[ot-caption title=”The famous seasonal McDonalds Shamrock Shake. (via Todd Van Hoosear/Flickr)”]

St. Patrick’s Day is an Irish holiday full of green attire and shamrocks galore.  Although the holiday has a religious significance, it is largely recognized as a day of festivities, and is celebrated with parades, gatherings, and parties. Although food may not be the first thing someone thinks of when St. Patrick’s Day comes to mind, it certainly is a giant piece to this annual celebration.

Several restaurants got their green on with a few limited time seasonal drinks.  McDonald’s highly anticipated Shamrock Shake was back for the St. Patrick’s Day festivities.  The green shake is made up of a mint flavored base topped off with whip cream and a cherry.  Another popular St. Patrick’s Day treat could be found at the newest trending restaurant in Boca Raton, FL: Relish & More.  This month’s shake of the month is a green Lucky Charms inspired shake.

A variety of great green St. Patrick’s day treats were available at Krispy Kreme. The doughnut company produced a full line of St. Patrick’s Day doughnuts, which includes the Shamrock doughnut. Krispy Kreme has hopped on the innovation train this year, and formulated a specialty green dough for doughnuts sold exclusively on March 17th. Customers were given the opportunity to try some of their favorites with a special green twist in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.  

While many nationwide retailers sold their own versions of green treats, it’s just as easy to make similar desserts right at home. By just adding green food coloring to pancake or cookie batter, you can turn something simple into something creative and fun for the entire family!  Although St. Patrick’s Day has passed, many of these delicious treats are still available for the rest of the month of March, so make sure to get them while their still available!

Source: Flickr, McDonalds, Yahoo