A wee little leprechaun asked for something sweet, and these St. Patrick’s Day Cookies have a surprise mint center. This makes these tasty sugar cookies fun treats to eat and perfect for a fun and festive St. Paddy Day celebration.
Just take a bite to find the surprise inside these cookies!
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Who doesn’t like a cookie covered in sprinkles? Actually, anything with sprinkles calls my name: donuts, cupcakes, and candies; I always pick the ones with the colorful toppings.
These sweet little sugar cookies have something besides the sprinkles on top of the cookie; take one bite to find a surprise mint green cookie nestled inside. Hey, how did that get in there?
Recipe Highlights
- Kid-friendly, there are sprinkles involved!
- No rolling pin is needed
- Change up the colorful sprinkles
- 10 minute baking time
- Perfect for St. Patrick’s Day, Christmas or a just-because day
In honor of St. Patrick and my husband’s family, the “Cassidy’s,” I am baking our favorite cookie decked out in the prettiest white and green sprinkles. They make the perfect treat for the whole family.
I make these cookies for Christmas too!
Here is another treat we love to make for St. Patrick’s Day. These Lucky Charm Bars take just four ingredients and minutes to make and show off all those pretty marshmallows.
Ingredients Mint cookies
- Unsalted butter
- White sugar
- Baking powder and salt
- Eggs – I always use large eggs
- Powdered sugar
- Vanilla extract: You can buy a good-quality vanilla extract or make homemade vanilla using your favorite vanilla beans.
- AP Flour
- Mint flavor – You can use mint extract or mint flavoring oil
- Green food coloring
- Green and White nonpareil sprinkles: optionally, you can use green sugar sprinkles
I love using LorAnns flavoring oils in recipes; the flavors are more concentrated, and they don’t bake out like an extract. There are several mint flavorings, but I use peppermint oil in this recipe.
For this recipe, I like to use nonpareil-type sprinkles which are just little round balls made from sugar and starch. I find the nonpareils work better than the jimmie type sprinkles, and they keep their color during baking.
You need to buy green nonpareils and white nonpareils separately and mix them. It is hard to find a bottle of the white and green together. This will give you enough sprinkles to roll the cookies in. And you don’t have to mix the colors. You can make them all white and all green.
How To Make Mint Cookies
First make the dough
Step 1. Add butter to a large bowl and mix on medium speed until creamy. Then add the sugar, baking powder, and salt and mix to incorporate. Use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or a good electric mixer.
Step 2. Mix in the egg and the egg yolks on medium speed until combined.
Step 3. Mix in the flour on medium speed until a soft dough forms. This is the main sugar cookie dough.
Step 4. After making the dough, measure 3/4 cup of the dough and put it in a small bowl. Add a little green food dye and the mint flavoring to this dough; stir well to combine the color and flavor. Add more food coloring to get the green color you like. This dough will be the mint middle layer.
How to Roll the Dough Balls
Step 5. Put the sprinkles in a large bowl big enough to roll the cookie dough balls around.
Step 6. Measure out one tablespoon of the plain dough and roll into balls. You should get 25. Then, measure the mint dough with a teaspoon to get 25 balls.
Step 7. Flatten a large ball in your hand. Put the green/mint ball inside the flattened dough, fold it up, and roll it back into a ball.
Tip ~ Here is an important part of making these cookies: You have to roll that just-made ball into the sprinkles immediately while the butter in the dough is a bit soft. This way, the sprinkles will stick to the cookie dough ball. Make sense?
Step 8. Arrange 12 balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat and bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees F. When done, cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight container.
These cookies make a festive treat, perfect for little leprechauns to enjoy while searching for the end of the rainbow and pots of gold.
I’m just checking, but do you have sprinkles all over your floor and countertop? There is no stopping these little round balls from going everywhere.
More Cookie Recipes
Same cookie, different flavors, and sprinkles
I am somewhat obsessed with these festive cookies and have made seven different flavors to celebrate the holidays. There are even cookies to celebrate baseball opening day, which should be a major holiday, in my opinion.
- Red Velvet Sprinkle Cookies for your Valentine
- Raspberry Sprinkle Cookies are perfect to put in an Easter basket
- Red, White, and Blue Sprinkles Cookies to eat while watching fireworks
- Orange and Black Sprinkle Cookies in honor of our beloved San Francisco Giants
- Halloween Sprinkle Cookies for the ghosts and goblins
- Christmas Sprinkle Cookies for Santa.
- Mix your favorite color of sprinkles for rainbow cookies for a fun twist.
Cookie Recipe Tips
- Have plenty of sprinkles to roll the dough balls in.
- Roll the dough balls in the palm of your hands to warm the dough so the sprinkles will stick better.
- If the dough is too soft to roll, add just a bit more flour, like 1/8 cup. You can also chill the dough for 10 to 15 minutes to firm it up before rolling it into balls. I rarely have too soft dough, except when it’s blazing hot here.
- These cookies freeze well. After the cookies are baked and cooled, place them in a freezer bag or container for one month.
Cookie FAQ’s
It depends on the type of sprinkles you use. Mostly, nonpareils and jimmies are the sprinkles used in baking. Nonpareil sprinkles don’t melt when baked, but sometimes their colors bleed a little. Jimmies melt slightly but will retain their shapes once cooled.
For sprinkles to stick to a cookie before baking, the cookie dough has to be sticky. Make sure to add the sprinkles to the cookie as soon as you roll it into a ball. When the butter or shortening in the dough is still tacky helps the sprinkles stick.
If the dough is covered in a lot of flour, the sprinkle may also not stick.
While flavor oils for baking tend to be more concentrated and pure-tasting than extracts, both can enhance the flavor of baked goods.
With flavoring oils, you need only a few drops instead of a teaspoon of extract.
Flavor the center with Irish Creme flavoring oil for a sweet chocolate and vanilla taste.
More Cookies To Make And Eat
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Mint Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
Cookie Ingredients
- ¾ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups AP flour
- ¼ teaspoon peppermint oil or use 1 teaspoon mint extract
- Green food color
- 4 ounces Green nonpariel sprinkles
- 4 ounces White nonpariel sprinkles
Instructions
Making and Rolling the Cookies
- In a large bowl mix the butter until fluffy. Then add the sugar, baking powder and salt; mix until combined. You can use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, or use an electric mixer.If using a handheld mixer you may have to finish mixing the batter with a wooden spoon.
- Mix in the egg, egg yolks, and vanilla extract until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl.
- Mix in the flour until combined, forming a soft dough.
- Remove ¾ cup of the dough to a small bowl and add the mint flavoring and the green food color. Note: I just add a few drops of food color until I get the right color. Mix well to combine
Rolling the dough balls
- Measure out 1 tablespoon of the plain dough and roll into 25 balls. Then measure out 1 teaspoon of the mint flavor dough and roll into the same amount of balls as the plain dough.
- Flatten the plain dough ball and place a mint flavored dough ball in the center and mold the dough around it to make a round ball.
- Immediately roll each ball roll in the nonpareil sprinkles and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat rolling and molding each ball.
- Bake for 10 – 11 minutes at 375° degrees F.
- Store these cookies in an airtight container for up to five days. Or store in and airtight container in the freezer for one month.
Notes
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Nutrition
First published: Feb 28, 2021, Last updated: Oct 11, 2024, for better readability.
A delicious cookie for an Irish Afternoon Tea
The tea is ready, and the cookies are baked for our afternoon tea; perfect for a St. Patrick’s Day dessert.
I will leave you with one of my favorite blessings ~
Thank you for stopping by the One Hot Oven blog. Please leave a comment to say hello or tell me what you are baking; I always love hearing from fellow bakers. Do you have any questions or want to chat about the recipe? Please visit my About page for information, and I’ll be happy to help!
Hello there, I’m Jere’
From learning to cook on a farm in Indiana to culinary school in California, my passion for food is never-ending. Turning on my oven to bake something for friends and family is my happy place, and I am glad to be here at One Hot Oven sharing sweet and savory family-friendly recipes for your cooking and baking inspiration.
These are absolutely adorable! My son and I made them for his St. Patrick’s Day party on Friday and everyone loved them. They were really easy to make-my son loved helping me roll the little dough balls. and the crunch of the sprinkles was so fun. loved these! will be making again
My kids grew up helping too. I am glad your son has fun in the kitchen.
Made these for a children’s St. Patrick’s Day party and they were a big hit! Everyone loved them and they’re so cute!