48 St. Patrick’s Day Desserts, from Guinness Brownies to Irish Cream Tiramisu

• Time Commitment: 35 minutes
• Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, special occasion-worthy, <10 ingredients
• Serves: 4 to 6

Save the yogurt and fruit parfaits for Easter. These layered desserts are just boozy enough, thanks to a generous splash of Irish cream. (Sorry, kiddos; this one is adults only.)

• Time Commitment: 20 minutes
• Why I Love It: no cook, crowd-pleaser, kid-friendly
• Serves: 40 pieces

This regional confection is popular in Philadelphia around St. Patrick’s Day. "The bites are called potatoes because they look like tiny spuds, but they’re actually made from a mixture of cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar and coconut that’s rolled in cinnamon," recipe developer Erin McDowell explains.

• Time Commitment: 2 hours and 15 minutes
• Why I Love It: crowd-pleaser, special occasion-worthy, make ahead
• Serves: one 9-inch cake

Sure, Valentine’s Day gets all the love when it comes to decadent desserts, but let’s not overlook the fact that Guinness and chocolate make a delightful pair. "It goes double-duty on the good stuff (chocolate cake plus melty chocolate chunks) and gets topped off with lightly sweetened whipped cream," McDowell adds.

• Time Commitment: 3 hours and 20 minutes
• Why I Love It: <10 ingredients, beginner-friendly, special occasion-worthy
• Serves: 4

Essentially a grown-up slushy, I love the idea of serving this frozen treat as an alternative to after-dinner espressos. Even better, it calls for just six ingredients, most of which you likely have on hand right now.

• Time Commitment: 1 hour and 40 minutes
• Why I Love It: <10 ingredients, beginner-friendly, make ahead
• Serves: 20 truffles

Requiring only five ingredients and two hours of your time, you’ll be set with a gourmet dessert and still have time to queue up Netflix. Even better, you can keep the truffles in your fridge for up to a week...but I doubt they'll last that long.

• Time Commitment: 5 hours
• Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, kid-friendly, gluten free
• Serves: 8

No one will pinch you if you present them with a bowl of this minty green ice cream. Go the extra mile with hand-chopped chocolate, but sub chocolate chips if you're pressed for time. (FYI, if you can make whipped cream, you're halfway there.)

• Time Commitment: 1 hour and 20 minutes
• Why I Love It: crowd-pleaser, beginner-friendly, make ahead
• Serves: 12

If you’re keen on celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in a more traditional way, this cake has your name on it. It’s a popular dessert served in Irish households, and you can top it with confectioners’ sugar, a creamy whiskey sauce or both. (I'm Team Both.)

• Time Commitment: 3 hours
• Why I Love It: crowd-pleaser, beginner-friendly, special occasion-worthy
• Serves: 16 to 20 brownies

Before you diss a brownie made with beer, allow me to explain. Guinness stout is commonly paired with chocolate in baking for its deep, coffee-like flavor. (In other words, this St. Patrick's Day dessert doesn’t taste like beer in the slightest.)

• Time Commitment: 2 hours and 30 minutes
• Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, <10 ingredients, kid-friendly
• Serves: 16 cookies

These crumbly cookies made from sugar, butter and flour were actually invented by the Scottish (and leavened with yeast). Over time, the yeast was swapped for butter—an Irish staple—and that’s how shortbread as we know it today came to be. They're only four ingredients away.

• Time Commitment: 1 hour, 15 minutes
• Why I Love It: crowd-pleaser, special occasion-worthy
• Serves: 24

I was so entranced by the swoops of peanut butter frosting, I almost forgot there’s a rich, cinnamon-spiked chocolate cake underneath there. The spice level is super mild, so even picky eaters will ask for a second slice.

• Time Commitment: 10 minutes
• Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, kid-friendly, <30 minutes, <10 ingredients
• Serves: 10

You don’t have to be Irish or a pro baker to whip up this quick, sweet snack. Make a batch for your kids’ lunches, your office party or just to hoard at home. (After all, they only require six ingredients and minimal cooking.)

• Time Commitment: 2 hours and 10 minutes
• Why I Love It: <10 ingredients, no cook, beginner-friendly
• Serves: 20

It might only take ten minutes to make your own Irish cream, but once you try the homemade version (made with sweetened condensed milk and heavy cream), you’ll understand why I consider this sipper a dessert. P.S.: It'll keep for up to two months.

• Time Commitment: 5 minutes
• Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, no cook, <10 ingredients, <30 minutes
• Serves: 1

Behold the easiest St. Patrick’s Day dessert ever: Just scoop, pour, drizzle and sip. If you're not convinced or if you've never had stout, know that it tastes a little like coffee and chocolate combined. (Vanilla ice cream would be just as tasty, though.)

• Time Commitment: 1 hour
• Why I Love It: crowd-pleaser, kid-friendly, make ahead
• Serves: 12

St. Paddy’s Day means spring is on the way, and nothing says spring like a moist carrot cake doughnut with a tangy cream cheese topping. "The cream cheese will make the glaze thicken as it sits," McDowell says, "so you might have to thin it out to get it to the ideal drizzling consistency. Or you can spread it on for a more frosting-like texture."

• Time Commitment: 6 hours and 35 minutes
• Why I Love It: make ahead, special occasion-worthy, beginner-friendly
• Serves: 8

Swap the usual booze for Irish cream and voilà, you have a festive St. Patrick's Day dessert. "I like to use an oval baking dish, a 9-inch square dish or even a 9-inch round pie plate for tiramisu," recipe creator Jessica Merchant writes. "If you use the oval or round dish, you need to break apart some of the ladyfingers in order to have them fit around the edges."

• Time Commitment: 20 minutes
• Why I Love It: <30 minutes, kid-friendly, beginner-friendly
• Serves: 9 cookies

Hearts, stars, horseshoes and the rest of the gang are teaming up with chewy, cinnamon-y cookies to create the dessert of your childhood dreams. Press some extra marshmallows into the tops of the cookies for an Insta-worthy finish.

• Time Commitment: 45 minutes
• Why I Love It: gluten free, special occasion-worthy, crowd-pleaser
• Serves: 12

They’re as green as the rolling hills of Ireland. The cupcakes are sweetened with honey, which tames the bitter notes of the matcha and adds a ton of moisture. "You can leave out the xanthan gum if needed, but the results will be slightly less chewy and fluffy," recipe creator Sarah Menanix writes.

• Time Commitment: 30 minutes
• Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, crowd-pleaser, make ahead
• Serves: 8

It looks super impressive, but the press-in cookie crust and easy pudding filling make it entirely foolproof. No water bath, no problem. "Be sure the cornstarch fully incorporates into the milk and heavy cream before adding the egg yolks," recipe creator Jocelyn Delk Adams advises. "This simple step ensures a smooth, creamy pudding."

• Time Commitment: 1 hour
• Why I Love It: crowd-pleaser, sheet pan recipe, make ahead
• Serves: 12 to 14

It’s a little bit Southern, a little bit Irish and extremely decadent, thanks to a rich combination of dark chocolate and stout beer. A layer of fudge on top seals in every drop of moisture. The candied pecans are a delicious touch, but you could also swap in green sprinkles for a festive addition.

• Time Commitment: 2 hours and 10 minutes
• Why I Love It: <10 ingredients, crowd-pleaser, beginner-friendly
• Serves: 9 to 12

Psst: You don’t have to use Guinness when the recipe calls for stout. These brownies are made with Murphy's, but you can use any dark beer that you'd like.

• Time Commitment: 1 hour and 20 minutes
• Why I Love It: crowd-pleaser, special occasion-worthy, make ahead
• Serves: 12

Nothing against green food dye, but there’s something much more appealing about the springy hue of real pistachio. Greek yogurt in the batter keeps the cake moist…and also makes it suitable for breakfast, no? I won't judge.

• Time Commitment: 1 hour and 45 minutes
• Why I Love It: crowd-pleaser, kid-friendly, special occasion-worthy
• Serves: 12

The key to making this St. Patrick's Day dessert holiday-ready—and mouthwateringly good—is to use the best Irish butter you can find. (Thank me later.) If making the dough is too intimidating, try using store-bought pizza dough instead.

• Time Commitment: 3 hours and 10 minutes (includes chilling time)
• Why I Love It: make ahead, beginner-friendly, crowd-pleaser
• Serves: 24 cookies

Kiss me, I just made you a batch of these chewy, gooey, nutty cookies. Pistachios add a subtle green hue without incorporating food coloring. Best of all, the dough can be made ahead for easy slicing and baking when the time comes.

• Time Commitment: 1 hour, 25 minutes
• Why I Love It: crowd-pleaser, special occasion-worthy, kid-friendly
• Serves: 12

Plan ahead when steeping your cereal milk so the rest of the recipe comes together in a flash. The edible gold leaf is optional, but I like the way it takes things over the top. (And it's giving pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, you know?)

• Time Commitment: 1 hour and 45 minutes
• Why I Love It: <10 ingredients, crowd-pleaser, special occasion-worthy
• Serves: 6

This dessert is technically English in origin, but it’s also popular throughout Ireland. And why not? It checks every texture box: gooey caramel, soft bananas, airy whipped cream and crisp graham cracker crumbles.

• Time Commitment: 40 minutes
• Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, crowd-pleaser, make ahead
• Serves: 12

Traditional Irish dessert, but make it doughnuts because why not? "Tart Granny Smith apples are cooked over the stovetop with brown sugar and butter, then tossed into a vanilla-scented batter," recipe creators Holly Erickson and Natalie Mortimer write. If you don’t already have a doughnut pan, you can find them online.

• Time Commitment: 20 minutes
• Why I Love It: kid-friendly, crowd-pleaser, beginner-friendly
• Serves: 20

If apples aren’t your thing, maybe green velvet (aka mildly chocolatey cake with plenty of green dye) is. Crown the St. Patrick's Day dessert with anything from green sprinkles to sanding sugar to gummies.

• Time Commitment: 40 minutes
• Why I Love It: crowd-pleaser, special occasion-worthy, make ahead
• Serves: 6 to 8

Here’s another take on banoffee, this time with a crispy, caramel-like honeycomb topping for even more texture. Believe it or not, you'll only need nine ingredients to pull it off. Bananas not ripe enough? Here's how to speed up the process.

• Time Commitment: 25 minutes
• Why I Love It: crowd-pleaser, beginner-friendly, make ahead
• Serves: 36 pieces

Hot tip: Anyone can make baked-not-fried doughnut holes if they have a mini muffin tin on hand. Glaze them while they're still hot to let some of the sugar sink in (and feel free to double the glaze and lay it on thick).

• Time Commitment: 1 hour and 30 minutes
• Why I Love It: crowd-pleaser, special occasion-worthy, make ahead
• Serves: 12

This pretty cake contains Irish cream in both the batter and the glaze for a double-dose of flavor. (Your guests don't need to know that it starts with a boxed yellow cake mix—and I won't tell your secret, friend.)

• Time Commitment: 5 minutes
• Why I Love It: <10 ingredients, no cook, kid-friendly
• Serves: 2 to 4

Those golden arches don’t know what’s coming. You can make your shake plain or add cookie crumbles and chocolate syrup for a major upgrade. (Personally, I'm partial to Oreos, but vanilla wafers, Thin Mints and chocolate chip cookies would all work.)

• Time Commitment: 15 minutes
• Why I Love It: <30 minutes, kid-friendly, crowd-pleaser, beginner-friendly
• Serves: 16 bars

Sometimes making a festive snack is as easy as adding marshmallow cereal to an already-simple recipe. Pretty ingenious, if you ask me. "They're crunchy, a little salty, so buttery and, hello, there are two kinds of marshmallows," recipe creator Jennifer Debth raves.

• Time Commitment: 3 hours and 30 minutes
• Why I Love It: no cook, crowd-pleaser, special occasion-worthy
• Serves: one 9-inch cheesecake

You had me at no bake. This creamy cake doesn’t require a fussy water bath or an oven, and while the texture is lighter than a classic New York cheesecake, it’s no less delicious. "To serve, top with whipped cream, chocolate shavings or chocolate curls," recipe creator Zainab Storms writes.

• Time Commitment: 40 minutes
• Why I Love It: <10 ingredients, crowd-pleaser, make ahead
• Serves: 16 pieces

You already know what I'm going to say: Use a stout-style beer (preferably an Irish one, like Guinness or Murphy's) to stick with the theme. The rest is chocolate, butter, pretzels and a whole lot of dairy. Mmm.

• Time Commitment: 30 minutes
• Why I Love It: special occasion-worthy, <10 ingredients, beginner-friendly
• Serves: 2

Sip responsibly: These cute shakes are made with marshmallow-flavored vodka for a kick. Of course, if you’re making them for the kids, you can just leave the alcohol out for a delightfully sweet, appropriate-for-all-ages St. Patrick's Day dessert.

• Time Commitment: 1 hour
• Why I Love It: crowd-pleaser, beginner-friendly, make ahead
• Serves: 36

TBH, I'm a little bit infatuated with this simple recipe. The cookies come together in one bowl and call for just six ingredients, and they taste like heaven, thanks to the brown butter icing. Good luck not devouring the entire batch in one sitting.

• Time Commitment: 35 minutes
• Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, crowd-pleaser, one bowl
• Serves: 16

There’s coffee. There’s Baileys. There are pools of melted chocolate. What more could you want? (Maybe a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream—just a suggestion.)

• Time Commitment: 30 minutes
• Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, make ahead, <10 ingredients
• Serves: 24

Coconut and stout sounds like an unusual pairing on paper, but one bite of these sweet, chewy, chocolatey cookies and the combination makes total sense. "Typically, macaroons are small treat you can finish in a couple of bites, but I prefer these chocolate stout macaroons almost as big as my hand, so I use a regular ice cream scoop to portion them out," recipe creator Amanda Powell writes.

• Time Commitment: 35 minutes
• Why I Love It: crowd-pleaser, beginner-friendly, make ahead
• Serves: 24

It’s not easy being green…unless you’re a buttery, nutty, obsession-worthy shortbread cookie. To make these ahead, roll the dough into a log and stash it in the freezer until you're ready to bake. Then, simply cut the rounds and put them in the oven.

• Time Commitment: 1 hour
• Why I Love It: special occasion-worthy, crowd-pleaser, make ahead
• Serves: varies

Pull out all the stops and make a towering, decadent chocolate cake spiked with beer this St. Patrick’s Day. After all, what are holidays for if not eating *and* drinking? Finish it with a few chopped Snicker's bars and crushed pretzels for a touch of salt.

• Time Commitment: 10 minutes
• Why I Love It: <30 minutes, crowd-pleaser, kid-friendly
• Serves: 8

I can’t promise a pot of gold at the end of this particular rainbow, but I can promise you’ll be making waffle cakes for every occasion here on out. Feel free to use green sprinkles instead of rainbow, or opt for a combination of the two instead.

• Time Commitment: 15 minutes
• Why I Love It: <30 minutes, <10 ingredients, gluten free
• Serves: 4

Top of the morning? On second thought, I'll save these for dessert. You don’t need an espresso machine to make these indulgent drinks—just a blender. And this St. Patrick's Day dessert requires no baking. Lucky you.

• Time Commitment: 3 hours
• Why I Love It: crowd-pleaser, kid-friendly, make ahead
• Serves: 24 cookies

You simply can’t go wrong with a classic (and festive) sugar cookie. These are flavored with vanilla extract and vanilla bean seeds, so they’re lightyears ahead of any store-bought biscuits. "You can leave them plain, decorate with vanilla bean buttercream or try royal icing or easy cookie icing instead," recipe creator Sally McKenney advises.

• Time Commitment: 1 hour, 25 minutes
• Why I Love It: kid-friendly, crowd-pleaser, beginner-friendly, <10 ingredients
• Serves: 12 to 16

By using the classic puffed rice cereal, these bars maintain the crisp texture of the original (with plenty of festive flair from the Lucky Charms ’mallows). Take your treats OTT by arranging individual marshmallows in a layer on top.

• Time Commitment: 1 hour, 35 minutes
• Why I Love It: crowd-pleaser, special occasion-worthy
• Serves: varies

The stout adds depth and moisture to the deeply chocolate cake, so it’s a no-brainer addition. But if you’re looking for even more boozy flavor, it’s also in the ganache for good measure. Cheers to that.

• Time Commitment: 1 hour
• Why I Love It: <10 ingredients, beginner-friendly, kid-friendly
• Serves: one pound

You only need white chocolate, cereal marshmallows and lots of rainbow sprinkles to make a magical treat that your sweet tooth will adore. The swirls of pink are optional, but easily achieved with a drop of red food coloring. (Oh, and if this is too sweet for your taste, try swapping in dark chocolate instead.)

• Time Commitment: 10 minutes
• Why I Love It: <30 minutes, beginner-friendly, <10 ingredients
• Serves: 1

St. Patrick's Day dessert for one? It's a thing, especially when you can forgo making an entire batch of brownies and instead bake one that you don't have to share. Top it with vanilla ice cream while it's still hot and dig in.

• Time Commitment: 30 minutes
• Why I Love It: crowd-pleaser, <30 minutes, <10 ingredients
• Serves: 24

One of the reasons I adore shortbread? It requires very few ingredients (here, six, to be precise) and can be customized to your heart’s desire. This version features pistachios and flaky salt for an almost savory twist that also happens to be green. Buy the nuts shelled to minimize your prep work.