The Cutest Gnome Cookies

4.41 from 344 votes

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I don’t know what it is about gnomes during the holidays but I just love them. Santa Gnome cookies are starting to pop up here and there so I decided to make my own version using cookie cups and fresh strawberries.

These cookies were incredibly simple to make and taste so amazing. 

Gnome cookies cups with strawberry hats

They look like mini cupcakes but they are actually delicious little Christmas gnomes that everyone will love. Looking for a chocolate version? Try these no-bake brownie bite gnomes.

In fact, they would look great next to these Christmas tree brownie bites or alongside a Santa Gnome dessert board.

Making cute food during the holidays is so much fun. And the best part about this little treat is you only need 4 ingredients!

What to Buy

Skip the gnome cookie cutter for these because all you need are a few ingredients and a mini muffin tin.

The best part about these though, is the strawberry hats.

We love strawberries! And we love hats! Check out our Buddy the elf cookie cups next!

gnome cookie cups ingredients
  • Refrigerated sugar cookie dough (I like the break and bake kind)
  • White Icing (grab one that comes in a tube and save the step of using a pastry bag)
  • Fresh Strawberries
  • Pink candies (I used Skittles “smoothie” flavors for these)

Bake the Sugar Cookies

Preheat oven to 350°F and spray a mini muffin pan with cooking oil spray. It’s important to be sure the pan is well coated as these cookies like to stick.

You can also use mini cupcake liners if you have them.

Place one cookie into each muffin cup. You don’t need to flatten or roll them. Just drop them in, easy peasy!

cookie dough in mini muffin tin

Bake cookies and place pan on a wire rack to cool.

While the cookies are still warm, take a small scoop to gently press the cookies into a cup shape. Then cool completely before removing from the pan.

cookie cups on wire rack
create cup in cookie

Our happy gnome cookies have hats made from fresh strawberries and the flavor combination is so good!

Wash your strawberries and cut out the crowns in a v shape.

This creates a hat shape in the strawberry when turned upside down.

sliced strawberries

Now comes the fun part!

Take a fully cooled cookie cup and pipe frosting into the cup. You want to be a little generous here.

cookie with frosting

Then push a strawberry on top of the icing and add a pink candy nose just under the strawberry.

add strawberry to frosted cookie

Take a toothpick to spread some of the icing to create the white beard. And you’re done!

How stinkin cute are these little guys??

santa gnome with beard

These adorable gnome cookies can be enjoyed year round though I am partial to enjoying them alongside my other favorite Christmas cookies.

gnome cookie cups on plate with milk

Want to change it up? Use orange frosting and dip the strawberries in green candy melts for a St. Patrick’s Day treat or decorate patriotic gnome cookies for July 4th!

Frosted cookies are simply delicious and when they can be cute too? It’s a total win.

If you make them, I would love to see your finished product!

Feel free to share it on our Facebook page after you dig in!

sliced cookie cups with strawberry

Want more gnomes? Check out our Valentine’s Day Gnomes and Leprechaun Gnome cookies. Enjoy!

4.41 from 344 votes
4-ingredient gnome cookies are as cute as they are delicious! A perfect dessert for your Christmas cookie exchange, a garden party or whenever you want a treat.
Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 20 minutes
Total: 45 minutes
Yield: 24

Ingredients 

  • 1 pkg Refrigerated Sugar Cookie Dough, I used the break apart kind
  • 24 oz White Frosting, about 2-3 tubes of prepared frosting
  • 24 Strawberries
  • 24 Skittles, I used the pink ones from the Skittles Smoothie mix

Instructions 

  • Preheat oven to 350°F and spray a mini muffin pan with cooking oil spray. You can also use mini cupcake liners if you have them.
  • Place one cookie into each muffin cup. You don't need to flatten or roll them.
  • Bake cookies for 20 minutes and place pan on a wire rack to cool.
  • While the cookies are still warm, take a small scoop to gently press the cookies into a cup shape.
  • Cool completely before removing from the pan.
  • Wash strawberries and cut out the crowns in a v shape.
  • Take a fully cooled cookie cup and pipe frosting into the cup. You want to be a little generous here.
  • Then push a strawberry on top of the icing and add a pink candy nose just under the strawberry.
  • Take a toothpick to spread some of the icing to create the white beard.
  • Enjoy!

Notes

See step by step photo instructions in the post if needed.
Optional: Dip strawberries in candy melts to add a variety of colorful hats.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g, Calories: 205kcal, Carbohydrates: 31.2g, Protein: 1.1g, Fat: 8g, Saturated Fat: 2.5g, Cholesterol: 5mg, Sodium: 107mg, Fiber: 1.2g, Sugar: 23.4g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Desserts
Cuisine: American

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About Andrea Updyke

Andrea Updyke is a married mom of two boys living in Raleigh, NC. She is a published author and blogger of more than 18 years and loves to celebrate the little things that make life awesome.

Whether she's sharing tasty recipes, traveling or hanging with the family, Andrea's goal is to help make your days a little easier and a lot more fun! Email inquiries to andreaupdyke@gmail.com.


4.41 from 344 votes (339 ratings without comment)

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71 Comments

  1. You could definitely use stabilized whipped cream…there are several ways to make it, and in my opinion, homemade whipped cream, stabilized with powdered milk tastes better than anything!?

    1. It is delicious! I think you can definitely be flexible with the ingredients where you want to.

  2. 4 stars
    Easy to make with only a few ingredients. TIP: if making ahead wait to put strawberry on until last minute otherwise will bleed into icing.

  3. 4 stars
    So cute! They already come out of the oven with a dip in the center so I didn’t see the need to press down on the tops simply to fill with even more icing. The natural dip is enough. I used the squirt can of cake decorating icing that comes with tips to make it come out squiggly which is perfect for the beard. If you don’t press down, one can should be enough.

  4. Very cute idea. I will be making these for our company Christmas luncheon, along with your Christmas tree brownie cups. Thanks you so much for the adorable ideas!

  5. This is a ridiculously long post for a recipe. So many darn ads I gave up screen-shotting the post. I mean come on….. how much monetizing do you NEED for one post/one recipe?

    1. @Kristen, I’ve actually learned to just scroll down to the bottom of the post so to find the actual recipe because they’re all like that which is so annoying.

    2. I provide instructions visually as well as the recipe card. I do always have a jump to recipe button at the top of each post so feel free to click that and it will take you down to the recipe.

    3. @Kristen, I agree with you that’s why I always just click on jump to recipe, I believe all of them have it.

  6. 4 stars
    I used instant vanilla pudding, frosting and whipped topping from a spray can for a variety of fillings. Of the three I liked the vanilla pudding best. The frosting was a little too much frosting and sweetness and the whipped cream was good but did not stay firm for long. Otherwise it was a great treat and my grandkids loved it.

    1. @SYLVIA TIDQUIST, I was scrolling for an alternative to all icing. Great idea to use pudding in the ‘cups because with icing, they appear to be too sweet for my sweet tooth.

    2. @Alanna, or maybe that dip that people use for dipping fruit? It’s Cool Whip, and one other ingredient maybe yogurt I can’t remember, but I think you can even buy it in a store. I agree about the icing, too sweet for me and not my favorite for strawberries.

    3. @SYLVIA TIDQUIST,
      How far in advance do you think I can do it with the pudding?
      I will be traveling an hour with them

    4. @SYLVIA TIDQUIST, Thank you so much for the great idea. I’m going to try to mix pudding and a little bit of whipped cream and put it in the freezer for a little bit so it gets firmed up and then pipe it on there right before dessert. I’m going to try it at home first at least to see and if it messes up. Hey I don’t care what things look like as long as it tastes good!

      If anybody has any other ideas besides the cookie icing, please post cuz I am all ears lol. I can’t wait to make these! I’m super excited and I love anything Christmas and gnomes so it’s a double whammy for me ❤️

    5. @Stephanie Miller, if you mix a small tub of marscapone cheese in equal parts with homemade whipped cream it makes it a lot more stable. Google the instructions. Its super easy and will stay for longer. Good luck!

  7. 5 stars
    I can’t wait to try these recipes this holiday season. Looking forward to more recipes as well. Thanks for sharing.

  8. I made these without a mini cupcake pan.
    I just used a cookie sheet and doubled the mini muffin papers. To my surprise they turned out great. PRE made cookie square doe. Grandkids had so much fun! Thank you!

  9. This was a great idea! I made them for Christmas Eve and used pre made mini muffins instead. They turned out really cute. I added sniped pieces of marshmallow on top of the strawberries to make it into a Santa hat. The mini muffins were a little small but I found smaller strawberries that worked well. Thanks again for the fun idea!

  10. So found this posted on FailBook, thought they looked awesome. Didn’t have a mini muffin tin, but was able to find a 24 one. The first batch out of 24, only 4 came out whole. So ran out and bought of mini muffin papers, the second batch, came right out no issue and just peeled the papers off. This is the way to go, going to finish putting these together tomorrow for a Christmas Eve party.

    Thanx sooo much for the idea, simple and easy and your right the premade sugar cookie dough is just the right amount.

  11. I made these today and could not get them to not sick to the pan! I sprayed the pan pretty well and after three attempts threw in the towel. Going to attempt again tomorrow. Any tricks for me?

    1. @Michelle,
      I did not have luck last night either. Today I did two things different and they finally turned out! I went and bought a non stick baking spray that has flour in it and they came out perfect. I also seem to have a smaller mini muffin pan than the one in the picture so i took off some of the dough from each square so that once they baked, they did not create a muffin top over the edges. Hope this helps!

  12. i am going to make ur gnomes for christmas but i think i am giving them a red m and m nose for real red color love your idea ty

  13. The coloring in the gnomes little pink noses, ran onto the beard after a few hours. I’m telling everyone that the gnomes have the sniffles. Lol

    1. Aww that’s a great improvisation. Sometimes those juicy strawberries can be troublemakers!

    1. They would be much larger so I would watch to be sure when they are cooked through as the timing may change. Let me know how it turns out!

  14. I made these with two of my nieces and my nephew. The kids enjoyed making them very much and they were delicious. Thanks so much for the idea!

  15. 5 stars
    Such a cute and fun addition to a couple of holiday parties this year! Thanks for sharing! I followed your recipe exactly except I made homemade icing.

    1. I don’t recommend making them the night before completely because the juices in the strawberries may run over time. You could start the process and add the strawberries the day of if you want to save time.

    1. Because the strawberries are a little heavy, it may not work as well. But you could try it with a stabilized whipped cream that has cream cheese added and that may be enough to hold it.

    2. @Kathy Vault, I let the kids try several different things and the gnomes made with whipped cream didn’t hold up well. The strawberries slid around.

  16. Do you let the dough get to room temperature before putting it in the oven or do you put it in the oven right from the fridge?

    1. In my store, the dough is with refrigerated biscuit dough and usually near the eggs. I use one piece per muffin cup.

    2. I would say between one and two TBSP if you are using regular dough. you don’t need to fill the cup.

    1. @Andrea Updyke, I’m with you Andrea. Don’t change a thing. Thanks 🙏 so much for sharing this with me. You’re a ROCKSTAR no matter what changes other people want to make you do you girl!

  17. These are the cutest things ever. And they just reinforce my love of gnomes. One of my students is allergic to strawberries. Since my brain isn’t working, what do you think would be a good alternative?

    1. @Denise, I’ve been pondering the same thing so I can take these to a cookie swap next weekend. I wonder if a jumbo pink marshmallow (or red if they have them at the grocery store) would work? Or a jumbo gum drop?
      These are adorable as is though!

    2. I think a dipped marshmallow would be adorable! Another option would be to dip a mini ice cream cone in red melting chocolate for the hat.

    3. @Denise and @ Michelle,
      Maybe try unwrapped Hershey’s Candy Kisses for a cute gnome hat alternative? For an unusual flavor try the Hershey’s Holiday “Hot Cocoa” candy kisses or for an over the top BOMB striped Gnome hat “look” try my favorite Hershey’s Holiday “Candy Cane” kisses!