ButterBeer and the Deathly Hallows

So I love Harry Potter. It's a slight obsession. I've read all the books, I've watched all the movies, and I wear the cool Gryffindor gear. From all that you've probably gathered that I'm a nerd, a proud one at that. 


I'm dying to go see the last (sigh, sniff, tear) Harry Potter movie. In fact I've had my tickets to a midnight showing for weeks already. A last movie in the series does deserve something special, but what? Well here's how my thought process started. 


Last winter, my parents and quite a few of my friends went to Florida. And yes, they went to Universal, visited Hogwarts and Hogsmead, rode the rides, and drank ButterBeer. My parents even had me make it off a recipe they found for our family Christmas. It's deliciously sweet, a combination of butterscotch and cream soda. Things that are deliciously sweet almost always make amazing cupcakes ... which would be so much fun to eat while waiting in line for the movie to start. 


When I thought of the idea, I was only going to need 5 cupcakes. There's 5 of us going to the movie, so, I just needed to decide what to do with the rest of them. Easy enough, give them to my students, who wouldn't quite understand how cool they are, but would appreciate the morning snack. Then I got an email from my boss, potluck on Thursday ... okay, another place to bring cupcakes, awesome. I have the opportunity to share cupcake happiness. 


That night I get a text from my mom, she's had a great idea, ButterBeer cupcakes (I'd already ordered the special ingredients in my own planning.) Guess what, she needs 5 dozen to give to her class. Awesomeness, ensues. Having a cupcake order always puts a smile on my face, and this one is Harry Potter inspired, what could be better. (Star Wars inspired, I know you were thinking it, and trust me the day will come.)

So I go to the store and buy all my ingredients ... and that's only part of what I needed to make these cupcakes. Quantity of each item, was slightly baffling. I was concerned that I was going to run out of some of the more specialized items, but alas, it all worked out. 

So, in making these cupcakes I got to try out some new techniques. One of those techniques was burning butter to give it a richer flavor. This is a little bit of a worrisome process because it is so easy to go to far from a yummy rich flavor to burnt. Luckily, there was nary a drop of nasty burnt butter. 

After that, once the cupcakes were in the oven, I got to make a butterscotch ganache. A super flavorful filling for the cupcakes, and a cute drizzle adds just the burst of flavor needed to make the cupcakes something truly special. 

It is always fun filling the cupcakes. Whether it's done by cutting out the center, or like today's cupcakes, I love the little extra kick a cupcake filling gives a cupcake. 

After that it was just up to the frosting to create the balance of flavors. The frosting itself is a Cream soda butterscotch flavored buttercream. Super tasty. 


A cute cupcake that I'm sure Harry , Hermoine and Ron would truly love. 





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