By TMoM Team Member Laura Simon
Our favorite wizard, Harry Potter, celebrates his birthday in July. In honor of his special day, my kids and I set out to make a Potter-themed snack – ideally something other than a pink cake.
As it turns out, you can find a wealth of Harry Potter recipes on the internet. Some of the foods they consume in the book are real British foods – pumpkin pasties, for example. Others are orderable from Amazon and delivered the next day – we’ve tried chocolate frogs and Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans. (My kids would NOT recommend the latter, by the way. By the time they expressed their feelings, I was too afraid to try it myself.)
Some of the recipes take great liberties with the description of the food in the book. For example, Hagrid’s Cockroach Clusters, have no real cockroaches in them. Crazy, right?
And, evidently, many British recipes include toffee. Apparently, my children hate toffee. In fact, they are downright picky when it comes to Harry Potter recipes. Pumpkin Pasties? Nope. One child does not like pumpkin. Treacle Tart? No way – someone hates lemon filling. Butterbeer? Nope, someone is not a fan of cream soda. Hagrid’s Rock Cakes, made with dried fruit, I think? That got a “no” from all three. In fairness, it does sound suspiciously like fruitcake.
There were a few recipes I knocked out of contention myself. Pumpkin juice, which is a blend of pumpkin puree and apple cider, didn’t even sound good to me. And butterbeer cupcakes? Tons of work, so that’s a no.
After pouring through an extensive list of recipes (which you can find here), I settled on Polyjuice Potion. Now, this is nothing like the drink described in the book, which is a murky brown draught that you have to choke down. Unfortunately, it also doesn’t possess the magic powers of the potion in the book, which turns the drinker into…something else. Sadly, my daughter will tell you, no one turned into a cat after consuming our homemade concoction. (She was very hopeful.)
However, everyone consumed it in the celebratory manner of children promised a Harry Potter movie on a Tuesday afternoon.
Polyjuice Potion Recipe
Polyjuice Potion recipe – our version – is effectively the punch you consumed at wedding receptions in church basements in the 80’s. You start with scoops of sherbet. The recipe calls for lime, but we thought rainbow was prettier. Then you add a blend of ginger ale and sprite, a drop of green food coloring (if you’re adventurous – my family cannot be trusted with the mess of food coloring), and a topper of whipped cream.
If you’re inclined to make a big batch, you can put this in a pitcher or a big bowl. I would recommend making and serving it immediately. Since soda is a main ingredient, you don’t want your drink to go flat. It’s an easy, fun way to celebrate our favorite wizard.
Anyway, Happy Birthday, Harry! Maybe in your next book, you can visit a Chick-Fil-A? Everyone in my house likes that.
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