Starry Night Sugar Cookies (Tutorial)

What can you make with 52 sticks of butter, 20 pounds of flour, 13 cups of granulated sugar, 2 dozen eggs, 70 cups of powdered sugar, 4 cups of meringue powder, and more than a cup of vanilla extract?

Well, you can make one gigantic mess in your kitchen.  Or, you can make about 500 decorated sugar cookies.  I chose the second option.  My kitchen has never smelled so good!

Several months ago, a good friend asked if I would be willing to make sugar cookie favors for her wedding, which was at the end of February.  I was incredibly honored and flattered that she and her then fiance would trust me with such a large part of their wedding.  I've made sugar cookie favors in the past and I was looking forward to a new challenge.

A few months before the wedding, I made some sample cookies to show the bride.  Much of the wedding was themed after Van Gogh's The Starry Night, so I thought the favors could reflect that theme as well.  Let me tell you, my first attempts were pitiful.  I neglected to take pictures, but trust me when I say that my first cookies did not resemble The Starry Night in any way.  I started to worry that I had taken on a project that was too large and too complex for my cookie-decorating skills.  And I certainly didn't want to disappoint the bride and groom.

My husband walked into the kitchen as I was lamenting over those first failed attempts.  I sighed in frustration and asked him, "Why can't I get these to look like The Starry Night?"  He paused for a moment before responding, "They're sugar cookies.  You're working with royal icing, tooth picks, and squeeze bottles.  And you're wondering why you can't make some cookies look like one of the most famous paintings of all time???"  Good point.  He always helps me keep things in perspective.

After a few more samples, I was happier with the results.  True, no one is going to mistake me for Van Gogh.  That's just fine; I have no plans to slice off my left ear.  But I think the cookies eventually imitated the painting's expressive look and bold brushstrokes.  Most importantly, the bride and groom were happy with them.

Want to try your hand at some Starry Night Sugar Cookies?  Here's a little tutorial for you.  I apologize for the crummy photo quality.  I only had my little point-and-shoot camera while I was decorating.

To start, you're going to need a basic recipe for sugar cookies.  Before decorating, I like to arrange my baked cookies on sheets of parchment paper to simplify cleanup.  You're also going to need royal icing (this recipe from Bake at 350 is my favorite), piping bag, #2 decorating tip, 4 squeeze bottles, blue and yellow food coloring, and plenty of toothpicks.  For my piping icing, I use the royal icing recipe exactly as shared on Bake at 350.  To create flood icing, I add just a little bit of water, until it reaches the consistency of hot fudge sauce (yum!)

 Step 1: Fit a piping bag with a #2 decorating tip, and fill with royal icing.  Outline cookies with royal icing.  Allow to dry for about 1 hour. While they are drying, mix your flood icing.  You're going to need flood icing in four colors: dark blue, light blue, golden yellow, and white.  Once you're satisfied with the color and consistency, slowly pour flood icing into plastic squeeze bottles.

Step 2: Fill outlined cookies with flood icing.  Use a toothpick to spread icing to edges.

Step 3: While white icing is still wet, add 5-6 drops of blue icing in a semicircle towards the left side of the cookie.  Then, add 2 drops of light blue icing, and 1 large drop of yellow icing.  This doesn't have be precise, so don't worry about the exact positioning of your drops.

Step 4: Using a toothpick, start at the first dark blue dot and drag toothpick downwards through the remaining dots, creating an arc towards the left side of the cookie. 

Step 5: Drag the same toothpick through the dark blue icing to extend the arc towards the yellow dot.  You can also swirl the dark blue icing to imitate the look of brushstrokes. 

Step 6: Using a clean toothpick, swirl the light blue drops towards the dark blue icing.  Similarly, swirl the yellow icing to create an abstract moon/star.  If desired, you can swirl a bit of the yellow icing into the dark blue.


Whew! That's a lot of steps, right?  Here is an in-process picture to show you the progression.

Last but not least...

Step 7: Allow icing to dry for about 5 minutes.  Then add a variety of blue sprinkles (the 5 minute drying time prevents the sprinkles from sinking too deep into the icing).  Allow cookies to dry for at least 8-10 hours.  Once icing is completely dry, store in airtight containers.  

All in all, I was quite pleased with how these cookies turned out.  I'm thinking that some more art-inspired cookies may be in order.  Perhaps something inspired by Monet or Seurat?

Thanks for reading, folks!