Shamrock Pizza

Lots of traditions have holidays. Have you ever had a St. Patrick’s Day tradition? We had a couple really fun ones, as my kids were growing up. Of course, we’d wear green! No pinching here please!

We took green fun and ran with it. Every St. Patrick’s Day I made homemade pizza for supper, the the shape of a shamrock with green cheese! Today I’ll share tips to make this fun easy twist on a family favorite.

It’s easy to create the shamrock shape. Simply roll your pizza dough out into a regular circle. Next, place a cereal bowl on the edge of the rolled out dough. Cut a semi-circle of the dough away. Move the bowl around the dough to make three clover leaves. The remaining dough between the last two leaves becomes the stem. Easy as can be, I promise.

Next, to make your cheese green…. Place mozzarella cheese in a Ziploc bag or container with plenty of room for shaking. Add a few drops of green food coloring, and shake until the cheese has reached the desired shade of green. It’s best to start with just a couple of drops and add more as needed, shaking thoroughly with each addition of food coloring.

Shamrock pizza was followed up by St. Patrick’s Day dessert. We loved it so much my son even came home from college to make it for his roommates. They loved it as well!

St. Patrick’s Day Dessert Recipe

This recipe is from a 2006 Family Fun magazine.

“Buttery shortbread, a layer of toffee and chocolate topping make these cookie bars a favorite among families in Ireland. Invite your kids to help make a batch” this St. Patrick’s Day or anytime!

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 – 14oz. can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 Tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 – 6 oz. bag of chocolate chips

Directions:

Step 1

SHORTBREAD: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, cream together the softened butter and sugar. Stir in the flour until well mixed. Press the mixture into a 9-inch square pan (a good job for kids). Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the edges are golden brown. Let cool.

Step 2

TOFFEE: Melt the 1/2 c. butter in a a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add the brown sugar, condensed milk and corn syrup, and bring the mixture to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring continually. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Pour over the cooled shortbread.

Step 3

TOPPING: Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler or microwave oven. (In a microwave, I recommend 50% power at 1 minute increments and stirring after each minute, until melted). Stir until smooth. Pour over the cooled toffee. Cut into 16 squares.

Cooling takes quite a while, especially to young children. Place in refrigerator to speed cooling. I recommend cutting when mostly cool. The shortbread crust is thick and can be hard to cut if stored in the refrigerator. We have an 8″ square pan, resulting in an extra thick shortbread layer.

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• St. Patrick’s Day Tradition
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