Baileys Shamrock Cookies

Happy Sunday!

I usually like to post healthier desserts on my blog.  I love me some sweets, but I usually don't want to completely blow my diet while The Hubs and I are just hanging out watching movies. 

But......there are special occasions where you don't mind making something a little less healthy.  St. Patties Day is just that kind of special occasion.  You've got your corned beef, green beer and....Bailey's Shamrock Cookies!

 

 
I volunteered to make cookies for The Hubs work.  Last year I made Stout Cupcakes for all the guys, and this year I decided to make the Bailey's Shamrock Cookies.


The Recipe:
You can get the cookie recipe here.  The recipe turned out super yummy:  they came out very soft and moist.  I was really very pleased with the cookie itself. 

A couple notes about the cookie dough:  before I put it in the refrigerator it was really sticky and didn't hold up together.  I refrigerated mine overnight and it was very workable the next day.  You could, of course, add green food coloring to the cookies, but I left mine plain. 

Icing:  
I created my own Bailey's Powdered Sugar Icing because I felt the cookies could handle the extra Bailey's flavor. 

-  2 Cups Powered Sugar, sifted
-  3 Tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream
-  3 Tablespoons Milk *
-  1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
-  Green Food Coloring

*  Add the Bailey's Irish Cream to the powered sugar first and mix well.  Add milk one tablespoon at a time while mixing until you get the desired consistency.   Mix in the rest of ingredients.

Decorating:
I am by no means the best decorator on earth, but I learned a few new tricks thanks to my good friend Tabitha from Simply My Kitchen who showed me how to decorate cookies. 

1.  Start by outlining all of your cookies.  Use half of your icing to fill a pastry bag or ziplock bag.  (Reserve the rest to fill your cookies)
2.  Outline all of your your cookies.  You want the outline of your cookie to dry before you flood it with the rest of the icing.

3.  Water down the reserved icing.  Water it down by adding more milk until the consistency is pretty runny.  Test the consistency by picking up some icing with a spoon and letting it drizzle back into the bowl.  You'll want to see the drizzle disappear back into the bowl within 10 seconds. 

4.  You can fill another ziplock bag, pastry bag, or a squeeze bottle with the runny icing.  I ended up finding a spoon worked the best.  It was soo runny that anytime i dumped the pastry bag or the ziplock back over it would run out too fast and make a mess. 

5.  Spoon some of the runny frosting onto the cookie and use a toothpick to help spread the frosting around on the cookie.

Ta-da! Here is your final cookie:

I'm going to try to wrap them up before I send them to work with The Hubs.  There are a lot of cookies, though: about 70 (I made two batches) so I may not.  That's a lot of cookies! 


Have you found any fun Saint Patrick's day food?  If so, share them with me!  I'm always looking for something new to add to our Saint Patrick's Day Celebration!  

disclosure:  People usually say you "bake off" the alcohol when you're using it in baked good.  There is "unbaked" Bailey's Irish Cream in the frosting.  I believe these cookies are more appropriate for adults.  If you wish to make these alcohol free you might be able to substitute the Bailey's Irish Cream for liquid coffeemate, or just make regular  sugar cookies with regular green frosting for children.