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! 

Peppermint Toads

Peppermint and chocolate is one of my favorite combinations. Clearly Ron Weasley agrees:

"He had awoken to find the dormitory deserted, dressed, and gone down the spiral staircase to a common room that was completely empty except for Ron, who was eating a Peppermint Toad and massaging his stomach, and Hermione, who had spread her homework over three tables" (Prisoner of Azkaban 213).

Peppermint Toads are so simple to make, and have such a fun payoff, I will probably be making them nonstop from now on. The only candy that's easier is probably just plain old Chocolate Frogs!

You Will Need:

Melting chocolate (Chocolate chips will yield a very gloopy result). If you haven't tried using Wilton's yet, now is the time!)

Peppermint extract

Toad-shaped mold

1. Melt your chocolate according to the manufacturer's instructions. 

2. Add 1 tsp of peppermint extract and mix thoroughly.

3. Pour the minty chocolate into the toad molds and let them set until firm.

4. Place the hardened toads in the freezer for a minute or two, and then pop them out!

5. Enjoy!!

What did I tell you? So easy! So delicious! So much fun! Enjoy! ...though I recommend that you don't eat as many as Ron did!

Acid Pops

Rejoice, my friends, for we have finally reached the last sweet mentioned during Harry's first visit to Honeydukes:

"And the Acid Pops? Fred gave me one of those when I was seven-- it burnt a hole right through my tongue" (Prisoner of Azkaban 200).

Like a few other food items we've been through on this journey, a major ingredient in Dinah Bucholz' recipe for Acid Pops is citric acid. I do not own citric acid, and don't particularly want to buy several pounds of it either. If you'd like to try some acid pops of your own (assuming you can't just pop over to Honeydukes), pick up a copy of The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook and whip up a batch!

Cockroach Clusters

Yes, there really are still more interesting sweets from Honeydukes for us to savor (though Harry doesn't seem to excited about this one):

"'How about these?' said Ron, shoving a jar of Cockroach Clusters under Hermione's nose. 'Definitely not,' said Harry" (Prisoner of Azkaban).

Most recipes I've found online for Cockroach Clusters are just chocolate-covered haystacks. While delicious, these don't seem to really evoke "cockroach" to me. I decided to adapt a recipe I found at The Apron Archives.

You Will Need:

Rollos, unwrapped

Pecan halves

Melting Chocolate

1. Place a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Arrange the unwrapped Rollos on the parchment, at least 1.5" away from each other.

2. Place the cookie sheet in an oven preheated to 350 degrees for about 3 minutes, until the Rollos are soft but not melted out of shape.

3. Press a pecan half on top of each Rollo, smooshing them into an oval-ish shape. Let the Rollos harden.

4. Melt more chocolate over top of the pecans, and smooth with a tooth pick or your finger. This is when you get to be extra creative. Use the chocolate to create antennae, legs, wings, whatever suits your fancy. I really hate cockroaches, so I stuck with nice cartoony antennae :)

These are quite delicious. Funny, you wouldn't think that Cockroach Clusters would taste like Turtles! Haha!

Anybody?
(cricket, cricket)

Blood-Flavored Lollipops

We've reached a new sentence! We've reached a new sentence! We are however, still inside Honeydukes:

"Ron and Hermione were standing underneath it, examining a tray of blood-flavored lollipops" (Prisoner of Azkaban 197).

The only way I can think of to make vegetarian-friendly blood-flavored lollipops is to taste-test a whole lot of things to discover what tastes irony. Firstly, that sounds like it would be decidedly not fun. Secondly, I can't think of any iron-tasting ingredients that would liquify enough to be involved in the candy-making process. So we will not be making blood-flavored lollipops.

Why do you even want to eat blood-flavored lollipops anyway? 

Ew.

Exploding Bonbons

My friends, we have finally reached the last item in this epic sentence (only took us a whole month, oy):

"Creamy chunks of nougat, shimmering pink squares of coconut ice, fat, honey-colored toffees; hundreds of different kinds of chocolate in neat rows; there was a large barrel of Every Flavor Beans, and another of Fizzing Whizbees, the levitating sherbert balls that Ron had mentioned; along yet another wall were "Special Effects" sweets: Droobles Best Blowing Gum (which filled a room with bluebell-colored bubbles that refused to pop for days), the strange, splintery Toothflossing Stringmints, tiny black Pepper Imps ('breathe fire for your friends!'), Ice Mice ('hear your teeth chatter and squeak!'), peppermint creams shaped like toads ('hop realistically in the stomach!') fragile sugar-spun quills, and exploding bonbons" (Prisoner of Azkaban 197).

The question of the hour thus becomes how to make bonbons explode... I hope you like my solution! 

You Will Need:

melting chocolate

Zotz (remember this classic candy? It's a hard candy filled with acidic sugar, and if you chomp down on it, it sure does feel like an explosion!)

1. Melt your chocolate according to the manufacturer's instructions.

2. Roll your unwrapped Zotz, one at a time, in the melted chocolate and place on a sheet of wax paper.

3. Allow the melted chocolate to set, and enjoy!

These are some very surprising bonbons! Not only are they worthy of Honeydukes, but they would fit in with the merchandise at Zonko's or Weasley's Wizard Weazes as well! The people who tried mine all had fabulously funny reactions when the candy exploded :) I don't think I'll make them again, since chocolate and acid-filled candy aren't really my favorite combination, but they sure were fun! Enjoy!

Peppermint Creams

I adore chocolate and peppermint, so I am very excited about the sweet we're making today:

"Creamy chunks of nougat, shimmering pink squares of coconut ice, fat, honey-colored toffees; hundreds of different kinds of chocolate in neat rows; there was a large barrel of Every Flavor Beans, and another of Fizzing Whizbees, the levitating sherbert balls that Ron had mentioned; along yet another wall were "Special Effects" sweets: Droobles Best Blowing Gum (which filled a room with bluebell-colored bubbles that refused to pop for days), the strange, splintery Toothflossing Stringmints, tiny black Pepper Imps ('breathe fire for your friends!'), Ice Mice ('hear your teeth chatter and squeak!'), peppermint creams shaped like toads ('hop realistically in the stomach!') fragile sugar-spun quills, and exploding bonbons" (Prisoner of Azkaban 197).

The first time I made peppermint creams according to Dinah Bucholz' recipe, they completely flattened out and were almost impossible to eat. Today, I have finally acquired a frog-shaped candy mold. And since Ms. Rowling stipulates that our peppermint creams are in fact shaped like toads, we'll be using that (and hopefully will be more successful than with no mold at all!).

For the Peppermint Cream, You Will Need:
3 Tbs unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 tsp peppermint extract
1 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar

1. Beat together the butter, corn syrup, and peppermint extract until completely combined.

2. Slowly beat in the confectioners sugar on the slowest speed until completely combined. Refrigerate until ready to use it.

For the Candies, You Will Need:
a batch of peppermint cream
Melting chocolate
a frog-shaped mold

1. Melt the chocolate according to the manufacturer's instructions. Spread the chocolate in a significant (but still thin!) layer in each mold. Allow the chocolate to set.

2. Spoon a small amount of peppermint cream inside each chocolate shell. The goal is to fill the mold, but not over-fill it. If you do, your toads won't lay flat!

3. Cover the peppermint cream with more melted chocolate and allow them to set completely.

4. Before unmolding the toads, I recommend placing the whole thing in the freezer for a minute or two. It really makes the candy much easier to pop out. Unmold the toads and Enjoy!

Yummy! These peppermint creams are like giant Junior Mints! While they don't actually hop in the stomach, I highly recommend that you try some yourself! Bon Appetit!

Ice Mice

Yet another magical sweet greets us today:

"Creamy chunks of nougat, shimmering pink squares of coconut ice, fat, honey-colored toffees; hundreds of different kinds of chocolate in neat rows; there was a large barrel of Every Flavor Beans, and another of Fizzing Whizbees, the levitating sherbert balls that Ron had mentioned; along yet another wall were "Special Effects" sweets: Droobles Best Blowing Gum (which filled a room with bluebell-colored bubbles that refused to pop for days), the strange, splintery Toothflossing Stringmints, tiny black Pepper Imps ('breathe fire for your friends!'), Ice Mice ('hear your teeth chatter and squeak!'), peppermint creams shaped like toads ('hop realistically in the stomach!') fragile sugar-spun quills, and exploding bonbons" (Prisoner of Azkaban 197).

I've made Ice Mice once before, and my skills at sugar sculpting are sadly lacking. Making them however, reminds me of one of my favorite attractions at Disney's Epcot: the Japanese sugar sculpting Lady! (seriously, watch that video, she's amazing, and I have the most glorious memories of watching her while I lived there). But alas, I am not a Japanese professional candy-sculptor. So you just have to deal with the sad little mice I make with Dinah Bucholz' sugar mice recipe from The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook. 

You Will Need (I halved this recipe):

3/4 stick (6Tbs) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1/2 tsp vanilla

3 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted

1. Combine the butter, corn syrup, and vanilla and beat until thoroughly combined.

2. Add the confectioner's sugar slowly, while beating on the slowest speed, until it forms a dough-like consistency. If the dough seems too wet or sticky, add 1Tbs of confectioner's sugar at a time.

3. Wrap the fondant in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use. It will keep for up to 6 weeks. 

4. To form the mice, pinch a piece of fondant off the ball, roll into a body, add a head, pinch little ears, etc. Basically we're sculpting with sugar :) If you'd like, use a toothpick to make eyes, and a piece of licorice for a tail :) Repeat, repeat, repeat.

5. Place the mice on parchment paper and leave them out overnight to dry (except that mine have always melted... so maybe let them dry in the fridge).

If you make your dough dense enough (keep adding powdered sugar), these should turn out pretty adorable. My dough always ends up pretty sticky... I can literally form one mouse before I have to put the dough back in the fridge to firm up again. But if you're successful, they turn out pretty cute! Eating one is about all I can handle, since, as you may have noticed, they're basically just sugar! But that one is pretty tasty! So enjoy!

Levitating Sherbert Balls

Today we continue plowing through Harry's first visit to Honeydukes:

"Creamy chunks of nougat, shimmering pink squares of coconut ice, fat, honey-colored toffees; hundreds of different kinds of chocolate in neat rows; there was a large barrel of Every Flavor Beans, and another of Fizzing Whizbees, the levitating sherbert balls that Ron had mentioned; along yet another wall were "Special Effects" sweets: Droobles Best Blowing Gum (which filled a room with bluebell-colored bubbles that refused to pop for days), the strange, splintery Toothflossing Stringmints, tiny black Pepper Imps ('breathe fire for your friends!'), Ice Mice ('hear your teeth chatter and squeak!'), peppermint creams shaped like toads ('hop realistically in the stomach!') fragile sugar-spun quills, and exploding bonbons" (Prisoner of Azkaban 197).

As I brought up in my last entry, according to Ms. Rowling's grammar, levitating sherbert balls are in fact the same thing as Fizzing Whizbees (and yes, in the book, it is spelled s-h-e-r-b-e-R-t). The Honeydukes shop (at Universal Orlando) disagrees, and Dinah Bucholz includes a recipe for Sherbert Balls in The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook. 

Normally, this would mean that we would make some Sherbert Balls. Unfortunately, Ms. Bucholz' recipe includes citric acid, which I have only been able to find online, and I really have no other need for it other than this recipe. And since I am a poor starving artist, I won't be spending my rent money on esoteric ingredients. The recipe does look like a lot of fun though, so if you feel like giving it a try, you should check out Dinah's book and make yourself some "Levitating" Sherbert Balls!

Fizzing Whizbees

Our next new item in our list of sweets is one of my very favorite things sold at Honeydukes:

"Creamy chunks of nougat, shimmering pink squares of coconut ice, fat, honey-colored toffees; hundreds of different kinds of chocolate in neat rows; there was a large barrel of Every Flavor Beans, and another of Fizzing Whizbees, the levitating sherbert balls that Ron had mentioned; along yet another wall were "Special Effects" sweets: Droobles Best Blowing Gum (which filled a room with bluebell-colored bubbles that refused to pop for days), the strange, splintery Toothflossing Stringmints, tiny black Pepper Imps ('breathe fire for your friends!'), Ice Mice ('hear your teeth chatter and squeak!'), peppermint creams shaped like toads ('hop realistically in the stomach!') fragile sugar-spun quills, and exploding bonbons" (Prisoner of Azkaban 197).

You may have noticed that according to the grammar in the above sentence, Fizzing Whizbees are "levitating sherbert balls." However, Honeydukes at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter disagrees, as does Dinah Bucholz. The first time I tried Fizzing Whizbees at Honeydukes, I popped one in my mouth and was thrown into a fit of giggles that literally took probably ten minutes to subside. They are simply a joy-inducing sweet. Because of this, today we shall make my interpretation of Universal Orlando's interpretation (and thus approved by J.K. Rowling herself!) of Fizzing Whizbees:

You Will Need:

a bee-shaped candy mold

melting chocolate (I like Wilton Candy Melts)

Pop Rocks of your chosen flavor

1. Melt your chocolate according to the manufacturer's instructions, and scrape into a pastry bag (unless you're using Wilton, in which case you can melt it right in the bag and cut off a corner!).

2. Fill your mold with a small amount of melted chocolate, just covering the bottom.

3. Sprinkle a small amount of Pop Rocks over the chocolate.

4. Cover the Pop Rocks completely with more melted chocolate, filling the mold. Smooth the top with the side of a toothpick or your (washed!) finger.

5. Allow the chocolate to set completely before popping them out of the mold.
6. Enjoy!

These are just like the Fizzing Whizbees I had at Honeydukes, and they're so much fun! I definitely recommend that you give it a try!