Harry Potter-inspired recipes for your Deathly Hallows Part Two bash

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Harry Potter Movie Marathon Birthday Party

Non-Harry Potter fans, I apologize. HARRY POTTER FANS: ARE YOU READY?!?!?

You guys realize the final Harry Potter movie opens in the US tonight/tomorrow, right? I mean, I’ll be there at 12:05AM, prematurely crying my eyes out, silently hoping that they fucking nailed Neville’s character and finally gave him his due (…since the entire film series has basically SHUT HIM OUT /endrant), getting chills and waiting for (SEMI-SPOILER!) Dumbledore to utter some sweet, magical goodness at the end, and for Harry to OWN THAT SHIT… wait. What am I supposed to be talking about?

I know a lot of people planning some kind of celebration before going to see the film. Personally, I felt like we were doing enough just by getting a baby-sitter to watch Jasper while we indulge in some midnight film goodness, but then I started thinking: why not combine two of my greatest loves (food and Harry Potter) and have a mini-feast? So now we’re having a Harry Potter-themed food party, and if you’re in into the idea, here are a few treats to try!

Drinks: Butterbeer and more

Of COURSE you have to at least attempt Butterbeer — what Harry Potter-themed party would be complete without it? You have to toast and send off Harry & co. appropriately!

HOT Butterbeer

Ingredients:

  • 1 litre cream soda (0.264172052 US gallons)
  • 2-3 tbsp butter
  • 2-3 tbsp brown sugar
  • 200ml single cream
  • 4 or 5 Werther’s Originals

Steps:

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  1. Put the cream soda in a pan to boil.
  2. Melt the butter and sugar together until the sugar has dissolved.
  3. Pour the butter and sugar mixture into the pan of boiling cream soda (make sure the soda is boiling, or the butter and sugar will solidify).
  4. Add the cream.
  5. Add the Werther’s Originals and stir continuously until they melt.
  6. Serve hot.

NOTE: You can also add a couple of shots of Butterscotch Schnapps for that extra kick!

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - a toast to the giant Butterbeer cart keg

COLD Butterbeer

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup butterscotch schnapps
  • 7 cups cream soda (almost one 2 liter bottle)

Steps:

  1. Carefully mix just before serving, adding the schnapps to the soda then stirring gently to mix well, or the fizz will dissipate too soon.
  2. Serve in beer mugs and enjoy!

And hey… if you’re looking for something a wee bit harder, give this alcoholic version a try!

Harry Potter

Pumpkin Juice

Ingredients:
2 cups of pumpkin, chopped up into chunks
2 cups of apple juice
½ cup of pineapple juice
1 teaspoon of honey (more or less to your liking)

Steps:

  1. Juice the pumpkin pieces by squeezing through a cheesecloth or using a juicer if you have one.
  2. Pour the pumpkin juice, apple juice and pineapple juice into a blender.
  3. Add the honey (we recommend you start with one teaspoon, as you can add some later!) to the juices and blend thoroughly.
  4. Chill your pumpkin juice or serve iced and enjoy!

Accessories: candy wands and other oddities

Photo by BettyCrocker.com.

Licorice Wands

Ingredients:
6 ounces vanilla-flavored candy coating (almond bark), chopped
24 licorice twists (any flavor)
Sprinkles!

Steps:

  1. Place candy coating in 2-cup microwavable measuring cup. Microwave uncovered on High 1 minute to 1 minute 30 seconds, stirring every 15 seconds, until melted.
  2. Dip half of each licorice twist into melted candy coating. Sprinkle with candy sprinkles. Place on waxed paper about 1 hour or until coating is firm.

Toothflossing Stringmints

Ingredients:
1 Egg White (buy ready pasteurised egg white from the shop, rather than just using raw eggs)
12 oz Icing Sugar (powdered sugar)
3 drops Peppermint Essence
Liquorice Laces

Steps:

  1. Whisk egg white until frothy.
  2. Beat in sugar and essence.
  3. Knead well.
  4. Shape into spheres by rolling between palms.
  5. Wrap in liquorice laces.
  6. Cool in fridge.

Desserts

Cauldron Cakes

Cauldron Cakes

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup softened butter or 1/2 cup softened margarine
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ginger

Steps:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Mix eggs, sugar, butter,cinnamon, ginger, and vanilla in large mixing bowl on whip for 2 minutes.
  3. Mix other solid ingredients and milk in gradually in the large mixing bowl.
  4. Put batter in muffin tins (DO NOT FILL TO HIGH THESE CAKES SHOULD BE SEMI-FLAT). Bake 25 minutes.
  5. Decorate with sprinkles and frosting if desired.

Fun note: These cakes go well with honey, and you could even serve them in these super cute (and super cheap) mini cauldrons!

Photo used courtesy of MuggleNet.

Rock Cakes

Ingredients:
8 oz/ 225g self rising flour
1 tsp double action baking powder (US) or 1 tsp baking powder (UK)
4 oz/110g soft butter or margarine
2 oz/ 55g granulated sugar
4 0z/ 110g mixed dried fruit
2 oz/ 55g currants
1 medium egg
1 – 3 tbsp milk
Demerara sugar for sprinkling
Oil for greasing

Steps:

  1. Heat the oven to 400F/200C/Gas 6
  2. Sieve the flour and baking powder into a large baking bowl, add the softened butter or margarine, and lightly rub together with fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
  3. Add the sugar and the dried fruit and mix so all ingredients are well incorporated.
  4. Add the egg and 1 tbsp of the milk and mix to create a stiff dough. If the mixture is still dry add milk a tbsp at a time until required consistency.
  5. Lightly grease two baking sheets.
  6. Using a tablespoon divide the mixture into 12 mounds evenly spaced on the 2 baking sheets. Sprinkle with the demerara sugar.
  7. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 mins or until golden brown and well risen.

Now go forth, children! May your Harry Potter party be everything you want it to be and more. If you’re still looking for more cooking ideas, a quick Google search will glean many results, or you can pick up a copy of any number of unofficial Harry Potter cookbooks. If you have a favorite Harry Potter-inspired dish, leave the how-tos below!

If you’re interested in making a few of these but wondering what you can substitute for to make the treats a little more health-friendly, check out the MayoClinic’s guide to ingredient substitution!

About the Author: Stephanie Kaloi

I was the editor of the now-defunct Offbeat Families, and owner/photographer at Stephanie Kaloi Photography in Portland, OR.

Comments on Harry Potter-inspired recipes for your Deathly Hallows Part Two bash

  1. These are so tasty-looking. I want hot butterbeer.

    Won’t be hitting the midnight show tonight — husband wants to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for work tomorrow. BUT YOU! HAVE FUN! 🙂

  5. Oh oh! I had a Harry Potter party for the final book release, um… a million years ago.

    Here are some pictures! http://www.flickr.com/photos/30507276@N00/sets/72157604223749293/with/825270632/

    My mom made “Cockroach Clusters” which were those peanut butter and oatmeal no-bake cookies. We squashed them flat so they were more cockroachy.

    I also made Chocolate Frogs and Peppermint Toads. The frogs were those chocolate wafers from the candy making section at Michaels that I melted and poured into a mold. The Peppermint Toads were the same mold only I used white chocolate and a bit of peppermint oil.

    There were also pretzel wands, which were those big pretzel sticks dipped halfway in white chocolate to make handles.

    We also played Trivia Quidditch which is not a recipe but I was proud of it anyway. The two teams took turns answering a trivia question. If they got it right they reached into a bag and pulled out a marble. A red marble was a Quaffle and they got ten points. A black marble was a Bludger and they got no points and the other team could steal and try to answer. If they picked the single yellow marble, that was the Snitch and they got 150 points and ended the game. Somehow we ran out of questions before anyone found the snitch!

    Oh, and then we had a Bertie Botts gross flavor eating contest. Only three people made it to vomit.

  6. Chocolate Frogs are also a cinch, and *really* popular. (Note: You can find frog molds easily on Amazon, but if you don’t have them on-hand, they may be a little tricky to get before a party tomorrow. Google “chocolate frog mold” and you’ll find plenty of options; calling your local craft stores or cake-decorating shops may or may not work.)

    For trivially easy frogs, acquire candy melt (in colors or chocolate flavor), melt according to bag directions, put in molds, chill.

    For Frogs of Frelling Awesome:

    – Get some colored cocoa butter (online), candy melt (craft store), or luster dust in fun colors. Apply to the inside of your frog mold in splotches, stripes, or poison-frog patterns.

    – Temper good chocolate. (Directions abound, but I prefer to melt >1 lb of chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl by heating for 30 seconds, stirring for at least 30 seconds, repeat until about 1/2 to 2/3 melted, then stirring until smooth.) Optionally, add flavorings: spices (pretty much any!), crushed cookies, chopped dried fruit, nuts, extracts or flavoring oils. (Note that in white chocolate, you can get cool frog appearances just from the fillings; cranberries, for example, will give you a pink-spotted frog.) Put into molds, let set.

    – If you’re feeling really crafty, grab some movie photos from Google and make collectible wizard cards! You can print these easily using punch-out badge holder inserts, acquirable at Staples… or just card stock and a paper cutter. The Internet will also provide you with chocolate frog card texts. (This project is for personal use only, obviously; if you want to avoid copyright issues, create your own art and text.)

  8. I cant wait!!!! My theater is having a double feature, part 1 and then the premiere of part 2!! We arent doing any kind of foods or anything tonight but as soon as the movies are all available we are going to have a 2 (or 3) part marathon theme party! that will be our last hurrah.

  9. You know the licorice wands should be made of Red Vines.
    RED VINES, WHAT CAN’T THEY DO?

    (also, must resist the spoiling! timezones mean it’s been 34 hours since i saw our NZ midnight showing so HURRY UP U.S. SO I CAN TALK TO PEOPLE AGAIN OMG)

      • Exactly. Vacantmuse’s comment made me smile, thinking how wonderful it is to have people from the international scene!
        I’ll just admit right now that there has never been a midnight showing in my life – I’m one of those ‘never could stay up late’ kids. I also stopped going to Harry Potter movies in theatres after the original (and authentic) Dumbledore actor died… I also had a difficult time with the change in directors and movie styles. Now I wait patiently and watch it at home. My hubby won’t even watch them anymore because of how dark/depressing it can be.

      • if i had one i totally would have! i spazzed when i saw clips of Darren and Joe at the London premiere. FANDOM IS AWESOME. Sadly, had i stood up and yelled that Hufflepuffs are particularly good finders i doubt anyone in my cinema would have got it. le sigh.

  10. I’m flippin excited! No party planned, just a date night w/ my dear friend. Our husbands both have to work early in the morning so we’re being selfish and going together while they sleep/watch the kidlets. Is that wrong???
    Probably.
    But come on it’s Harry Friggin Potter. And I haven’t missed a midnight premiere since I was allowed to stay out past midnight!

  11. My good friend and I decided way back when the 2nd movie came out and we ditched our college classes to sleep in the morning after, that we wouldn’t be grown-ups until the last Harry Potter movie came out. It seemed so far away at the time. And now, years later I suppose we are finally grown up. However, no one is too grown up to try homemade butterbeer recipes and have a HP midnight-bawl fest. Sqwwweeeeee!

  12. Oh, man! If only I’d read this sooner. I’d totally be having this party right now. I am, at least, making it to a 12:30am showing. Will now have to come up with an excuse to have a killer HP party.

  13. On-topic, I prefer using root beer instead of cream soda in butterbeer recipes. I had a Harry Potter party a while back and my friends generally didn’t like the butterbeer because of the cream soda. Also, I’ve found that for a quick and easy butterbeer, make a rootbeer float with caramel ice cream. OOH YES.

    Off-topic: SHIT GUYS I SAW IT YESTERDAY AND COULDN’T STOP CRYING. My face was having seizures because I wouldn’t let myself gasp-cry in front of all those people. Snape. Gawd. TT_TT

  14. Ariel, how did you feel about Neville’s character in the movie? I think they finally made up for shutting him out of the other movies. I thought it was bad-ass (not as bad-ass as he is in the books but…) 🙂

  16. I made Gryffindor cupcakes for the premiere! Just a basic vanilla cupcake, with the batter colored gold and red, and topped with chocolate!
    They were very popular with my friends. 🙂

  17. I wish had seen this sooner!

    My friends and I went to see Harry Potter dressed as zombie versions of all the dead characters. Zombies and blood and Harry Potter in the back yard– but how could we forget the butterbeer!!!

  18. I desperately want a chocolate frog mold, but it turns out that I’d have to pay $80 shipping to get them to Britain. No one in the UK sells them. Siiiiigh. Another reason I wish I was ‘Merican.

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