Gold Coin Lemon Butter Shortbread Cookies

Still looking for St. Patrick’s Day ideas? These cookies are the perfect last minute treat- just pop a few in treat bags with some gold coins! And for a fun St. Patrick’s Day twist, we’ll be using rich, delicious Irish butter. Yumm. These coins also have a secret. Can you guess what’s behind the golden color?

Turmeric! Turmeric is a spice that is used to create brilliant yellow pieces. It makes a great natural food coloring as well! You won’t taste the small amount in these cookies, but try to use stale turmeric over fresh (or leave it out for a day so the flavor weakens).

Irish Butter, Lemon Shortbread Cookies
1 c Kerrygold salted butter
1/2 c powdered sugar
2 c flour
1 T lemon zest
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp salt
2 T lemon juice

Whisk flour, salt, lemon zest, and turmeric together. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar together in stand mixer until light and fluffy. Add the mixed dry ingredients from the first step and lemon juice on low speed until just incorporated.

Roll dough out to 1/4″ and chill for 30-45 minutes until it’s cold but still pliable. You want to chill it without it drying out.

Once the dough is chilled, preheat oven to 350. Cut out your coin shapes with circle cutters. I added a coin ‘ridge’ by offsetting a smaller circle on my large ones and opted for a plain design on the smaller ones. Edible gold leaf or tiny shamrock sprinkles would be perfect for decorating too!

Bake for 10-12 minutes- just until the bottom edges of the cookies start to brown. Shortbread cookies should generally come out of the oven the same color they went in.

*If you want to use unsalted butter, add another 1/4 teaspoon salt to your dry mix.

Real talk, these are so good. Like all shortbread cookies, the sweetness doesn’t hit you over the head so you don’t get tired of them. They start harmlessly light and fluffy and finish with a mouthwatering tartness that makes them perfect with Irish breakfast tea.

Do you love themed food for St. Patrick’s Day? Tell me what you’re be making below!

P.S. If you’re curious about the tea towel in the photos, I actually dyed it using the Double Tub Method from last week! Except instead of a moving bin, I used our bedroom trashcan haha. I was desperate and all the stores had already moved on to Easter.