Theresa's Mixed Nuts: Butter Beer Drink & Cupcakes

Monday, January 28, 2013

Butter Beer Drink & Cupcakes

My husband has never seen the Harry Potter movies. He hasn't read the books either. But, he was really impressed when we visited The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in November, my daughter was able to convince him that each Saturday we would all watch one of the movies together. We just wrapped up the 4th movie this weekend, and my husbands reaction- These movies suck. I don't understand how she made that much money off them. (He doesn't say this to our daughter though lol.)

However, we have found a few Hogsmeade recipes that have managed to make him sit happily through each movie. We did a very long search online for a good butter beer recipe. We narrowed it down to two. The most popular seemed to be the recipe from Tablespoon.com, but we thought that one was overly sweet. The other came from Mugglenet. This one had fewer ingredients and seemed a lot closer to what you would get at the park. However, we like our Butter Beer cold, and when we added ice cubes, the melted butter we poured in solidified and we were left with chunks of butter floating in our cups. I ended up omitting the real butter and added imitation butter flavoring instead.

(I would not recommend making and eating these together. The calorie count in each is pretty high, but one at a time on occasion for a little treat will let you indulge your inner wizards sweet tooth without too much guilt)


drink, beverage, harry potter, wizarding world, recipe, cupcake, frozen

Butter Beer

Ingredients
  • 1 cup (8 oz) cream soda (we used A&W)
  • 1/2 cup (4 oz) butterscotch syrup (ice cream topping)
  • 1 to 2 teaspoons imitation butter extract

Directions


Step 1: Measure butterscotch and butter flavor into a 16 oz glass. Microwave on high for 1 to 1-1/2 minutes, or until syrup is bubbly and butter is completely incorporated.

Step 2: Stir and cool for 30 seconds, then slowly mix in cream soda. Mixture will fizz quite a bit.

Step 3: Serve in two coffee mugs or small glasses.

* We actually love the frozen version you get from the park, so I freeze these, then give them a quick whirl in the blender for a frozen drink variety.







I found this Butter Beer Cupcake Recipe from Pastry Affair.  If you like butterscotch, you are going to love these!

Butterbeer Cupcakes

2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon butter flavoring
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup cream soda


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a cupcake tin with baking cups.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and butter flavoring.

Fold in 1/3 of the flour mixture, then the buttermilk, 1/3 of the flour mixture, cream soda, and then the remaining flour. Folding in these ingredients will prevent over-mixing and will result in a fluffier, less dense cupcake. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 of the way full and bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the cupcakes are golden and spring back when touched. Cool completely before frosting.

Butterscotch Ganache

11 ounces (1 package) butterscotch chips
1 cup heavy cream

In a small saucepan on medium heat, melt the butterscotch chips into the heavy cream, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature before using.

Butterscotch Buttercream

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup butterscotch ganache (recipe above)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon butter flavoring
Pinch of salt
3-3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Splash of heavy cream (as needed)

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter until light and fluffy. Mix in the butterscotch ganache, vanilla, butter flavoring, and salt. Beat in the powdered sugar for 2-3 minutes, starting with 3 cups and adding more only if necessary. Add the cream a tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is achieved.

24 comments:

  1. You are all kinds of awesome! I love HP, but have never even thought to make my own butter beer at home. I say to my hubby all the time that we need to get to Universal one of these years so I can try it, but now I am totally making it at home.

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  2. Wow that will sure get most anyone to sit through a crap movie. I enjoyed the Harry Potter movies though, at least most of them.

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  3. I told a friend of mine recently that I had never seen the Harry Potter movies and she said "Blasphemy!!" LOL. I suppose I better watch.

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  4. haha i have never seen them either----those cupcakes look amazing!!!

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  5. Butterscotch Buttercream? YES YES YES, please. :) These both look great.

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  6. In my mind butterbeer is like the coolest drink on earth and that it's so delicious and refreshing and beat all soda in the world. Harry Potter makes it sound like the perfect beverage. If you're a fan of NCIS you will think that this one is just as cool as Abby's Caf Pow. I love butterscotch as an ice cream, never taste one in a beverage. But if you said they're good I believe you :D

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  7. When I could still drink soda, Cream soda used to be my alltime favorite. Now I don't touch anything like that. It sure does look good though.

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  8. oh Theresa! stop it! I need to lose not gain. But, OMyGosh, they look scrumptious. You are a good cook. I'm not. I can bake a few good things but my talent lies in my thrift-hunting. You always make me smile, too!!!

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  9. Those cupcakes look so delicious Theresa. Harry Potter books and movies have been such a big hit. Someone gave me a Harry Potter book and I found it interesting. Enjoy the rest of your day.

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  10. These cakes should be fine, I wonder about your taste. Beer taste like?

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    Replies
    1. Oh no Leovi, this isn't real beer. It's just called butterbeer from the Harry Potter book series :)

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  11. Those cupcakes look awesome!! What a great job you did....they sound delicious! I don't drink soda anymore, but I bet that tastes good :)

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  12. OOOH...I've always wanted to try Butterbeer. Thanks for the recipe!

    and your husband HAS to read the books! he has to!

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  13. Fancy looking cupcakes you got there! Those are totally "Cupcake Wars" worthy! And I don't know why hubbies don't care for Harry Potter. I think it's a cover...I think deep down they really do, but are scared to admit it.

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  14. Those look like so much fun! We like Harry Potter at our house, too. My husband hasn't read any of them, but he's seen all the movies, and actually likes most of them. Elliott loves the movies, too. We actually just finished reading the first book together over Christmas break, and will probably start the second one in the next few weeks. I read the first one at the suggestion of one of my high school teachers, when I was a junior or senior. I think there were only three out then.

    The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is actually probably the attraction that my husband is most excited about seeing in Florida this summer. My son is really excited about it as well, but he's also excited about everything else, since he is picking out most of the stuff we do anyway. lol

    We didn't make time to do anything else in Orlando when we went to Disney World in 2011, so we are going to do different stuff this year, and Universal is definitely high on the list!

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  15. Ok I have to ask, what is butter flavoring? And butter extract? Must be American? Or maybe British? I cook a lot and have never come across either of those things!

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    1. Shayna- you can find the butter flavoring and extract at any craft store that has a baking section. I find the flavoring where the wedding and cake decorating stuff is. Right by the fondant and food colors.

      You can also find the butter extract at the grocery store. I found mine at Walmart right by the vanilla extract. Hope this helps :)

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  16. Yes! Theresa, hand-me-ups are the best thing about daughters. Well, not the very best thing, but a dang close 2nd. The best thing about having daughters is that they make the best little children you have ever laid your eyes on. [grandkids]

    You keep me smiling, girlfriend.

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  17. Oh..............my gosh. YUM. Speechless!! :)
    Katie~

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  18. that looks yummy together. it seemed like a lot of love went into it.

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  19. My sweet tooth hurts just looking at the pictures! Thanks for sharing!

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  20. Yum! Found you on Thursday Favorite Things! I'm kicking off a brand new blog hop on Superbowl Sunday called the Creative HomeAcre Hop! I would love to have you join the fun at:
    http://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/2013/02/the-creative-homeacre-hop.html

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  21. squeal!!! yum. Thank you for sharing at the Thursday Favorite Things hop xo P.S. the new giveaway started yesterday :-)

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