Butterbeer

Today's food item is the first occurrence of butterbeer in The Goblet of Fire, and it comes during one of Harry's many attempts at trying to avoid the vicious pen of Rita Skeeter:

"'She's gone,' said Hermione, looking right through Harry toward the end of the street. 'Why don't we go and have a butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks, it's a bit cold, isn't it?'" (Goblet of Fire 319).

If I remember correctly, we've done two butterbeer recipes already, but today's comes from homecooking.com. 

To Make 4-6 servings, You Will Need:

1 pint vanilla ice cream

1/4 cup butter, at room temperature

1/2 tsp butterscotch extract (I couldn't find this, so I used butterscotch syrup)

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp grated nutmeg

1 qt apple cider

apple slices for garnish, optional

1. On medium speed, beat together the vanilla ice cream, butter, butterscotch extract, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg until well combined. Place in an air-tight container and re-freeze.

2. Gently heat the apple cider on the stove until steaming hot.

3. Place 1 scoop of the ice cream in a mug and top with hot cider. Garnish with an apple slice if desired. 

Alas, this is not my favorite butterbeer recipe. It really isn't very tasty when it's no longer hot. And I definitely recommend using melted butter instead of just room-temperature butter and just re-freezing the ice cream for longer (unless of course, you'd like butter chips in your ice cream; I spent a lot of time spitting out butter bits). It tastes fine for a few sips/bites, but I'd suggest trying one of the other butterbeer recipes out there. Cheers!

Hot Butterbeer!

Yes, the moment has finally arrived! The most popular food item in the Harry Potter series is finally upon us, following Ron and Hermione's very first trip to Hogsmeade:

"By the sound of it-- everywhere. Dervish and Banges, the wizarding equipment shop, Zonko's Joke Shop, into the Three Broomsticks for foaming mugs of hot butterbeer, and many places besides" (Prisoner of Azkaban 158).

Butterbeer is the most popular item for sale at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and is available cold or frozen. These options are a natural choice, since Orlando's average temperature in the summer is around 100 degrees, and it falls below 50 for maybe a month or two each year. However, the first (and several more) mentions of butterbeer in the books specify that it is in fact a hot beverage. Since there are tons of butterbeer recipes out there (and I do think that the bottled version sometimes enjoyed by the characters is probably cold), I will feature butterbeer on this blog with each first mention in the remaining books. Our first recipe is for hot butterbeer and comes from here.

You Will Need:
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup butterscotch topping (I couldn't find this, so I used melted butterscotch chips)
2 Tbs whipped butter, at room temperature
1.5 cups vanilla cream soda (I used diet, since just the other ingredients shoot this beverage close to 400 calories per glass!)

1. Combine the condensed milk, butterscotch, and butter in a microwave safe container and heat in the microwave for 1 minute. Stir (if not completely melted and smooth, heat for a few more seconds).

2. Pour the vanilla cream soda into another microwave safe vessel and heat in the microwave. Be careful, because if it gets too hot, the carbonation will disappear. Start with about 45 seconds.
3. Divide the warm butterscotch mixture between two glasses or mugs. Fill each glass with half the warmed cream soda. Stir gently.

This is super delicious! The carbonation does dissipate quickly, but it's still so yummy! It's no surprise that in the winter, our favorite trio hits up the Three Broomsticks every chance they get to warm up with foaming mugs of hot butterbeer! Enjoy!