Hey Besties! Today’s post is all about fun and inspiration and I can’t wait for you to see what’s in store! You may recall that when I revealed THIS post, featuring the sweetest Valentine’s Day gnomes, I swore it wouldn’t be the last time I’d use that cookie cutter. And it just so happens that the Valentine’s Day gnomes called their buddies in Ireland! So today, I’m excited to share these adorable, yet mischievous St. Patrick’s Day gnome cookies! Read on for all the details on these little guys!
RECIPE
In keeping with St. Patrick’s Day tradition, I used our peppermint cutout cookie recipe for the fun and delicious flavor. Normally used frequently during the winter holidays, this was a prime opportunity to bust it out again! You can find the recipe HERE, which of course, is no-chill and no-spread! And for our royal icing, I used our go-to recipe, you can find HERE. The mint flavor of these cookies really shines through with a perfectly balanced royal icing flavor.
CUTTER & DESIGN
For these mischievous St. Patrick’s Day gnome cookies, I used THIS cutter. The cutter is perfectly sized for decorated cookies and I love that it is a full-body gnome design. It really opens up so many fun design options compared to many gnome cutters which are just the head. Again, I anticipate we’re going to dress this guy (or gal) up for all the holidays this year!
For the rainbow cookies, I used a large oval cutter and cut off the lower portion! Like plaque cutters and other basic shapes, I use ovals a lot for all kinds of designs. THIS is the oval cutter set I have and use frequently. These always get a lot of use around Easter egg time coming up soon too!
And for the small, circle coins, I rely on my trusty circle nesting set of cutters. Every cookie decorator should have a quality set of circle cutters. I reach for THESE on the daily.
Similar to the Valentine’s gnome cookies, the design and techniques used here, are very simple. It’s mostly just outlining and flooding by sections, adding wet-on-wet designs if you like. That said, I completely appreciate that it takes some practice to perfect working in different sections and the wet-on-wet technique. These are great designs to practice with and I’m willing to bet that each cookie is better than the last!
Before starting to decorate this design, I sketched out my plan on my cookies to serve as a guide. Even if you have a design planned in your head, when you start icing, it’s easy to lose track of things. By having a sketch, it makes it super easy to just follow your design. I use THESE edible markers daily for this kind of sketching. Here is my sketched cookie!
Gnome DECORATING
I use the same consistency for outlining and flooding for a seamless look. I prefer about a 12-15 second consistency for outlining and flooding sections. If you’re still new to decorating, THIS post, all about learning consistencies, is super helpful. The only time I used a thicker consistency was for the detail on the jammies, which was about a 25 second flood.
I started with the jammie section, simply outlining and flooding. I opted to do some wet-on-wet by adding polka dots or running my scribe scribe through polka dots, to create a shamrock or clover design. Just remember, that if you do want to add wet-on-wet details, you’ll use the same flood consistency and you need to do the decorating right away, otherwise your flood will start to set up.
Since the jammie section is not touching the hat, I also outlined and flooded the rim of the hat. Then into the dehydrator they went for the icing to crust over! About 15 minutes later, it was time to flood more sections. You essentially repeat this process until all your sections are flooded. Lastly, I used a slightly thicker piping consistency to add the jammie details.
It’s really that simple…just flooding each section, waiting for them to crust and moving on to the next. Remember that your scribe is your best friend to perfect outlines or pull flood exactly where you want it. A dehydrator is VERY helpful when it comes to designs like this to really speed up the process. It also REALLY helps to avoid any royal icing craters. Small sections, such as their noses or hands, are more prone to cratering, so I rely on my dehydrator to avoid that.
Rainbow & Coin Decorating
For the rainbows, I kept this design simple as well! I started by flooding the entire cookie white. Full disclosure: rainbows look easy, but they can be tricky since you’re aiming for symmetry. I freehanded these, but if it’s your first time making rainbows, I suggest sketching the design on top of your dried flood. So, once dry, you can use an edible marker to draw the rainbow design on the cookie. From there, it’s as easy as outlining and flooding each section. For these, I did one solid color, the complementing polka dots and then dehydrated them to quick set the icing before going to the next color.
For the coins, I knew I’d be painting them with some metallic gold luster dust. Any time I’m doing that, I aim to flood the cookie with a yellow or gold colored icing. Simply flood, dry and then use a tiny bit of luster dust mixed with a high-proof alcohol (such as Everclear) to paint on the metallic finish. A couple notes here…first, I don’t worry about using a tiny bit of alcohol, it evaporates. Secondly, always make sure you’re using edible luster dusts that use FDA-compliant ingredients. THIS is a brand of luster dust I commonly use. And if you don’t already have a set of brushed reserved for cookie decorating, THIS is a set I recommend.
Gnome will Be Gnomes
I hope you enjoyed this post celebrating these St. Patrick’s Day gnome cookies! By the end of the photo shoot, these particular gnomes were ready to be done! 😉
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