Skip to main content

Leprechauns and Four Leaf Clovers

It's that time of year to begin showcasing our green for St. Patrick's Day.  In cookie form, one can turn just about any shape into a spirited Irish-themed treat for the holiday.  As long as you color them green, in whatever shades you desire, your cookies will look bright and festive.  


For this particular set of cookies, I used Americolor and Wilton food coloring in: leaf green, kelly green, copper, orange, ivory and black.

The leprechaun faces that I created are not a new design, but rather one that a cookie decorator came up with years ago.  All you need is a cupcake cookie cutter.


That's right!  A cupcake cookie cutter is the perfect shape for a leprechaun.  Cut out as many "heads" as you want and then get to work.


When you're ready to decorate, have royal icings tinted in two shades of green, jet black, pale ivory, and a bright orange that has a hint of copper.  

Leprechaun Faces:  Turn all of the cupcake shapes upside down.  Using green royal icing, outline and flood the hat of the leprechaun using a #2 piping tip.  Let the icing dry completely.  Using black royal icing and a #2 piping tip, add a hat band across the hat, and then gently affix a gold shamrock candy in the middle.  Using ivory royal icing and a #2 piping tip, outline and flood a face as shown, and while the icing is wet, add dots for eyes, an offset smile and two little eyebrows.  Using a bright orange royal icing and a #2 piping tip, outline and flood the beard of the leprechaun as shown.  Let dry completely.


Pipe a bead of icing to outline the shape of the hat as shown (optional).  I think that these are perhaps some of the cutest leprechauns out there.


The four leaf clover cookies look complicated, but they are not.  They're so simple to make.



Four Leaf Clover Cookies: outline and flood the base of the four leaf clover cookie in either white, leaf green or kelly green royal icing.  While the icing is wet, pipe lines in alternating colors across the entire cookie.  Working quickly before the icing sets, use a scriber tool or a clean toothpick to drag the icing up and down the entire surface of the cookie.  Wipe the pick clean between each line to give it a neat look.  Let the cookie dry completely.

Tip:  to make them look perfect, pipe the first line between the top two and the bottom two leaves of the cookie.  Then work your way up and down.  


A variation on this theme is to pipe vertical lines on the wet icing instead of horizontal lines before you begin to draw the icing through.  I like this version.



Did I not say that these were easy cookies to make?  It's a great day to be a little Irish on St. Patrick's Day and celebrate one's green heritage.  Let's face it, everyone gets to be Irish on March 17th, so make a few leprechaun and four leaf clover cookies to bring good luck into your life this month.  

Happy Baking and Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank You for Posting!

Popular posts from this blog

Antique Salt Cellars

There was a time when salt cellars played an important role on the dining table for the host or hostess.  As a result of it being such an expensive commodity several hundred years ago, salt was seen as a luxury and it was the well to do that made salt cellars quite fashionable & a status symbol for the home.  A single salt cellar usually sat at the head of the table and was passed around throughout the meal.  The closer one sat to the salt cellar, the more important one was deemed by the head of the household.  Smaller cellars that were more accessible and with an open top became a part of Victorian table settings.  Fast forward to the 20th century when salt was no longer a luxury and when anti caking agents were added to make salt free-flowing, and one begins to see salt cellars fall out of fashion.  Luckily for the collector and for those of us who like to set a table with Good Things , this can prove to be a boon. Salt cellars for th...
50 comments
Read more

A Tour of Turkey Hill with Martha Stewart and Friends

Martha Stewart led an intimate tour of her former Westport, Connecticut home and gardens for a few of my friends this past weekend.  From the photographs I've seen of that special day, it was an experience that will be remembered for a lifetime by those who were in attendance.  As much as I regret not going to this momentous occasion, my friends were kind enough to allow me to share their amazing photographs here on the blog. Let's take a tour of Turkey Hill with Martha Stewart and a few of my friends. Without the kindness of Jeffrey Reed, Dennis Landon, Darrin David, Anthony Picozzi and Colin Eastland, this post would not be possible.  It must also be stated that the fundraising event was graciously hosted by the current owners of Turkey Hill, the Bergs. Many thanks to the Berg family for opening up the property. Turkey Hill is the Federal style home that was purchased, renovated and landscaped by Martha Stewart and her then husband, Andy, back in 1970. ...
17 comments
Read more

Collecting Jadeite

With its origins dating back to the 1930s, jadeite glassware began its mass production through the McKee Glass Co. in Pennsylvania. Their introduction of the Skokie green & Jade kitchenware lines ushered in our fascination with this jade color.  Glassmakers catered jadeite to the American public as an inexpensive alternative to earthenware soon after the Depression, both for the home and for its use in restaurants.  The Jeanette Glass Company and Anchor Hocking introduced their own patterns and styles, which for many collectors, produced some of the most sought after pieces.  Companies marketed this beautiful glass under the monikers of jadite , jadeite , jade glass , jad-ite , jade-ite , so however you want to spell it, let it draw you in for a closer look.  If you want a thorough history of the origins of jadeite, collectors’ pricing, patterns & shapes (don’t forget the reproductions in 2000), I highly suggest picking up the book by Joe Keller & David...
48 comments
Read more