on Oct 13, 2022, Updated Feb 22, 2024 The countdown to the holidays is on and these Grinch gnome cookie cups are the perfect treat for Christmas celebrations and movie watch parties. What we love about these cookie cups are how incredibly simple they are to make. The fact that they taste great is a bonus! In fact, they would look great next to these Christmas tree brownie bites or our original Santa gnome cookie cups with a cup of green hot chocolate. Making cute food during the holidays is so much fun. And because we start with prepared items, it makes the process even easier.
What to Buy
Cookie cup treats have become one of our favorite desserts because of the delicious combination of cookies with icing and strawberries. Want another fun Christmas idea? Check out our Buddy the elf cookie cups!
Grinch Gnome Cookie Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make these grumpy little guys.
Refrigerated sugar cookie dough (I prefer break and bake from Pillsbury) White Icing in a tub Green gel food coloring Fresh Strawberries Green candies (M&Ms are what I used) Red heart sprinkles
You will also need a mini muffin pan and liners as well as piping bags for the frosting.
Bake the Sugar Cookie Cups
First, preheat oven to 350°F and line a mini muffin pan with mini cupcake liners. Place one cookie piece into each muffin cup. You don’t need to flatten or roll them. Just drop them in as pictured above. NOTE: if you are using your own sugar cookie dough, I would use a heaping tablespoon. While the cookies are baking take the tub of white frosting and remove about a quarter cup and add it to a piping bag. Set aside. To the rest of the frosting, add green gel food coloring and stir. Continue adding more color until the icing reaches that glowing Grinch green. Add the green frosting to a piping bag and refrigerate. I find this helps later on because the stirring tends to warm up the frosting and you want a stiffer consistency when making the gnomes. When cookies are baked, remove from the oven and place pan on a wire rack to cool. Take a small scoop to gently press each cookie into a cup shape. Then cool completely before removing from the pan. Remove the paper liners.
We love our Grinch gnome cookies because they have hats made from fresh strawberries and the flavor combination is so good! To prepare the hats, wash the strawberries and cut out the crowns in a v shape. Pat dry. This creates a hat shape in the strawberry when turned upside down.
Decorate your Grinch Gnome Cookies
Now comes the fun part! Take a fully cooled cookie cup and pipe green frosting into the cup. You want to be a little generous here. Then push a strawberry on top of the icing and add a green candy nose just under the strawberry. Take a toothpick to spread some of the icing to create the green beard. Place a heart sprinkle on the beard a little off center. Then, with the white frosting, pipe a pom pom on top of the strawberry to create a Santa hat. How stinkin cute are these little guys??
Print the Recipe
Frosted cookies are simply delicious and when they can be cute too? It’s a total win. If you make Grinch gnomes this year, I would love to see your finished product! Feel free to share it on our Facebook page after you dig in! Want more gnomes? Check out our Valentine’s Day Gnomes or Leprechaun Gnome cookies. Enjoy! Like this post? Share it with friends!
