So I came up with an idea to do a butterbeer tasting. You know, kind of like a wine tasting, but with butterbeer. My brother suggested that his friend come over because he liked my butterbeer when I made it after HP7.5. So now instead of a simple butterbeer tasting, it should be a party. A Halloween party seems ideal because school is pretty hectic right now and will be until a few weeks before then. So that gives me plenty of time to plan for it.
First of all, I need butterbeer. Lots of it. I already have compiled a list of butterbeer recipes in a previous post to test, so those will be the drinks. And I will have my guests decide which is better. I’m guessing that my brother and his friend will like the sweeter ones better because, face it, they’re teenage guys. But that is purely hypothesizing. I shall have to see. I also found some awesome labels for butterbeer bottles, one from the Three Broomsticks and one from the Hog’s Head. I don’t think I’ll be using them for the tasting, but they would be perfect for gifts. The image is the link. Just in case you couldn’t find it.
Next, I need snacks to go with it. A sort of cleansing the pallet between tastings. So how about pumpkin pasties? I have two options here, one from a whole list of other Harry Potter treats (not the biggest fans of them, though, except the acid pops. I might just do those) The pumpkin pasties are the second on the list. I would post an image, but apparently it’s copyrighted. Blah. Click here.* Or I could do the recipe from The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook. I found the recipe on the internet, believe it or not, and it sounds pretty good as well. It has fewer ingredients, so that’s less shopping. Perhaps a mixture of the two recipes?
*Just a tip. I just made this recipe and I highly recommend NOT cooking the pumpkin as long as it says to! I would go so far and even say to cut the cooking time in half! Mine came out with a filmy layer on top and the pumpkin was not smooth. It tastes great, though, just not the texture I was hoping for. I would also suggest lightly coating the pasties with egg white and sugar before baking to give it a nice glace and sweeten up the crust. I also recommend making your own crust. I makes it just that much better. Utterly delish!
Next up is the cockroach clusters! According to the Harry Potter wiki, these contain real bits of cockroach. Ew. How about pretzels instead? Oh, and chocolate. Chocolate makes everything better. I have found a recipe for these as well, one that is much better than the ones that use low mein noodles. Ew again. The recipe is found near the bottom of the blog post which also contains a butterbeer recipe. I have already linked it it in that same butterbeer post found above. Sounds simple and super tasty!
And you simply cannot have a Harry Potter part with chocolate frogs. It’s a rule. You have to have them And, moreover, you HAVE TO HAVE THE BOX. HAVE TO. It’s another rule. So here’s a template for the box. The image will take you to the printable template. I’ve already made one and it is super awesome.
For the frog itself, you have to get a frog mold for your melted chocolate. I ordered one yesterday, and I hope the frog will fit in the box. It may be a bit big. One suggestion for the box is to have the other side of the paper gold, so that the inside is a bit more attractive.
And here is an awesome template for the cards. Very movie accurate. You’ll have to come up with your own picture and words, but I’m sure there’s a site with some suggestions if you aren’t feeling very creative.
And then there’s Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans. I have found a few free box templates for these, but none of them really struck my fancy except this one. As for the beans inside, BBEFB are actually sold by Jelly Belly. If, however, you do not want to spend the money (like me), regular Jelly Bellies will do fine.
And these are just adorable. I may just have to get them a shot. The creator of these brilliant candies but them on top of cupcakes, but I don’t exactly think that’s necessary. Sorting Hat caramels? Brilliant!
Licorice wands always sounded brilliant to me. Much better than licorice whips. However, I simply detest the taste of black licorice. It’s absolutely disgusting. So immediately when I heard of making licorice wands, I thought, “Twizzlers!” But still, the traditional strawberry twizzler is not appetizing, not to me, anyways. So what about cherry? Surprisingly, I think those taste better than strawberry when usually it is the other way around. Artificial cherry has a habit of tasting like…. Medicine. Blegh. It seems the most traditional way of making licorice wands is to get a twizzler or something similar, dip the lower third or quarter in chocolate for the handle, and decorate it with sprinkles. I may just get a little creative with this…. *edit* It turns out that there is such a thing as chocolate licorice. How very interesting. It would be perfect if it tasted good. I may have to test this out….
The creator of these used pecans for her cockroach clusters, which is great. If you like nuts. Most of my family does not, so I think the pretzels are a better idea.
Lastly, there are the cauldron cakes. I have heard of people making pancakes and simply calling the cauldron cakes, but I believe it takes much more than that. Apparently, so did the people who created Honeyduke’s shop in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The author of Bakingdom has not only been to WWoHP, but she has also decided to replicate the food they have there! I bow to her awesomeness.
The Come and Go Room 