Easy St Patrick’s Day Cookies
These St Patrick’s Day Cookies are perfectly easy to make using a boxed cake mix and some green food dye. You will love how soft and chewy these cookies are, and how they are the perfect addition to any St Patrick’s Day celebration!
St Patrick’s Day is such a fun holiday in Ireland, but it’s, arguably, such a big celebration in the United States for the simple fact that Irish culture and leprechauns are fun to celebrate!
A good St Patrick’s Day feast could be full of yummy Irish recipes like Irish Breakfast Tea, Irish Stew, Colcannon, or Corned Beef and Cabbage. But, like any feast, the day is not complete without dessert!
These St Patrick’s Day Crinkle Cookies may not be a traditional Irish dessert, but they are a great addition to your St Patrick’s Day dinner table. They are simple, easy, and the perfect color to ward off pinches (don’t forget your green clothing, either!).
Try pairing them with these other Recipes with Irish Cream or Key Lime Cookies for a comprehensive dessert table.
Why are These Cookies Called Crinkle Cookies?
Crinkle cookies are named Crinkle Cookies because of the distinctive crinkle that forms on the cookies when they are baked. This signature crinkle comes from the top of the cookie baking before the cookie spreads all of the way.
This happens when the powdered sugar coating on the cookies draws moisture out of the surface! This allows the top to bake while the cookie is still spreading, which then leads to a cracked surface when the cookies are removed from the oven.
Why Make this Recipe?
- Easy Recipe: This St. Patrick’s Day Cookie Recipe is made with boxed cake mix as the base, which means it is so easy to put together. No measuring flour or worrying about the correct ingredient ratios. Just add a few simple ingredients and your cookies will be delicious!
- Almond Flavor: While the cookies are made with a white cake base, almond extract is also added into the batter to give a distinctly delicious (but not overpowering) almond taste. The white cake mix really lets the flavor shine through!
- Festive Treat: These green crinkle cookies are perfect for St Patrick’s Day. Feel free to add the rainbow decorations as I did, but even without them, these cookies are the perfect color for celebrating St Patrick’s Day! Make them for your kids’ lunches, for a classroom party, or for a St Patrick’s Day get together. They will be a hit!
What Do I Need to Make this Recipe?
Ingredients
- White Cake Mix: Make sure you are getting a box that is 15.25 oz. I typically use the Duncan Hines brand. You can also use any other cake mix that is white in color (so that it can be dyed green!)
- Melted Butter: Use unsalted, melted butter. Make sure to cool it slightly so that it doesn’t accidentally cook the eggs in the bowl! Some recipes call for using vegetable oil, which you can substitute in a pinch. Use vegetable oil and keep in mind that this substitution might change the texture of your final cookies.
- Almond Extract: Feel free to omit this if desired or use a different-flavored extract in its place! I highly recommend the almond extract, though, as it adds a wonderful flavor.
- Green Food Coloring: I used green gel food coloring and had to use quite a bit to get the right green color. You can also use liquid food coloring if you have some.
- Rainbow Royal Icing Dots: I found these in the baking aisle of my grocery store right before St Patrick’s Day. You can also purchase them on Amazon! Feel free to decorate with these rainbow decorations, use a different brand of decoration to top your cookies, or to omit the rainbows entirely.
Tools
- Large Mixing Bowl: You can also use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment
- Wooden Spoon: No need for any electronic tools for this cookie recipe!
How to Make this Recipe
Step 1: Make the Cookie Dough
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Dump the white cake mix into a medium-sized bowl. Then add the melted butter, the eggs, the almond extract, and the green food coloring. Use a spoon or spatula to mix until combined.
Put plastic wrap or aluminum foil over the mixing bowl and allow the dough to rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, until chilled.
Step 2: Roll the Cookie Dough Balls
Once the dough is chilled, scoop out 1 tablespoon worth of cookie dough and roll into a ball in your hands.
Roll the cookie dough ball in the granulated sugar to coat the outside, then roll it in the powdered sugar to completely coat it. Place on the parchment-paper lined baking sheet and repeat until all of the cookies are rolled out.
Step 3: Bake
Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes until the tops of the cookies have cracked and they are set. The cookies may still look a bit gooey in the center, and that is okay.
Remove the cookies from the oven, allowing them to rest for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet. Transfer to a wire rack to cool the rest of the way.
Serve and enjoy!
Why Roll the Cookies in Granulated Sugar and Powdered Sugar?
The best tip I have for getting good crinkles on your crinkle cookies is to roll the dough into granulated sugar first before rolling them in the powdered sugar.
Using the granulated sugar as your first step will allow the powdered sugar to stick better to the cookies. When the cookies are removed from the oven, any rolled in granulated sugar first comes out the most beautifully!
Variations
If you want to change up this St Patrick’s Day Cookie Recipe, here are some ideas to test out!
- Color: Want delicious crinkle cookies for Valentine’s Day? Dye these pink! Fourth of July? Split the dough and dye them red, white, and blue. You can adjust the color of these cookies based on the holiday you want to celebrate.
- Cake Mix Flavor: White Cake mix is the easiest to dye for the sake of the color of your St Patrick’s Day Cookies, but there are other options to try! Test out French Vanilla, Yellow Cake Mix, or Confetti Cake Mix.
- Extracts and Flavorings: These cookies have a deliciously distinct almond flavor, but you can easily change out the extract for different flavors instead. Lemon extract, coconut extract, cheesecake extract, orange extract, lime extract, mint extract or any other options will taste delicious. The White Cake Mix base works well with just about anything!
- Mix Ins: You can try adding white chocolate chip, green sprinkles, rainbow sprinkles,
Expert Tips
- Allow the cookies to cool all the way before eating them. When biting into the cookies before they are cooled, the texture will be too wet! The cookies continue to cook as they cool, so this step is important.
- Serve these Green St Patrick’s Day Crinkle Cookies alongside my Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies for a Christmas holiday cookie tray!
- Make sure to space your cookies at least 2 inches apart so that they do not spread into one another while baking!
- This is a great recipe to make with kids!
- Don’t skip the chilling step, the cookie dough will be almost impossible to roll into balls without it!
Recipe FAQs
Crinkle cookies should be firm around the edges but soft in the center when it is time to remove them from the oven.
These cookies stay soft for much longer than a homemade cookie (like these Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies, for instance). You can keep them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 7 days.
You can also freeze the cookies in a resealable bag for up to 3 months. Make sure to thaw them at room temperature for about 30 minutes before you want to eat them.
Yes! This dough calls for a minimum chill time of 30 minutes, but you can chill the cookie dough for up to 24 hours before baking if desired.
Did you enjoy these St Patrick’s Day Cookies? If so, make sure to check out these other recipes I picked out just for you:
St Patrick’s Day Cookies
Equipment
- Large Mixing Bow You can also use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment
- Wooden Spoon
Ingredients
- 15.25 oz. White Cake Mix, unprepared
- 6 Tbsp butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 2 large eggs
- ½ tsp almond extract
- Green Food Coloring
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Dump the white cake mix into a medium-sized bowl. Then add the melted butter, the eggs, the almond extract, and the green food coloring. Use a spoon or spatula to mix until combined.
- Put plastic wrap or aluminum foil over the mixing bowl and allow the dough to rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, until chilled.
- Once the dough is chilled, scoop out 1 tablespoon worth of cookie dough and roll into a ball in your hands.
- Roll the cookie dough ball in the granulated sugar to coat the outside, then roll it in the powdered sugar to completely coat it. Place on the parchment-paper lined cookie sheet(s) and repeat until all of the cookies are rolled out.
- Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes until the tops of the cookies have cracked and they are set. The cookies may still look a bit gooey in the center, and that is okay.
- Remove the cookies from the oven, allowing them to rest for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool the rest of the way.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- White Cake Mix: Make sure you are getting a box that is 15.25 oz. I typically use the Duncan Hines brand. You can also use any other cake mix that is white in color (so that it can be dyed green!)
- Melted Butter: Use unsalted, melted butter. Make sure to cool it slightly so that it doesn’t accidentally cook the eggs in the bowl! Some recipes call for using vegetable oil, which you can substitute in a pinch. Use vegetable oil and keep in mind that this substitution might change the texture of your final cookies.
- Almond Extract: Feel free to omit this if desired or use a different-flavored extract in its place! I highly recommend the almond extract, though, as it adds a wonderful flavor.
Green Food Coloring: I used green gel food coloring and had to use quite a bit to get the right green color. You can also use liquid food coloring if you have some. - Rainbow Royal Icing Dots: I found these in the baking aisle of my grocery store right before St Patrick’s Day. You can also purchase them on Amazon! Feel free to decorate with these rainbow decorations, use a different brand of decoration to top your cookies, or to omit the rainbows entirely.
- Allow the cookies to cool all the way before eating them. When biting into the cookies before they are cooled, the texture will be too wet! The cookies continue to cook as they cool, so this step is important.
- Serve these Green St Patrick’s Day Crinkle Cookies alongside my Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies for a Christmas holiday cookie tray!
- Make sure to space your cookies at least 2 inches apart so that they do not spread into one another while baking!
This is a great recipe to make with kids! - Don’t skip the chilling step, the cookie dough will be almost impossible to roll into balls without it!
