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.

Cranberry Fudge Pie

Wanna play Two Truths and a Lie? Okay, here goes:

1) I named my childhood cat Maybelline because it looked like she was wearing eyeliner.

2) I love pie.

3) I've never seen Star Wars.

Think you know which one is the lie?  

Did you guess #3?

If so, please don't judge...because #3 is actually true.  I've lived on this planet for almost 30 years and have never seen Star Wars. It's not that I have anything against Star Wars, I've just never gotten around to it. If you want to invite me over for a Star-Wars specific movie night, I'm free next Friday...

Truth #2 is that I indeed named my childhood cat Maybelline. Maybelline was a special cat, to put it nicely. I think the fact that she was born wearing dark eyeliner was a sign of her evil nature to come. Deep down she was a good cat, though.

That leaves us with the lie being me loving pie.

I don't know what it is specifically that I don't like about pie. There's just something about it that has always demoted it to the bottom of my dessert totem pole.

That said, when it comes to Thanksgiving, you can't argue that pie is the dessert of choice, and this year I wanted to contribute. I've been having a love affair with cranberries lately, and have also been thinking that it's a terrible shame that chocolate doesn't usually have a place on the Thanksgiving menu. So when I came across this Cranberry Fudge Pie on Baking Banter, I knew this was what I would make.

Eating this pie is like, well, not eating pie. It's more like eating a chocolate-cranberry truffle.  Yep.  I think pie - or at least this pie - just moved up on my dessert totem pole.

This pie was very easy to throw together - it's just a graham cracker crust filled with chocolate ganache and pecans, topped with a very basic cranberry sauce.  You even end up with leftover cranberry sauce to eat with your turkey...or to use on a second pie.

Now for another round of Two Truths and a Lie:

1) Cranberry Fudge Pie is my new favorite pie.

2) Number 1 is a lie.

3) I have to go now, so I can eat the last piece of pie.

- Katie

Cranberry Fudge Pie

Adapted slightly from King Arthur Flour

Makes one 9-inch pie (8-10 very rich slices)

For the crust:

• 1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs*
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 6 tablespoons melted butter
• *One cellophane-wrapped packet of graham crackers (11 whole crackers) will yield this amount of crumbs.

For the filling:

• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or chopped semisweet chocolate*
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans
• *Resist the urge to use bittersweet chocolate; with the acidic tang of the cranberries, it's just too much. 

For the filling:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups cranberry juice
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 12-ounce package fresh or frozen cranberries (generous 3 cups)
• *You'll need about 15 ounces (a scant 1 1/2 cups) topping for the pie. Enjoy the remainder on its own.

1) Preheat the oven to 375°F.

2) To make the crust: Combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter in a food processor or bowl. Press into the bottom and up the sides of a 9" pie pan.

3) Bake the crust for 7 to 8 minutes, until it's set but not brown. Remove from the oven and cool.

4) To make the filling: Put the chips (or chopped chocolate) and cream in a microwave-safe container, and heat for approximately 90 seconds. Remove from the microwave, and stir until the mixture becomes smooth and dark brown; you're simply making a basic ganache.

5) Spoon the hot ganache into the cooled crust, and sprinkle the nuts on top.

6) Refrigerate the pie for at least 1 hour, probably 2, until the ganache has firmed up.

7) While the pie is chilling, make the topping. Bring the sugar, salt, and cranberry juice to a boil.

8) Stir in the dried cranberries, and simmer for about 5 minutes.

9) Add the fresh or frozen cranberries, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 7 minutes, until some of the berries have burst.

10) Remove the cranberries from the heat, spoon into a bowl, and chill.

11) To finish assembling the pie: Spoon 1 1/2 cups cranberry sauce atop the fudge/nut filling. Chill until ready to serve.

Peach Crisp with Maple Cream Sauce, and a song

When Becky and I were growing up, our family went on a lot of day trips.  On the car ride home, we always made up a song to the tune of "Zip-a-dee-doo-dah."  For instance:

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay!
We had a Jelly Belly Factory Day!
At Old Sacramento we almost went broke,
and at Budweiser we all got free Coke!

(Note: The over-21 crowd got free Bud, obviously.  But us young'uns were pretty darn excited about the free Coca-Cola. It smelled way better than beer.)

 

I got to go on a day trip with some new friends recently.  You know what's coming, right?

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay!
I went a-peach-pickin' last Saturday!
Hayrides and bubbles, ice cream and sun,
Who knew farm labor was so much fun?!

(Yes, I know that "sun" and "fun" are the boring-est words on the planet to rhyme.  But quality lyrics are not the point here.  The point is to be silly.  Be silly!)

Have you ever been peach picking?  No?  Well then today's your lucky day!  I happen to have some photos from our outing.  I'll take you on a tour.

This is the peach orchard.

This is a just-picked peach.

This is a just-picked, half-eaten peach.  Yum.

 This is the adorable baby I got to go peach picking with.  Couldn't you just eat her up?! (Note: You should not actually eat her.  She is not a peach.)

 This is our (not yet) 20-pound bag of peaches.

And this, my friends, is what we made with (some of) that 20 pounds of peaches.

Peach Crisp with Maple Cream Sauce from The Pioneer Woman. It's ooey, it's gooey, it tastes like you went peach picking and maple-syrup gathering all in one day.

(Maple-syrup gathering - is that a thing? Can you do that? If so, someone please tell me where...I'm feeling another zip-a-dee-doo-dah coming on already.)

If you don't have a peach orchard near you, go pick some peaches from your local market and make this peach crisp right away. You'll be very glad you did.  And if you happen to write a song about it, please do share!

Peach Crisp with Maple Cream Sauce
from The Pioneer Woman
Makes 8 servings

• 5 to 6 whole fresh peaches (best when not overly ripe or soft)
• 1 cup flour
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
• ½ lemon
• 7 tbsp real maple syrup, divided
• 1-½ cups whipping cream
• 3 tbsp light corn syrup

For topping:
1. In a medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, light brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt using a fork or pastry blender. Cut butter into small pieces and gradually add to flour mixture until evenly mixed.

For filling:
2. Peel and slice peaches into a bowl. Add the zest from half a lemon. Squeeze juice from lemon half and stir in with peaches and zest. Add 2 tablespoons real maple syrup to peaches; stir well.

3. Pour peach mixture into a small pan (8” or 9” square) and cover evenly with crumb topping.

4. Cover with foil and bake at 350ºF for 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 20 to 30 minutes or until crisp and brown on top. (I baked mine for about 40 minutes after the foil came off.)

For Maple Cream Sauce:
5. Pour whipping cream into a saucepan. Add 5 tablespoons real maple syrup, 3 tablespoons corn syrup, and stir over moderate heat until thickened and reduced by about one-third, approximately 15 minutes.

6. Refrigerate mixture until it is cold and thick, or set the saucepan into a small bowl of ice.  Stir the mixture until cool and thickened, about 15 minutes (ice will melt and turn into ice water).

Drizzle sauce over peach crisp. Serve warm.

Star Hand Pies

I can't really think of anything more American than pie, can you?

So when we were invited to a BBQ this Independence Day weekend we knew whatever we brought had to involve pie.  So we spent an evening making these:

Mmmm...Peach Pie Bars - they look good, don't they?

Problem was that they weren't.  They were bland.  They didn't pack any punch, and on a holiday where exploding things are the main attraction, we wanted whatever we brought to generate at least one or two oooo's and aahhhh's.  It's only right.

I'd been wanting to try Bakerella's Pie Pops for some time; I even had all the ingredients on hand.  Star-shaped pies on a stick - sounds fabulous, doesn't it?

Problem was that they weren't.  Or, better said, they might have been, had I been able to get them to stay on the sticks.

But no matter.  I pulled the sticks out of the first two sheets, and for the last sheet, just baked them without the sticks.  And off to the BBQ we went.

I'm not sure they got oooo's and aahhh's exactly, but in their defense, they had some stiff competition in the form of blueberry pavlova and lemon-lime cheesecake.  What can we say? We love to bake, and so do all our friends.  It's a rough life.

You can make these from scratch, or if you're in a pinch like we were, all you need is a box of refrigerated pie crust, a can of pie filling, an egg, and some sprinkling sugar (or even just regular sugar).

Happy Fourth, everyone!

-Katie

Star Hand Pies
inspired by Bakerella's Pie Pops
1 box double-crust pie dough makes approximately 20 hand pies

Dough for one double-crust pie (our favorite recipe here)
-or-
1 box Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust (the kind that's rolled up, not already in a pie tin)

Homemade pie filling
-or-
1 can pie filling, any flavor

1 egg white, lightly beaten
Sparkling sugar

1.  If pie crust is frozen, remove from freezer and allow to thaw for 15-20 minutes.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2.  Sprinkle flour on your work surface and roll out pie crust to 1/8 inch thick.  Flip dough, sprinkling with more flour as needed.

3.  Use star cookie cutter to cut shapes and place on cookie sheets*.  They can be fairly close together since these don't spread much.  Feel free to re-roll the scraps to make your dough go further, though re-rolling more than once may make the crust a little tough.

4.  Place 1 teaspoon filling in the middle of each star.  Place second star cutout on top.

5.  Using a fork, gently press around edges to seal top and bottom stars together.  Don't sweat it if pie filling oozes out a bit.

6.  With a pastry brush, gently brush each star with beaten egg white, then sprinkle with sugar.  Bake for 12-14 minutes or until tops begin to brown.   If filling oozed out, take a toothpick or knife and run along edges of star to separate from oozed-out filling. 

7.  Remove stars from parchment and allow to cool on wire racks, or slide entire sheet of parchment onto cooling rack (you should change parchment for each batch anyway, otherwise later batches will stick to the melted sugar from previous batches).

*We used the second-smallest cookie cutter in this set.

Chocolate Lemon Graham Creations

Don't you just love it when you have an idea, and you try it, and it works?!

On Wednesday night, I was feeling culinarily creative. (Yes, I made that word up - culinarily. It's the adverb form of the adjective culinary. Take note, Mr. Webster - I think it's a keeper.)

This urge to be creative in a culinary way was new to me - usually I follow recipes to a T. But on Wednesday night I felt inspired and spontaneous. I felt like grabbing the first ingredients I saw and seeing where they took me, no matter where I (or they) ended up. (Maybe I've been watching Chopped a bit too often...) And guess what? I made something rather delicious. My creations may not have been gourmet, and the recipe surely isn't perfect, but for me, it's a victory, culinarily-speaking!

My main inspiration for the chocolate-lemon-graham creations below was the famous fruit dip recipe that's been a staple at family BBQ's ever since I can remember. And it was a great way to put an end to some of those half-used ingredients that were falling out of our kitchen cabinets, crowding our countertops, and freezing beyond defrosting in the fridge. Here's to creating culinarily!


Chocolate Lemon Graham Creations
Recipe by Becky

My recipe made 9 graham cracker sandwiches and two mini pies, with a generous amount of leftover filling. That was no problem - it was awesome right out of the bowl.

1 8 oz. package cream cheese
1/3 jar marshmallow fluff (approx. 1/2 cup)
zest and juice of one lemon
1/2 tsp lemon extract
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup chocolate chips
1 tbs whole milk or cream
graham crackers and/or mini graham cracker pie shells

For graham cracker sandwiches:

1. Mix marshmallow fluff and cream cheese on medium speed until creamy.

2. Add confectioners' sugar, zest, lemon juice, and lemon extract. Mix until thoroughly combined. Set aside.

3. Place chocolate chips in microwave safe bowl and heat for 30 seconds. Add milk, stir, and heat for 30 more seconds. Stir until chocolate is melted and fully combined. Allow to cool for a few minutes.

4. Spread approximately 1 tablespoon lemon filling onto graham cracker. Top with second graham cracker.

5. Dip sandwich in melted chocolate or decorate as desired. Place on cookie sheet lined with wax paper to cool. Repeat with remaining graham crackers.

6. Place cookie sheet in freezer until filling thickens slightly, about one hour.

For mini pies, complete steps 1-3 as above, then:

1. Spread thin layer of chocolate on inside of pie shell and place in freezer to harden, about 15 minutes.

2. Spoon 3 heaping tablespoons of lemon filling into pie shell. Place in freezer to allow lemon filling to thicken, about one hour.

3. Decorate with chocolate chips as desired.

Notes:
Due to the lemon extract, the filling had a bitter aftertaste to me. Next time, I will omit the extract and use the zest and juice of two lemons instead. (Extracts are usually used in recipes that call for baking, which allows some of the alcohol in the extract to burn off and eliminates this bitter aftertaste. That's my theory, at least.)

Also, the general consensus among me, Katie, and the Music Man was that the ratio of graham to lemon to chocolate in the graham cracker sandwiches was much better than the ratio in the mini pies. What can we say, we love our good ol' fashioned graham crackers!