Luck of the Irish ... for Baking

As I was scrolling on Instagram, I came across a reel from Pillsbury's baking account. Now, I have lots of saved reels of things I want to make and it is very rare that I act on it. But, 2025 is a new me because I saw these and knew I had to try and make them!

Off to the store I went, not knowing exactly what shortening is or what it's purpose is; deciding that these "green candy melts" in the recipe aren't real; and praying that orange food coloring exists if I can't find orange frosting because I didn't want to have to remember what colors mixed together make orange. 

I went off script and decided to do funfetti cupcakes instead of vanilla, because funfetti makes everything better. I did find orange food coloring, so that was one win. And when the green candy melts became a unicorn, I opted for white melting chocolate and using the neon green food coloring that game in the same box with the orange and called it a day. 

Now it was time to head home and get to work. What I didn't take into account was all of the things we had going on as a family this weekend. So this became a two day project. But, I was pleasantly surprised with the results. 

Making the cupcakes was the easy part. I'm getting much better at my proportions, and making sure my cupcakes don't either overflow or barely take up space. I then went off script again, and decided to make the icing. And by make the icing, I mean put the orange food coloring in the pre-made vanilla icing. 

I iced them and them read the directions that said I was supposed to do this AFTER I put together the top hats. (Made from golden oreos and marshmallows.) 🤦 Oh well, I'll make it work. I have a master's degree, I can figure this out ... right? 

I called it a nigh and waited to make my top hats the next day. I melted my white melting chocolate with some shortening, because the directions said to as I still don't know what exactly shortening does. And then mixed it with my neon green food coloring, and got to dipping. 

I know I've mentioned it before in this post, but they did turn out much better than I thought they would. And I did buy a box of Lucky Charms to get those marshmallows for the hats. My leprechauns just have a different fashion style and like pastels. 

So there's my final product. What do you think? Even though they might not look quite as good as Pillsbury's, they were just as delicious and looked just fine to me. I'm calling this a win.