Clam Shell Cookies are a delicious and quick cookie for any holiday. You can swap out the pearl with colored sprinkles for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Valentine’s Day. They’re so quick and easy and they’re always a favorite with our guests.

I used bright teal, purple, and pink for an under-the-sea mermaid party and added Sixlet candies for pearls. Scroll below to learn how to make clamshell cookies and get a printable recipe.

Clam Shell Cookies Made with Nilla Wafers and purple, pink, and green frosting with candy pearls

Move over unicorns, mermaids are moving in and they’re gorgeous! From an under-the-sea party to miss little mermaid herself, hosting a mermaid-themed party is a blast.

These were the perfect snack for the little party we had while sitting by the pool that we installed this year too!

Easy to put together, this clam cookie dessert, complete with little pearls, combines some of the easiest ingredients. They are so simple to put together that it’s hard to call it a recipe at all!

Let’s get started on those cookies!

Click {here} for a quick and easy paper craft gift bag you can whip up for a cute presentation with these delicious clam shell cookies!

clam shell cookies made with buttercream frosting and Nilla wafers in mermaid colors

Easy Clam Shell Cookies Recipe

Before you get started you need a few things.

The list of ingredients is below, but make sure you have those Sixlets or sprinkles and also a star tip before you get started! I put links to all the Amazon items so you can easily find them and get them shipped to your front door.

48 Nilla Wafers
Food dyes of choice (we used pink, teal, blue, and purple)
1/2 cup butter
2 cups icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-3 Tablespoons cream
24 White/pastel Sixlets or large pearl sprinkles

Wilton 418-1703 Round Star Icing Tip Set,Sixlets – Pastel Color Assortment (2 lb Wilton Disposable 16-Inch Decorating Bags, 12 Pack Wilton Color Right Performance Color System, 601-6200 Wilton Sugar Pearls, White, 5 Oz Nilla Wafer, 11 oz

Directions to make your clamshell cookies:

To make the buttercream frosting, combine the butter, sugar, and vanilla extract with an electric mixer.

(For really fluffy frosting, beat the butter alone for a couple of minutes before adding anything else.)

Add the cream and beat it until you reach your desired consistency.

Portion the buttercream frosting into 4 bowls. Dye each bowl a different color using the food dye.

Portion each color into a piping bag with a star tip (you can do these one at a time and just swap out the bag each time).

Nilla wafers on a white plate that are the base for clam shell cookies

Swirl frosting onto 6 cookies, then swap out colors if doing a variety of colors.

Nilla wafers on a plate with pink, green, or purple frosting swirled in the middle, for making shell cookies

Place 1 sixlet or pearl candy in the front of each frosting swirl.

Nilla wafers on a white plate with colored buttercream frosting in the middle and topped with a Sixlet pearl for clam shell cookies

Clam shell cookies made with Nilla wafers topped with buttercream frosting and a candy pearl

Sandwich a second cookie on each clam without smashing the frosting. Angle the top cookie so it’s off-center and you can clearly see the pearl inside from the front of the cookie.

Close-up of clam shell cookies made with 2 Nilla wafers that have colored buttercream frosting in the middle and a white candy pearl

Finished clam shell cookies have the Nilla wafers offset so you can see the colored frosting and candy pearl from the top

5 from 4 votes

Clam Shell Cookies with Buttercream Frosting

What You Need

48 Nilla cookies
Food dyes of choice we used pink, teal, blue and purple
1/2 cup butter
2 cups icing sugar (powdered sugar)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-3 Tablespoons heavy cream
24 White sixlets or large pearl sprinkles

Instructions

To make the frosting, combine the butter, sugar and vanilla extract until it's combined and fluffy.
Add the heavy cream and beat until you reach your desired consistency.
Portion frosting into 4 bowls. Dye each bowl a different color using the food dye.
Portion each color into a piping bag with a star tip (you can do these one at a time and just swap out the bag each time).
Swirl frosting onto 6 cookies, then swap out colors if doing a variety of colors.
Place 1 Sixlet or pearl candy in the front of each frosting swirl.
Sandwich a second cookie on each clam – however, you need to angle it so that the top cookie is touching the plate and you can clearly see the pearl.

Clam Shell Cookies Made with Nilla Wafers, are perfect for any party depending on the colors of frosting

Looking for another great idea for your mermaid party? Make your own chocolate-covered mermaid Rice Krispie treats perfect for a gorgeous under-the-sea mermaid party or really just to put a surprisingly easy treat on the platter.

Scroll below to get the recipe and what we used to create these adorable mermaid pops.