Pesto Tortellini Shamrocks for St. Patrick's Day

Looking for an easy and cute lunch idea for St. Patrick's Day. Using frozen tortellini, jarred pesto, and a broccoli stem you can make these fun edible shamrocks.  I had a tri-color package so used both the green and white ones.  You can use a variety of veggies for the stem - broccoli, green bean, celery.

St. Patrick, Pray for us!

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Shamrock Shortbread

The following recipe was submitted by Hi Cookery in honor of the feast of St. Patrick. Thank you Highlander and Islander!

March 17: Feast Day of St. Patrick

How lucky and blessed are those who can taste some homemade shamrock-shaped shortbread on the Feast Day of St. Patrick. He used a three-leaf clover, which grows abundantly in Ireland, to teach the pagans about the Holy Trinity—God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit—and convert them to Christianity in the fifth century. Inspired by the sweet symbolism, we baked shamrock-shaped shortbread sprinkled with green sugar crystals that sparkle like emeralds from the isle of the Irish patron saint. Honor St. Patrick and his evangelistic efforts and make Celtic-style clover cookies.

May your blessings outnumber


The shamrocks that grow,


And may trouble avoid you


Wherever you go.


~Irish Blessing

Recipe

(Adapted from Irish Culture and Customs)

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened (we used Kerrygold brand Irish butter)
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 3/4 – 1 cup sugar, granulated white
• 2 cups flour
• green food coloring (we used Wilton brand Leaf Green icing color)
• green sugar sprinkles (we used Wilton brand dark green colored sugar)

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter until fluffy. Mix in the cornstarch and sugar and blend well. Gradually mix in the flour until a cookie dough is formed.



Tint with green food coloring to the desired shade. Roll the dough into a ball, place in a covered bowl and refrigerate till firm (about an hour). Divide the dough into two or three smaller pieces. Place between sheets of waxed paper. Roll each to ¼-inch thickness. Cut with shamrock-shaped cookie cutters. Place on greased baking sheet at least an inch apart. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Re-roll the dough scraps, place between sheets of waxed paper, roll to ¼-inch thickness and refrigerate for another 15 minutes or until firm. Continue cutting out shapes and refrigerating.



Sprinkle the tops of the cookies with green sugar sprinkles. Bake in a preheated oven at 275 degrees F for 30-35 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.



Notes

• While this shortbread recipe is tasty, we prefer other sugar cookie doughs that are easier to handle. This one requires lots of chilling time and patience in order for the cookies to hold their shape. They do spread out a little in the oven but the puffiness goes down toward the end of the baking cycle.
• Irish butter is creamier and more yellow than the domestic one. This may have affected the dough being more moist than other recipes.
• Add a little flour to the work surface or waxed paper so the dough does not stick too much.
• Baking time is longer for this recipe because it has a lower heat (275 instead of 350 degrees).
• Search our blog for other shortbread, cookies and other Irish-inspired recipes for St. Patrick’s Day. We also recommended browsing for more feast day food ideas from Catholic Cuisine.

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St. Patrick's Shamrock Pretzel Treats

We have made many various combinations of Pretzels + Hershey Kisses or Rolos + M&M's or Pecans, but I just love the cute variation I recently ran across at Once Upon a Dream for "clover treasts."  I made a couple slight modifications, making ours with some Irish Creme and Creme de Menthe Hershey Kisses (Yum!!!) and green candy melts instead of the frosting.  These will make a great little treat for the feast of St. Patrick!

St. Patrick's Shamrock Pretzel Treats

Supplies:

• Pretzels
• Irish Cream Hershey Kisses
• Green M&M's
• Green Candy Melts (or Frosting)
• Parchment Paper

Directions:

Cover a cookie sheet with waxed paper. Cover with a single layer of pretzels and place a Hershey Kiss in the center of each pretzel.

Place the cookie sheet in the oven at 200˚ for about 8 minutes, until the Hershey Kisses are soft, but not melted.

Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and immediately press 3 green M&M's on each Hershey Kiss, creating a Shamrock.

Note:  I suggest looking for a bag of St. Patrick's Day M&M's or just purchase green M&M's from a candy store.  The "big" bag of M&M's I originally purchased only came with enough to make 16 shamrocks.  Nowhere near enough!

Melt a few green candy melts (or use green frosting) and add a stem to each shamrock.

Put them in the fridge until the chocolate set back up. Then add a line of green frosting to make the stem.

May your thoughts be as glad as the shamrocks. 
May your heart be as light as a song. 

May each day bring you bright, happy hours 

that stay with you all the year long.

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Mint Crunch Cupcakes with Candy Shamrocks

Just like the leaves on each shamrock I see, 

there are three parts to the Holy Trinity. 

First is God the Father, then Jesus, His only Son, 

and the Holy Spirit together as One.

I recently agreed to help a friend provide treats for our Coffee Hour after Mass this coming Sunday.  She choose the Sunday closest to March 17th so that we could incorporate St. Patrick's Day!    I will be making a couple of the treats and she is going to borrow a couple of my cookie cutters to make cookies, in addition to a big Rainbow Fruit platter and some Irish Cream coffee creamer.    The dear owner from our local Catholic book store will be bringing St. Patrick and St. Joseph Holy Cards to set on the tables, in addition to a couple statues as well.  It should be lots of fun!

I have a few extra cupcakes in my freezer, so I made a sample cupcake to see how it would look.   I've made Shamrock Mint Cupcakes in the past, but this time I decided to use my Shamrock Chocolate Mold to make candies to decorate the cupcakes.  Didn't it turn out cute?

Mint Crunch Cupcakes with Candy Shamrocks

Supplies:

Chocolate or Mint Chocolate Cupcakes
Milk Chocolate Frosting
Wilton Mint Crunch Sprinkles
Green Candy Melts
2-Inch Shamrock Chocolate Mold

To Make Shamrock Candies:

Melt Green Candy Melts.

Fill each Shamrock with the melted Green Candy.   For the 2-inch mold, each shamrock required 3 candy melts.  Tap against counter to remove any bubbles and then fill the molds completely, if needed.   

Assemble Cupcakes:

Spread Chocolate Frosting on top of each cupcake.  
Add Mint Crunch Sprinkles.
Top with Shamrock Candy.

Here are a few more great shamrock candy molds and baking supplies for St. Patrick's Day:





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St. Patrick's Shamrock Eggs and Fruit Rainbows

This past October, when studying colors and guardian angels with my pre-schooler, we made some fun and colorful flower eggs for breakfast.   Looking back at the pictures I realized that by using just three-lobed peppers, like we've used in the past for our Shamrock Toasties and Mini Pizzas, we could make Shamrock Eggs by just adding a stem!  I gave it a try yesterday morning with the Green Pepper I  happened to have in the fridge.  It would have worked much better if I had used a larger pepper, but at least you can still get the general idea.  Our four oldest children aren't very picky, and they love these.   Our extra picky pre-schooler, on the other hand, won't even touch them!  :)

I'm thinking that these will make a great addition to the Cinnamon Shamrocks for our St. Patrick's Day brunch!  I just need to get back to the store for a few more green peppers.  

St. Patrick's Shamrock Eggs

Ingredients:

Cooking Spray or Coconut Oil for Pan
Three Lobed Green Bell Peppers
Eggs
Salt and Pepper (optional)
Fresh Fruit

Directions:

Heat a non-stick skillet to medium low heat. Lightly spray skillet with cooking oil spray.

Cut bell pepper into 1/2 inch thick slices. (You should be able to get four slices from a larger pepper.)  Slice some "stems" from the remaining pepper.  Place pepper rings and stems in the skillet.

Crack one egg into each pepper ring. Cover and cook for a few minutes, until egg yolks are to desired firmness. If you like your yolks firm, it helps to break the yolk right after cracking into pepper rings.

Place one stem on each ring, completing your "shamrock." Season to taste. 

Serve with fresh fruit rainbows! (In the past we have made rainbow fruit skewers, a rainbow fruit platter, and mini rainbow fruit plates.)  Enjoy!

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Cinnamon Shamrocks for St. Patrick's Day

Here is a fun and easy recipe for the upcoming feast of St. Patrick.   This recipe calls for Rhodes™ Anytime! Cinnamon rolls, but it could be made with your favorite homemade cinnamon rolls as well, though it might take just a little longer.  :)   For those with allergies, you can find a gluten-free cinnamon roll recipe in the archives.   We have made smaller Shamrock Cinnamon Rolls in the past, but I love the look of this larger shamrock made with three heart shaped cinnamon rolls.

Cinnamon Shamrocks

adapted from Rhodes Bread

Ingredients: (For each large 2 serving Shamrock)

• 4 Rhodes™ Anytime! Cinnamon rolls
• Cream Cheese Frosting (included with rolls)
• Green Sugar Sprinkles

Directions:

Defrost the cinnamon rolls.   To do so quickly, place one frozen roll at a time on a microwave-safe plate and microwave on high for 12 seconds.

Unroll one half of the roll then start rolling the dough from the unrolled end to form a matching spiral. When each spiral looks the same, pinch the dough between the two spirals to make a point at the bottom. Repeat with two more rolls.

Cut off a piece from the last remaining roll to use for the stem. Arrange the 3 heart shaped rolls and the stem into a shamrock shape (use the leftover part of the last roll for additional shamrock stems).

Bake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes. Glaze with cream cheese frosting and sprinkle with green sugar sprinkles.

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Shamrock Cinnamon Rolls

My boys made Shamrock Cinnamon Rolls this morning, in honor of today's feast of St. Patrick.   Not only were they quick and easy, but the boys had a great time making them.   Angela made Shamrock Cinnamon Rolls last year, inspired by the Sweet Shamrock Pretzels,  but the boys decided to make small shamrocks instead.   Here is how they made ours, using a can of Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting: 

Cut each cinnamon roll into four quarters.  

Reshape into shamrocks and bake according to package directions. 

Add Frosting and Green Sprinkles.  

(Note: You can color the frosting green, but we decided to just use sprinkles.)

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY! 

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Sweet Shamrock Pretzels

Here is another fun and easy shamrock snack, inspired by Family Fun, for St. Patrick's Day.  We recently made these during "P" week and plan to make them again on the 17th!  

Ingredients:

• Canned refrigerated bread stick dough (we used Pillsbury Original Breadsticks)
• Colored sugar (we colored our own, using a couple drops of green food coloring)
• Cinnamon

Instructions:

Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and lightly coat it with cooking spray.

To create the clover shape, mold 3 sections of bread sticks into hearts and press them together as shown. Attach a small stem, decorate (with a sprinkling of colored sugar and cinnamon), bake according to the package directions, and serve. Pin It

Shamrock Toasties

This recipe is from originally from Family Fun and would be a fun snack to serve on March 17th, the Feast of St. Patrick.

Ingredients:

Green Pepper
Cheddar Cheese
English Muffins

To make one, slice a green pepper crosswise near the pointed end to get a small, three-lobed shamrock shape. (If your pepper has four lobes, you've got a lucky clover instead.) Cut a small slice for a stem.

Toast half an English muffin, then top it with a slice of Cheddar and the pepper shamrock. Place the muffin on a tray, then broil it in a toaster oven until the cheese is melted.

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Shamrock Mint Cupcakes

Here is a fun and easy recipe for Shamrock Cupcakes in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

 

Shamrock Mint Cupcakes
Recipe Source: Pillsbury

Ingredients:

• 1 box (1 lb 2.25 oz) chocolate fudge cake mix with pudding
• Water, vegetable oil and eggs called for on cake mix box
• 1 cup creme de menthe or mint baking chips (from 10-oz bag)
• 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 1 container (12 oz) fluffy white whipped frosting
• 24 large green gumdrops

Directions:

Heat oven to 350°F. Place paper baking cup in each of 24 regular-size muffin cups. In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil and eggs with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds; beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Stir in baking chips. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each 3/4 full.

Bake 21 to 26 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cupcake comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely, about 45 minutes.

Stir peppermint extract into frosting until well blended; spread on cupcakes. To garnish each cupcake, cut 1 gumdrop into 4 slices. Place 3 rounds on cupcake to make shamrock leaves; press remaining round into thin strip and place below leaves for stem.

The shamrocks could also be made from green M&M's, or green maraschino cherries cut in half!

"Good St. Patrick traveled far, to teach God's Holy Word and when he came to Erin's sod, a wondrous thing occurred. He plucked a shamrock from the earth and held it in His hand to symbolize the Trinity that all might understand. The first leaf for the Father, and the second for the Son, the third leaf for the Holy Spirit, all three of them in one."

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