If you're anything like me, (I am terribly sorry, but it does get better) you've been in the middle of a book and run across a beautiful description of food and felt the awful rumble in your stomach as you mentally picture each item the author describes. You read on because you can't stop yourself and mentally curse the characters, who are obviously enjoying themselves, and look woefully over your own meal of Top Ramen and ice water.
When I was younger, I was absolutely certain that mead was the absolute last word in drinks. Not because I'd ever had it (or knew what it was-thanks "Robin Hood" for clearing that up), but because every single good character had a glass of mead at the local inn (bad characters drank spiced wine - boo, hiss). Another tortuous series was the Redwall series by Brian Jaques. Those little critters ate better than anyone I knew and enjoyed it more than should be allowed. Every book had at least one feast, which was basically a food orgy. It didn't matter that I hated turnips, I wanted a Deeper N'ever Turnip Pie. It didn't matter that I had no idea what marzipan was or even that I didn't have the dental anatomy to handle honeyed chestnuts, I wanted it all.
All that said, you can imagine my dismay when, prompted by my little brother, I read the Harry Potter series and came across one word: butterbeer. Now, I'm not a drinker by any means, but EVERYTHING about butterbeer reads appealing. It's sweet, a little salty, warming, creamy, and cheap enough that even poor Ron Weasley can indulge in a glass or two. In fact, this drink is so yummy that the little Hogwartians will brave rain, snow, Mr. Filch and dementor attacks for a glasst at the Three Broomsticks.
Despite how badly things went for those characters, I envied each and every one for those trips. My little brother would lean over my shoulder and read along, talking about "how bad" he wanted to drink butterbeer. A semester and a few google searches later, I stumbled across a recipe that looked like the product might live up to the book. The ingredients were pretty straight forward, the only one that gave me problems was the rum extract (due to budget restrictions). Thankfully, the local discount grocery store carried it and I made away with my last ingredient for a steep 50 cents.
The whole process took about an hour, much of it waiting. I used that down time to clean up and make the filling for another Harry Potter favorite: Pumpkin Pasties. The end result was amazing. Even more amazing was the look on my brother's face when he got to try it. Both of us felt that it met and exceeded our expectation and even my youngest brother, who scowls upon anything Potter, spent the night with a butterbeerstache.
Here's the recipe as it's found on foxnews.com and the link if you want to read the article:
http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2010/07/02/harry-potters-butterbeer-recipe-uncovered/
This is a NON-alcoholic version. Though there are versions online that are made with butterscotch schnapps. Read on because I have comments and suggestions for short cuts.
BUTTERBEER
Start to finish: 1 hour (10 minutes active)
Servings: 4
1 cup light or dark brown sugar
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
Four 12-ounce bottles cream soda
In a small saucepan over medium, combine the brown sugar and water. Bring to a gentle boil and cook, stirring often, until the mixture reads 240 F on a candy thermometer.
Stir in the butter, salt, vinegar and 1/4 heavy cream. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
Once the mixture has cooled, stir in the rum extract.
In a medium bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar mixture and the remaining 1/2 cup of heavy cream. Use an electric mixer to beat until just thickened, but not completely whipped, about 2 to 3 minutes.
To serve, divide the brown sugar mixture between 4 tall glasses (about 1/4 cup for each glass). Add 1/4 cup of cream soda to each glass, then stir to combine. Fill each glass nearly to the top with additional cream soda, then spoon the whipped topping over each.
Ok, it's super important that you temper the sugar correctly. I find candy thermometers highly suspect due to some bad experiences, even though my grandma says that work. Instead, I used the traditional way to make sure my sugar was at the correct temperature; the ball test *snicker*.
At 240-250 degrees, the sugar mixture will form a hard but pliable mass (ball) when dropped into cool water. While you're tempering, drizzle a bit of the mixture into a cup of water and use your fingers to test the pliability of the sugar. It should be resistant to pressure but still malleable. Thanks to Grandma for this tip!
The waiting is the hardest. Once it's cooled and/or you can no longer resist dipping your fingers in the sticky mess, you'll notice that you've essentially made butterscotch sauce.
After you make the whipped topping, the instructions tell you to divide the rest among four glasses, dissolve the butterscotch in 1/4 cup cream soda and then fill the glasses with the rest of the cream soda. I'll tell ya-those are huge portions and none of us were able to finish. My suggestion is to use 1 cup of cream soda and stir it directly into the sauce pan to make sure that you get all of it dissolved (you spent all that time making it, why not enjoy all of it!) *Another tip I would suggest is to pour the dissolved mixture through a strainer. The foam created from blending the soda with the syrup isn't very tasty and it doesn't have an appealing texture. The whipped topping however, is delicious. Pour the cream soda into a punch bowl and add the mixture slowly while you stir. Serve from there with the topping OR use a funnel and pour it back into the bottles. We all found that we liked it better from the bottle (we're not crazy! I swear the taste changed significantly!)
Curl up with a favorite book and/or movie and enjoy the looks on everyone's face as they drink. If you think ahead to bring a mirror, you can even enjoy the look on your own.
As a final word, I haven't tested out this theory but since most of the time is spent making the butterscotch, I assume that to save time, you would be able to substitute in a butterscotch ice cream topper. Like this one from Smucker's. Just take about 1 1/4 cups of the topping, stir in rum extract, parcel out 2 tbsp for the topping and proceed as before.
If you have any questions, feel free to post. I'll be making it again this weekend as a birthday present so the experience will be fresh in my mind!
