Star Wars Sugar Cookies

Hello all my fellow book nerds! Today is a very special day for Star Wars lovers. It's May the fourth! As far as I am concerned, there's only one good way to celebrate such a glorious occasion! Baked goods!

The last treat I did for May the fourth was Chewbacca doughnuts, which really was as simple as buying some doughnuts and drawing on them with icing. It was a lovely treat. Since then, I have acquired Star Wars cookie cutters, and I love them! This is only my second time using them, and I decided to have a little fun buy making some green dough especially for Yoda.

If you would like to create your very own Star Wars sugar cookies, you can get the cookie cutters here and here. We opted not to frost them because we like them plain (and I have no faith in my level of cookie decorating skills), but the recipe I used also has a frosting recipe.

The recipe I used can be found here. I halved the recipe as it makes a ton of cookies, and I don't have enough mouths around to help me eat them. Here's what I did:

Star Wars Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 sticks of butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups of flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. In the bowl of mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar. Mix in eggs and vanilla until well-combined.

2. Combine the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl before mixing with the wet ingredients until combined.

3. Chill in the fridge for 2 hours.

4. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

5. Roll out your dough on a lightly floured surface and cut out your shapes.

6. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 6-8 minutes. Watch closely! You don't want to overcook them! There will be a hint of golden brown on the bottom edges.

You can choose to frost them if you wish! Like I said, I opted not to. You can also use food coloring to your advantage like I did with Yoda this time around.

There you have it! It's pretty simple and straight forward! Nothing makes a sugar cookie better than it being in the shape of one of your favorite characters!

May the force be with you! And if you haven't already, you should pick up a Star Wars book! There's many to choose from. Even if you don't want to delve into Star Wars Legends or any of the more current novels, there are comics, cookbooks, a handbook on speaking Wookie--in short, there's something for everyone! I highly recommend Darth Vader and Son and all the other Darth Vader books by Jeffrey Brown!

How did you guys celebrate May the fourth? If you forgot to celebrate, you can come hang out with me and help me eat the rest of these cookies :)

Star Wars: Ahsoka

First and foremost, I must say that you shouldn't read this book unless you've watched The Clone Wars (meaning the animated series, and not to be confused with Episode II: Attack of the Clones). It's in that series that Ahsoka's character is introduced, and unless you have at least an overview of some of her experiences, her character conflict won't mean so much to you if you read this book. So, watch that first, maybe even Episode III, and then come back to this book.

With all of that in mind, if you haven't watched the series yet, there may be spoiler down below. If you don't want to watch all those seasons of animated Star Wars glory, here's what you need to know before reading the book. Again, SPOILER WARNING!

Ahsoka Tano was the padawan learner of Anakin Skywalker. She played a big role in The Clone Wars, fighting alongside many well known Jedi (and even some clones that may have been special enough to have their name mentioned in the movies). She even led some of the troops from time to time. But when she is betrayed by one of her fellow padawans, framed for crimes she didn't commit, she finds her faith in the Jedi order shaken. (It doesn't help the majority of the Jedi council did not believe her innocence.) Even when the real culprit is captured and Ahsoka's good name is restored, Ahsoka can't bring herself to accept the council's offer to return to her training. She leaves the Jedi temple and...that's when the TV show was cancelled!

But fear not! Ahsoka survives the events of Order 66. This book fills in the gap of her story from that moment until the events in Star Wars: Rebels.

Title: Star Wars: Ahsoka
Rating: 4/5
Author: E. K. Johnston
Pages: 355
Genre: Science Fiction

Synopsis:

This story occurs after the events of the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars as well as Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

Ahsoka Tano has survived the great purge that was Order 66, but is now forced to live under the radar. The moment she attracts too much attention or the Imperials make too much of a presence, she runs away before she or anyone associated with her can be hurt.

Now, a year after the rise of the Empire, Ahsoka must comes to terms with the past while at the same time trying to find her place in this new order. She thought she was done fighting in wars, but perhaps the war is only just beginning.

My Reaction:

I will admit that part of the reason this book merits a 4/5 is simply for the fact that I think Ahsoka is awesome! Reading this book was like watching another story arc of The Clone Wars. It fit in very well with the feel of the series.

There are little snippets from other Star Wars characters such as Senator Organa, which were fun to read. There's plenty of action and good tie ins for filling in those gaps between The Clone Wars and Rebels. We get to meet an inquisitor, for example. Basically, this is a good book for Ahsoka/Clone Wars fans. You'll enjoy the story and learning more about what happened to Ahsoka (like how she suddenly has white lightsabers when it comes to Rebels). 

Reader Guidance:

Assuming you're somewhat familiar withe Star Wars franchise, the level of violence is consistent with what you would see in some of the movies/shows. There is an instance of torture, but it's more alluded to than anything. There's not an actual torture scene. A character has a badly broken arm. One of the bad guys kills a whole group of those resisting the Empire. This is mostly done by deflected their blaster shots, but one guy is cut in half with a lightsaber, and it mentions how there's not a ton of blood. That was probably as graphic as it got. There's also a character who has something blow up in his face. None of these are overly graphic.

Similar Books:

There are other books out there based on some of the other characters in the animated series. In particular there is Star Wars: Thrawn by Timothy Zahn. He also has another book coming out this year called Star Wars: Alliances. If you don't know who Thrawn is, watch Star Wars: Rebels.

Next Book:

Next up is another book recommended to me by my mother, and it's a sort of book we haven't look at before here in the Book Club of Destiny. It's called Life is so Good by George Dawson and Richard Glaubman. It fits in the autobiography genre (some of which are wonderful, by the way, although admittedly I've only read a few). It seems that it will contain some good inspiration perfect for the beginning of a new year.

The Next Book

As promised, here’s a post regarding the next book on our “to read” list!

But first, a little back story!

 I’ve always enjoyed the Star Wars franchise. My parents introduced me to the original trilogy at some point in my young life. I even remember seeing a re-release of A New Hope in theaters. Then of course there were the prequels and the two most recent films. I even played a few of the various Star Wars video games with my brothers. I was no stranger to that galaxy far, far away.

Then I got married to a fellow nerd, one who was even more involved in Lucas’ creation. He introduced me to the animated series The Clone Wars as well as Star Wars Rebels (I can’t wait for new episodes!). After some animated Star Wars marathons, I quickly decided that Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker’s padawan, was definitely one of my favorite characters. (I also quickly decided that animated Anakin is much more likeable than movie Anakin… He’s less of a creeper.)

The last season of The Clone Wars was cut short. Don’t you love it when a show you’re invested in doesn’t get to wrap things up in a nice, neat little package? Because of this situation, Ahsoka’s storyline has an abrupt ending, making you stare at the screen with a dropped jaw thinking, “That can’t be it!” Spoiler alert, you get to see Ahsoka again in Rebels, thank goodness. The only bad part about that is that you’re still left with a, “What the heck just happened?!” moment. I’m hoping we’ll get a little more clarity on that.

Getting back to the point, Ahsoka’s story may have been interrupted, but to fix that little problem, Star Wars book even though I knew there were plenty of them and had seen my older brother read some (I believe most of those are no longer considered canon). But after coming to love Ahsoka, I needed to fill that void. My ever perceptive husband gave me the book for Christmas.

they gave her a book! I didn’t really think I would ever read a

I’m already just past halfway through it.

So join me in reading Star Wars: Ahsoka by E. K. Johnston.