I love food. I will not deny it.
Christmas is a time surrounded by family making the menu for the special eve. Spices and sugar and hazy half recipes rotating through one hundred hands. Kids licking the baking bowl with the left over chocolate cake mixture.
This is probably one of my favourite parts of this time of the year. The coming together.
And what better way to combine stories with taste that to explore some recipes from or inspired from adored novels?
Here are some of the recipes that I found or created that for me capture the spirit of those stories with an orange or sour or even salty sweetness.
1. Butterbeer from the Harry Potter series
This one is a classic. Butterbeer is probably the most known recipe from one of the classic-to-be fantasy series. and I really want to try it out. While finding these recipes I got really exited to make this one because it is truly iconic (I am thinking about doing a post that is "Eating only book recipes for a whole day", let me know if it is something you want to see).
Prep Time:30 minutes Cook Time:0 minutes Serves:10
Ingredients
2 litres of cream soda
1/4 tsp of caramel extract or caramel syrup.
1/2 tsp of butter
1 tsp of dark brown sugar
1/2 cup of rum (can be substituted or removed).
1/4 tsp of vanilla extract
For the Cream Topping:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup butterscotch topping
1/4 cup powdered sugar
Cinnamon
Instructions
1.In large mixing bowl, whip heavy cream until fluffy.
2.Add butterscotch topping and powdered sugar, make some start shaped cinnamon on top for fun.
3.Heat to a boil the caramel with the butter, dark brown sugar, sun and vanilla extract and with the cream soda.
4.Top with butterscotch cream topping.
5.Serve with a dash of cinnamon and hot!
ENJOY!
2.Christmas flaming Chocolate Pudding from the Harry Potter series
This one is a must at this time of the year. Chocolate is the best flavour and this one is a flaming one! Are you ready for such a hot dessert? (See what I did there? I will show myself out).
Prep Time:50 minutes Cook Time:30 minutes Serves:12
Ingredients
1 tsp of nutmeg or cinnamon 4 tsp of mixed spice 1 grated apple 1tbsp of golden syrup Cup of almonds
Cup of dried cranberries
130 dark chocolate melted 220g of dark brown sugar 250g of butter 4 eggs 130g of self-raising flour 130g of flour 50mL brandy (if you want a flaming pudding)
Instructions
1. Soak apple, dried cranberries, spices, syrup and almonds in rum overnight.
2. Cream butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time. Mix the flours together.
3. Mix everything but the fruit and spice mix. Add the chocolate.
4.Add the fruit and spice mix to a pudding dish.
5.Cover the basin with a layer of "greaseproof paper" and foil, both pleated in the middle to allow for any expansion. 6. Tie securely with a string and cut off any excess with scissors. 7. To boil, place a metal jam-jar lid (or small plate) upside-down in the middle of a large pot. Place your pudding basin onto this "trivet," and pour in enough boiling water to come about 1/3 up the sides of the pudding bowl.
7.Cover with a lid and bring the water back to a boil. Simmer for about 7 hours. The pudding should be a lovely deep brown colour. Add more water to the pot as necessary to maintain the level.
8. If you want a flaming pudding, gently warm the brandy in a small saucepan. Remove from the heat and, being very careful not to burn yourself, hold a lighted match to the brandy. It should ignite with a blue flame. Pour over the pudding. Serve with custard, rum butter, ice-cream and thick cream.
ENJOY!
3.Ichabod’s Slapjacks from the Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day or at least that is the legend. But mixing another very tasty legend here we have the "slapjacks" from the Legend of Sleepy hollow.
“Farther on he beheld great fields of Indian corn, with its golden ears peeping from hasty pudding; and the yellow pumpkins lying beneath them, turning up their fair round bellies to the sun, and giving ample prospects of the most luxurious of pies; and anon he passed the fragrant buckwheat fields, breathing the odor of the beehive, and as he beheld them, soft anticipations stole over his mind of dainty slapjacks, well buttered and garnished with honey or treacle, by the delicate little dimpled hand of Katrina Van Tassel.”
Prep Time:10 minutes Cook Time:20 minutes Serves:8
Ingredients
1/4 tsp of caramel extract if wanted.
1/2 tsp of butter
1 tsp of dark brown sugar
1 cup of self-raising flour
1/4 tsp of vanilla extract
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Honey
1/4 tsp of orange juice
3 eggs
Instructions
1. Mix the flour with the sugar. Beat the eggs. Melt the butter.
2.Mix the eggs with the caramel extract, the orange juice, the vanilla extract and the melted butter.
3.Mix all ingredients making sure not to let any grains form.
4. Add the nutmeg and cinnamon to taste.
5.Use the batter to create fluffy "slapjacks" in a heated pan coated in butter.
6.Serve hot with honey on top.
ENJOY!
4.Winter Hot chocolate with honey from the Starless Sea
This is a recipe that I created from my current favourite book which is The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. When creating this I thought of how well this beverage and these flavours would go with the vibe of this novel. For me it would be amazing to just sit with a book by the honey sea and drink this marvellous hot chocolate.
Prep Time:10 minutes Cook Time:0 minutes Serves:1
Ingredients
1/4 cup of melted white chocolate
1/2 cup of almond milk
1/2 tsp of brown sugar
1/4 tsp of vanilla extract
1/2 tsp of heated honey
Dash of salt
Miniature marshmallows, sweetened whipped cream or cinnamon sticks, optional
Instructions
1.Heat the almond milk and the melted white chocolate. Bring almost to a boil but be careful of spill. Mix it well together to a creamy consistency.
2.Add the brown sugar and the honey and mix together until dissolved. Add the vanilla extract and salt.
3. Serve with miniature marshmallows, sweetened whipped cream or cinnamon sticks. Serve hot.
ENJOY!
Hi!
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