Lucky Leprechaun Cookie Hat

It’s time to plug-in your glue gun, put on your apron and count your pennies! I apologize for being a little bossy, but wait until you see what you can make by gluing pennies and coating some graham crackers with melted candy! Here’s another easy no-bake St. Patrick’s Day project using french fry boxes … with pennies, cookies, candy and a few other crafty supplies. This is my Lucky Leprechaun with a Cookie Hat …

Can you see why this guy is lucky? With all of those heads up pennies, he’s got to be lucky! Whoever receives one of these cute guys, will be lucky too! I am giving this leprechaun to his namesake … cookie and candy loving neighbor named Lucky … quick explanation … Lucky is on the short and round side, has a full beard that is red/copper in color and thus was given the nickname (from his sons, my sons and all their friends) Lucky … as in the leprechaun from Lucky Charms cereal! Lucky actually likes his name, too 😉

Here’s a few tips about pennies … to remove glue gun residue, put the pennies in the freezer … when the coins are freezing cold, glue should pop off easily. To clean pennies and make them shiny, try this process at Science Bob … learning experience and fun for the kiddos too!

This whole project can be made in advance, just keep the finished cookies stored at room temperature in an air-tight container.

I’ll try to make this short and sweet. You will need the following supplies to make 8 Lucky Leprechauns …

8 french fry boxes (found at craft stores or template found on the web)
10 ounce bag of Vibrant Green candy melts (such as Wilton)
8 graham crackers
about 8 handfuls of shredded/crinkled paper
24 edible gold pearls (tweezers will come in handy)
4 ounces melted dark chocolate/candy melts in a squeeze bottle or bag
32 shiny pennies
8 tube or cigar like cookies (Pirouette, Pirouline or similar)
16 wiggle eyes (12 mm)
black Sharpie marker
glue gun

Assemble the french fry boxes …

Use small dots of hot glue (one at a time) on the french fry box to attach 9 pennies, forming a beard. Use hot glue to attach 2 eyeballs and Sharpie to draw a nose and mouth!

To make the hats …

Melt candy according to package directions and use a small amount of green to attach a tube cookie at the middle line of a graham cracker, let candy firm up.
Hold the cracker over the bowl of melted green candy and gently spoon candy over the top and brim of the hat (I didn’t even cover most of the back of the cracker), drag across edge of bowl to remove excess candy. Chill for a few minutes.
Use dark chocolate to draw a ribbon (about 1/2″ to 3/4″ wide) and place 4 gold pearls in the center, forming a square (I used tweezers). Chill until set. Place finished cookie in completed french fry box and use crinkled paper to hold the cookie in place, leaving some poking out to look like hair!