Happy St. Paddy's Day

I don't have a lick of Irish in me.  My husband did the ancestry DNA thing and he actually does have a lick of Irish in him, a very tiny lick, so that means my kids do too.  Doesn't matter, today is a day everyone can be Irish, right?  Since having kids I find myself caring a lot about things that I overlooked before.  It's amazing how the kids' excitement can rub off.  I love Mickey Mouse now (before I thought it was kind of dorky), I regularly wear Superhero attire, our routines and traditions have taken on extra importance, and even those darn Paw Patrol characters are kind of cute.  So today, we celebrated St. Patrick's Day with Shamrock Shakes at dinner and with this batch of cookies.

#333 Shamrock Cookies

You'll see some Mickey's and Minnesota's mixed in with this batch.  I actually only made 7 shamrocks.  Believe it or not, I don't own a shamrock cookie cutter.  I half heatedly looked for one at Cub, but I was unwilling to go anywhere else to hunt down a shamrock for this cookie that I wasn't actually planning on making today; but my 5 year old insisted we needed to have.  So I printed off a shamrock from google images and hand cut out the 7 shamrocks in the dough.  That's why the rest are shapes of cookie cutters we already owned.    

Overall, a decent peppermint sugar cookie.

He insisted on using the candy cane cookie cutter so he
could have a J for his name

Recipe:
1 cup shortening
1 cup powder sugar
1 egg
1 tsp peppermint extract
2-1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
Green food coloring and sugar

In a large bowl, cream the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg and extract.  Add flour and salt; mix well.  Tint with food coloring; mix well.  Cover and chill for 1 hour or until easy to handle.

On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/4 in. thickness.  Cut however you want to cut it - cookie cutter, by hand, whatever.

Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets.  Sprinkle with colored sugar if desired.  Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.  Cool for 1 minute before removing to wire racks.