The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook (30 page)
To show his gratitude to Dobby for the gillyweed that saved him in the second task, Harry descends to the Hogwarts kitchens, where Dobby works, to give him a pair of socks (Dobby's favorite gift). In the kitchen, Hermione is disgusted by Ron's greed. Why he's asking for éclairs when he's just had breakfast is beyond her. But the house-elves are delighted to present him with a huge platter-full (see
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
, Chapter 28).
É
clair
comes from the French word for “lightning,” but how it's related to this yummy dessert is anybody's guess. Perhaps it's because it disappears as quickly as lightning.
Choux Pastry
1 cup water
½ stick (4 tablespoons) butter
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
Pastry bag for forming éclairs
Chocolate Pastry Cream
1 cup whole milk
½ cup heavy cream or whole milk
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
½ cup granulated sugar
Pinch salt
3 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons butter ONLY if using all milk Chocolate Glaze
½ cup heavy cream
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
For the choux pastry, combine the water, butter, salt, and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and add the flour all at once, mixing quickly with a wooden spoon until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pot and forms a ball around the spoon. Transfer the dough to the bowl of a stand mixer and allow it to cool slightly.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each until combined, and scraping down the sides of the bowl.
Preheat the oven to 425°F and grease and flour a baking sheet. Cut a 1½-inch slit at the edge of a disposable pastry bag and fill it with the choux paste. Pipe 3-inch logs onto the baking sheet in two rows of six or seven each. Bake for 15 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through the baking time. Reduce the heat to 375°F and bake another 20 minutes, again rotating halfway through the baking time, until the éclairs are puffed and golden. It's better to overbake than to underbake, as the éclairs will collapse and be impossible to fill if they are underbaked. Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature. After they are cooled, the shells can be sealed in an airtight container or zipper bag and frozen for 2 months. They should not be unwrapped until they are completely defrosted, or they will turn soggy from the condensation.
To make the pastry cream, combine the milk, heavy cream if using, cornstarch, cocoa powder, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until hot but not bubbling. Reduce the heat. Slowly pour ½ cup of the hot mixture into the egg yolks while whisking constantly, then pour the egg yolk mixture into the saucepan while stirring constantly. Return the heat to medium-high and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick and bubbling. Remove from the heat.
Add the vanilla and chocolate (and butter, if using all milk). Stir to combine. Pour the mixture through a sieve, using a rubber spatula to push it through. Cover the surface directly with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming, and cool to room temperature. Refrigerate until cold, or up to 2 days.
To make the glaze, combine the cream and chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 2 minutes, stopping the microwave and stirring every 30 seconds; then stir until smooth. Cool until it is thick enough to spread.
To assemble the éclairs, split them in half with a knife. Fill the bottom halves with about 2 tablespoons of the pastry cream. Replace the top halves and spread with about 2 teaspoons of the glaze. Allow the glaze to set. Éclairs are best eaten right after the glaze has set. They can be refrigerated for a few days, but they will be a bit soggy.
Makes 12 to 14
Choux pastry, or pâte à choux (pronounced pott-ah-SHOO), is a sticky dough used to make cream puffs and éclairs, among other baked or fried goods, such as beignets. “Choux” comes from the French word for “cabbage” and is so named because it was used in France to make little cakes that looked like cabbages.
As far as we know, no one actually eats banana fritters in the Harry Potter books; it's just the password to get through the portrait of the Fat Lady to the Gryffindor common room. Maybe the Fat Lady liked 'em (see
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
, Chapter 25).
The Romans used to make a type of fritter similar to funnel cakes; it's amazing how in some ways the food we eat has changed so little. Even this medieval recipe for fritters (spelled
frytours
) sounds familiar (except for the parsnips):“Take skyrwater [whatever that is] and pasternakes [parsnips] and apples and parboil them, make a batter of flour and eggs, cast thereto ale and saffron and salt, wet them in the batter and fry them in oil or in grease, do thereto almond milk and serve it forth.”
Caramel Sauce
½ cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons water
½ cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon butter
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Banana Fritters
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch salt
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
2 tablespoons whole milk
Oil for frying
3 ripe but firm bananas, sliced at an angle into ¼-inch slices
For the caramel sauce, in a small saucepan, cook the sugar and water over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar dissolves and the mixture begins to bubble. Continue cooking over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture turns a deep amber color.
Remove the pan from the heat and add the cream and butter; the mixture will bubble up violently. Stir until it turns back to liquid; if hard lumps of the caramelized sugar remain, stir over low heat until they liquefy. Add the vanilla and stir to combine. Keep warm until ready to serve.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs with the sugar until combined. Add the melted butter to the egg mixture and whisk until combined. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and whisk until smooth. Add the milk and whisk until smooth.
Fill a large skillet with enough oil to come ¼-inch up the sides. Heat the oil until it begins to shimmer. Using a fork, coat the banana slices in the batter, lift the slices out, and place them in the hot oil. Fry on both sides until golden brown, about 1 minute per side. Remove from the pan to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain. Repeat until all the banana slices are used up.
To serve, place 4 to 6 fritters on a dessert plate and drizzle with the warm caramel sauce. Serve immediately, as the fritters don't keep well and turn soggy quickly. Also, the bananas will turn black and be inedible.
Serves 6
You can skip the sauce or serve the fritters with a chocolate sauce instead: Heat ½ cup heavy cream and pour it over 4 ounces chopped bittersweet chocolate. Let it stand a few minutes and then stir until smooth. The sauce will stiffen as it cools; you can reheat it gently over a low flame or in a microwave.
The list of desserts served at Harry's first Hogwarts feast makes your mouth water. Among the many foods that suddenly appear on the table is rice pudding (see
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
, Chapter 7).
Rice pudding has traveled around, beginning as a dessert for the very rich in medieval times and ending up as the plain-Jane of desserts today. Rice pudding is good, but really isn't anything to make a fuss about. It's a nice ending to an ordinary weeknight dinner, but is not recommended as dessert for a formal affair.
½ cup white rice (short grain preferred, but long-grain also works)
4 cups whole milk
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
Preheat the oven to 300°F and grease a 2-quart baking dish. Combine the rice, milk, sugar, and salt in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove the pan from the heat and add the butter, vanilla, and nutmeg. Stir to combine. Pour the mixture into the baking dish and bake for 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes or so. Bake another 30 to 45 minutes until spotty golden brown. Serve warm or at room temperature with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream or jam.
Serves 4 to 6
Hermione refuses to eat after discovering that enslaved house-elves cooked her food. Ron has no such qualms and naughtily tries to tempt her with spotted dick (see
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
, Chapter 12).
This is one dish that makes a lot of Harry Potter fans wonder what in the world is that? It's an old-fashioned Victorianera suet pudding (suet being the hard fat that encases beef kidneys). The story of its name is not very exciting: It's called “spotted” because it's spotted with raisins and “dick” because that's a Victorian word that means “pudding.” Don't worry about where to find suet: This recipe uses butter, which makes a fine substitute.
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups fresh bread crumbs (see note)
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
2 sticks cold butter, cut into pieces
½ cup dark raisins
½ cup golden raisins
1 cup dried currants or cranberries
¾ cup whole milk
Fill a large pot with water and place a rack or overturned shallow bowl in the pot. Bring to a simmer. Grease a 2-quart heatproof bowl with a tight-fitting lid and set it aside.
Whisk together the flour, bread crumbs, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices in a large mixing bowl. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal with some larger pieces of butter remaining. Toss in the raisins and currants or cranberries. Pour in the milk and fold it in until the mixture is uniformly moistened. Turn out the mixture into the prepared dish and press the top down with a spatula.
Cover the dish with the lid, making sure it is tightly sealed. Place it in the pot; the water should come halfway up the sides of the dish. Steam for 3 hours. Add water to replenish as necessary. Remove the pudding, remove the lid, and invert it onto a plate. Serve warm with warm custard.
