This St. Patrick’s Day, I’ve got 9 ideas to help you celebrate. Here are some of my favorite recipes and ideas you and your family are sure to enjoy! Scroll down to see them all including my leprechaun bait, reuben salad, homemade Irish cream and more!
Give your rice krispie treats a glow up by adding some lucky charms and smoosh some ice cream in between to make the sweet ice cream sandwich! Recipe here
I usually make this around Christmas time as little gifts but you can make for St. Patrick’s Day too! Once you try this homemade Irish cream, you’ll never want the fake stuff! Drink over ice or in coffee 🙂
If you’ve had the Starbucks version, I’m showing you how you can make your own at home! I love to add a splash of my homemade Irish cream to it! Recipe here
I’m not a big beer drinker but did you know that Guinness pairs nicely with chocolate? This milkshake is so rich and a great boozy St. Patrick’s Day dessert for adults! Recipe here
This Leprechaun Bait chex mix recipe is a great snack for St. Patrick’s Day! This is a favorite recipe amongst all my boys, my husband included. It is seriously addicting and won’t last long! This chex mix is also a cute snack to give to friends at school. I’m sharing the recipe below.
Leprechaun Bait Chex Mix Recipe
Ingredients:
Honey chex cereal
Lucky charms cereal
pretzels
white chocolate chips
green M&M’s
chocolate gold coins
Directions:
Start by lining a large baking tray with parchment paper.
Pour the cereals and pretzels on the parchment paper.
In a bowl, pour the white chocolate chips. Melt in the microwave, stopping at about 30 second intervals to stir.
Once the chocolate is melted, use a fork to drizzle on top of the cereal and pretzel mixture.
Add the green M&M’s on top.
Mix together then allow to cool.
Break apart into pieces.
Add in some chocolate gold coins. I like to store this chex mix in a large glass canister because it looks cute on the counter or table and then just scoop out into bowls as you snack. Or you can bag for little treats for school. I’ve linked some cute gift tag stickers below.
These Valentine’s Day peanut butter cookie bars are one of our favorite Valentine’s Day treats in our house. Peanut butter cookies with all of the best Valentine’s candies cut into perfect squares. Scroll down for my recipe.
Valentine’s Day Peanut Butter Cookie Bars
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, unsalted, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour
Valentine’s M&Ms
Valentine’s sprinkles
Reese’s hearts (about 6)
White chocolate hearts (about 6)
Directions:
1.) Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees.
2.) In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, peanut butter, sugar, and egg until smooth.
3.) Beat in the flour until a soft dough forms
4.) Fold in the M&Ms.
5.) Spread dough into a greased baking dish or one lined with parchment paper. Firmly press the dough down. (I used a 9×9 baking dish).
6.) Top with sprinkles and add some more M&M’s on top.
7.) Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes. You want to remove it when the edges are golden and you can stick a butter knife or toothpick in and it comes out clean.
8.) Place on a cooling rack and allow to cool but not completely.
9.) Unwrap the Reese’s and chocolate hearts and press into the top of the cookie bars.
These are the best pistachio thumbprint cookies and will easily become a favorite Christmas cookie! Sweet pistachio topped with a cheesecake filling or raspberry jam are the perfect bite and look festive for your Christmas cookie swaps or platters.
And I’m sharing 15 other delicious Christmas treats for you from some of my most favorite bloggers. Scroll down to see all of their recipes.
If you’re coming from Michele at Vintage Home Designs, welcome! I hope you will stick around here and continue to follow along. Also how delicious do her shortbread cookies look?
The best pistachio thumbprint cookies
One of my favorite things that I used to have every Christmas is my grandmother’s pistachio ambrosia. I loved it so much and it just wasn’t Christmas without it. This recipe combines my favorite flavors of pistachio with my favorite Christmas cookie – my sister’s almond raspberry thumbprints.
I made a yummy cheesecake filling for these cookies but you can also fill with raspberry jam too!
Ingredients
1 cup butter softened (I used unsalted)
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
1 package instant pistachio pudding mix
2 cups nuts chopped (I used walnuts/pecans)
For the filling
1/2 cup cream cheese.
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
or raspberry jam (optional)
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
Directions:
1.) Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees.
2.) In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy.
3.) Beat in the eggs, salt and extracts.
4.) Add in the flour and pistachio pudding mix, beating together until combined.
5.) Roll the batter into individual balls, about 1 inch. Roll some or all of the balls into the chopped nuts and place on a prepared baking sheet.
6.) Using your thumb, make a thumbprint in the center of each cookie.
7.) Bake in the oven for about 10-12 minutes. You want to take them out just before the edges start to get golden.
8.) Using a spoon or your thumb, re-shape the thumbprint if necessary as sometimes it changes shape after baking.
9.) Allow the cookies to cool.
10.) While the cookies are cooling, start to prepare the cheesecake filling. In a mixing bowl, cream together the cream cheese and sugar.
11.) Beat in the vanilla and make sure there are no lumps.
12.) Fill in each cookie with either the cream cheese filling or raspberry jam. I chose to do some of each.
13.) In a microwave safe bowl, melt some chocolate chips, stirring at 30 second intervals.
14.) Once melted, use a fork to drizzle some chocolate over each cookie.
15.) Allow the chocolate to cool before eating.
These also freeze really well so you can make ahead of time! I line some parchment paper in an airtight storage container and freeze until the day of.