Pumpkin Juice – Harry Potter

Thoughts:

The color!

I perused a lot of various pumpkin juice recipes online before starting this post, but didn’t find any that really leapt out at me. The closest had apricot juice; I have never seen apricots and pumpkins ripe at the same time! So I swapped the apricot for some seasonally appropriate apple cider, and spiced to my own preference. I also did something with my pumpkin juice that I haven’t seen done elsewhere.

I let it ferment.

Not a lot, mind you, but just enough to give it a little fizz. The resulting juice is lightly sparkly, with subtle spicy ginger flavors overlaying the deeper pumpkin. Although it might seem that the juice is mostly apple cider, the pumpkin element is quite pronounced, enhanced by the cider, rather than overpowered by it.

It’s pretty awesome. :)

Pumpkin Juice Recipe

Roasting: 45 minutes Straining: 30 minutes Mixing: 10 minutes Optional fermenting: 2-4 days

Makes about 4 cups of juice

Cook’s Notes: Don’t throw away that puree once you’re done draining the juices! Use it as pumpkin pie filling, as in this 17th C. recipe.

Ingredients:

1 5 lb. sugar pumpkin
4 cups apple cider
1-2″ fresh ginger root, sliced thin
2 cinnamon sticks
pinch of cardamom

Slice the pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds and guts. Roast the pumpkin halves in the oven at 350F for at least 40 minutes, or until it is cooked all the way through, and soft.

Puree with the apple cider, skin and all, then pour, in batches, into a fine sieve suspended over a large bowl. Allow the pumpkin to drain, stirring occasionally to allow as much liquid as possible to drain out. Save the pumpkin for another recipe, such as Pumpkin Pie or Pumpkin Pasties.

Simmer with remaining ingredients until the flavors are melded, about 10 minutes. Serve warm or chilled.

If you would like a little natural fizz in your pumpkin juice, cover the bowl with a dishcloth and let sit for a couple of days. It will develop a cloudy, bubbly top, which indicates it is fermenting. Allow to ferment to taste, and serve room temperature or slightly chilled.

Pumpkin Pasties – Harry Potter

“Anything from the cart, dearies?”

–Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, by JK Rowling

Thoughts:

I had a pretty clear idea of what my version of Pumpkin Pasties should be. And now that it’s autumn, there was simply no resisting the tug of pumpkin-based recipes. More on those to come…

These pasties are delicious. Portable, yet moist, they can be easily enjoyed on a train, late summer picnic, lunchbox, or my favorite: slightly toasted for breakfast. With the cinnamon icing, it’s like a giant pumpkiny pop-tart, and I mean that in the very best way (like your 12 year old brain remembers them). It’s also a more straightforward recipe than some, which require double baking the filling.

Pair them with some cider, hot or cold, and they’re a must not only for your HP viewing parties, but also for all your autumnal gatherings.

Pumpkin Pasties Recipe

Prep: 15 minutes Baking: 10-15 minutes Cooling/icing: 30 minutes

Makes about 10-12 Pasties

Cook’s Notes: Although I wrote these directions for the pie mold I own, it’s easily adapted to suit what you have. See the notes at the very bottom of the post for details.

Ingredients for Crust:

3 cups flour
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
1 tsp. salt
1 egg yolk (save the white!)
1/4 cup sugar

Filling:

2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 1 lb. can pumpkin
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup dried currants

Icing:

1 egg white
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
water, if needed

Preheat your oven to 350F, and line a baking sheet with parchment.

Make your pastry dough: Mix together the dry ingredients. Rub in your butter, then add the egg yolk and enough cold water to bring the dough together. Set aside.

Mix the filling: Combine all ingredients until they are thoroughly mixed. Set aside.

Divide the pastry dough in half. Roll one half out to a thickness of about 1/4″. Use your cutter to cut out the desired shape. Fill with just enough filling that it won’t eek out the seams. Wet the edges with egg white, and cover with the top piece of pastry. Crimp the edges shut, and transfer the pit to the prepared baking sheet.

Brush the tops of the pasties with a bit of egg white, then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the edges of the pasties are golden. Remove from baking sheet and allow to cool completely!

Make the icing: Beat what is left of your egg white until it’s frothy. Add the cinnamon and the confectioner’s sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, until the consistency is thick but drizzleable. If it becomes too thick, thin with a splash of water. Drizzle the icing over the cooled pasties, and serve!

Note: I used a pumpkin shaped hand pie mold from William-Sonoma. I looked and looked online, but for the life of me couldn’t find them for sale anywhere anymore. Instead, I’d suggest this half circle style press from Amazon, which I also have. If you’d like to just fake it, you can use large circles of dough, and crimp the edges with the tines of a fork.

Are these still sold anywhere?

Butterbeer – Harry Potter

Thoughts:

I’ve never really held with the idea that the Butterbeer in Harry Potter is basically some sort of cream soda. No way. To me, that’s a very American interpretation, with artificial flavoring, and so much sugar that it becomes horrible.

My approach, probably unsurprising to many of you, was to dip into the historical cookbooks for my inspiration. And lo, from the late 1500s, there’s a recipe for “Buttered Beere”. Clearly this was what I needed to try.

My first reaction to the finished historical brew was one of surprise: The smell doesn’t quite match the flavor, so the first sip is not what you’ll be expecting. It almost smells like a sweet dough, as you might make for cinnamon rolls, with that combination of yeast, butter, and eggs. However, the flavor itself is one of creamy, spiced beer, with all the residual hops and tinge of bitterness that go with it.

The mixture thickens, not quite to the density of eggnog, but in a similar way. Served warm in a large mug, and redolent with spices, it’s an interesting and unique winter holiday beverage. Although I can’t quite imagine myself craving a big mug of this beverage on a regular basis, I’d certainly slap down two sickles for a pint at the Hog’s Head Inn or the Three Broomsticks!

Adapted Historical Recipe for Butterbeer

Take three pintes of Beere, put five yolkes of Egges to it, straine them together, and set it in a pewter pot to the fyre, and put to it halfe a pound of Sugar, one penniworth of Nutmegs beaten, one penniworth of Cloves beaten, and a halfepenniworth of Ginger beaten, and when it is all in, take another pewter pot and brewe them together, and set it to the fire againe, and when it is readie to boyle, take it from the fire, and put a dish of sweet butter into it, and brewe them together out of one pot into an other. -The Good Huswifes Handmaide for the Kitchin, 1588

Cook’s Notes: For an extra indulgence, try adding a bit of cream or whole milk to the finished butterbeer. Add no more than a 1:1 ratio, and serve the adulterated version chilled, rather than hot.

Ingredients:

3 bottles of ale
1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 cup brown sugar
5 egg yolks (save the whites for something like meringue)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into chunks

Heat the ale and spices in a medium saucepan, over medium heat. If it has a lot of foam, that should die down once it starts heating up.

In a separate bowl, combine the sugar and egg yolks. while whisking furiously, pour in a ladle-full of the hot ale. Whisk until it’s incorporated, then pour the whole mess back into the pot of ale, still whisking madly.

Keep the mixture just under a simmer, stirring until it thickens somewhat. Add the chunks of butter and stir until they’re melted. Whisk with a hand mixer (or a lot of arm strength), until a foam rises.

Serve hot, in heat-proof mugs.