Iced Gnome Cookies

Iced Gnome Cookies start with a simple, buttery shortbread made from butter, sugar, vanilla, and flour. Finished with a smooth royal icing, vibrant colors, and festive candies, they’re as fun to decorate as they are delicious to eat!

Prep Time25

Cook Time18

Decorating2

Total Time2 43

Course: Cookies, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Iced Gnome Cookies

Servings: cookies

Calories: 193kcal

Ingredients

1 cup Butter softened
1 cup Sugar
1 Egg
2 ½ cups Flour
2 tsp Vanilla extract

Royal Icing

2 cups Powdered sugar
3 TBSP Meringue powder
¼ cup Milk
Red and Green gel food coloring

Tools for making these cookies

1 Black edible cookie marker https://amzn.to/31XTAeu
1 Cookie paint brush https://amzn.to/3IL7B09
1 Gnome Cookie Cutter https://amzn.to/33irpHJ

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
In a large bowl, mix the butter and sugar until creamed, and light and fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla, and stir until well mixed. Add the flour a little at a time, mixing between additions.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface, to about a ¼ inch thick. Use the gnome cookie cutter to cut out the cookies, place the dough on the prepared cookie sheets.
Bake for 13-15 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.
Make the Icing: Mix 2 cups powdered sugar, ¼ cup milk, and 3 TBSP meringue powder in a bowl, and set aside. Divide the frosting into 3 small bowls; color one bowl red, one green, and leave the remaining bowl white. Fill each piping bag with the three colors of frosting, and set aside.
Decorate: Take one Gnome Cookie and fill the base of his hat with green icing, next his shirt and sleeves, being careful to trace around his long beard, because that section will be white.
Fill in his beard with white icing and let that section dry before filling in his nose. Place a peppermint candy on the tip of his hat and then place small white sugar pearls on his hat like polka dots.
Next, take white icing and stripe his shirt and sleeves. Fill in his nose area with white frosting. Then take your paint brush and dip the end in water then dip in the red icing, and gently paint his nose until you get a light pink color, and let dry for 10-15 minutes.
Go back with your black edible marker and draw under the white stripes on his shirt, his beard, and around his nose.
Repeat in different colors and designs for each cookie. When cookies are finished, and frosting is dry, or set, serve, and enjoy!

Notes

Gnome cookies will stay fresh for 3–4 days when stored in an airtight container at room temperature.

Freeze the cookies after baking and cooling but before decorating. Store undecorated cookies in an airtight container for up to 2-3 months. Thaw at room temperature, then decorate.

Nutrition