May the fourth be with you! I baked these Wookie cookies and little Ewoks in honour of Star Wars day, and for Peter Mayhew, the actor who played our beloved Chewbacca, who passed away earlier this week.
Each year on May 4th, people all around the world unite to appreciate the awesomeness that is Star Wars. It’s also a day when people realize which of their so-called friends have no idea what Star Wars is, and those people are shunned and shamed appropriately. (Seriously people…even my mom knows and loves Star Wars. Photo evidence below.)
These cookies are both fun and easy to make! I used a gingerbread recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction, but you could use whatever rolled cookie recipe you prefer.
Start by beating the butter until smooth and creamy. The recipe calls for unsalted butter, but as usual, I used salted butter and reduced the amount of salt from 1/2 tsp to a little under 1/4 tsp.
Add the brown sugar and molasses and beat until well combined. You’ll likely need to scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything gets well combined.
Add an egg and some vanilla and beat on high speed for two minutes, scraping the bowl again halfway through. The mix will start to look lighter and fluffier.
In a separate large bowl, add all your dry ingredients and whisk them together.
Whenever a recipe says to combine dry ingredients, it’s always a good idea to whisk or sift them together so you get all the ingredients evenly distributed before adding it to the wet stuff.
Now gradually add your dry ingredients to your butter mixture, stirring until just combined. The dough will be thick and heavy.
Divide the dough into two halves. Shape each half into a disc and wrap them in plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours or overnight. I ended up leaving the dough overnight and baking these cookies the next day. The issue I have with most chilled doughs is that they are rock hard when you take them out the fridge, and rolling them out is a real struggle. This dough is firm when chilled, but still just soft enough that it’s actually possible for a normal human to roll it out without requiring Hulk-like muscles.
Once your dough is chilled, you can get ready to roll it out. Flour your work surface, and roll the dough until about 1/4 inch thick. You may need to sprinkle the dough with more flour if it gets too sticky to work with.
Use cookie cutters to cut out your desired shapes. I used a “Cursed Cookie” cookie cutter for the Wookie shapes. I ended up trimming the shape of the Wookie heads a little bit with a knife, because the cookie cutter had a more football shaped head, which is clearly not appropriate for a Wookie!
For the Ewoks I used a smaller, teddy bear shaped cookie cutter.
To get the fur effect on both critters, I held the fork at an angle and pressed the tip down onto the surface of the dough. I pressed down fairly hard, just a little more than half way through the dough. Something to keep in mind is that pressing down with a fork will flatten the dough out a bit, making it slightly thinner while also increasing the size of the cookie.
Once your shapes are ready, bake them on a parchment lined cookie tray for 9-10 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the tray for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire wrack to cool completely.
Now it’s time for decorating! Melt some semi-sweet chocolate chips and some white chocolate chips and transfer each of them to a piping bag.
For the Wookies, use the semi-sweet chocolate to pipe a stripe across the body from the top of the right facing shoulder, down to the left facing hip. Pipe two little blobs for eyes, and a sort of tic-tac shape for the nose. Use the white chocolate to pipe some blocks onto the stripe to create the look of the bandolier. Pipe a mouth with the white chocolate as well.
For the Ewoks, use the semi-sweet chocolate to pipe the hood shape, eyes and nose. Use the white chocolate to pipe a little mouth.
Let the chocolate set completely before stacking or storing the cookies, as it will smudge if it’s still wet.
These cookies are perfect to munch on while you systematically work through re-watching the entire series. Happy Star Wars day everyone!
Gingerbread Ewok and Wookie Cookies
Ingredients
For the Cookie Dough
- 2/3 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 2/3 cup molasses
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp allspice
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
For the decorations
- 1/4 cup white chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Beat the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium speed until smooth and creamy (about 1 minute).
- Add the brown sugar and molasses. Beat on medium high speed until well combined.
- Add the egg and vanilla and beat on high speed for 2 minutes. Be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl to ensure all the ingredients are well incorporated.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice and cloves).
- With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet, stirring until just combined.
- Divide the dough in half. Shape each half into a disc, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours, or overnight.
- Pre-heat your oven to 350°F and line a couple of cookie trays with parchment paper.
- Take one disc of dough and roll it out onto a floured work surface until about 1/4" thick. You can sprinkle the dough surface with additional flour if it starts to get too sticky.
- Cut the dough into your desired shapes. Press the end tips of a fork into the surface of the dough to create the impression of fur. Re-roll any scraps and continue cutting shapes until the dough is all used up. Repeat with the second dough disc.
- Place the shapes onto your prepared cookie tray, about 1 inch apart. Bake for 9-10 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the tray before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once the cookies are cooled, melt the white chocolate and the semi-sweet chocolate chips separately. Transfer each one to a piping bag. Pipe a face and bandolier onto the Wookies, and a face and hood onto the Ewoks. Allow chocolate to set completely before serving.