St Patricks Day Cookies: Leap-rechauns and Pots of Gold

As I dipped and decorated these chocolate covered St Patricks Day Cookies for my most recent military care package, I couldn't stop smiling. These easy to make treats are adorable and delicious.

In this care package

I started supporting “adopted” troops exactly three years ago. At first, I sent boxes to a family friend deployed in Afghanistan.  When his deployment ended, he found another troop on the same base who wanted Monday Box care packages.

I get to bake, shop, and get a bit crafty. My troops get a taste of home, a few smiles, and my thanks and gratitude for their service.

In order to continue supporting deployed military personnel, I became a proud member of Soldier’s Angels in January of 2016. In the past 15 months, I have had the honor of supporting 6 service members, 3 men and 3 women.

I highly recommend Soldiers Angels to anyone interested in supporting our troops. Care packages are just one of the many opportunities they offer.

The same themes I use for military care packages can be used for packages sent to college students, missionaries, or a friend needing a smile.

With the current 30 military care package posts detailing the recipes, decorations, and contents for each themed package, there are already lots of ideas for Monday Box readers to choose from. In addition, there are 42 recipes that qualify as “desert safe” for hot weather care packages.

Care package contents

A chance find at a Hallmark store inspired the Leap-rechaun Frog theme of this Saint Patrick’s Day care package. The small keepsake ornament, with a Leap-rechaun sitting on a cupcake, was an excellent start to this care package!

The box flaps are covered in green sticky paper sold as rolls of removable book covers, held extra-firmly in place with green duct tape.

I added some lucky leap-rechaun clip art and messages letting my new adoptee, Airman B., know that I feel “lucky to know him”.

The contents are a mixture of goodies in green packaging and a variety of frog items. For sweet treats there are Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies and lots of candy.

The frog items in the box include the Hallmark Leap-rechaun ornament,  a puzzle, a stuffed toy, wind chimes, and a game. Saint Patrick’s Day garland and wall décor ensure lucky, green cheer.

Leap-rechaun decorating ingredients

These chocolate covered cookies are easy to create. There is no baking involved and the designs are super simple. It’s the sprinkles and sparkling sugar that turn these chocolate sandwich cookies into St Patricks Day treats.

To make 18 Leap-rechauns, I used 18 chocolate-mint sandwich cookies (Newman-O’s brand with Fair Trade ingredients), 2 ½- 3 cups of white chocolate melts , green oil based candy coloring, 36 candy eyes, and 36 pink oval sprinkles (from an Easter egg sprinkle assortment).

Leap-rechaun decorating instructions

1. In a small bowl, melt the white chocolate at 50% power in the microwave. Add the green candy coloring and stir until the color is uniform.
2. Dip and coat the cookies and place on a wax paper lined baking sheet. Add eyes to each cookie immediately after dipping.
3. After coating 6 cookies, place the baking sheet in the refrigerator for 15 minutes or until the chocolate has set. Repeat with the remaining cookies.
4. Place the left-over green chocolate into a small zip lock bag. Cut off a tiny piece of a bottom corner of the bag and pipe smiles onto each frog. Add dots of the green chocolate as “glue” to attach the pink sprinkle cheeks. Allow the chocolate details to firm before packaging.

Pots of gold decorating ingredients

To make 18 Pots of Gold, I used 18 chocolate-mint sandwich cookies (Newman-O’s with Fair Trade ingredients), 3 cups of dark chocolate melts***, 90 sprinkle coins from Wilton’s St. Patrick’s sprinkle mix, gold large crystal decorating sugar.

Pots of gold decorating instructions

1. In a small bowl, melt the dark chocolate at 50% power in the microwave.
2. Dip and coat the cookies and place on a wax paper lined baking sheet. After coating 6 cookies, place the baking sheet in the refrigerator for 15 minutes or until the chocolate has set. Repeat with the remaining cookies.
3. Place the left-over chocolate into a small zip lock bag. Cut off a small piece of a bottom corner of the bag. Working with one cookie at a time, pipe a circle of chocolate onto the top of a cookie.
4. Cover the circle with sparkling sugar and gold coins. If the gold coins won’t stick, use a toothpick to add a small dot of melted chocolate to “glue” the coins in place.
5. Allow the chocolate to firm before packaging.

Packaging and storage

Wrap the cookies individually in small plastic bags, then place in a large freezer weight zip lock bag for shipping or storage.

More St Patricks Day cookies and treats

Rainbow Chip Blondies are soft and chewy vanilla blondie bars filled with white chocolate chunks in rainbow colors.

Rainbows End Rocky Road Candy are a chewy marshmallow and chocolate confection sprinkled with rainbow chips.

Irish Oatmeal Cookies are chewy cookies with a nutty flavor from Irish steel cut oats.

St Patrick's Day Chocolate Covered Oreos are decorated with swirls of sparkling green sugar, like Celtic symbols of deliciousness.

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First Published: March 15, 2017. Last Updated: February 25, 2022. Updated for additional information and better reader experience.

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