These Leprechaun Bites are tiny little shortbread cookies ready with just 15 minutes of prep. Use green, orange and yellow sprinkles and green food coloring to create the perfect little handful of munchies! These are perfect to bag up in treat bags or miniature cauldrons for festive Saint Patrick’s Day gifts!
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Y’all, I’m at it again. You loved my Cupid Bites, Jingle Bell Bites and BOO! Bites so I just had to come back and give you these Leprechaun Bites! Tiny and delicious shortbread cookies that can be decorated for any occasion.
This is the first time I used food coloring in these shortbread cookies. It worked perfectly! When I first tested a recipe for Leprechaun Bites, I only added green, yellow and orange sprinkles without the food coloring. They were still very cute, but just didn’t give off the festive Saint Patrick’s Day vibe I wanted. So, I added the green food coloring which was the best decision!
These little Leprechaun cookies are perfect for bagging up into cellophane treat bags to gift to your favorite teacher, neighbor, co-worker or whoever! I found cute little plastic cauldrons at Target – a package of 9 cauldrons for $3.00. Or, you can use these that I found on Amazon.
Use gel food coloring, not liquid. I prefer Americolor food colors for the strongest and most vibrant colors. They’re also very easy to use as you just squeeze the coloring right from the little bottle. For this recipe, I used about 4 to 6 drops of mint green food color.
It is important to make sure your butter is at least at room temperature or warmer when mixing this dough. It is a very crumbly dough and takes quite a few minutes of mixing before it comes together. You want to try to avoid adding more liquid to force the dough to come together or you’ll lose the crispy and crunchy texture for which shortbread cookies are known.
If you pack these up as a gift this Saint Patrick’s Day, I would love to see a photo! Tag me on Instagram (@seededtable)!
Other “Bites”:
BOO! Bites
Jingle Bell Bites
Cupid Bites
Leprechaun Bites
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature (plus more to butter the pan)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 to 6 drops green gel food coloring
- 4 teaspoons Saint Patrick's Day color nonpareil sprinkles (recommend a mixture of green, yellow, and orange)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of an 8-inch pan, then line with parchment paper, pressing the sides and corners to stick.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, sugar and extract at medium speed until creamy, about 1-2 minutes. Add the flour and salt. Mix on low speed until crumbly. Add the food coloring and continue to mix on low until a dough forms. It will be crumbly for a while, but keep beating and scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally. Stir in the nonpareils until evenly distributed.
- Transfer the dough to the lined pan and press evenly into the bottom. Use the parchment paper to lift the dough from the pan and transfer to a cutting board. Cut the dough into 1/2-inch square pieces (a pizza cutter works well). Place the squares 1/2-inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet; discard parchment paper. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, or until bottoms just begin to brown.
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