Shamrock Shake Cookies
These Shamrock Shake Cookies are light and fluffy with just the right combination of vanilla and mint flavoring and topped with a dollop of extra creamy vanilla frosting and a maraschino cherry. Perfection!
What do you do when you love a particular mint-flavored frosted fast food treat but you can only get one a few weeks a year? Two Sisters has the solution to your problem, satisfy your cravings with a batch of our tastes-just-like-original Shamrock Shake Cookies. Light and fluffy cookies with just the right combination of vanilla and mint flavoring are topped with a dollop of extra creamy vanilla frosting and a maraschino cherry. So yummy! So easy to make! These cookies are the perfect treat for St. Patrick’s Day, National Mint Lovers Day, or just a random Thursday.
These Shamrock Shake Cookies are our VERY FIRST Cookie of the Week – a new series that features a brand new, fun and delicious cookie recipe every week. Click here to see our other Cookies of the Week and don’t forget to Follow us on Tiktok where we will be debuting a new Cookie of the Week video every week!
Ingredients You Will Need
How to Make the Mint Cookies
Step 1: In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar for 3 minutes on high speed. Add the eggs and continue to mix for an additional 3 minutes. Scrape sides of the bowl. Add the Half n’ Half (you can substitute milk) and the Vanilla Extract and the Peppermint Extract. (If you want a super Minty cookie, add another 1/4 teaspoon of the Peppermint Extract.) Mix until just combined. Scrape sides of the bowl. Mix in the baking soda. Finally, mix in the flour and lightly mix together. You don’t want to over-work this cookie dough and you will be mixing again when you add the food coloring. It is fine if there is a little bit of flour that hasn’t been fully incorporated into the dough at this point.
Step 2: Add 3 drops of yellow food coloring and 1 drop of Blue food coloring. (We use the Wilton Color Right Food Coloring.) Mix until the rest of the flour is completely mixed with the dough and you have a pretty light green color. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.
Step 3: Measure 2.5 oz. of cookie dough, roll it into a ball and then flatten them onto the cookie sheet.
Step 4: Bake the Mint Cookies in an oven that has been preheated to 350-degrees for 9-10 minutes and allow them to cool. While the cookies are cooling, make the Whipped Vanilla Frosting.
How to Make the Whipped Vanilla Frosting
Step 5: Add softened butter and vanilla to a new mixing bowl and mix until completely combined. Add Powdered Sugar and beat on low until it is incorporated. Move mixer up to medium-high speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When completely mixed the frosting may appear dry. Add milk, a little bit at a time, until frosting is the proper consistency. Change the paddle on the mixer to the whisk and whip the frosting on high speed for another 2-3 minutes. (This will add air in the frosting to make it lighter and more whipped cream-like.)
Decorating the Cookies
Step 6: Gather up your Mint Cookies and the Whipped Vanilla Frosting. Load the frosting in a decorating bag with a Wilton 2D Closed Star Decorating tip.
Step 7: Add a dollop of frosting to the top of the cookie and top with a Maraschino Cherry for a little extra pizzaz!
Expert Tips and FAQ’s
Mint Extract is very strong and is more similar to spearmint than what we have all come to think about for Mint desserts. Over the years we have found that even the smallest amount of Mint Extract will make your dessert taste less like mint and more like toothpaste. So after much trial and error in the kitchen, we have settled on using Peppermint Extract as the correct flavoring for traditional mint desserts.
Yes. In our opinion, you need some kind of a mixer to make a good cookie dough. A stand mixer, while expensive, is a great investment if you believe you have a lot of homemade baked goods in your future. An electric hand-mixer also works well and you can probably find one for around $20. You can hand mix cookie dough in a pinch (which is how we did it growing up), but you will really have to use a lot of muscle to cream the butter and sugar, and eggs properly.
Creaming the butter, sugar and then mixing the eggs in is the most important part of the cookie dough mixing process. Creaming is when you fully incorporate the butter and sugar together and add some much-needed air to the dough. We recommend creaming the butter and sugar for 2 minutes at medium-high speed and then mixing the butter/sugar/eggs for another 3 minutes at the same speed. Once you add the flour, you want to mix the dough as little as possible. Mix it too much and you will get tough cookies. Mix in the flour at low speed and continue mixing ONLY until the dry ingredients are incorporated into the dough. Make sure you scrape down the sides and the bottom to make sure all the flour has gotten mixed in.
We always line our cookie sheets with a piece of parchment paper, it keeps the cookie from sticking to the sheet and from over-browning. You can find parchment paper either in rolls or in pre-cut sheets in most grocery stores, and we highly recommend it. Ideally, you should use at least 2 cookie sheets when baking cookies. You don’t want to add the raw cookie dough to a cookie sheet that is hot out of the oven. The dough will start baking even before you get it in the oven.
Everyone’s oven is different. We recommend starting with a test bake with a single cookie to help you hone in on the exact baking time for your oven. You should set your timer for 2 minutes less than whatever the recipe recommends. Once the timer goes off, open up the oven and see how your cookie is baking. Make corrections accordingly. Our oven has a hot spot in the back so we always rotate the cookie sheet halfway through the baking time to get a more even bake. Although this may seem like an unnecessary step, it is better to do this than burn a whole tray of cookies.
Cookies should always be stored in an airtight container. They should be completely cooled before storing them. Since these are frosted cookies, we usually add a layer of parchment paper between each row of cookies in our plastic container. Cookies stored at room temperature should stay fresh for 3-4 days. You can also keep them in the refrigerator and that extends their freshness for up to a week. If you need them to last longer, you can freeze them for up to 3 months. You can pull them out of the freezer and leave them on the counter for 1 hour and they will be ready to eat.
Other St. Patrick’s Day Desserts You Will Love
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Shamrock Shake Cookies
These Shamrock Shake Cookies are light and fluffy with just the right combination of vanilla and mint flavoring and topped with a dollop of extra creamy vanilla frosting and a maraschino cherry. Perfection!
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 cup Butter (Salted, Softened to Room Temperature)
- 2 cups Powdered Sugar
- 2 Large Eggs
- 1/4 cup Half 'n Half (or Milk)
- 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1/2 teaspoon Peppermint Extract
- 3 1/2 cups All-Purpose
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- Food Coloring - Yellow, Blue
- Maraschino Cherries (Optional)
Frosting
- 1 cup Butter (Salted, Softened to Room Temperature)
- 4 cups Powdered Sugar (or 1 pound)
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1-2 tablespoons Milk
Instructions
Cookies
- In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar for 3 minutes on high speed.
- Add the eggs and continue to mix for an additional 3 minutes. Scrape sides of the bowl.
- Add the Half n' Half (you can substitute milk) and the Vanilla Extract and the Peppermint Extract. (If you want a super Minty cookie, add another 1/4 teaspoon of the Peppermint Extract.) Mix until just combined. Scrape sides of the bowl.
- Mix in the baking soda.
- Finally, mix in the flour and lightly mix together. You don't want to over-work this cookie dough and you will be mixing again when you add the food coloring. It is fine if there is a little bit of flour that hasn't been fully incorporated into the dough at this point.
- Add 3 drops of yellow food coloring and 1 drop of Blue food coloring. (We use the Wilton Color Right Food Coloring.) Mix until the rest of the flour is completely mixed with the dough and you have a pretty light green color.
- Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.
- Measure 2.5 oz. of cookie dough, roll it into a ball, and then flatten them onto the cookie sheet.
- Bake the Mint Cookies in an oven that has been preheated to 350-degrees for 9-10 minutes and allow them to cool.
- While the cookies are cooling, make the Whipped Vanilla Frosting (see detailed instructions below.)
- Using a decorator bag and a Wilton 2D Closed Star tip, add a dollop of frosting to the top of the cookie.
- Top with a Maraschino Cherry for a little extra pizzaz!
Frosting
- Add softened butter and vanilla to a new mixing bowl and mix until completely combined.
- Add Powdered Sugar and beat on low until it is incorporated. Move mixer up to medium-high speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When completely mixed the frosting may appear dry.
- Add milk, a little bit at a time, until frosting is the proper consistency.
- Change the paddle on the mixer to the whisk and whip the frosting on high speed for another 2-3 minutes. (This will add air in the frosting to make it lighter and more whipped cream-like.)
Notes
Storage/Freezing Tips
Cookies should always be stored in an airtight container. They should be completely cooled before storing them. Since these are frosted cookies, we usually add a layer of parchment paper between each row of cookies in our plastic container. Cookies stored at room temperature should stay fresh for 3-4 days. You can also keep them in the refrigerator and that extends their freshness for up to a week. If you need them to last longer, you can freeze them for up to 3 months. You can pull them out of the freezer and leave them on the counter for 1 hour and they will be ready to eat.
Did you Make this Recipe? Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @twosisterscrafting on Instagram so we can see it!
