Weasley Twins' Canary Creams Recipe

Elizabeth from Book YAbber, Marci from The Plot Bunny and I will be sharing some delicious Harry Potter recipes today. Each of us will be showcasing a different recipe so make sure you check Elizabeth's and Marci's blogs! For those who are following Pottermas 2016, make sure to check out the introduction here. Also, follow us with the hashtag #Pottermas16.

Fred and George Weasley made wonderful Canary Creams in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I don't know if you recall but Neville ate one of these delicacies and ended up turning into a yellow canary for a full minute before turning back into his normal self. A Canary Cream is a Custard Cream that turns the person who eat the biscuit into a canary.

This recipe is very simple and tasty. These Canary Creams are huge and if you love shortbread, you will love these Canary Creams! Have a Canary Cream and a cuppa of tea! Don't worry, no canaries were harmed in making the Canary Creams and taste testers have confirmed that you will not turn into a canary.

WEASLEY TWINS' CANARY CREAMS

Adapted from Christina's Cucina's Custard Creams recipe
(yields 16 sandwiched cookies)

Ingredients

Cookies/Biscuits
2 2/3 cups (12 oz) flour
1 cup (4 oz) custard powder (I used Bird’s Custard Powder)
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 sticks (12 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup (4 oz) powdered/confectioners sugar

Cream Filling

1/2 stick (2 oz) unsalted butter
1 cup (4 oz) powdered/confectioners sugar
A few drops of vanilla extract
A couple drops yellow food dye (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (345°F for convection oven)
2. Grease baking sheets lightly with butter. You can use baking parchment paper or Silpat instead if desired.
3. Sift the flour, custard powder and baking soda into a bowl and set aside.
4. Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl for about 3 minutes. Add the sifted flour, custard and baking soda and mix well.
5. Form 1-inch diameter dough balls and place on baking sheets. Make sure to leave room for the cookies to expand. 
6. Press each ball with a fork into the top of each cookie ball, once vertically and once horizontally to create a cross hatch pattern.
7. Place the baking sheets in the oven for about 15 to 18 minutes until the bottoms turn slightly golden in color. 
8. Remove baking sheets from the oven and transfer cookies to a cooling rack. Allow cookies to cool completely on cooling rack.
9. While the cookies are cooling, start making the cream filling by creaming the butter, powdered sugar and vanilla extract in a bowl. If needed, add a couple of drops of milk if the filling is too thick. At this time, add a drop or two of food coloring. The filling should be creamy like frosting. 
10. Spread cream filling on the bottom of one cookie and place the bottom of another cookie on top to make a filled cookie sandwich. Repeat process until all the cookies have been filled.
11. You can store the cookies in an airtight container for up to a week. Hint: These will make great gifts!

Have a biscuit, Potter!

Custard cookies can be eaten separately as well! 

What are some of your favorite Harry Potter recipes? Have you tried custard creams before? What is your favorite Harry Potter food/sweet? Leave your comments below!

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

Elizabeth from Book YAbber and I have finally reached the midpoint of the series for Pottermas! Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the turning point in the series. It's probably my second favorite book in the entire Harry Potter series and for good reason. This is the first book where Harry doesn't spend a lot of time at the Dursleys and spends a lot of time at the Burrow and at the Quidditch World Cup instead. It takes over 100 hundred pages before Harry goes back to Hogwarts. By introducing the Quidditch World Cup, it sets the tone of the book for magical foreign relations.

WARNING 
For those who haven't read the Harry Potter series, all book discussions WILL HAVE spoilers. If you do not want to read spoilers, please do not read ahead.

Image from HarryPotter.wikia.com

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry will join forces with Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and Durmstrang Institute for the Triwizard Tournament. Beauxbatons means "beautiful wands" in French. Although good looking, the students at Beauxbatons are smart. Of course the students would sit at the Ravenclaw table. Durmstrang Institute is known for teaching the Dark Arts. There is no surprise why the Durmstrang students sit at the Slytherin table. Slytherins have produced the most dark wizards than any of the other houses and have a stereotype that they are evil and dark. It is interesting how the film portrays Beauxbatons as an all female school and Durmstrang as an all male school because in fact both schools are co-ed.

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Ron and Harry often made up things for their Divination homework but it's interesting how they predicted three things unintentionally. One made up predication is how Harry is in "danger of some burns" which they thought is a brilliant idea because they have Care for Magical Creatures and have to deal with Blast-Ended Skrewts. In fact, the duo is predicting the burns from the dragons from the first Triwizard task. Later, Harry is suppose to "lose a treasured possession" which predict the Merpeople taking what Harry sorely will miss. Ron was taken underwater for the second task. Ron then suggest to Harry, "Why don’t you get stabbed in the back by someone you thought was a friend?” Doesn't this ring a bell? Professor Moody becomes good friends with Harry and we find out he isn't Professor Moody at all. 

Remember the whirring Sneakoscope in Moody's office? Yes, the object that looks like a glass spinning top. This dark detector often lights up, spins, and whistles when someone is doing something untrustworthy nearby. Obviously Moody claims he needs to deactivate it because of the students lying about stuff at Hogwarts. However, he probably deactivated because Barty Crouch Jr. is in fact impersonating as Professor Moody.

It is interesting how Barty Crouch Jr., disguised as Professor Moody, makes sure that Harry has the advantage during the whole year. He makes sure to tip Harry off about all the Triwizard tasks and even goes as far as turning Draco Malfoy into a bouncing white ferret. Barty Crouch Jr. is fattening up the pig before it gets slaughtered. However, Harry avoids death. Although Harry avoids death once again, Barty Crouch Jr. starts to become obsessed with what happened.

Image from Vibescinemaclub.com

Harry comes back to Hogwarts with Cedric. Of course from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Firenze mentions something about how the innocent ends up dying first when he talks to Harry when he found the unicorn. In GoF, readers find out Cedric's wand has a unicorn hair core. Harry warns everyone that Voldemort is back! However, very few people believe Harry. The Little Hangleton duel is the start of the Second Wizarding War.

What's your favorite part of GoF? Do you have a favorite Triwizard task? What did you think about Barty Crouch Jr. impersonating as Professor Moody?

Favorite quotes from GoF:

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Image from the.pyreflies.org

Check the blog back on Tuesday, December 15th for discussion about how I rank the Harry Potter books and film adaptations. If you are new to Pottermas 2015, make sure to check out this post. Also, you can follow Pottermas 2015 on social media with the hashtag #Pottermas15.