May the Fourth Be With You: Bantha Burgers on Sourdough Blue Milk Buns

It's not every year that May the Fourth falls on a weekend. So when it does, you should probably round up your fellow Star Wars nerds and have a Galactic BBQ, right?  YES.  Even if it falls on the busiest Saturday of the entire year...seriously--why is the first Saturday in May so chaotic?  It's National Homebrew Day, the Kentucky Derby, ArtsFest, Kids Fishing Day...And this year, STAR WARS DAY.

There is no shortage of creative Star Wars food ideas on the interwebs, but of course, I had sourdough to use and needed to make bread.  I saw this recipe for "blue milk hamburger buns" and thought--yup, that's the one. But I hope it doesn't take too much food dye.

Wherein my fellow Star Wars nerd-friend who was hosting the party said, "oh, don't worry. I have an industrial-size food grade bottle of blue food dye. Take as much as you need." And he sent me on my way with about 2 Tablespoons of BLUE in one of those little 2-ounce plastic containers, like what you use for jello shots.  (You may be asking: "why does someone own a giant @$$ bottle of food dye?" And the answer is: I don't know. I've stopped asking questions at this point.)

Once home and baking, I started adding blue...got about halfway through what he'd given me, and said, "OK...that's about the color of the original recipe...but what do I do with the rest of this?"  ....Soooo....I just threw the rest of it in there as well. And we have VERY blue buns.

Note: since the "official" Star Wars blue milk buns were yeast only, not sourdough, I used that for inspiration only, and actually made these buns using The Pantry Mama's recipe (I SHOULD have reduced the liquid slightly to account for all the food dye, so I ended up having to add extra flour.  Learn from my mistakes.)

I really love the way the color ended up coming up. Yes, it's darker that intended, but with the blistering on the surface, it has a very deep space, galactic hue to it.  

The party went very well.  Our host had some "screen accurate cups" similar to those used in The Mandalorian filled with blue milk (for the kids) and Fuzzy Tauntaun cocktails (for the adults)...we also used them to serve the homebrew beer we'd brought.  

Other friends brought nerf kabobs, lightsaber pretzels, and blue milk milkshakes for dessert.  

We watched A New Hope on an outdoor screen after it got dark, while IG-88 and his pit droid stand guard:

I made 12 total buns; the recipe called to divvy it into 8 balls, but I wanted to make sure we had enough, so they were a little on the small side but worked well with the size of patties we made.  But the kids were a little weirded out by just HOW BLUE they were and decided to eat hot dogs and brats instead.  So we had a few left over to bring home.  I decided to make steak sliders the next night with sauteed onions, horseradish mustard, and melted pepperjack.  *chefs kiss*

May the Fourth be with You: Wookiee Cookie Ice Cream Sammies!

Happy Star Wars Day!!!

Yes, yes, my favorite holiday.  Along with Pi Day and Christmas, of course.  And Thanksgiving.  Or, essentially any holiday that can be combined with food.  But yes, this day in particular appeals to my deep-seated inner geek.

Particularly now that I own an ice cream shoppe, because I can force my geekiness upon other people.

When we were still just thinking about the idea of purchasing the business, the idea for these sammies popped in my head.  I’m just glad that the craziness died down in time for me to find the time to make them.

Ingredients (makes about 20 cookies / 10 sandwiches):

1 cup almonds, toasted & chopped

3/4 cup light butter

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup flour (if you’re wanting to be gluten-friendly, grind oats in your blender or food processor and use that “oat flour” instead)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

3 cups rolled oats

Chocolate chips

1 square of white baking chocolate

2.5 cups vanilla ice cream (cinnamon or coffee flavored would also be good)

 

Directions:

Heat your oven to 350, and toast the almond for about 10 minutes. Then chop in a food processor & set aside.

Combine the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla with your mixer.

Add in the baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and mix for a few seconds, then slowly add the flour; mix until well combined & smooth.

Slowly mix in the oats and the almonds.

Lightly coat two cookie sheets with cooking spray or use parchment paper.  Portion dough into ~1/4 cup balls on the tray, and pat flat with wet hands (a small ice cream scoop works well to make sure your cookies are evenly sized).

On HALF of the cookies, add chocolate chips for the eyes and nose—press into the cookie slightly so they attach during baking. (The other side will be blank, since it’s the back of the “head”.)

Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until the edges are brown.  Then remove from the oven & let cool.

Once the cookies are cool, melt the white chocolate in your microwave (takes about 1:30 minutes), then transfer it into a small plastic baggie.  Snip the tip off of the baggie, and BAM—instant piping bag!

Pipe the mouths onto the Wookiee faces.

To assemble the sammies, scoop about 1/4 cup of ice cream onto the bottom cookie, and pat flat.  Then place the face cookie on top.  And there you have it---Wookiee Cookiee ice cream sandwiches!!!

May the Fourth Be With You: Yoda Soda

Since yesterday, we made homemade lime sorbet, it’s only fitting that our recipe for the day include it, right?

And now, a tasty, refreshing tribute to my favorite George Lucas creation.

Today’s recipe comes from the “Wookiee Cookies” cookbook….which I have on my Nook.

Ingredients:

Juice of 3 limes

1 packet Splenda (or 1/2 packet Stevia)

10 oz sparkling water

1/2 cup lime sorbet or sherbet

 

Directions:

Combine the lime juice, sweetener, & sparkling water & stir.  (NOTE: This, by itself, is fantastic.  I always keep sparkling water on hand to make my own fresh fruit sodas.  Refreshing, low cal, and much better for you than store-bought soda—and way cheaper than those home-soda-maker machines.) If you don’t have the ingredients onhand for the homemade soda, you could substitute Diet Sierra Mist/7Up/Sprite Zero, etc.

Place a scoop of sherbet or sorbet in your favorite tall glass, then pour the homemade soda over it.  Stir, & add a straw (green, of course).

Drink it, you must!

Happy May the Fourth, and may the Force be with you!