Pumpkin Cookies (with brown butter icing)◊ Cookie recipe from Rosmerta's Recipes on MuggleNet
Icing recipe from the book Martha Stewart's Cupcakes ("Brown Butter Icing")
Rock Cakes
◊ Recipe from Rosmerta's Recipes on MuggleNet
This was the first time I've made this recipe, and I definitely didn't cut the butter into the flour enough, leaving the butter to run out of the cakes, which I'm guessing is the reason why they came out pretty flat. Oh well, at least they tasted good.
Cauldron Cakes
All I did was prepare one of my favorite cupcake recipes (Devil's food), turned the cupcakes upside down, and dipped them in a huge bowl of chocolate ganache glaze. Then I sprinkled some purple sugar on top of each to make a bubbling-potion effect. I also got the bubbling-potion effect in another way-- I have a set of three stackable cookie racks that I was using to place the cakes after I dipped them in the ganache. The glaze from the cakes on the top tier dripped down on top of the cakes in the lower tiers, which gave the appearance of a bubbling cauldron!
To bake the cupcakes I used silicone baking cups. I like using the baking cups because then you do not waste paper lining holders and they are easy to clean. Plus, they are perfect for making the cupcakes look like cauldrons -- if you use paper liners you'll have to remove each one by hand before you glaze them.
◊ Cupcake and chocolate ganache frosting recipes from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes.
Pumpkin Juice◊ Recipe from BellaOnline.
I added some water to each batch because I thought it was a little too sweet. Very delicious, and a big hit with all the Harry Potter fans! We went through 3 pitchers at the party!
Butterbeer
(not able to take a picture due to the HP Madness at the party)
Place a scoop of vanilla ice cream in a glass and then top with a teaspoon of butterscotch syrup. Pour cold vanilla cream soda or club soda over the ice cream and stir.
I found several promising looking Butterbeer recipes from MuggleNet and other sources on the Internet, but decided to go for a simpler version of the recipes I'd run across. I'd originally hoped to make a warm version of Butterbeer, but it would have been too difficult to serve such a large group without having cooking capability at the library.