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!

The Tsar's Guard Parade: Zharkoe Recipe

I am so happy to be part of the Tsar's Guard Parade to celebrate The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye. Because I am a big food lover I decided to showcase a recipe for Zharkoe which is a Russian beef and potato stew. Don't forget to check out the rafflecopter giveaway at the end of the post!

Title: The Crown's Game
Author: Evelyn Skye
Release Date: May 17, 2016
Pages: 416
Publisher: Balzer+Bray
Formats: Hardcover, eBook

Find it: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks

Vika Andreyeva can summon the snow and turn ash into gold. Nikolai Karimov can see through walls and conjure bridges out of thin air. They are enchanters—the only two in Russia—and with the Ottoman Empire and the Kazakhs threatening, the Tsar needs a powerful enchanter by his side.

And so he initiates the Crown’s Game, an ancient duel of magical skill—the greatest test an enchanter will ever know. The victor becomes the Imperial Enchanter and the Tsar’s most respected adviser. The defeated is sentenced to death.

Raised on tiny Ovchinin Island her whole life, Vika is eager for the chance to show off her talent in the grand capital of Saint Petersburg. But can she kill another enchanter—even when his magic calls to her like nothing else ever has?

For Nikolai, an orphan, the Crown’s Game is the chance of a lifetime. But his deadly opponent is a force to be reckoned with—beautiful, whip smart, imaginative—and he can’t stop thinking about her.

And when Pasha, Nikolai’s best friend and heir to the throne, also starts to fall for the mysterious enchantress, Nikolai must defeat the girl they both love . . . or be killed himself.

As long-buried secrets emerge, threatening the future of the empire, it becomes dangerously clear . . . the Crown’s Game is not one to lose.

Zharkoe (adapted from recipe from Lorie's Place)
Servings: 6-8

3 lbs. beef, cut into cubes
4 small onions, sliced
3 cups water
2 bay leaves
2 tsp. salt
16 black peppercorns
5 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters or sixths
3 carrots, cut into quarters crosswise
Olive oil

1. Heat large saute pan or dutch oven with olive oil. Place beef and half the onions into pan. Brown beef in hot oil for 10-15 minutes or until light brown. While beef is browning, peel the potatoes, cut them, and saute them in a large pan with hot oil for 10 minutes.
2. Put remaining of the sliced onions on top of beef.
3. Pour water into the pan/dutch oven and add bay leaves. Bring to a boil on the stove top, then lower heat and simmer for 2 hours. Stir occasionally. Add water (little by little) as needed. The liquid should be mostly covering other ingredients.
4. Add salt, peppercorns, potatoes, and carrots. Simmer for another 30 minutes or until the potatoes and carrots are done. Take out bay leaves before serving.

Enjoy Zharkoe while reading The Crown's Game.

ABOUT EVELYN SKYE

Evelyn Skye was once offered a job by the C.I.A., she not-so-secretly wishes she was on "So You Think You Can Dance," and if you challenge her to a pizza-eating contest, she guarantees she will win. When she isn't writing, Evelyn can be found chasing her daughter on the playground or sitting on the couch, immersed in a good book and eating way too many cookies. THE CROWN'S GAME is her first novel.

Evelyn can be found online at www.evelynskye.com.

Twitter |Facebook | Goodreads | Tumblr | Instagram

Giveaway Details

1 winner will receive an ARC of The Crown's Game. International.

a Rafflecopter giveaway Don't forget to follow the rest of The Tsar's Guard Parade Tour! Find the complete Tsar’s Guard Parade Schedule at Evelyn Skye’s website!