Butterbeer Cupcakes

Image by jenni from the block via Flickr

(aka Part 2 of my Barking Mad Harry Potter Weekend)

In the week leading up to the “Deathly Hallows” premiere,the subject of  Butterbeer Cupcakes arose on Twitter.  This sounded like a recipe that I really needed to try.  Obviously premiere weekend was the perfect time to give it a go.  Friday afternoon I made sure that I had all of the needed ingredients.  Saturday after the movie I pulled up the recipe on my notebook computer, tied on my apron, and got to work!  Ginny started out helping me but somehow ended up drifting out of the kitchen.

I used this recipe, which looked easy enough but did prove to be a bit of a challenge for someone who has never filled cupcakes before.  Everything went smoothly (and, being a batter-eater, I must note that the batter is SO GOOD!)  until it was time to fill the cupcakes with the Butterbeer Ganache.  The recipe suggested doing this using a squeeze bottle.  I’ve seen empty squeeze bottles for sale, but when it came time to purchase one, I went to three different stores and couldn’t find one!  I decided that I would just use my  Tupperware Pastry Bag decorating kit -  which I had never used before (Danger, Will Rogers, Danger!!)

Unfortunately, I assumed that I was supposed to insert the pastry tip into the bag, then fill the bag with the ganache.  Actually, you are supposed to screw the tip onto the outside of the bag.  So, when I poured the ganache into the bag, it immediately started running out of the tip AND out from around the sides of the tip.  What. A. Mess.  I managed to insert the tip into the cupcakes but the whole process was really messy, drippy and sticky.  Maybe I should have waited until the ganache had cooled some?  I had expected it to make a little “filling” in the center of the cupcakes but it pretty much just got absorbed into the cupcakes, I’m not sure that it was even worth all the trouble.  Never having made ganache before or filled cupcakes before, I don’t have anything to go on.  If I made the cupcakes again I’d be tempted to skip this step, though I now have a squeeze bottle and would like to try again, using the squeeze bottle and a cooler ganache. 

After the ganache fiasco, I frosted the cupcakes and then drizzled more ganache over the tops of the cupcakes.  I did not think this procedure through beforehand and as I prepared to drizzle I realized that the cupcakes were on my cooling rack, meaning that any ganache that dripped off would be dripping right onto my counter (which already had enough ganache on it from the “filling”).  I’m not a good “clean as you go” cook/baker so I did not have much counter space available and decided to just leave them on the rack.  I put paper towels underneath to try to catch/absorb the drips. 

Here’s the finished product:

Muggle Mom’s Butterbeer Cupcakes

 

(Notice the ganache-drizzled paper towel underneath?  Ha ha.). Not works of art, but still visually appealing (in my opinion, anyway!).   Tastewise, they were quite delicious and everyone in the family loved them.  I’ll definitely make them again.  Also, there was almost  a cup of ganache left over and it tasted great warmed and drizzled over vanilla ice cream!!

 

PS – In case you’re interested, here’s my post about making Butterbeer:  http://realmugglemom.wordpress.com/2010/08/29/how-i-celebrated-harry-potters-birthday/

Related articles

• How-To: Harry Potter Butterbeer Glazed Cookies (craftzine.com)
• Butterbeer Cupcakes (lollipopsandlavender.wordpress.com)
• What Can You Do with Leftover Ganache? (alidoesit.wordpress.com)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Image via Wikipedia

(aka Part 1 of My Barking Mad Harry Potter Weekend)

Like all Potter fans I had really been looking forward to seeing “Deathly Hallows Part Two,’ and when it happened, wanted to do it right.  I started by watching some funny parody videos on YouTube.  Here are my faves, Tweet me a link if you know of some other good ones:

Harry Potter Friday Parody  by The Hillywood Show

Hallows Harry Potter Parody by iMandy

Like a G6 Parody (Like It’s Quidditch) by The Station (I think?)

I would have loved to have seen Part 1 in 3D immediately followed by Part 2 in 3D.  However, this option was only offered starting at 9:00 PM.  I wanted to be fully awake and alert for my viewing and preferred to go during the day.  Of course I pre-ordered our tickets – three (for Muggle Man, Ron, and myself) for Saturday afternoon.

Thursday I started a movie “countdown” by watching my “Order of the Phoenix” DVD.  Friday morning I picked up our tickets and that day I also watched “Half Blood Prince” and made sure I had all the ingredients to make Butterbeer Cupcakes.

Saturday morning Muggle Man and I watched “Deathly Hallows Part 1″ on DVD.  Ron and I donned our RIPT Apparel Limited Edition ‘Horcrux Collectors Club” Tees.”  We’d been saving them to wear to the movie!  I also had some Harry Potter-shaped 3-D glasses that I had ordered from the UK off eBay. 

Purely decorative “3-D” glasses

Unfortunately, when I tried them out at home they did not work.  I stuck them into my purse just in case, though. 

Our tickets were for the 2:00 3-D IMAX show.  We arrived at the theater about 1:15 PM.   There was already a line outside the IMAX theater, but at that point it wasn’t too bad.  There were maybe 30 people in front of us?  The way the line wrapped around, we were positioned in line right outside the theater door, with the first people in line between us and and the entrance.  I heard those people say that they had arrived at 12:45.  Several people commented on Ron’s & my T-shirts, and/or asked where we had gotten them.

A little after 1:45 they started letting people into the theater.  We tried to figure out the best spot to sit.  We knew we wanted to be in the middle but weren’t sure how far up or down to go.  The people who had been first in line were slightly to the side on one row so I suggested that we sit in the middle of that row,  next to them.  I figured if they had stood in line that long to get those seats they must be good, he he.  I was very interested in experiencing an IMAX movie since I’d only seen a couple before, at science museums.

The screen lit up with the first of a couple of trailers.  They were SO LOUD I could not believe it.  I would have brought ear plus if I had known.  Poor Ron, who is very sensitive to loud noises, had his fingers in his ears.  I remembered that I had some ear plugs in my purse from the Taylor Swift concert Ginny and I had attended recently so I gave them to Ron (wishing that I had more for me!).  Thankfully once the actual movie started, it was not quite as loud (or maybe my ear follicles had been dulled enough by then that it didn’t seem as loud?!).  I put on my British fake 3-D glasses just to be sure they didn’t work.  Nope.

The movie kept me enthralled the whole time (didn’t check watch, etc.).  The only distraction was the kid next to me wh osqueaked his drink straw up and down almost the entire frickin’ movie (grrrr  — Silencio!”).  The audience was pretty quiet for most of the movie, one funny incident was the first time Lord Voldemort appeared on the screen and a little voice said, “Got your nose!” 

 I was glad that I had remembered to stick some tissues into my purse as I spent at least the half hour of the movie blowing my nose and dabbing at my eyes.  I really liked Part 1 and had been worried that Part 2 would somehow be a letdown.  I think I also was worried that the majority of the movie would be a violent, bloody battle.  I was not disappointed at all and I thought that overall the battle was portrayed very well.  I really want to go see it again!

Related articles

• A Barking Mad Harry Potter Weekend (realmugglemom.wordpress.com)
• Scream! There’s a new Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows – Part 2 feature (heatworld.com)
• ‘Harry Potter’ stars say final scene was a challenge for the ages (herocomplex.latimes.com)

A Barking Mad Harry Potter Weekend

Image via Wikipedia

The weekend of the “Deathly Hallows 2″  premiere was a big weekend for many Harry Potter fans, and I was no exception.  Here’s how it went down:

• It started on Thursday, when I watched my “Order of the Phoenix” DVD.
• On Friday I watched  “Half Blood Prince” .
• Saturday morning, Muggle Man and I watched “Deathly Hallows” Part 1.  That afternoon he, Ron and I went to see “Deathly Hallows Part 2″ – in IMAX 3-D.  At home after the movie, I made Butterbeer Cupcakes.
• Sunday afternoon, I took Ginny and one of her friends to “Harry Potter Day” at the children’s museum.
• Monday afternoon, we went to see Harry & the Potters in concert!

What a weekend!  It was so awesome that I feel each event deserves it’s own blog post — Coming Soon!

Wordless Wednesday

Use What You Have Cooking

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Inspired by this post from Carrot’s ‘N’ Cake’s helpful “Grocery 101″ series, one of my goals is to get back into meal planning (more on why I stopped another time).  I want to focus more on using items that I already have on hand, rather than choosing recipes for which I have to purchase all-new ingredients (my usual modus operandi).  As I recently posted on Tumblr,  I started by going through my pantry and making a list of on hand items that might be used for recipes.  The items were:

Pesto

Tomato Sauce

Chocolate Syrup

Sundried Tomatoes

Artichocke Hearts

Canned Pumpkin

Various Pastas

Rice

Mini-Cheese Tortellini

Orzo

Oatmeal

Dates

Nutella

This afternoon I purchased some boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  I was planning to bake them but wasn’t sure exactly how.  I think in the back of my mind I was thinking of using the artichoke hearts in a recipe that calls for baking chicken breasts & artichoke hearts in balsamic vinaigrette dressing.  However, I didn’t have, nor did I purchase, the dressing (go figure?!).

I visited my favorite online recipe source, FoodNetwork.com.  The site has a feature where you can type in (an) ingredient(s) and it will suggest recipes.  I wasn’t sure how many ingredients you could put in, so I figured I’d start with several and shorten if necessary.  First I typed: “chicken pesto sundried tomato artichoke” and it took me to a recipe for crab cakes (?).  Next I tried “chicken pesto sundried tomato” and it gave me the previous recipe plus two more, neither of which contained chicken.  “Chicken pesto” provided a better list of results (so, I’ll be sure to just input one or two ingredients in the future). 

One recipe that caught my eye was “Gordon and Gary’s Pesto Chicken Quesadillas.”  I remembered that I had a pack of whole-wheat tortillas in the fridge, and I also had finely shredded parmesan cheese.  Since it was getting late and it was eleventy-billion degrees outside, I didn’t want us to have to grill the chicken.  BUT, I had some leftover chicken that was already cooked, seasoned, and cut into bite-sized pieces. 

I thought the quesadillas turned out really nicely.  The pesto, chicken and cheese tasted good together and the quesadilla added some textural interest.  The children didn’t seem to care for the quesadillas/pesto but they ate the chicken.  Muggle Man LOVED them and even Tweeted “Awesome dinner tonight” to me.  WIN!

Wordless Wednesday

Je commence `a lire Harry Potter en français

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The cover of the French version of Harry Potter

One item on my 43 Things list is to read Harry Potter in French (the first book, possibly the whole series?). A while back I purchased a copy of Harry Potter A L’Ecole des Sorciers but, as with many other things that I *wanted* to do (vs. things that I felt that I *should* do), I never got around to reading it. Now that I am working on doing things for me (rather than doing things because I think it’s what someone else wants or needs me to do), it’s time to start reading.

So far I’ve read the first chapter, Le Survivant (The Survivor – which seems to be the French equivalent to “The Boy Who Lived”). It’s pretty cool to read the book in another language, like getting a fresh look into a story that I already know so well.

Since I’m translating as I read I really have to pay attention to what I’m reading. There are quite a few words that I’m not sure that I remember correctly (it’s been a loooong time since I did much reading in French!), have to guess at, or don’t know at all. I’ve decided that I will read through each chapter once to get the flow of the story, then go back through and look up words that I’m unfamiliar with or want to double check. I’d like to keep track of these words so that I can have a little Harry Potter French-English Reference Sheet.

I’m also planning to record my progress in my blog – how much I’ve read, comparisons between the two versions, and any other comments I care to make. I’ll also note names and terms that are different from those used in the English books. For example, in the first chapter I found the following:

• Le Survivant = (The Survivor, aka The Boy Who Lived)
• Vous-Savez-Qui = You-Know-Who
• Les Moldus = Muggles
• l’Eteignoir = The Deluminator
• Madame Pomfresh = Madame Pomfrey

Another noteable difference is the name of the book. Rather than the British “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” or the American “Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone,” the French title translates to “Harry Potter at the School of Wizards.”

Have you read Harry Potter or any other favorite books in more than one language? Share your thoughts with me on Twitter @realmugglemom.

Related content:

Review by someone else who read the book