Easy St Patrick’s Day Cookies
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This festive and oh-so-easy St Patrick’s Day Cookie Recipe is a fantastic holiday baking recipe to make with the kids. These yummy green cookies are made using a cake mix crinkle cookie recipe so they couldn’t be easier to make!
St Patrick’s Day Cookies
Can you believe February is already over? Thankfully, the weather is starting to warm up and our Spring Break is just around the corner.
St Patrick’s Day is one of our favorite holidays to craft and bake for and “lucky” for us, the holiday always falls during spring break. Rainbows, leprechauns, pots o’ gold, the color green, etc… what could be better when it comes to crafting and baking? These St. Patrick’s Day Cookies definitely need to go to the top of your baking list!
This year, I’ve decided on these Easy St Patrick-themed Crinkle Cookies. We’ve already made them once (a little early, I know…but who really needs an excuse for cookies?!) and I know we’ll be making them again closer to St Patrick’s Day.
Why You Need to Make these St Patrick’s Day Cookies
- Taste amazing – Everyone loves these St. Patrick’s Day Cookies
- Easy to make – A great cookie recipe to make with kids. This easy cookie recipe starts with a box of cake mix. IMO, cake mixes make for the best cookie baking hack ever! It makes the mixing and stirring so much easier because there’s no need for ten different ingredients spread out across the counter and uses fewer dishes.
- Festive and fun – the bright green color of these cookies makes them perfect for St Patrick’s day get-together or even a class party.
A Great Cookie Recipe to Make With Kids
Everyone loves these St. Patrick’s Day Crinkle Cookies, and bonus, they’re an easy cookie recipe to bake with kids. Personally, I love easy cookie and cake recipes that start with a box of cake mix. It’s the best baking hack ever! Makes the mixing and stirring so much easier because there’s no need for ten different ingredients spread out across the counter.
Other than eating the cookies (of course), the kid’s favorite part of making them is plopping the dough into the bowls of sugar and rolling them into balls. (Except for the multiple times I caught my son licking the sugar off the unbaked cookies – yep, those cookies were his, lol.)
The cookies are so delicious – soft and chewy, just the way I like them.
Besides the cake mix, there are only 4 other ingredients so these might just take the award for easiest cookies ever. The food coloring could even be switched from green to another color to make these festive and appropriate for other celebrations as well.
St Patrick’s Day Cookies Ingredients + Notes
(Ingredients at a glance, you’ll find the full recipe with ingredient amounts in the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.)
- Box of white cake mix | I prefer Betty Crocker cake mix, but any white or vanilla cake mix will work
- Eggs | Eggs should be at room temperature for best results. Eggs make the crinkle cookies chewy and help bind everything together.
- Vegetable oil | Oil gives the cookie a tender, slightly chewy texture. You can sub with a different oil (like olive or coconut) but keep in mind the oil may affect flavor.
- Confectioners sugar | You will roll the cookie balls in sugar before baking.
- Optional (but recommended) | Green food color. For best results, I like to use the Wilton Gel Colors.
How to Make these St Patrick’s Day Crinkle Cookies
You’ll love how simple these cookies are to make!
- Preheat the oven to 375.
- Mix cookie ingredients together. Chill dough for 15 to 30 minutes.
- Using a 2 tbsp cookie scoop, drop the cookie dough into the powdered sugar, and roll into balls coating the cookie balls completely with powdered sugar.
- Place cookies onto a cookie sheet and slightly flatten with the bottom of a glass.
- Cook for 7-9 minutes or until the edges start to slightly brown.
- Allow the cookies to cool before serving.
Recipe Tips:
- Don’t skip the chilling, the cookies will be difficult to shape into balls and may turn out flatter than desired.
- Scoop the dough with a cookie scoop and immediately drop it into the bowl of sugar before rolling. This will keep your hands from getting too sticky. Once shaped into a ball, give the ball a final roll in the sugar for the best coverage and prettiest result.
- Don’t overbake these St Patrick’s Day Cookies, they should be very soft when they’re done. If you overbake (while still yummy) they will come out more cake-like.
- Use a silicone baking mat to keep the bottoms of your cookies from getting too brown.
- Secret tip to keep the powdered sugar from melting away: If you want a heavy coating of powdered sugar on your cookies after baking, this extra step gives amazing results. Roll your cookie dough balls in a bowl of granulated sugar first. Then roll again in the confectioner’s sugar for that heavy finished coat of powdered sugar.
Cookie Variations
The best part about this cookie recipe is that you can use any flavor of cake mix.
- Make lemon cookies using a lemon cake mix.
- Chocolate cake mix for fudgy chocolate crinkle cookies.
- Strawberry Cake Mix Crinkle Cookies for Valentine’s Day.
- Vanilla cake mix plus any flavor extract with your favorite gel food color for a custom cookie.
- Add mint extract, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruit or sprinkles.
FAQ’s
What Is A Crinkle Cookie?
Crinkle cookies have soft centers with crisp cracked edges. When baking, the tops of the crinkle cookies begin to dry out, resulting in a cracked surface. Coating the cookies with sugar helps draw out moisture from their surface, also accentuates the cracks for a “crinkled effect”
Can These Cookies Be Made Ahead Of Time?
Yes! Measure and roll the cookie dough into balls. Line the cookie dough balls up on a baking sheet and freeze. Once frozen, transfer them to an airtight container or freezer bag. The raw dough can be frozen for up to three months.
How To Store The St Patrick’s Day Cookies
Store baked cookies in an airtight container on the counter for 3 to 4 days.
To freeze already baked cookies: Let the cookies cool completely. Transfer them into an airtight container or a freezer bag with the air squeezed out. (I love my foodsaver for this.) Place sheets of parchment paper between the layers of cookies. For best results, use within 3 months.
Can You Make Cake Mix Cookies With Cool Whip?
Yes, there is an old cake mix cookie hack that a reader shared with me. You can substitute one of the eggs and oil for an 8 oz container of cool whip. I tried it and they were great!
Why Are My Cookies Flat?
A couple of reasons you might have flat cookies.
- Did you skip the chilling time? Cold cookie batter has less of a chance to flatten when cooking.
- If baking more than one batch, make sure your cookie sheet has time to cool. A warm cookie sheet will lead to flatter cookies.
- Using melted butter instead of oil will lead to a flatter crispier cookie.
Pin this recipe for later
Want more green/St. Patty’s Day recipes? Be sure to check these out!
- Pinch Proof Rice Krispy Treats
- Green Eggs and Ham Recipe (mini frittatas)
- Mint Chocolate Fudge Recipe
- Easy Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Pie Recipe
If you’re looking for a fun, non-alcoholic way to celebrate the holiday or an easy cookie recipe to make any time, definitely try these St Patty’s Day Crinkle Cookies. You’ll love how yummy they taste and how quickly they disappear from your plate!
Recommended tools
- Cookie Scoop (for evenly shaped cookies)
- Cookie sheet (Use a cookie sheets that is a light in color. Dark pans absorb more heat and can cause your cookies to overbake.)
- Silicone baking mat
Tried this St Patrick’s Day Cookie recipe?
Print
Easy St Patrick’s Day Cookie Recipe
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 22 to 24 cookies 1x
- Category: desserts
- Method: oven
Description
This Easy St Patrick’s Day Crinkle Cookie Recipe is a great baking recipe to do with kids! The festive and fun holiday cookies are made using a boxed cake mix so they couldn’t be easier to make.
Ingredients
- 1 box of white cake mix
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- Green food color drops or gel
- 1 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Heat oven to 375.
- Mix cookie ingredients together. Chill dough for 15 to 30 minutes.
- Use a 2 tbsp cookie scoop, drop the cookie dough into the powdered sugar, and roll into balls coating the cookie balls completely with powdered sugar.
- Place cookies onto a cookie sheet and slightly flatten with the bottom of a glass.
- Cook for 7-9 minutes or until the edges start to slightly brown.
- Allow to cool before serving.
Notes
To keep the powdered sugar from melting away during the baking process, you can roll the chilled dough in granulated sugar first and then a second time in confectioners sugar.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 99
- Fat: 1
- Carbohydrates: 21
- Fiber: 1
- Protein: 2
Keywords: st patrick’s day cookies, cake mix cookies, st patricks day crinkle cookies
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How much food colouring should I use?
It depends on the brand and type. Just add food coloring til you reach your desired color.
The kids absolutely loved these cookies!
★★★★★
I tried it! It came out and oo so so good
★★★★★
I made these. Everyone loved them especially my grandson who is 16 months old and had to have one in each hand.
★★★★★
How many cookies does this recipe make? Anyone try adding chocolate chips?
12 to 18 cookies.
★★★★★
I’d like to make these but have one question….is the 1 cup powdered only for rolling the cookies in or part of the cookie mix?
It’s just for rolling. You might be able to get away with less if that is what you are wondering….
These were easy and fun to make and everyone loved them!
★★★★★
I used my cookie dough scoop and dusted them with powdered sugar before baking. Didn’t even flatten them as called for in the recipe. They turned out great!
thanks for the tip!
Can also use 1 large container of whipped topping, substitute for eggs and oil. Thanks for posting, I had forgotten about this recipe.
Did colors for easter, they were great. So easy.
★★★★★
Really fun recipe, what a great idea! Is it an American thing to abbreviate it to St Patty’s day? In Ireland the short form of Patrick is Paddy. Patty would be a girl! I love this time of year, and all things Irish.
★★★★★
It must be. I googled around for the proper way and I came up with multiple spellings.