The Unofficial Hogwarts Cookbook for Kids
by Cindi Sutter, Founder & Editor Spirited Table® - Content excerpted from The Unofficial Hogwarts Cookbook for Kids by Alana Al-Hatlani. Copyright © 2021 Ulysses Press. Reprinted with permission from Ulysses Press. New York, NY. All rights reserved
From breakfast all the way to dessert, this book makes any meal or snack extra special (and educational!), with recipes like: For the next 6 weeks, we will offer you another great recipe!
Rock Cakes
Granola Bars “Owl Food”
Magic Star Fruit Salad
Pumpkin Pasties
Cauldron Cakes
Acid Lollipops
Sticky Toffee Pudding
Butterscotch Beer, and much more!
Welcome, young witches, wizards, and non-magical folk alike! In the following pages you’ll find magical, fantastical recipes inspired by what students might eat in the Great Hall at Hogwarts, plus some other meal ideas that witches and wizards in training might eat at other magic schools around the world. After all, there’s only so much meat pie a kid can handle! It’s important to fill your stomach with a variety of food groups while you’re filling your mind with spells, potions, and facts about magical plants and creatures.
This book will provide some old British classics as well as some newer American favorites. You’ll find the recipes organized by meal type, ranging from yummy breakfasts all the way to delicious drinks. If you are just starting out in the kitchen, you can begin with some of the recipes in the Snacks and Small Treats section, as well as in the Drinks section, and make sure to read through the helpful advice for beginner cooks.
Some of the more traditional dishes can get pretty fussy, so I’ve pared down the steps and ingredients to make the final product easier to achieve (especially if you don’t have the help of a wand or self-stirring cauldron). That being said, the dishes you’ll make with the help of this cookbook will certainly taste as magical as the ones from your favorite book series. Tuck in!
In the Home Kitchen: How to Cook without a Magic Wand
Advice for Beginners—Safety
Though this isn’t potions class taught by an extremely strict professor, it’s still very important to follow the kitchen rules. After all, you want to keep your eyebrows intact and avoid explosions or melting cauldrons. Take a look at the following safety advice before heading into the kitchen to brew up a potion or bake a magical treat.
• Ask an adult before beginning: Talk about what recipe you’re planning to make; they might have some advice for you. Let them look over the ingredients and tools you’ll need to make sure
you’re set up for success.
• When in doubt, wash your hands: Wash your hands before cooking, after handling raw meat,
after cutting smelly ingredients like garlic, and after picking up something you dropped on the
floor. Wash those hands!
• Roll up your sleeves and pull back your hair: Sleeves can get in the way and knock things over
while you’re cooking. They can also catch on fire if you’re working over the stove. Be sure to roll
your sleeves up so none of that happens.
• Clean up after yourself: Cooking can get messy, and that’s okay! But it’s important to clean up the mess after you’ve made it. Since you probably haven’t mastered a room-cleaning charm yet,
you’re going to have to tidy up the old-fashioned way. You can even try cleaning as you cook so it isn’t as big of a task at the end.
• Ask for help before using a utensil for the first time. Like I said before, you want to keep your
eyebrows intact. Instead of barreling ahead, pause and make sure you’re doing things correctly. Just as it’s important to pronounce spells correctly, it’s important to use tools in the correct manner.
• Pay attention to hot surfaces. Keep towels (both paper and cloth), oven mitts, and potholders away from the stove.
• Do your homework! Review the recipe directions and ingredient list before you begin to cook.
• Prep all ingredients. Take the time to gather and prepare your ingredients before you begin.
• Practice knife safety: Think “SASS.”
» Stop—Pause and make sure no one is within arm’s reach
» Away—Cut away from your body and fingers
» Sharp—A dull knife is dangerous! A sharp, clean knife is a safe knife.
» Store—When you’re done with the knife, make sure to put it away in a sheath or knife block.
• Another thing to keep in mind is to always cut on a cutting board. Your parents won’t be pleased if their countertops suddenly look like they’ve taken a beating by an enchanted and particularly violent willow tree.
• Wear closed-toe shoes. If you are just learning how to handle a knife it might be a good idea
to wear closed-toe shoes in case the knife accidentally falls.
• Turn off the stove. If you’re in the middle of cooking and you need to leave the kitchen for some reason, turn off the stove. You can turn it on again when you get back.
About the Author
Alana Al-Hatlani is a baker by morning and food writer by night. Her writing has appeared in , , the , the , and the . She is a cake-stand collector, a very compet-itive bowler, and zealot. She started baking as soon as she could reach the counter with a step stool and hasn’t left the kitchen since. Alana holds a BA in journalism from New York University and a pastry degree from the Seattle Culinary Academy. To see more of her baking or writing, visit www.alanaalhatlani.com.
About Ulysses Press
Named one of ’s “fastest-growing small publishers,” Ulysses Press is reinventing the rela- tionship between reader, author, and publisher. Beyond market-driven, Ulysses Press focuses on highly target- ed niche groups that aren’t being offered the books they want by the big, corporate-owned publishing houses. As pop culture changes at the speed of the internet, books have a powerful role to play in the interconnected world. Above all other media, books offer readers a trusted source for information and a vital escape from our highly connected, digital world.