The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook (14 page)
This hot chocolate is very rich. For a lighter version, put 1 heaping teaspoon cocoa powder, 3 to 4 heaping teaspoons granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon instant coffee, and a few drops of vanilla extract into a large mug. Pour in a little boiling water and stir until dissolved. Add more boiling water to come ¾ of the way up the mug. Stir well, then add milk or cream to fill the rest of the mug. Try adding a few mini-marshmallows to the cup before drinking. You can use a stick of cinnamon as a stirrer to add a bit of cinnamon flavor. For smooth creaminess, replace the dark chocolate with white chocolate.
In his third year at Hogwarts, Mrs. Weasley sends Harry lots of yummy treats, including nut brittle. But Harry barely notices these mouth watering items when he sees the Firebolt sent to him by a mysterious well-wisher (see
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
, Chapter 11).
Nut brittle is one of the most delicious candies ever, and it's far too easy to crunch up a whole pound before you know it. It's been made for centuries, and with good reason. It's easy to make; you just need to watch the temperature carefully.
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup golden syrup or light corn syrup
¼ cup water
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ stick (2 tablespoons) butter
1½ cups chopped raw nuts (almonds, pecans, peanuts, or any nut you like)
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon baking soda
Grease a rimmed baking sheet and line it with parchment paper. Clip a candy thermometer to a saucepan that is at least 4 quarts. Place the sugar, golden syrup or corn syrup, water, and salt in the saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until the temperature reaches 280°F.
Add the butter and nuts and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until the mixture reaches 300°F. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla and baking soda (the mixture will bubble and expand a lot).
Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and spread it with a wooden spoon as much as you can; it should be about ¼-inch thick. Cool completely before breaking into shards and eating.
Makes 1 pound
Mrs. Weasley's prowess in the kitchen is impressive. Most home cooks, even good ones, leave toffee to the professionals. Yet Mrs. Weasley sends Easter eggs filled with homemade toffee to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. To Hermione's dismay, Mrs. Weasley sends her a much smaller egg; she's “been reading Rita Skeeter” (see
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
, Chapter 28).
A British-American dictionary is useful if you need to know, for instance, that “nappy” doesn't mean “napkin” or “a short nap,” but “diaper.” Less useful is the fact that “toffee” is British for “taffy” because in America, these two confections are very different. Toffee is made with lots of butter and can be either hard or soft, while taffy is very chewy and is likely to pull your teeth out. Toffee is very easy to mess up. You need to watch the temperature carefully and stir constantly to prevent scorching. Do not despair if you ruin your first few batches; it's worth it to learn how to make this delicious candy.
*Soy lecithin is an emulsifier; that is, it keeps the fat in the candy from separating. You can find a bottle of liquid soy lecithin at a health food store. You can also make the toffee without it if you can't find it.
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup golden syrup or corn syrup
1½ sticks (12 tablespoons) butter
½ cup heavy cream
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
¾ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soy lecithin* (optional)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 pound bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups chopped toasted pecans
Grease a rimmed baking sheet and line it with parchment paper, allowing the parchment paper to climb up two opposite ends. This will make it easy to remove the toffee from the pan after it cools. Place the sugar, golden syrup or corn syrup, butter, heavy cream, cream of tartar, salt, and soy lecithin in a medium saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until combined. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Wash down the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in hot water to get rid of sugar crystals. Just a few crystals on the sides can cause the toffee to recrystallize.
Clip a candy thermometer to the saucepan. Continue cooking, stirring constantly, until the temperature reaches 300°F.
Remove the pan from the heat and quickly stir in the vanilla. Quickly pour the mixture into the prepared pan and spread evenly to the edges with a wooden spoon. You need to move fast because the candy hardens quickly. Cool completely in the pan.
Melt the chocolate in a microwave. Spread half the chocolate over the toffee, then sprinkle half the pecans evenly over the chocolate, patting it down with your hands to make sure it sticks. Refrigerate for 10 minutes to allow the chocolate to set.
When the chocolate is hard, tug a corner of the parchment paper to loosen the toffee, then carefully flip it over and peel off the parchment paper. Spread the remaining chocolate over the toffee and sprinkle the remaining pecans over the chocolate, patting them down with your hands. When the chocolate is set, break the toffee into irregular pieces.
Makes about 2 pounds
Harry is too nervous to eat on the morning of his fateful hearing, but Mrs. Weasley offers him muffins among several food choices for breakfast in Grimmauld Place. In the end, it doesn't matter what Harry chooses because he can barely get it down (see
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
, Chapter 7).
When chemical leaveners were discovered in America at the turn of the nineteenth century, muffins followed just as surely, with blueberry being one of the most popular. The Americans didn't keep the discovery to themselves, and so American muffins are enjoyed for breakfast in England as well.
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, melted
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream, at room temperature
1 pint blueberries, washed and well drained
Turbinado sugar for sprinkling (Introduction)
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 12-cup muffin pan. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs until smooth. Whisk in the sugar and continue whisking until light and fluffy. Drizzle in the melted butter while whisking vigorously. Whisk in the lemon zest and vanilla. Fold in the flour mixture and sour cream alternately, beginning and ending with the flour. The batter will be very stiff. Fold in the blueberries.
Divide the batter among the muffin cups (the batter should reach the rim of each cup). Sprinkle the tops generously with turbinado sugar. Bake the muffins for 25 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until the tops are golden brown.
Makes 12 muffins
To make apple-cinnamon muffins, add 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon to the flour in Step 1. Omit the vanilla and lemon zest in Step 2, and substitute 1 cup diced apples for the blueberries. Bake as directed.
Mince pies are very Christmassy, and sure enough, Mrs. Weasley sends Harry some for Christmas along with other goodies (see
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
, Chapter 11).
If you eat a mince pie every day of the twelve days of Christmas, preferably in a different house each time, you will have a happy year, according to an old Yorkshire superstition. Mincemeat used to contain minced beef (hence the name) mixed with apples, dried fruit, suet, sugar, spices, and brandy. About 200 years ago beef gradually began to be left out, thank goodness. This recipe calls for butter rather than suet, as the latter is not readily available to the American consumer.
Pie Crust
2½ cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 stick (8 tablespoons) cold butter, cut into pieces
½ cup (8 tablespoons) vegetable shortening, chilled and cut into pieces
½ to ¾ cup cold water
Mincemeat Filling
½ cup dark raisins
½ cup golden raisins
½ cup dried currants or dried sweetened cranberries
Juice and grated zest of 1 lemon
Juice and grated zest of 1 orange
1 cup apple cider
2 tart apples, such as Granny Smith, peeled, cored, and chopped
2 sweet apples, such as Braeburn or Gala, peeled, cored, and chopped
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
½ stick (4 tablespoons) butter
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for brushing the tops
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon mixed with 3 tablespoons sugar, for sprinkling
Place the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Scatter the pieces of butter and shortening over the flour mixture. Pulse until the mixture resembles coarse yellow meal without any white powdery bits remaining, about 15 pulses. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle ½ cup water over the mixture and toss with a rubber spatula until the dough sticks together. Add more water 1 tablespoon at a time if the dough is dry (better too wet than too dry). Divide the dough in half, form into disks, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill at least 1 hour or up to 3 days.
To make the filling, combine all the filling ingredients except the butter in a large saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until the mixture boils. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 1½ hours. Bring the mixture back to a boil and cook, stirring constantly, until the liquid has evaporated and the mixture is very thick, about 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the butter. Cool to room temperature and then chill until cold.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Remove one of the disks of dough from the refrigerator and roll it out on a floured surface 1/8-inch thick. Use a 4½-inch round cookie cutter to cut out ten circles of dough. Do not reroll the dough; if you have fewer than ten circles, that's okay (rerolling the dough will toughen it). Fit the circles of dough into a 12-cup muffin pan.
Fill each pie with a heaping tablespoon of the mincemeat filling (you will have a lot of leftover filling; see note for other uses). On a floured surface, roll out the second disk 1/8-inch thick. Use a 3½-inch round cookie cutter to cut out another ten circles of dough. Moisten the edges of the pies and attach the circles of dough to the edges by crimping with a fork (or your fingers).
Brush the tops of the pies with the beaten egg and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar. Cut slits for vents. Fill the remaining empty cups halfway with water. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until dark golden brown. Cool the pies completely in the pan. To remove them from the pan, slide a knife around the edges and lift them out.
