Bath Buns

My friends, we have reached another milestone moment! We have reached the last new food item in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban!

"Hargrid poured them tea and offered them a plate of Bath buns, but they knew better than to accept; they had had too much experience with Hagrid's cooking" (Prisoner of Azkaban 273).

Bath is one of my favorite cities in England. Initially, I thought that Dinah Bucholz' recipe for Bath buns didn't seem to jive with the sophisticated white-stoned spa town of Bath. After tasting them, however, I can totally imagine enjoying one at a table in the courtyard between the cathedral and the Roman baths. Or perhaps at the cafe across from the Jane Austen museum. Or perhaps I should finish reminiscing and we should make some Bath buns. Again, the recipe comes from The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook. And I have to say ahead of time, that I think there are a couple typos in the book, so hopefully I interpreted them correctly!

You Will Need:

1/4 cup warm water

2.25 tsp (1 packet) active dry yeast

1 Tbs granulated sugar

1/2 cup whole milk

2 Tbs unsalted butter

2.5 cups flour

6 Tbs granulated sugar

1 tsp salt

2 large eggs, at room temperature

grated zest of 1 lemon

grated zest of 1 orange

3/4 cup dried currants or dried sweetened cranberries

1 tsp caraway seeds

1 egg beaten with 1 Tbs water, for brushing

Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling

1. Spray a large bowl with cooking spray and set aside.

2. In a small bowl, combine the warm water, yeast, and 1 Tbs sugar and set aside until the yeast is puffy, about 10 minutes.

3. While that is puffing, Heat the milk and butter in a saucepan until the butter is melted. Set aside but keep warm (not hot, or you'll kill the yeast later!).

4. In another large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt.

5. Whisk the eggs, lemon zest, and orange zest into the milk mixture.

6. Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture, followed by the milk mixture, the currants/cranberries, and the caraway seeds. Mix well to combine.

7. Knead the dough (in the bowl is easiest) to combine. This dough is CRAZY sticky, so I recommend using a spatula. Ms. Bucholz says to not add any flour unless you really have to. I added 1 Tbs, but I really think I should have added 2 or 3. And unless you live somewhere that's bone-dry, you'll probably need to do the same. Knead for 10-15 minutes.

8. Place the dough in the oiled bowl, and either flip it to coat or spray the top with cooking spray. Cover the bowl and place it in a warmish place to rise until doubled, about 2 hours.

9. Hopefully your dough isn't too sticky at this point, otherwise you'll have the same problem I did and dividing it will be a challenge! Regardless, halve your dough again and again until you have 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and place on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Leave the buns to rise until doubled in volume, about 2 hours. My dough was still so sticky that the buns spread way out into each other. I also tried making some in muffin tins; those worked with my sticky dough.

10. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. If your buns spread way out like mine, smoosh them back into individual buns. Then brush the beaten egg mixture over the buns (oops, I forgot that part) and sprinkle with the turbinado sugar (forgot that too, but who needs extra calories?).  Bake the buns for 15 minutes until golden brown.

11. Transfer the buns to a wire rack to cool. Though I really recommend eating them warm. And they are best consumed within a couple hours, as they don't keep terribly well.

I have always really hated caraway seeds, so I was really nervous about their presence in this pastry. But they're so good! Definitely the perfect addition to a cup of tea and your favorite Austen novel... I mean Harry Potter book... or perhaps a conversation with your favorite half-giant :) Enjoy!

Fudge Flies

Our next food item is quite delicious, but unfortunately Ron uses it to further upset a very overwhelmed Hermione:

"'If Scabbers hadn't just been eaten, he could have had some of those Fudge Flies. He used to really like them'" (Prisoner of Azkaban 265).

These are not simply chocolate molded into fly-shapes, these are fudge flies. So we'll need to find a way to mold fudge. Let's start with a recipe. I found a simple one at Emma Eats. 

You Will Need:

1.5 cups chocolate for melting (preferably dark), plus a little extra

1 cup sweetened evaporated milk

1 tsp vanilla

a Fly mold (or something similar... mine are bees)

1. Place your chocolate in a microwave-safe-something, and melt in the microwave. Be careful you don't burn it!

2. Paint a thin layer of chocolate into the molds. This is so the fudge will retain the fly shape and actually come out of the molds successfully. Let the chocolate set.

3. Mix the vanilla and sweetened evaporated milk into the melted chocolate. Mix well.

4. Fill the fly molds with the fudge batter (using a teaspoon to drizzle it in works well). Let the flies set. 

*You will have way too much fudge batter. Pour the rest into a pan lined with parchment paper to create traditional fudge.

5. Once the flies have set, place the mold in the freezer for a few minutes, then pop them out and enjoy!

No wonder Scabbers liked Fudge Flies! These are fantastic! And they're super easy. I highly recommend you give them a try! 

Pumpkin Fizz

Another new beverage greets us today, in the form of stolen delicacies on behalf of the Weasley twins:

"Fred and George disappeared for a couple of hours and returned with armfuls of bottles of butterbeer, pumpkin fizz, and several bags full of Honeydukes sweets" (Prisoner of Azkaban 264).

It seems to me that the easiest way to make pumpkin fizz would be to simply add something fizzy to the recipe for Pumpkin Juice we tried earlier this year. However, I was not really a fan of that recipe... so I'm thinking we should try something different. I quite like the pumpkin fizz served at the Three Broomsticks in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, but it's been so long since I've had some, that I couldn't even guess how they make it. Lucky for us, I found a recipe at Kitchen Konfidence for a pumpkin and apple cider fizz cocktail that looks promising!

You Will Need:

1.5oz pumpkin puree (fresh or homemade)

1.5oz vanilla vodka (easily eliminated if you're a teetotaler... or underage)

2 oz apple cider

1.5oz ginger beer (which, in case you didn't know, is the much stronger British version of ginger ale. If you're in the US, hit up a health food store for ginger beer-- most sell it by the can-- or use Vernors ginger ale, which is way stronger than canada dry!)

1. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice, then add the vodka, pumpkin, and cider. Shake until well chilled.

2. Strain into a glass (filled with ice if you like) and top it off with ginger beer. Enjoy!

I'm not a huge fan of vanilla vodka, so I think next time I'll go with the kiddie version. Better than the pumpkin juice we made here before, but I think I still like the Three Broomsticks Pumpkin Fizz better. Cheers!

Butterbeer

Yes, it's true, we have already encountered the first mention of butterbeer in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, but the first mention of bottled (and therefore, we can assume, cold) butterbeer occurs after one of Harry's many anti-dementor lessons:

"'Here-- you've earned a drink-- something from the Three Broomsticks. You won't have tried it before-' He [Lupin] pulled two bottles out of his briefcase. 'Butterbeer!' said Harry, without thinking. 'Yeah, I like that stuff!'" (Prisoner of Azkaban 246).

And how could he not like it? Anyone who has had the joy of visiting The Wizarding World of Harry Potter has surely tasted their delightful rendition of butterbeer. In case you aren't able to just pop down to Orlando, Florida for a butterbeer (holy moly, I miss being able to do that!), there are dozens of recipes floating around the Internet that you can try. Quite awhile ago, I created my own very simple version, which is what we'll use today. It's very sweet, but then again, so is every other recipe for butterbeer I've tried!

You Will Need:

1 bottle caramel-colored cream soda (you'd be surprised how many brands are clear! Try Virgil's or IBC)

Butterscotch schnapps (or butterscotch flavor syrup, if underage wizards will be partaking!)

whipped cream

butterscotch ice cream topping

1. Pour a small amount of your schnapps/syrup into a tall glass or stein (not more than 1/2" or you'll be dying from the sweetness!)

2. In a separate small cup or bowl, add some whipped cream (a few dollops or so). Add a nice squeeze of butterscotch topping, and whisk together well.

3. Pour your cream soda over the schnapps/syrup, leaving at least 3/4" left at the top of the glass.

4. Float the butterscotched whipped cream on top of the cream soda, et voila! Butterbeer!

*Do NOT stir, or else the butterbeer will foam up everywhere!

In my opinion, this tastes almost exactly like the butterbeer served at Universal Orlando (with the added bonus of being alcoholic!). Super easy! Super tasty! But be careful, drink too much and you'll end up like Winky in Goblet of Fire-- sloshing butterbeer down your front while you fall asleep hiccuping on the kitchen floor!

Mead

While we have already made "mulled mead," we have yet to enjoy just plain old mead. And mead happens to be Sir Cadogan's beverage of choice:

"He pushed up his visor and toasted them with a flagon of mead. 'Merry--hic--Christmas! Password?'" (Prisoner of Azkaban 230).

Like brewing beer, making mead takes several weeks. There are many different recipes available online, from the very simple to the extremely complicated. I've said before that mead is technically wine made from honey. I don't think I mentioned however, that based on the type of yeast (and how much yeast) is used in the recipe, it often tastes more like beer than wine (unless you infuse it with berries or other delicious things like a friend of mine just did... yummy).

Because it takes so very long to make, we will not be brewing mead here on In the Kitchen with Harry Potter. But if you're curious, I definitely recommend you google yourself a recipe and choose whichever one suits your fancy!

Tripe

"Professor McGonagall poked a large spoon into the nearest tureen. 'Tripe, Sibyll?'"






If you have any questions regarding tripe, you can check it out on Wikipedia. Since simply looking at unprepared tripe makes me want to vomit, we will not be trying to make a vegetarian version of this disgusting Victorian "delicacy."

Ew. Just ew.

Nut Brittle

Nut brittle always makes me think of the game Candyland (best game ever!). One of the characters in it was named Grandma Brittle or something like that. But something tells me that our next new food item makes Harry think of his favorite mother-figure, not a boardgame:

"Mrs. Weasley had sent him a scarlet sweater with the Gryffindor lion knitted on the front, also a dozen home-baked mince pies, some Christmas cake, and a box of nut brittle" (Prisoner of Azkaban 222).

Brittle has never been my favorite sweet, but most people like it, so it's the perfect thing to make and then give away! There's a pretty simple recipe for "Any-Nut Brittle" in The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook, so that's the recipe we'll use!

You Will Need:

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup golden treacle or light corn syrup

1/4 cup water

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 stick (2 Tbs) unsalted butter

1.5 cups chopped raw nuts (almonds, pecans, peanuts, whatever!)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp baking soda

1. Grease a rimmed baking sheet and line it with parchment paper.

2. Clip a candy thermometer to a (at least) 4 qt saucepan. Place the sugar, corn syrup, water, and salt in the saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until the temperature reaches 280 degrees. 

3. Add the butter and nuts and continue cooking, stirring constantly (it gets thick quickly, so really stir!!), until the mixture reaches 300 degrees. For once, this actually happened really quickly for me!

4. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla and baking soda. Be careful, because the micture will bubble and expand a lot!

5. QUICKLY pour the mixture into the prepared pan and QUICK AS YOU CAN spread it out as much as you can; you're shooting for about 1/4" thick. Ms. Bucholz says to use a wooden spoon. I think using the hot metal spoon you've been using is a better plan. 

6. Cool completely before breaking into pieces and eating. 

Like I said before, peanut brittle is not my favorite... but my dad took this peanut brittle to work and everyone asked for the recipe. So apparently it's a good one! Enjoy!

Mince Pies

We have once again reached Christmas day at Hogwarts. And you know what that means! Tasty gifts from Mrs. Weasley:

"Mrs. Weasley had sent him a scarlet sweater with the Gryffindor lion knitted on the front, also a dozen home-baked mince pies, some Christmas cake, and a box of nut brittle" (Prisoner of Azkaban 222).

Mince pies are another classically British holiday item. They also used to contain beef-- thus, "mincemeat." Lucky for us, people realized that the pies were much tastier with the beef removed. There is a delicious recipe for mince pies in The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook, so that is the recipe we will use today!

For the Crust, You Will Need:

2.5 cups flour

2 Tbs sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 stick (8 Tbs) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1/2 cup (8 Tbs) vegetable shortening, chilled and cut into pieces

1/2 to 3/4 cup cold water

1. Place the flour, sugar, and salt in your food processor and pulse a few times to combine.

2. Scatter the pieces of butter and shortening over the flour mixture and pulse until it resembles coarse yellow meal, 15-20 pulses.

3. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle 1/2 cup cold water over the mixture and toss with a spatula until the dough sticks together. If the dough is too dry (mine was, a little), add more water 1 Tbs at a time. 

4. Divide the dough in half, form into disks, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill in the fridge at least 1 hour or up to 3 days (this is quite perfect, because the filling takes over 90 minutes to make!).

For the Mincemeat Filling, You Will Need:

1/2 cup dark raisins

1/2 cup golden raisins

1/2 dried currants or dried sweetened cranberries

juice and grated zest of 1 lemon

juice and grated zest of 1 orange

1 cup apple cider (now that I write this, I've realized I forgot to add the cider. oops.)

2 tart apples (like Granny Smith), peeled, cored, and chopped

2 sweet apples (like Gala), peeled, cored, and chopped

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground allspice

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1/2 stick (4Tbs) unsalted butter

1/4 cup brandy, if desired

1 egg, beaten with 1 Tbs water, for brushing the tops

1 Tbs cinnamon mixed with 3 Tbs sugar, for sprinkling

1. Combine all the filling ingredients, except for the butter (and brandy) in a large saucepan.

2. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until the mixture boils. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 1.5 hours.

3. Bring the mixture back to a boil, and cook, stirring constantly, until the liquid has evaporated and the mixture is very thick, 5-10 minutes.

4. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the butter. At this point, also stir in the brandy if using it.

5. Cool to room temperature and then chill until cold.

6. On a generously floured surface, roll out one of the disks of dough to about 1/8" thick. Cut 4.5" circles (I used a GIANT mug as a template). Shoot for ten circles (I got 8, and then smooshed one more out of the scraps).

7. Fit the circles into the cups of a 12-cup muffin tin. 

8. Scoop 1 heaping tablespoon of filling into each crust.

9. Roll out the second disk of dough and cut out slightly smaller circles (Ms. Bucholz says 3.5"). 

10. Moisten the edges of the pies and attach the tops by crimping the edges with a fork or your fingers.

11. Brush the tops of the pies with the beaten egg mixture and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar. Cut slits for vents (oops).

12. Bake for 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees until dark golden brown.

13. Cool the pies completely in the pan, then slide a knife around the edges and lift them out gently.

These are quite delicious, and their small size makes them easy to serve and to keep yourself from eating too many! They would be quite tasty on a cold winter day. Perhaps Christmas at Hogwarts? Whenever you decide to try them out, enjoy!