This delicious Irish shortbread is made with a cookie stamp and hand-painted with green gel food coloring. Alternatively, it can be pressed with a fork and left unpainted or sprinkled with coarse green or white sugar.
How Does Irish Shortbread Differ from Other Shortbread?
While most shortbread recipes contain few ingredients, Irish shortbread differs from others by using Irish butter, which has a higher butterfat content than many American brands, lending a richer, more flavorful taste. Additionally, Irish shortbread mixes cornstarch into the flour, helping the cookies stay soft and light.
Butter for Irish Shortbread
Use an Irish butter (or another European butter) such as Kerrygold to make authentic Irish shortbread. However, you can substitute any high-quality butter in this recipe. It is best to use unsalted butter and add the salt listed in the recipe. This is because salt amounts vary by manufacturer since each has a unique recipe.
Stamped Cookies
This shortbread is made into cookies by stamping a design with a cookie stamp. Then, cookies are baked, cooled, and painted with green gel food coloring thinned with water.
Stamp for Irish Shortbread
I used a 3x 3-inch pottery shamrock stamp for these cookies. To use, center the middle of the stamp over the dough ball and press uniformly until the cookie can be seen at the edge of the press all the way around. This ensures the shortbread will have the entire design on it. You can make these cookies without a stamp by pressing them with a fork, your palm, or the bottom of a glass.
Tips for Using a Cookie Stamp
Cookie stamps can be tricky for beginners. Here are some tips to master using them.
- If the dough is too soft to work with, chill it before rolling it into balls. Cold dough is less likely to stick to the stamp.
- Roll the cookie dough balls in flour before stamping them.
- Dust the cookie stamper with flour each time before you stamp. Tap to knock off extra flour stuck to the stamp.
- Gently pry the stuck dough off the stamp.
- Reroll and stamp again any cookies that tear when separated from the stamp.
Steps for Making Irish Shortbread
Follow these steps:
Painting Irish Shortbread Cookies
If you paint the shamrocks on the baked shortbread cookies, use green gel food coloring and thin it with water. Paint over the embossed leaves and stems. If you want dark shamrocks, do not thin the coloring as much. Fill a small bowl with water and rinse the paintbrush often to wash away any cookie buildup. Use a minimum of brushstrokes so the paintbrush doesn’t damage the cookies or get them too wet.
Use Sprinkles to Decorate Irish Shortbread
You can also use white or green sanding sugar on the tops of the cookies in place of paint. Sprinkle the cookies before baking. To help sprinkles adhere better, try brushing unbaked cookies with beaten egg whites first. Then, add the sprinkles.
Shamrocks
Shamrock means little clover in Gaelic and refers to the three-leaf one. It is not to be confused with a four-leaf clover, which is considered lucky since they’re rare–usually 1 in 10,000. The 3-leaf shamrock is used for St. Patrick’s Day because this day (Feast of Saint Patrick) is a religious holiday. The three leaves refer to the Holy Trinity in the Catholic religion. Legend says Saint Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Trinity to pagan Irish.
Other Cookie Recipes You Might Like
Here are some other cookies you might enjoy. Click on each name to link to the recipe.
Beautiful Irish Shortbread
Equipment
- baking sheets
- parchment paper or silicone baking mats
- shamrock cookie stamp
- food-safe small paint brushes (one for painting leaves and a liner brush for painting stems)
- cereal-sized bowl
Ingredients
- 1 ยฝ cups all-purpose flour
- ยฝ cup cornstarch
- ยผ cup extra flour (for dusting stamp and rolling balls)
- 1 cup (8 ounces or 2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter cut into pieces (use Irish or other high-quality butter)
- ยผ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ยฝ cup granulated sugar
- green gel food coloring
Instructions
- Place parchment paper (or baking mats) on baking sheets.
- Add the flour and cornstarch to a bowl and whisk to blend. Set aside.
- Place the extra (1/4) cup of flour in a small bowl and set aside to use later for rolling the dough balls in before stamping.
- Add the butter pieces to a mixing bowl and mix until smooth and creamy. Add the salt, vanilla, and sugar and mix until well blended.
- Add the flour mixture and mix until just blended. Do not overmix.
- Use your hands to roll the dough into 1 1/4-1 1/2 inch balls. Roll the balls in the bowl of extra flour to coat them and place them on the baking sheets about 4 inches apart. Dust the cookie stamp with flour, tapping off any extra. Center the stamp over a cookie ball and press with uniform pressure until the cookie squeezes out the sides of the press. After you press all the cookies on the first baking sheet, move it to the refrigerator and chill for 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes. Then, move them to a cooling rack.
- Place a dab of green gel food coloring in a small bowl. Place water in another small bowl. Dilute the food gel with a drop or two of water. Use the larger brush to paint the shamrock leaves. Use the liner brush to paint the stems. Rinse the brushes in the water bowl after painting each cookie. Remove excess brush water with a paper towel.
Notes
Tips for Using a Cookie Stamp
Use these tips to ensure your stamped cookies turn out every time.- If the dough is too soft to work with, chill it before rolling it into balls. Cold dough is less likely to stick to the stamp.
- Roll the cookie dough balls in flour before stamping them.
- Dust the cookie stamper with flour each time before you stamp. Tap to knock off extra flour stuck to the stamp.
- Gently pry the stuck dough off the stamp.
- Reroll and stamp again any cookies that tear when separated from the stamp.
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