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If you like Lofthouse-style cookies, our Soft St. Patrick’s Day Iced Cookies are a perfect sweet treat. Green icing and sprinkles make them festive for your little leprechauns! These soft, tender cookies and a delicious Irish Coffee are ideal for adults.
This is a great project to share with your little ones. They love to help stir the icing, spread it on the cookies, and then…DECORATE! Yep, it’s messy, but it’s worth it!
Soft St. Patrick’s Day Iced Cookies
Our Soft St. Patrick’s Day Iced Cookies are unlike traditional sugar cookies. They are soft, almost cake-like, and have a melt-in-your-mouth texture that is addictive. I love them with a cup of Irish Breakfast tea or steaming hot coffee.
Ingredients Needed
- Cake flour – this will give the cookies a soft, cake-like texture. You could use an equal amount of all-purpose flour, but the texture will not be as smooth.
- Baking powder AND Baking soda help give the cookie a fluffy texture.
- Cornstarch—Cornstarch gives cookies a soft texture and silky mouthfeel and helps them keep their shape.
- Kosher salt
- Unsalted butter
- Margarine—The margarine gives the cookie a flavor similar to the beloved LOFTHOUSE cookies. You could use all butter, and your cookies would be just as delicious, but with a slightly different flavor.
- Powdered sugar – gives the cookie a more cake-like texture than granulated sugar.
- Eggs
- Sour cream – for flavor and softness.
- Vanilla and almond extract – for flavor. You could use just vanilla or whatever flavor you like. Lemon and vanilla is another beautiful flavor combo.
- All-purpose flour – for rolling out your dough.
- Corn syrup – for the icing. This will give you a silky smooth icing that crusts over. You can leave it out and use a splash of milk to thin your frosting.
- Milk thins the icing. You can use any type of milk—whole, low-fat, skim, or any type of nut, oat, or coconut milk.
- Gel food coloring
- Sprinkles for decorating.
Steps To Make This Recipe
To make the cookies:
- Whisk the dry ingredients for the cookies.
- Cream together the butter, margarine, powder sugar, eggs, sour cream, vanilla and almond extracts.
- Combine the flour mixture and the butter mixture.
- Chill the dough for at least an hour.
- Roll out the dough, cut into shapes and bake.
- Allow to cool.
To make the frosting:
- Cream the powdered sugar, corn starch, butter, corn syrup, vanilla, and salt until fluffy.
- Add milk, if necessary, to thin the frosting.
- Ice the cookies and decorate as desired.
Can I Make Them In Advance?
Yes! You can make the dough up to three days in advance. Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap. When you’re ready to bake, allow the dough to sit at room temperature for 15-20 minutes so that it doesn’t crack when you roll it.
You can also make the frosting three days in advance. Spoon the frosting into a large bowl and place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface to keep it from drying out. Store it at room temperature or in the refrigerator until needed. If you refrigerate it, allow the frosting to come to room temperature before using it.
Can I Stack And Store The Cookies?
Although the icing develops a nice ‘crust’, stacking them on top of each other will smudge your icing.
You can store the cookies in an airtight container, with parchment paper separating each layer, for up to 5 days.
To freeze the cookies, do not ice them. Pack the cookies in an airtight container, cover in plastic wrap or a large freezer bag, and freeze for up to 3-4 months. Thaw and ice, if desired, before serving.
Tips To Make These Cookies
- Sifting the flour and powdered sugar will make mixing the dough and frosting easier.
- Use fresh ingredients. Fresh butter and eggs provide the best flavor, and checking that your baking soda and baking powder haven’t expired will ensure your cookies have the fluffy, tenderness you desire.
- Bring the butter, eggs, and sour cream to room temperature. This will make it easier to mix the dough and keep the texture soft and tender.
- Be sure to chill your dough for at least 1 hour, or you won’t be able to roll it out.
- Don’t overbake the cookies. The color should be almost the same as the raw rolled dough. Any color on the baked cookies will result in a different texture.
- I used a 3-inch cookie cutter, but any size will work. The size will adjust the number of cookies you produce.
- Use an offset spatula or a piping bag to frost the cookies. A piping bag will give neater, more precise frosted tops.
More St. Patrick’s Day Recipes To Try
- Irish Bangers And Mash
- Oven Baked Corned Beef And Cabbage
- Dublin Coddle
- Hot Ham And Cheese Funeral Sandwiches
- Beans And Greens With Corn Dodgers
Soft St. Patrick’s Day Iced Cookies
If you like Lofthouse-style cookies, our Soft St. Patrick’s Day Iced Cookies are a perfect sweet treat. Green icing and sprinkles make them festive for your little leprechauns! These soft, tender cookies and a delicious Irish Coffee are ideal for adults.
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 9 minutes
- Total Time: 54 minutes + 1 hour chilling time
- Yield: 20 cookies 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 2 ¼ cups cake flour (I used Swan’s Down)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- ¼ cup margarine, room temperature
- 1 ¾ cups powdered sugar
- 1 egg + 1 egg white, room temperature
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- All purpose flour for rolling out the dough
For the frosting
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon milk, optional if the frosting is too stiff
- Gel food coloring
- Sprinkles, optional
Instructions
For the cookies:
Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter, margarine and powdered sugar until pale in color and fluffy.
Add the egg, egg white, vanilla, almond extract, and sour cream. Mix well.
Slowly add the dry mixture to the butter mixture and mix on low speed until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Shape the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap.
Chill for one hour.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats. Set aside.
Lightly dust a flat surface with the all-purpose flour.
Roll out the dough to ¼ inch thick.
Use a 3 inch cookie cutter to cut out the dough.
Reroll the scraps and cut the remaining cookies.
Transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheet.
Bake in the preheated oven for 8-9 minutes. The bottoms of the cookies should be pale with a hint of pale gold around the edges.
Cool the cookies on a wire rack.
Make the icing.
Sift together the powdered sugar and cornstarch in a bowl and set aside.
In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter until creamy.
Slowly add the powdered sugar mixture to the butter and mix, on low speed, until combined.
Pour in the corn syrup, vanilla, salt, and food coloring.
Increase the mixer speed and whip the mixture until thoroughly combined.
If the frosting is too thick to spread, add the one tablespoon of milk, a little at a time, until the desired consistency is achieved.
Spread the frosting on the cooled cookies using an offset spatula, leaving an unfrosted border on each cookie.
Decorate as desired with sprinkles.
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to five days.