I recently went on a friends trip to Universal Studios in Orlando. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is amazing and so immersive. You really feel like you are walking through Diagon Alley, Hogswarts, and Hogsmeade! The food that they offer is also amazing, and I want to share a few of my favorite Harry Potter foods.
First up is Butterbeer! It comes in many different forms, including hot, cold, frozen, ice cream, fudge, and potted cream. Here is am with a cold one. So far my favorite is the frozen because the flavor is so strong, but it gives me brain freeze. Definitely not what you want before getting on a rollercoaster!
Even though butterbeer is one of my favorite wizard snacks, I also enjoy ice cream from Florean Fortescue's! I've really enjoyed the butterbeer, but there are other flavors and snacks to try. Here I'm eating a scoop of early grey and lavender (which is way better than it sounds) and a scoop of sticky toffee pudding. A friend tried the strawberry and peanut butter, and that was also amazing!
Finally, here is the Butterbeer Potted Cream. Basically this is just pudding, but it is such great pudding. The butterbeer flavor comes out so well in this dessert. I cannot recommend it enough!
Obviously it's not a simple trip to go to Universal Studios. While I certainly wish it was next door, a lot of saving and planning goes into a trip like this, and not everyone can make it. Therefore, I'm going to share with you my favorite Butterbeer recipe that you can make from home! I'm using the #1 recipe on the Butterbeer page from Wizarding World Park.
Ingredients
1 cup light or dark brown sugar (I used light)
2 tablespoons water
6 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar
3/4 cup heavy cream divided
1/2 teaspoon rum extract
4 12 oz. bottles cream soda
My husband did the actually cooking here, so you'll see his hands in the pictures. We began by combining the brown sugar and water into a small sauce pan over medium head. Once it came to a boil, we allowed it to cook until it was about 240° F on a candy thermometer.
Then we stirred in the salt, butter, vinegar, and 1/4 cup of heavy cream.
Once stirred, set it aside until it is room temperature. Once cooled, add in the rum extract and stir. Then in a medium bowl, combine 2 T of the brown sugar mixture you've made and a 1/2 cup of heavy cream. Use an electric mixer to beat until just thickened but not completely whipped.
Now here is where I go off recipe. The Butterbeer is amazing, but it is so rich and so sugary and a full glass was too much for everyone in my family. So while we followed the recipe and divided this into four tall glasses in this example, I recommend splitting it into eight glasses instead. Depending on what you choose, divide the brown sugar mixture between either the four or eight glasses (1/4 or 1/8 cup each). Add in about 1/4 or 1/8 cup of cream soda, and stir to combine. Then fill the glass with the remaining cream soda, and top with a large dollop of the whipping cream topping.
This is seriously some amazing stuff, and if you don't have a Butterbeer recipe you love, you need to try this. Tell me what you think of it in the comments!
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