In what will be a surprise to absolutely nobody, Alexis decided to have a Harry Potter birthday party this year. There was a whole lot of drama involved with the planning (which is why the party was so late), but the food turned out to be pretty darn easy. That might be because I decided to not go insane this year. Maybe.
I mean, I went less insane than I did for Monster High. That might be, in part, because Harry Potter food is just ... food. Or maybe my creativity was lacking this year. Whatever.
Hogwarts House Salad
Green leaf lettuce
Sliced carrots
Grape tomatoes
Olives
Diced cucumbers
Dressing (I gave the kids the choice of dressings so I didn't have to hear any complaints.)
1. Throw everything into a big bowl. Done.
Bertie's Botts Every Flavour Beans
Jelly Belly, man. They've got what you need.
Chocolate Frogs
Chocolate Melting Wafers
Frog molds
1. Melt the chocolate according to the instructions on the package.
2. Pour the melted chocolate into the molds.
3. Tap the molds gently to settle the chocolate and get rid of air bubbles.
4. Refrigerate the chocolate until solid. Turn the mold upside down and tap to release the frog.
Harry Cupcakes
Red velvet cupcake recipe from here
1 8-oz package cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
Marigold gel food coloring or similar
1. I decided that Harry Potter cupcakes should be red velvet with cheesecake filling, but that the cheesecake filling should be a golden yellow color so that the cupcake matched Harry's scarf. There's no real logic there, but it helped me justify putting cheesecake into a perfectly good cupcake.
It was a good idea.
So, start by preparing the red velvet cupcakes as described. Before you throw the batter into some cupcake liners, though, make that cheesecake.
2. Cheesecake! Mix the cream cheese and sugar in a medium bowl at low speed. Once fully blended, add the vanilla and egg. Mix some more. Add the food coloring and finish your mixing.
3. Okay. Now that you have red velvet cake batter and you have cheesecake batter, it's time to introduce them to one another. Place a heaping teaspoon of red velvet batter into a cupcake liner. Add a smaller spoonful of cheesecake. Top with another spoon full of red velvet cake. You should end up with the liner being about 3/4 full.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until done. They're done when you stab them with a fork or toothpick and it comes out clean. Set aside.
5. Make that cream cheese frosting.
6. Decorate as desired.
I spread the white frosting on with a knife then split the remaining frosting into three bowls. I used brown gel food coloring for the hair, black for the glasses, and marigold for the lightning bolt. As for tips, this one was perfect for the hair. I used the smallest circle I had (this one) for the glasses and lightning bolt. To be honest, though, I don't think anyone would have cared if I had topped the cupcakes with a swirl of any color of frosting.
Red velvet, man. It was a hit.
Butterbeer
(Thanks, Sassymonkey, for the recipe!)
IBC cream soda
Butterscotch ice cream topping
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Add one tablespoon of butterscotch per 12-oz bottle of IBC cream soda.
2. Make whip cream. Alton can tell you how. The only difference is that you should add some vanilla extract into the bowl before you start whipping.
3. Pour the cream soda and butterscotch into a mug. Top with whip cream.
4. Enjoy the happiness. There's lots of it.