Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Make the Cookies
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 1/4 inch thick. Using the gnome cookie cutter to cut out the cookies. Place the cut out cookies on a Parchment lined Cookie sheet.
Bake for 13-15 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.
Make the Icing
Mix 2 cups of powdered sugar and 1/4 cup of milk, plus 3 TBSP of meringue powder in a bowl, and set aside. You'll need 3 Piping Bags. Divide the frosting into 3 small bowls and color one bowl of Frosting Red, one bowl Green, and leave the remaining bowl White. Fill each Piping Bag with the Three Colors of Frosting, and set aside.
Decorate the Gnomes
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 and let that section dry before filling in his nose. Place a Peppermint Swirl 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. 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!