Star Wars is something our family loves. And May the 4th is a fun way to create a holiday and create fun memories for our family. In this blog post, you will find 4 EASY ways to have gluten free fun for May the 4th!
Sorbet Planets
Of course you can’t have a Star Wars celebration without thinking of planets, right? All you need is some citrus fruit and frozen sorbet. I love this strawberry lemonade sorbet by The Frozen Farmer. Because this is sorbet, it is dairy and gluten free. Yay!
First you need to cut your fruit in half. I used lemons, oranges, and limes. I then juiced them. I have an electric juicer which works the best, but if you only have your hands, that is good enough! You just might need to press down the flesh once the juice is removed so that you can fill the halved fruit with sorbet.
After I juice them, I wrap the halves in plastic wrap and freeze them. This is an important step! When you go to fill the sorbet, it will already start to melt. Sorbet MELTS SO FAST. So having your fruit, which act as bowls, frozen makes it so that you can fill them, place them back in the freezer, and then place the “top” of the planet on right before serving.
After the fruit halves are frozen, scoop sorbet into one half of an orange(lemon or lime, etc). Fill it so that it rounds, but don’t over fill it. Make sure you can still put the other half of the fruit on top so that it makes a “planet”.
When I make these ahead of time I wrap them in plastic and put them back in the freezer. If you leave the top of the fruit on in the freezer though, your sorbet will break apart when you open the top. So freeze the sorbet in one half, cover with plastic wrap and place on a tray in your freezer. Save the other half separately in the freezer. Again, place the “top” on right before serving.
Lightsabers
Lightsabers are a treat we make often at our house. If I ever have a little bit of left over melted chocolate from making another dessert, my five year old ALWAYS suggests we make some lightsabers. This one is SO EASY. All you need is gluten free pretzels, we like Snyder’s and Glutino brands, chocolate chips, and sprinkles if you choose.
I use Guittard milk chocolate chips for the brown lightsabers, but you could use any kind you have. Simply melt the chocolate chips in the microwave on the melt chocolate setting and stir. I start with about 4 oz of chocolate chips. I like to use a spoon to get the chocolate on about 3/4 of the pretzel. Place lightsabers on a baking sheet with parchment paper, then add sprinkles if desired. When you have them all ready, place in the freezer for about 10 minutes.
Colored Lightsabers
For the colored lightsabers, I melted white Guittard chocolate chips. Candy melts are often NOT gluten free. So it is a pain searching store after store to find one that is. With white chocolate chips, I melt them in my microwave on the melt chocolate setting for 4 oz(I used about 1 C of white chocolate chips) plus about 1 tsp of refined coconut oil.
White chocolate chips melt differently. After you have melted them for the 4oz time in the microwave, you will need to smash the chocolate chips with a spoon and stir well. This will take some elbow grease. You may need to microwave for another 30 seconds – 1 minute on that same “melt chocolate” setting. And you may also need to add just a tad more refined coconut oil.
When you have the white chocolate smooth, separate it into three bowls. Add ONE drop of gluten free gel food coloring to each bowl and stir. Then coat the pretzels using a spoon. Add sprinkles if desired. Remember, sprinkles can have gluten! I like the betty crocker brand, but always remember to check the label.
After coating and sprinkling, if desired, place lightsabers on parchment paper on a baking sheet. No need to freeze these, they will harden at room temp. If your white chocolate hardens in your bowl, pop the bowl in the microwave for like 5-10 seconds, and it will soften right back up.
Tie Fighters
This one is easy to adapt to whatever you have. And you can choose to do a cookie, fruit, veggies, cheese…the options are endless for this May the 4th idea. For the Oreos simply twist them apart and place a Rolo candy in between. For cheese, veggies, fruit, use a tooth pick. I used a hexagon cookie cutter to make my cheese in a tie fighter shape. But you could also cut out a rectangle and then cut off each corner.
Fruit options to cut out would work well with a watermelon and then put a grape in between. For veggies, you could cut a hexagon shape out of a cucumber and then put a small piece of cauliflower, a cherry tomato, or a bell pepper chunk in between. The options are really endless. Just use what you have on hand.
“Chewy” Cookies
Everyone loves Chewbacca! And my no bake cookies just reminded me of him. When you use rolled oats, you do have to “chew” these cookies a bit more too.:). And as I talk about in my blog post about these cookies, if you can’t do oats, then sub corn chex cereal or crispy rice cereal.
Whatever food options you decide to use to celebrate May the 4th, I hope that it will be a day that takes your kids imaginations to a galaxy far, far away.
Happy creating my friends!
Emma
