:

-how to mix the perfect deep green and orangish-red for beard and hair with royal icing or glaze

-a whopping 15 designs for decorating a shamrock cookie...ALL wet-on-wet technique, except one (can't get easier than that)!

-royal icing transfers and making any sprinkles into a beautiful gold

If you haven't already, first dance a jig over to 'How to Make Professional Cookies' to see how turn ordinary cookies into masterpieces! Also, How to Bake Cookies (definitely worth the read). I'll open both pages in a new tab so you'll still have your place here.

Tap this hipster emoji cookie if you would like this cutter too!

* As an Etsy affiliate, I earn a small commission

This photo shows one of my new cutters for Saint Patricks Day sugar cookies. It is of a light green emoji smiling with a green stocking cap and both thumbs up. Adorable!Isn't this the cutest cookie?!

If you would also like this cookie cutter, tap the image as well.

* As an Etsy affiliate, I earn a small commission

This is a photo of the 'Lucky Vibes' cookie cutter from Mike's Cookie Cutters on Etsy.
These Saint Patricks Day sugar cookies are of a 'Lucky Vibes' and a hipster smiling emoji cookie set.

I love the 3D effect of the eyes and mouths with royal icing, but you could sure use food color markers if you're afraid of color-bleed. Here is a 7 brand comparison on edible markers with the ones that far outweigh the others: Food Color Markers

Mixing the perfect green and the orangish-red for the beard and hair of any leprechauns for your Saint Patricks Day sugar cookies

Leprechauns are pretty secretive about their green sauce, you know their sugar cookie icing recipe. Years ago, a little man with a red beard and funny boots spilled the recipe to me. I have now made it me own Superior Royal Icing. I'm giving it to you for free, but don't tell him: My Superior Royal Icing Recipe

What? You can't use meringue powder or eggs? Hey, the luck of the Irish is with you. Here's a fantabulous glaze that's been tested by me over and again. I made it a free download. Of course, nothing compares to the original 'green sauce'! Glaze Recipe

Let's get to whipping up some beautiful deep green royal icing...leprechaun-approved!

For Saint Paddy's Day, I usually like to make the green a bit different than a Christmas green color. 

I take (none other than) Americolor Leaf Green food color gel and Americolor Forest Green food color gel. To me, leaf green is too bright on it's own so I like to tame it down. 

For 1 cup royal icing or glaze, drop in 8-10 drops of the leaf green along with 3 drops of forest green. This will give that beautiful deep green.

Now, for the beard and hair for any leprechaun cookies.

In 1 cup of royal icing or glaze, drop in 8 drops of orange and 3 drops of red.

For both the green and this color, mix them using the paddling method then fold, paddle then fold, scraping the bowl very often. Going in a slower motion will help prevent bubbles in the end. When you add water to thin it, add just a little at a time.

As always, it's good practice to let colors develop, or bloom, overnight to get that true color. However, I usually will go about 2 or 3 hours with sugar cookies like these, Valentine's Day Cookies, or any that are not custom orders. It does save a whole lot of time and doesn't matter.

Of course you need my Sugar Cookie Recipe that is unbeatable too. They are so soft and velvety that you will want to give them the pinch-proof test. Go ahead...squeeze them! No blarney intended.

Now, before you get to crackin', grab my free download of the 2-page tips on royal icing. It took 10 years to compile this! Here it is on this page: Royal Icing Flooding

Here's a couple of wee bits of inspiration without any shenanigans, cookie cutter flips! Though these are all flipped into Saint Patricks Day sugar cookies, if you click on the image, you can see many all-occasion cookie cutter flips.

These Saint Patrick's Day cookies are cookie-cutter flips with royal icing. Money-saving and easy designs! More flips @ https://www.wecookiers.com/cookie-cutter-flips.html
Saint Patrick's Day cookies that came from cookie cutter flips, periodical #9

Before we dance into the 15 shamrock-laden designs, here is a quick inspiration photo of some Saint Patricks Day sugar cookies I made videos of. There are several and will be out during the next few weeks on YouTube.

This image shows an array of many designs of Saint Patrick's Day cookies.

*Some of the cookies above I created using my favorite cookie projector. Read the pros and cons of it here: Projector for Cookies that will help make your Saint Patricks Day sugar cookies.

Saint Patricks Day sugar cookies: 15 easy (all) wet-on-wet designs for your sugar cookies. Here's the video...

This shows one shamrock cookie cutter designed in 15 different ways...all are decorated using the wet-on-wet technique.

Of course, there are a great many cookie decorating techniques for your sugar cookies. Here are also some cookie decorating ideas.

This photo shows a shamrock cookie design with a wet-on-wet technique.

The headline pretty much sums this section up. Each cookie is completely the wet-on-wet technique (with the one slight exception of the little royal icing transfer on the bottom row).

Wet-on-wet simply means all the colors are applied one right after the other instead of waiting for each color to crust over before adding another. It leaves for a smooth surface.

With this technique, the only thing you need to take caution on is the consistencies of the colors. Make sure the colors are the same consistency. If one is thick and another is flood, then the thinner icing will pull the color form the other and look faded when dried.

Leprechauns love 'piping' wet-on-wet-techniques. Why? Well mate, it's because they are the quickest and easiest of all sugar cookie decorating. 

Use royal icing transfers on your Saint Patricks Day sugar cookies

If one thing is ever-popular in the cookie decorating world, it is royal icing transfers.

Why?

They are almost magical and definitely worth their weight in gold!

Why?

They time they save you in the long run is amazing. Benefits of using royal icing transfer sheets, or royal icing templates as some call them:

-easy

-inexpensive

-saves time in the end

-easily find them across the net OR you can make them yourself

-relaxing--like coloring, you can let your mind flow

I have available for you the royal icing template sheet set that has

small shamrock

rainbow

cloud

I have them either in the 3-page set or individually. Along with those, for Saint Patricks Day cookies, I also made:

2-page 4 leaf clover set, small and large

2-page shamrock set, small and large

Go to Shop Gotta-havs! to get 'em!

Here is a really big tip that speeds time up by at least 3 days (seriously)...

Pop those wet transfers into a food dehydrator on high for 1 hour. BAM! Done. The transfers you see in the photos took 1 hour. I let them cool for a few minutes then carefully lifted them off. A dehydrator is probably the 1 or 3 necessary pieces of equipment for cookie decorators. Here are my top 3, not in any particular order of importance:

1. Food Dehydrator (this is what I have and the scope of it)

2. Cookie Projector (see the pros and cons of what I use)

3. Airbrush System for airbrushing cookies (there's 2 kinds, see them here)

If you are short on time, you could use edible cookie images for the rainbows, clouds and shamrocks too. I'm happy to make you some, just contact me!

More Saint Patricks Day sugar cookies in this video...

Now, to make any kind of sprinkles a beautiful gold. Whether you buy them or make them, here is a golden nugget, just don't let the leprechauns in on it. You know how they are with gold!

First, take any size and color of sprinkles and place them in a zip-loc bag...

This photo shows a zipper-sealed bag of colored sprinkles.

Take lustre dust and sprinkle some in, according to how many sprinkles there are in the bag. Add a little at a time so not to waste the lustre (it's expensive...yeah yeah, I know, like gold).

This photo shows a bag of different colored sprinkles with gold lustre dust being poured into it.

Seal the bag and squish it all around. Rub and turn it over to make sure it covers the contents well.

Changing colored sprinkles into gold sprinkles for sugar cookies.

Beautiful, isn't it?

The photo shows a bag of beautiful gold sprinkles being transitioned from their original color.

Open the bag and make sure the sprinkles are covered well.

This photo shows an open bag of gold sprinkles that were originally another color.

You are now ready to use them! That was easy, huh?

This photo shows an open bag of golden sprinkles being spooned out.
The photo shows a pot of gold decorated sugar cookie with 2 royal icing transfers of a rainbow and a cloud. You can get the transfers in Shop Gotta-havs! by WeCookiers.com

The ideas are limitless. Shall we say that there is no rainbow's end. Mix different sprinkles, no matter their colors. This give varying sizes, shapes, and textures.

Using this method, you can make all kinds of colors with the different lustre dust colors. Pastels for Easter? Red for Valentine's Day sugar cookies? 4th of July cookies? Yes, specific colors for graduation sugar cookies too!

By the way, here is a fantastic online tool that is free. I've been using it for years to help me make cookie stencils from a photo for PYO cookies. Check it out here: Rapid Resizer

Talking about PYO cookies, here is an invaluable page I wrote with a bunch of pictures to show 10 + comparison ways to make PYO Cookie Palettes.

Oh the ideas. To think it all started with these Saint Patricks Day sugar cookies!

Top of Saint Patricks Day Sugar Cookies

Have you seen these pages yet?

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Thumbnail link to Cookies on a Stick pageCookies on a Stick link
Thumbnail link for Cookie Stenciling pageCookie Stenciling link
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Thumbnail image link to Silk Screen Cookie StencilsSilk Screen Cookie Stencils link