The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook (37 page)
2 tablespoons golden syrup or light corn syrup
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
½ cup chopped dates
½ cup finely chopped toasted walnuts
½ cup ground desiccated coconut (you can substitute shredded coconut after grinding it in a food processor)
Combine the milk, sugars, golden syrup or corn syrup, and salt in a large saucepan. (As you cook, the mixture will expand like crazy, so be sure the pot is large enough. A 4-quart pot is a good size, but you'll still need to watch it.) Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture begins to bubble. 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 candy to recrystallize.
Clip a candy thermometer to the side of the pot and continue cooking, stirring frequently, until the mixture reaches 242°F. This whole process may take more than 30 minutes, so be patient. Don't worry if it looks curdled; it will smooth out as it thickens during the beating process.
Remove the pan from the heat and add the vanilla, dates, and walnuts. Beat or stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until the mixture loses its gloss and is very thick, about 20 minutes.
Press a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent a dry crust from forming, and let the mixture cool until it is stiff enough to form into balls. Place the coconut into a bowl. Pinch off pieces of the mixture and roll them into 1- to 1½-inch balls and roll them in the coconut. The balls will be very sticky and soft, so they may flatten a bit when you set them down. Don't worry about getting them perfect. Store in an airtight container. The bonbons will keep for several weeks at room temperature.
Makes about 30 bonbons
Bonbon
is a French word that literally means “goodies”
(bon
means “good”). In the old days, gentlemen would present their ladies with fancy boxes filled with bonbons. You can place the bonbons in tiny foil holders and put them in fancy boxes to give away as gifts, too.
If you have any bonbons left over the next day, which is unlikely, you can store them in an airtight container at cool room temperature for weeks.
These are called “1-2-3” because you'll be done before you finish counting to three. Also, they are so irresistible that they'll be gone in the same amount of time.
1½ cups confectioners' sugar
1½ cups creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup crisp rice cereal
10 ounces milk chocolate, melted, for coating
Combine the confectioners' sugar, peanut butter, and vanilla in the large bowl of an electric mixer. Mix on low speed until the mixture begins to come together. Beat on high speed until it reaches a dough-like consistency, with no crumbs. If it's too sticky, add a bit more confectioners' sugar; if it's too dry, add milk, 1 tablespoon at a time. (It's better to avoid adding the milk, as the rice cereal will begin to lose its crunch after several hours due to the added moisture.) Add the rice cereal and mix until combined.
Form the mixture into 1½-inch balls and line them up on parchment paper. Using two forks, dip the balls one at a time into the melted chocolate, turn to coat, and then lift out, allowing the excess chocolate to drip back into the bowl. Place the coated candies back onto the parchment paper. Try to wait until the chocolate has set before you eat them. To speed things up, you can put the bonbons in the refrigerator for 10 minutes, but no longer than that. The condensation can ruin the chocolate.
Makes about 30 bonbons
When melting the milk chocolate for the coating, be careful not to overheat the chocolate or it will be ruined. Chop the chocolate and microwave it for 2 minutes, stopping to stir every 30 seconds. If it feels very warm, but you can still see pieces of chocolate, just keep stirring. It may take a good few minutes.
Author's note: While I used the sources below for my research, any errors in historical fact are my own.
America's Test Kitchen.
The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook
. Brook-line, 231 MA: America's Test Kitchen, 2006.
Aresty, Esther B.
The Delectable Past
. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1964.
Ayto, John
. An A–Z of Food and Drink
. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Broomfield, Andrea.
Food and Cooking in Victorian England: A History
. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2007.
Davidson, Alan.
The Oxford Companion to Food
. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
Day, Martha.
Complete Baking
. London: Anness Publishing Ltd., 1999.
Friberg, Bo.
The Professional Pastry Chef
, 4th ed. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2002.
Garmey, Jane.
Great British Cooking: A Well-Kept Secret
. New York: Harper-Collins Publishers, 1992.
Jones, David.
Candy Making for Dummies
. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Publishing, Inc., 2005.
Rowling, J. K.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
. New York: Arthur A.
Levine Books, 1999.
Rowling, J. K.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
. New York: Arthur A.
Levine Books, 2007.
Rowling, J. K.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2000.
Rowling, J. K.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2005.
Rowling, J. K.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2003.
Rowling, J. K.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 1999.
Rowling, J. K.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 1998.
Spencer, Colin.
British Food: An Extraordinary Thousand Years of History
. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002.
Turner, Brian.
Brian Turner's Favourite British Recipes
. London: Headline Book Publishing, 2005.
Walden, Hilaire.
Traditional British Cooking: The Best of British Cooking: A Definitive Collection
. London: Southwater, 2004.
www.asf.ca/about_salmon.php?type=cultural
www.bakingforbritain.blogspot.com
www.britannia.com/cooking/recipes
www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/history.html
www.flyingswan.com.au/nougat.html-history
www.indepthinfo.com/carrots/history.htm
www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/Irish-stew-recipe.html
www.ndwheat.com www.pbm.com/~lindahl/foc/8cury11.txt
http://samuraiknitter.blogspot.com/search?q=brussels+sprouts
Dinah Bucholz's favorite pastime is producing fine desserts and sharing them with her family and neighbors, who take it in turns to be exasperated and appreciative. Mrs. Bucholz has a degree in English and even taught English for a brief period, but teaching was just not her thing. She prefers to cook and write.
Mrs. Bucholz lives in Philadelphia with her husband and four children. You can visit her website at
www.unofficialharrypottercookbook.com
to find out more and to view photos of the foods featured in this book.
