Butterbeer, Chocolate Wands, and Pumpkin Pasties: Harry Potter treats for a fond farewell

Becky, the Music Man, and I gathered with a friend last night to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 before we see Part 2 this evening. And what would a Harry Potter movie night be without Harry Potter themed snacks?

We made Chocolate Wands, Pumpkin Pasties, and Butterbeer. Of course, none of these things actually appear in Deathly Hallows. If we were truly sticking to the themes of Book 7, we'd be more likely to make edible Horcruxes.  I can see it now - Marvolo Gaunt Donut Rings, Gummi Worm Naginis, Chocolate Lockets, and Helga Hufflepuff-Pastry Cups.

But seriously - who wants to eat a part of Voldemort's soul?  So we'll stick to snacks from the earlier, happier installments, thank you very much!

All three of these recipes are incredibly easy. The only one that actually involves baking is the Pumpkin Pasties, and even those can be ultra-semi-homemade. 

So fear not, young witches, wizards, and Muggles. While we say goodbye to Harry and the gang on the big screen this weekend, we can always return to the kitchen (and the books!) to recreate the magic we have come to love so dearly.

-Katie

Butterbeer

Our version of Butterbeer is a cream soda float with butterscotch flavoring. Since all witches and wizards at our gathering were of age, we used butterscotch schnapps, but you could certainly stir in butterscotch sauce to get the same flavor for the underage wizards.

Per mug:

1 small scoop vanilla ice cream

1 oz butterscotch schnapps, or butterscotch ice cream topping or sauce

cream soda

Chill mugs in freezer. Scoop ice cream into mug. Pour schnapps and a small amount of cream soda into mug and stir to dissolve most of the ice cream and create the signature Butterbeer foam. Add cream soda to fill mug.

Chocolate Wands

1 package pretzel rods

1 cup chocolate chips

sprinkles

Melt chocolate chips in a mug in microwave on high in 30 second intervals. Dip pretzel rods in chocolate, sprinkle with sprinkles. Place wands in cups or mugs to harden.

Pumpkin Pasties

2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 15-ounce can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon cloves

1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 2/3 cups evaporated milk (1 12-ounce can)
Pam or butter for greasing casserole dish
9-ounce pie crust pastry (enough for two single standard pie crusts) (our favorite recipe here)

Make filling*:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a 2-quart casserole dish with non-stick spray.

2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk eggs and sugar together. Stir in pumpkin, salt, and spices. Add evaporated milk and mix well.

3. Pour filling into prepared casserole dish. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Keep oven door closed and reduce temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking for 45 minutes or until table knife inserted in center of dish comes out clean. Cool filling completely on a wire rack.

Make pasties:

4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment. 

5. Make or purchase pie crust pastry. Roll pastry thin and cut into circles approximately 4 inches in diameter. Put a spoonful of the cool pumpkin mixture towards one side of the center of the circle. Fold crust over filling and firmly crimp edges closed. With a paring knife, cut three small slits in the top for venting. Place on a greased cookie sheet.

6. Bake at 400 degrees only until crust is a light golden brown, approximately 10 minutes. Serve at room temperature.

*To make this recipe even easier, skip steps 1-3, instead purchasing a pumpkin pie from the grocery store. In step 5, simply scoop out filling from the pie onto the pastry circles.

Baking for self-esteem

Everyone has something they do when feeling overwhelmed, or out-of-control, or like they are maybe just not cut out for the task they have in front of them. Some people get out the yellow rubber gloves and scrub their kitchen like it's a competition for Mr. Clean's heart. Some go for a walk or run, purposely scaring pigeons just because they can. Some watch hours of Mad Men on their sister's laptop, secretly wishing that when the doorbell rings, it's Don Draper come to seduce them rather than the sushi delivery guy who didn't even bring any chopsticks.

And some people bake. 

I admit I've done all the things above in times of stress, but absolutely nothing calms me more than creaming together butter, sugar, eggs, flour, salt, baking soda, and chocolate chips.  

It's not a mystery as to why: with baking, I know what I'm going to get. Yes, baking does require a little talent and finesse - but I know I've got these things (at least 90% of the time) and I'm confident about that. The other plus to baking? If you loose steam halfway through the process, you've still got yourself a giant bowl of cookie dough to devour with a spoon.

Baking in times of stress is not the moment to try a new recipe. Nope - this is the time to bake the recipe equivalent of your favorite pair of slippers - one that never fails you and that makes you warm and fuzzy inside.

So I don't have a new recipe to share today, but here are some of my warm and fuzzy favorites:

$1,000 Chocolate Toffee Pecan Cookies
Giant and decadent.

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
These come with an extra comfort factor: getting to think of my good friend E every time I bake them.

Oatmeal Lemon Creme Bars
Try to eat just one.

Oatmeal Carmelitas
Go ahead and do a flamenco dance while you make/eat these.  All that stomping also helps with stress.

What are your favorite warm and fuzzy recipes?

-Katie

Made my day!

Hey all you nice people who read our little blog!  Guess what I found at the supermarket this evening?

YELLOW BANANAS!!!

Aren't they beautiful?!

If you read yesterday's post, you realize how rare it is to find yellow bananas in NYC supermarkets, or in the very least, how rare it is to find them in mine and Becky's neighborhood supermarket.

But tonight, I entered the produce section and I kid you not, actually did a double take, because the usually lime-green banana table was instead a sweet lemon-yellow. Nope. Make that BANANA-yellow!

I resisted the urge to buy multiple bunches.  But I tell you, it was tough.

What little things made your day today?

-Katie

Chelsea Dessert Tour

I've always had good luck when it comes to winning stuff.  As a kid, playing black jack with Nana was risky because I'd always win and then she'd turn all ornery.  In high school, I pulled my own name out of the hat for the magazine drive grand prize - a trip to Hawaii. (Alas, I couldn't go - it just had to be the weekend of our big dance show.) As I got older, my mom swore she'd take me to Vegas when I turned 21.  Still waiting on that one.  Mama B - meet you there next weekend?

Anyway, my most recent free-thing win was getting put on the VIP list for Meet Market Adventures, allowing me to attend their events for free every so often.  So a couple weeks ago, Becky and I went on a walking dessert tour of Chelsea.

First stop:  D'Auito's Bakery on 8th Ave between 30th and 31st streets:

 

According to our tour guide, this place has been around since the 50s (or maybe even longer than that).  They specialize in New York cheesecake, and I gotta admit, it WAS pretty good. But the question of the hour was whether or not it was better than Junior's.  Hmmm, let me think about that:

No crust to taint the cheesecake goodness + manageable slice size = 2 points for D'Auito's

Eating a giant piece of cheesecake after eating a giant challah grilled cheese sandwich after seeing a Broadway show  = a gazillion points for Junior's.

Interesting - it seems I'm still partial to Junior's.  Must be all the Broadway stuff that comes along with the cheesecake.  Still, if you're in the Penn Station neighborhood and need a quick cheesecake fix, D'Aiuto's will suit just fine.

Second stop:  Billy's Bakery on 9th Avenue between 21st and 22nd Streets

 

No, that's not Billy (Billy's a girl!), but this guy was a frosting maniac.

The brainchild of a former Magnolia Bakery manager, Billy's specializes in cupcakes.  Becky and I attended a cooking demonstration hosted by Billy's at the 2009 Chocolate Show. (Yes, the Chocolate Show is as awesome as it sounds):

 

Sadly, we weren't impressed with Billy's cupcakes that day.  No worries though - there were plenty of other treats for us to try at the bakery:

From left to right: Chocolate Layer Cake, Banana Creme Pie, Icebox Cake (like Nana's! - we'll post that recipe eventually), and our trusty spoons and forks.  Of everything above, the Icebox Cake was by far the best.  They make a chocolate variety too.

Third stop: La Bergamote Patisserie on 9th Ave at 20th Street

That's John, our jolly MMA leader, very much enjoying a creme-filled pastry.  The rest of us had pretty full bellies at this point.  Beck and I bought three macaroons.  Don't they look pretty on the left?

Alas, they didn't survive the trip home, so I can't say how they tasted.  Note to self: next time, either eat macaroons on site, or insist on a takeout box instead of a takeout bag.  The patisserie did have a lovely atmosphere, though - a great place for a lazy cup of coffee and some weekend reading.

Fourth Stop:  The Donut Pub on 14th Street between 7th and 8th Ave

This place has also been around since the 50s (along with some of the employees, it seems).  I love me a good old-fashioned donut.  No glaze, thank you - just good old deep fried dough - and this place didn't disappoint.  And this "pub" is open 24/7.  I'll definitely be coming back here at some point.

Final stop: Max Brenner's on Broadway between 13th and 14th Streets:

See that vat of chocolate? There was this little kid peering into it just like Augustus Gloop over the chocolate river in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  And Max Brenner's was so crowded, I had this sudden vision of the kid falling in and no one even noticing.

Then I snapped out of my sugar-induced hallucination and realized there was glass over the chocolate.  Phew.

I have to be honest - at Max Brenner's I'm always overwhelmed by the crowds and underwhelmed by the chocolate.  The riculously high prices don't help the experience either.  That said, it's a great place to take your tourist friends.  Munching on chocolate pizza while people watching from the steps of Union Square definitely makes for an entertaining evening.

All in all, it was a fun day.  But you know what the best thing was after all that sugar?  The burger I ate for dinner.  Even my sweet tooth needs a break sometimes!

The (second) first post...

If there's one question identical twins get asked more than any other, it's this: "Which one of you was born first?" (Actually, that's really not the question, but we can talk about the other one later...)

"SHE was!" I'd always say, with the obligatory head nod and smile. And from first steps - on our birthday, no less! - to first kiss, Katie did it before me.

So I'm not surprised that when we decided to start Sunday Treats, Katie posted first. In the natural course of the grand K&B universe, that's pretty much the only way it could have happened. (It also helped that she's a foodie blogaholic and therefore already speaks "bloggish", unlike me, currently enrolled in Bloggish 101.)

But you know what? I have something else to say!

I started baking Sunday treats before she did! Nah nah nah nah nah nah!

In fact, I invented Sunday treats. Here's how:

My boyfriend, hereafter known as the Uber-Charming Music Man, (or just Music Man for short,) was working hard as the director of fifty-million or so church choirs. This left me home alone on Sunday afternoons, pining for the Music Man with all my heart, and quite, quite bored.

One Sunday, rather than watching yet another movie on the Hallmark Channel, I decided to make a tasty treat for my Uber-Charming Music Man to enjoy at the end of his uber-long day. A stellar jello pudding pie was concocted, the tired and cranky Music Man was appeased, and the tradition of baking on Sundays was born!

A remarkable evolution has occurred since that first pudding pie. Katie moved in and balance in the baker's kitchen was restored - exactly two beaters to be licked, and two bakers to lick them. Master baker Mama B gave a name to our creations, "So...whatcha makin' for your Sunday Treat today?" Our baking skills and aspirations have grown (when was the last time I made a jello pudding pie?! Oh, wait - I made one this morning.) And this past year, Katie and I committed to baking not just for the Music Man, but as a ministry for the biweekly young adult socials at our church.

And now, here we are. Though I'm not the first to do so, let me officially welcome you to Sunday Treats! Here's to baking, blogging, and beater-licking - together.

For my Music Man - the original Jello pudding pie. (Or some rendition thereof.)



-Becky

The first post...

Welcome to Sunday Treats!

My sister and I love to bake. Recently, it's become a bit of an obsession:

"Beck," I say.  "We should really put those cookie sheets away. They're taking up way too much table space."

"Nah.  Then we'd just have to get them back out tomorrow."

Oh, right.

It's true.  I read way more foodie blogs than publishing blogs (shhh, don't tell my boss), and our cookie sheets and cooling racks have pretty much taken up residence on our kitchen table.   I've started collecting coupons for parchment because I swear we go through it faster than toilet paper.

One of the reasons I think I like baking is because it's an exact science.  One cup of flour spooned and leveled IS different than one cup of flour scooped out of the bin.  I love to pick a recipe and then do it over again changing just one variable.  Our mom the science teacher and dad the engineer should be proud.

Anyways, as part of the scientist in me, I find it important to document my baking experiments, thus this blog. I'm not yet sure how often we'll post, or exactly what we'll post, and the whole photography thing is serious unfamiliar territory, so we're going to figure this out as we go along.  We welcome your comments!  Now if you'll excuse me, the oven timer isn't going to stop beeping on its own...