Knickerbocker Glory

You all tired from staying up to watch the midnight showing Harry Potter? I am, but it was so so worth it! Now that the series is over you are going to need to console yourself with some ice cream! So what better ice cream treat to have than the lavish knickerbocker glory from the first book?

"They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first," (Rowling 26).

So the name knickerbocker, is what they used to call the Dutch in New England or you may know it as a type of pants. So the name originated in America, but nobody really knows what's up with the English stealing it for an ice cream sundae.

This is another easy one to make and it's kind of go with the flow like the trifle was.

1. Get a tall glass (like the type traditionally used to serve milk shakes).
2. Chop fruit into small slices or pieces. Ideally use colorful fruits like peaches, grapes, strawberries, melon or banana. Place these in the base of the glass.
3. Add three scoops of ice cream on top of the fruit. A minimum 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream is the usual amount.
4. Pour a fruit sauce over the ice cream - Melba (peach) sauce is traditional. Many other recipes call for Jell-O or jelly to put in the middle instead.
   
5. Top this with thick whipped cream.
   • Put a cherry on top and add an ice cream wafer. Other toppings could include nuts or more fruit sauce. I added a Starburst on top, but I had them and I like them, don't judge me.
     
6. Serve chilled along with a long ice cream spoon and a large napkin.

I adapted this recipe from here.

I used fresh peaches and peach Jell-O in the middle of mine, it tastes excellent!

A toast to the Boy Who Lived who helped shape our childhoods, cheers!

Chocolate Frogs and Peppermint Toads

So when you first think of candy in Harry Potter, you probably think of Chocolate Frogs and with the final movie coming out you’re going to need to bring a supply to the theater. I'm going to have mine with me at midnight tomorrow! I'm really excited, I'm currently watching the first half of Deathly Hallows in preparation.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

"What are these?" Harry asked Ron, holding up a pack of Chocolate Frogs. "They're not REAL frogs, are they?" (Rowling 102).

Hogwarts train scene part with chocolate frogs, 1:17-1:55. Oh the first movie, classic.

Chocolate Frogs Recipe:

It’s really simple, just follow the melting directions on your bag of chocolate, whether you choose to use the microwave or double boiler.

Spoon it or pipe it into the molds with a plastic bag. You don’t have to put it in super nicely, it’s melty and if you pick it up and drop it gently and it will fill in everywhere.

Cool it for at least 15 minutes in the fridge and then you should be able to pop them out. You might need to shave little extra edges off with a knife. Note: make sure your kitchen isn't really warm or else the chocolate gets melty. Then look at all the yummy chocolate shavings in the bowl!

**Don’t melt too much chocolate at once, you can’t just melt it and cool it over and over all willy-nilly. Also you should know that I made that scarf, yeah I'm pretty awesome.

Peppermint Toads make their first appearance in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I was skeptical at first because I was afraid that I'd end up putting in way too much peppermint, but it had a nice subtle flavor with a pleasant after-taste. "Peppermint creams shaped like toads ('hop realistically in the stomach!')" (Rowling 197). Sorry my toads, don't jump, let me know if you can figure that out.

Peppermint Toads Recipe:

frog or toad chocolate candy mold
white chocolate candy melts
peppermint candy flavoring oil, 2 drops did it for me
chocolate chips or other chocolate (optional)

You can use food coloring to make the white candy melts any color you'd like, since green would be appropriate. OR you can buy some of the white and green melting chocolate to use together.
Melt the chocolate according to the instructions.
Use a toothpick to add peppermint oil drop by drop until you have the desired taste. Be careful, since the peppermint oil is VERY strong!
Spoon the flavored chocolate mixture into the candy mold and let harden in the refrigerator.
When solid, pop out your toads and add the eyes with a small paintbrush and melted chocolate chips.

Look at them, they're so cute! Sorry I forgot to dye my toads green, oh well.

Trifle

Hey! It's Anna, back to give you the first of many Harry Potter dessert recipes. Trifle is mentioned in several books. The first time is in Sorcerer's Stone, at the start of term feast.
"A moment later the desserts appeared. Blocks of ice cream in every flavor you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate éclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, Jell-O, rice pudding..." (Rowling 125).
I have a copy of Sorcerer's Stone, like most of you, but in Philosopher's Stone (the British version), instead of Jell-O they say jelly in the UK. The British don't use jam and jelly interchangeably like we do, jam and jelly is jam to them and jelly for them is Jell-O for us. Everything clear as mud now? Good, today we're going to focus on trifle, not Jell-O. I don't know about you guys, but I really like chocolate, so we are going to look at a chocolate trifle recipe.

Ingredients
**Note: You can easily substitute many of these ingredients for something similar, or even add ingredients it doesn't call for like strawberries, get creative! There's already brownies in it, you pretty much can't go wrong!

• 1 (19.8 ounce) package brownie mix
• 1 (3.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix (try cheesecake pudding mix for fun)
  
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed. Feel free to substitute French Vanilla flavored Cool Whip, or even just use whipping cream in it's place.
  
• 1 (12 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 1 (1.5 ounce) bar chocolate candy, or use chocolate chips, or chop up some candy bars instead
  

1. Prepare brownie mix according to package directions and cool completely. (I know, I know, smelling those warm brownies right from the oven and not letting you eat them is really mean, but it'll be worth it I promise.) Cut into 1 inch squares.
2. In a large bowl, combine pudding mix, water and sweetened condensed milk. Mix until smooth, then fold in 8 ounces whipped topping until no streaks remain.
3. In a trifle bowl or glass serving dish, place half of the brownies, half of the pudding mixture and half of the 12 ounce container of whipped topping. Repeat layers. Shave chocolate onto top layer for garnish. Refrigerate 8 hours before serving.

Here's my own personal trifle, I added some caramel in the middle and a peanut butter cup on top. My family loved being able to personalize their own cup, but we're all wishing we weren't out of milk! Enjoy!

Pumpkin Pasties

Tonight is the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1!  I am beyond excited.  I'm leaving in soon with some friends to go wait in line outside of the theaters.  Midnight couldn't come soon enough!

As a treat to munch on while we're waiting in line for hours, I made pumpkin pasties.

Cornish pasties (the ‘a’ is pronounced like the ‘a’ in ‘crash’ or ‘at’) are a common treat in Britain. They are basically beef stew packed into a flaky, folded-over pie crust.  They are delicious and portable, which is awesome.  You might be picturing hot pockets right now, but I assure you, pasties are way better.   I got to try one in Oxford for lunch while I was strolling through the town, and I think it was among my favorite English foods.

Pumpkin pasties are J.K. Rowling’s invention, so there’s no particular recipe to go with them.  But if you think about it, it’s logical to assume that they are like pumpkin pie, only in a pocket.  So basically, they’re destined to be delicious.

Pumpkin pasties are first mentioned in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (or Philosopher’s Stone in England), when Rowling describes Harry’s first experience on the Hogwarts Express.  The food trolley rolls up to Harry and Ron’s compartment, and “a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said, ‘Anything off the cart, dears?’” (Rowling 101).  From there, Harry beholds a cornucopia of Wizarding treats.

He had never had any money for candy with the Dursley’s, and now that he had pockets rattling with gold and silver he was ready to buy as many Mars Bars as he could carry – but the woman didn’t have Mars Bars.  What she did have were Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans, Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice Wands, and a number of other strange things Harry had never seen in his life.  Not wanting to miss anything, he got some of everything and paid the woman eleven silver Sickles and seven bronze Knuts.

Ron stared as Harry brought it all back in to the compartment and tipped it onto an empty seat.

“Hungry, are you?”

“Starving,” said Harry, taking a large bite out of a pumpkin pasty. (Rowling 101)

Pumpkin Pasties were Harry’s first taste of the Wizarding World.  Will they be yours, too?

Pumpkin Pasties

Recipe courtesy of Britta.com

Makes about 2 dozen miniature pasties.

2 eggs, slightly beaten
2/3 cup sugar
1 1 lb. can pumpkin
½  tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
½  tsp. ginger
¼  tsp. cloves
1 2/3 cups evap. milk (1 can)
½  tsp. allspice

¼ tsp nutmeg

9 oz pie crust pastry (enough for two single standard pie crusts)

Add all ingredients except for the pie crust into a mixing bowl.  Beat the filling ingredients together until consistent.  Bake the pie filling in a large casserole dish in hot oven (425 degrees) for 15 minutes. Keep oven door closed and reduce temp to moderate (350 degrees F/180 degrees Celsius) and continue baking for 45 minutes or until table knife inserted in center of dish comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.

Adding evaporated milk (not to be confused with sweetened condensed milk)

Pre-bake

Post-bake

Make or purchase pie crust pastry. Roll thin on lightly floured wax paper and cut into circles approx 4" in diameter. Put a spoonful of the cool pumpkin mixture towards one side of the center of the circle. Fold over the crust into a half-circle and firmly crimp the edges closed (This is sort of a pain.  Be prepared for a mess). Slice three small slits in the top for venting and place on a well-greased cookie sheet.  (I also coated some of them with my leftover egg wash from the treacle tart and then sprinkled some sugar on the top).  Bake at 400 F only until crust is a light golden-brown (about 15 minutes). Serve at room temperature so you don’t have to worry about people burning their mouths.

I rerolled the dough I bought.  It was thinner and more even that way.

I used a lid, not a cookie cutter, because it was 4 " in diameter.

I held them in my hands when I filled them, and then folded them like a taco.

Egg wash

Sprinkling sugar

Pre-bake

Post-bake

And here are Barrett and Brandon enjoying them as well.  Brandon is faceless in this picture, but he enjoyed them!

Okay, I've got to go watch the movie! *squeals with excitement*  Cheers, mates!