Shamrock Cookies: A Recipe For St. Patrick's Day
The shamrock is a symbol of Ireland and is particularly present during the festivities of St. Patrick's Day, the national holiday celebrated on March 17. To celebrate this occasion, we suggest you discover an easy recipe for shamrock-shaped cookies.
Ingredients
Here are the ingredients needed to make about 20 cloverleaf cookies :
100 g almond powder
125 g flour
1 pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of yeast
1 sachet of vanilla sugar
75 g brown sugar
100 g soft butter at room temperature
1 small egg
For the green icing
70 g powdered sugar
about 4 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon of green coloring powder or matcha tea
To note: to make the green icing for the St. Patrick's Day cookies I used natural powdered dyes labeled organic. The colors are obtained using plant extracts and, more specifically, thanks to spinach extract for the green color.
Preparation of the shortcrust pastry
1- Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl: almond powder, flour, baking powder, pinch of salt, brown sugar and vanilla sugar.
2- Add the butter cut in small pieces and knead with your fingertips until you get a sandy texture.
3- Make a well and break the whole egg in the center. Knead to incorporate the egg with the other ingredients. If the dough is too sticky, you can add one or two tablespoons of flour.
4- Form the dough into a ball, cover it with cling film and keep it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
To note: this time in the refrigerator is essential to shape the cookies into clover shapes without the dough sticking too much to the rolling pin and cookie cutter.
Preparation of the glaze
While the shortcrust pastry is chilling, prepare the green icing that you will use to coat the cloverleaf cookies.
1- Squeeze the juice of one or two lemons and set aside.
2- In a bowl, mix the sifted powdered sugar with the green coloring or matcha tea powder.
3- Add 3 to 4 tablespoons of lemon juice until you get a green colored icing with a smooth texture.
Cutting of the shamrock cookies
1- On your floured work surface or a silicone mat, roll out the shortbread dough to about 3 mm thick.
2- Cut out the cloverleaf-shaped cookies with a cookie cutter and place them as you go on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Baking the cookies
1- Preheat your oven to 180°C.
2- Put the baking sheet in the oven and bake the cloverleaf cookies for 15 minutes.
Finish
1- Let the cloverleaf cookies cool completely before covering with green icing.
2- This green icing, which does not contain egg white, had a fairly fluid texture, so I simply spread it in a thin layer using a silicone kitchen brush.
3- Let the icing dry at room temperature before enjoying these delicious shortbread.
Did you know that?
The shamrock is one of the symbols of Ireland since Saint Patrick used this plant to explain to King Aengus the concept of the Holy Trinity.
He told him that each leaf represents an entity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and that the shamrock as a whole represents God, thus explaining that God is 'three persons in one'.
This image spread throughout Ireland and the plant came to be associated with St. Patrick and then with all of Ireland.
You can serve these shortbread with a nice cup of black tea. These lucky shamrock shaped cookies might just bring you some Irish luck ;-)
