Titania’s Delight • Fruit parfait with meringue and whipped cream
The White Witch’s Turkish Delight • Rosewater Turkish delight
Sword Coast Tart • Cranberry tart
THE EYE OF AGAMOTTO
The long initiation period of Dr. Strange’s young disciple is at an end. He is finally prepared to counter the forces of evil and Baron Mordo. To assist him in this task, the doctor gives him two mystical items that will be very useful: the Cloak of Levitation and the Eye of Agamotto, the amulet with clairvoyant powers. May it never fall into the wrong hands!
INGREDIENTS • 8 cookies
The cookie dough
5 1/2 oz flour + extra for work surface
2 3/4 oz superfine sugar
3 pinches ground cinnamon
2 3/4 oz butter
1 egg
The cream
4 fl oz (1/2 cup) pouring cream (30% dairy fat)
4 1/2 oz mascarpone cheese
1 t vanilla powder
1 3/4 oz white chocolate
Decoration
3 1/2 oz raspberries
PREPARATION TIME • 1 hr COOKING TIME • 15 mins
RESTING TIME • 30 mins
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Place the flour, sugar, and cinnamon in a mixing bowl. Swirl it all together using the Cloak of Levitation.
Cut the butter into pieces and add it to the flour. Rub between your fingers tips until the mixture looks like coarse meal.
Beat the egg in a bowl, then add it to the dough. Lay the Cloak of Levitation over the dough and let it rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
On a floured surface, roll out the dough to 5mm and cut out 8 circles with a cookie cutter.
Using the offcuts, roll small balls of dough and place them around the edge of the circles.
Bake in the oven for 10 minutes and allow to cool.
Place the cream, mascarpone, and vanilla in a bowl. Beat everything together until firm peaks form by creating a tornado or using a whisk.
Use your mystical powers to melt the white chocolate in a water bath (or see page 121) and fold it gently into the cream.
Complete the amulets of Agamotto by piping the cream in the shape of an eye and adding a raspberry for the iris.
POISONED APPLES
Delicious and irresistible. … These apples are ideal if, like the witch from Snow White, you think that the best way to ensure that an act of revenge is carried out properly is to do it yourself.
INGREDIENTS • serves 4
4 Granny Smith apples
1 lemon
1 lb 2 oz fructose (health food section of your store)
Blue and black liquid food coloring
PREPARATION TIME • 5 mins COOKING TIME • 10 mins
RESTING TIME • 15 mins
Conjure up some lightning in your secret laboratory so you can see more clearly, then summon the spirit of the Mirror.
Rinse the apples, remove the stems and insert wooden twigs or sticks into the center, pushing them in well so they are secure.
Roll the lemon back and forth several times across a work surface under the palm of your hand, pressing firmly, then cut it in half and collect the juice.
In a cauldron as black as your soul, melt the fructose with the lemon juice and bring to a boil. When the candy is golden but not yet coppery, add 4 drops of blue coloring to each 1 drop of black (according to the Mirror’s advice).
Mix and remove from the heat.
Dip the apples in the candy, coating them completely with both the sugar and your resentment.
Place the apples on a plate lined with parchment paper and let them cool completely, until the candy is as dry as your heart.
TOAST FOR DISOBEDIENT CHILDREN
When Mr. Brown’s children finally admitted that life was much better when they listened to Nanny McPhee, she made them this toast, which they all agreed was delicious.
INGREDIENTS • serves 6
2 pears
4 1/2 oz hazelnuts
1 3/4 oz butter
1 1/2 oz honey
1 oz raisins
½ t ground cinnamon
6 eggs
6 slices artisan-style bread
PREPARATION TIME • 15 mins COOKING TIME • 20 mins
Ask Mrs. Blatherwick to peel the pears and cut them into small cubes with sides measuring exactly 0.43 inches. Roughly crush the hazelnuts.
Go in search of the last frying pan the Brown children have not turned into a gong or a tennis racquet, and melt half of the butter. Pour in the honey and let it caramelize for a few moments, then add the pieces of pear, hazelnuts, raisins, and cinnamon. Mix gently so the honey coats all the ingredients.
Let the mixture cook for 10 minutes, the time it takes you to check that the children are at last playing nicely in the parlor (without jumping on the seats or painting the baby blue).
Break the eggs into a bowl and lightly beat them together. Add the rest of the butter to the frying pan and add the beaten eggs. Let them cook for 2 or 3 minutes before gently shaking the pan so the omelet doesn’t stick.
Cook for 5 to 8 minutes in total, while Evangeline toasts the slices of bread, then slide the omelet onto a large plate, folding it like a turnover.
Cut the omelet into six pieces, slide one onto each piece of toasted bread, add a spoonful of fruit, nut, and honey mixture, and enjoy, ignoring the whispers and giggles of the children who claim that even this morning your face was still festooned with warts and a mustache…. Ri-di-cul-ous!
RASPBERRY CAKES
Mary Poppins has a real passion for raspberry cakes. She adores eating them with her friend Bert when they take afternoon tea inside one of his pictures.
INGREDIENTS • 16 cakes
2 3/4 oz butter
2 eggs
2 3/4 oz flour
1 t baking powder
2 3/4 oz superfine sugar
3 1/2 oz raspberry purée
(in the baby food section of your store)
PREPARATION TIME • 15 mins COOKING TIME • 8 mins
Preheat the oven to 450°F.
While Bert makes one of his chalk drawings, melt the butter and let it cool to warm. Break the eggs into a mixing bowl and beat them together quickly. For increased efficiency, ask the whisk to do the beating by itself.
While Bert draws a green meadow with a stream trickling across it, beneath the eyes of the delighted children, take the opportunity to sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl with the beaten egg, and mix together. Add the sugar and mix again, then pour in the melted butter and mix once more.
While the children point out that they can see horses racing across the meadow, pour a spoonful of the batter into each hole of a madeleine mold. Next, add a teaspoon of raspberry purée and cover with more cake batter, filling the holes by two-thirds only to avoid overflowing during baking.
Bake for 4 minutes, lower the temperature to 350°F, and bake for a further 4 minutes.
Turn out the madeleines and let them cool just for the time it takes to pick up an umbrella, put on your coat, and jump into the picture, too.
STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM
Everyone knows that Mary Poppins is a model nanny. Under her care, children would never dance a wild jig across the rooftops of London, buy sweets in an invisible shop, ride a carousel in a picture drawn on the ground, or slide backward down the bannister. You can rest assured that none of this would happen. But I am going to share with you one of Mary’s secrets: this wonderful strawberry ice cream. There’s nothing like it to reward well-behaved children and ensure they stay that way … at least for a little while.
INGREDIENTS • makes 6 ice creams
1 lb 2 oz strawberries
1 lb 2 oz superfine sugar
8 fl oz (1 cup) spring water
Juice of 1 lemon
1 lb 2 oz whipped cream
PREPARATION TIME • 15 mins FREEZING TIME • 1 night
Rinse and remove the stems of the str
awberries. Set 6 strawberries aside and finely dice them.
Mash the rest of the strawberries to a purée.
Pour the sugar into a dish and dissolve it in the spring water and lemon juice, mixing well.
Incorporate the whipped cream, strawberry purée, and diced strawberries and mix again.
Pour into ice pop molds or six small yogurt tubs, and let stand in the refrigerator overnight or until Admiral Boom fires his cannon.
SCOURER REPELLENTS
The infamous Scourers made witch-hunting their specialty. But fortunately for the magical community, a certain Dunbarion Bluemountain created these repellents, rendering witches and wizards totally undetectable to any Scourers hunting in the vicinity.
INGREDIENTS
• makes about 20 foils
2 1/4 lb tomatoes, very ripe
2 T balsamic vinegar
8 sheets gelatin
7 oz popping sugar
PREPARATION TIME • 15 mins REFRIGERATION TIME • 2 hrs
Rinse the tomatoes in a large quantity of water, without flooding your laboratory.
Submerge the tomatoes for 2 minutes in a saucepan of boiling water (or cast a Geyserpuff spell), then purée in a food processor.
Carefully strain the liquid; it mustn’t contain any leaves or bits of stem.
Pour the liquid into a cauldron, add the balsamic vinegar, and heat gently, adding the sheets of gelatin one by one. Once the gelatin is completely dissolved, pour into a dish lined with parchment paper and let it rest for 2 hours in the refrigerator.
Pour the popping sugar into a bowl.
Turn out the tray of tomato gelatin onto a work surface covered with parchment paper. Cut out 1 1/2-inch squares and roll them in the popping sugar.
Keep the repellents away from moisture and pop one in your mouth as soon as you get wind of approaching Scourers.
TREACLE TART
Never mind that you have to face an uncooperative dragon at a Triwizard Tournament or that your best friends are quarreling, do as Harry does: enjoy a slice of treacle tart and forget your troubles till not a crumb is left.
INGREDIENTS • serves 8
The pastry
7 oz flour + extra for work surface
3 1/2 oz butter, cut into pieces
1 egg
1 pinch salt
The filling
15 fl oz golden syrup
(international food section of your store)
2 1/4 oz butter, cut into pieces
Juice of 1 lemon
5 1/2 oz breadcrumbs (or cornflakes)
PREPARATION TIME • 20 mins COOKING TIME • 1 hr
RESTING TIME • 30 mins
Sift the flour into a bowl containing 1 1/2 oz of the butter, cut into pieces, and rub together with your fingertips. When the mixture looks like coarse meal, add the egg and the salt, and 3 or 4 tablespoons of water collected from the lake on a starry night. Mix together well, roll into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and let rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface to a thickness of 1/8 inch and lay it in a round buttered tart ring. Prick the base using a fork, or simply use a Hedgehog-Roller spell. Lay a sheet of parchment paper on top, cover with ceramic baking beans or dried beans, and bake blind for 20 minutes.
Remove the beans and sheet of parchment paper.
Lower the oven temperature to 325°F.
In a small cauldron or pan on low heat, melt the golden syrup, then add the remaining butter, cut into pieces, and the lemon juice. Take the pan off the heat, mix in the breadcrumbs or cornflakes, and pour into the tart base.
Bake for 20 minutes in the oven, then lower the temperature to 275°F and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes, until the tart is golden brown and the filling soft.
Let it cool and serve with whipped cream.
WEREWOLF BISCUITS
A werewolf never turns its snout up at a good, crunchy meal. The ideal of course would be a “real” werewolf meal, a fresh and juicy human for example. As a substitute, these sweet “dog biscuits” with a drizzle of syrup will still have him licking his chops.
INGREDIENTS • serves 4
7 oz shortbread cookies
1 oz butter, melted
7 oz sweetened whipped cream
7 oz semisweet chocolate
Sugar, as needed
1 jar (or approximately 17 ounces) black cherries in syrup (morello cherries …)
PREPARATION TIME • 10 mins COOKING TIME • 15 mins
RESTING TIME • 15 mins
Begin by crushing the shortbread cookies to very fine crumbs in a bowl. Melt the butter and mix with the crumbs, then place 4 pastry rings, 3 1/4 inches in diameter, on plates and pack the crumbs inside, pressing them down to make bases. Place the plates in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
Place the whipped cream in a bowl. Gently melt the chocolate in another bowl (see page 121) and let it cool to just warm. Mix it into the whipped cream, not forgetting to taste and add some sugar if necessary. Place in the refrigerator with the bases.
Now drain the cherries, pouring the juice into a small pan, and set aside the cherries. Boil the juice hard for 15 minutes until it becomes thick and syrupy.
Take the bases out of the refrigerator, remove the rings, and place some cherries in a circle on top (set a few aside for decoration).
Take a piping bag (or a freezer bag with a corner cut off), fill with the chocolate cream, and pipe over the cherries. Decorate with the remaining cherries, pressing them on lightly so they don’t fall off. Finish by adding a generous spoonful of the cherry syrup on top of each dessert. Serve immediately.
NATHANIEL’S REMINDERS
Before he was known as John Mandrake, Nathaniel, the youngest minister of all time, was a small boy who, like all children of his age, loved sweet things. The only difference was that he also possessed extraordinary magical gifts. So what could be better than these delicious magic wands to take him back, as if by magic, to the sweetness of childhood?
INGREDIENTS • 10 lollipops
9 oz pumpkin, peeled
(frozen if out of season)
9 oz flour + extra for work surface
1 pinch salt
1 T ground hazelnuts
3 1/2 oz butter
2 T maple syrup
1 egg yolk, for glazing
PREPARATION TIME • 20 mins COOKING TIME • 45 mins
RESTING TIME • 15 mins
Steam the pumpkin for 25 minutes, until it is easily pierced with the tip of a knife, then place it in a strainer and let it drain.
Sift the flour and salt into a bowl, add the ground hazelnuts, 4 fl oz (1/2 cup) lukewarm water and the diced butter, and mix together. Knead until you have a smooth, non-sticky dough, adding a little more water or flour if too dry or sticky. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest for 15 minutes in the refrigerator.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F and mash the pumpkin to a smooth purée. Add the maple syrup.
Flour a work surface, roll the dough out thinly (about 1/8 inch) and cut out whatever shapes you like using a cookie cutter. Place one teaspoon of pumpkin purée in the middle of each shape, then place a lollipop stick on top, cover with a second pastry shape, and seal the edges by pressing them gently together with a fork.
Place the lollipops on a baking sheet, brush with a little egg yolk, and bake for 25 minutes: they should be golden brown, not copper-colored.
DJINN DESSERTS (see photo on page 118)
How is it that Bartimaeus has come to find himself making pastries for an ill-tempered wizard? He was sent to this boot camp for disobedient djinn by the great King Solomon—bounteous be his beard!
INGREDIENTS
• Makes about 20 balls
9 oz butter, softened + 1 oz for the dates
7 oz dates, mashed
2 T toasted sesame seeds
2 1/4 lb flour
1 t baking powder
&n
bsp; 1 pinch salt
1 egg
8 fl oz (1 cup) milk + a little for brushing on pastry
PREPARATION TIME • 15 mins COOKING TIME • 15 mins
Preheat the oven to 300°F.
While trying to forget that Khaba the Cruel Magician has a silly air about him, melt 1 oz butter in a hot frying pan and add the dates and sesame seeds. Heat for 5 minutes on low heat and set aside.
Sift the flour and baking powder, add the salt, then 9 oz softened butter, and knead everything together. Add the egg, then 1 cup milk, and mix again until you have a smooth, malleable dough.
Divide the dough into about 20 equal pieces. Form each piece into a small ball, hold it in the palm of your hand, and make a hole in the center using a spoon. Fill with some of the date mixture and close it up. Repeat until all the dough balls are filled.
Place the balls on a sheet of parchment paper, brush with milk, and bake for 15 minutes. Take the opportunity to quietly slip outside to enjoy some fresh air with the other djinn. Devour.
CHOCOLATE FROGS
On board the Hogwarts Express, Ron introduces Harry to magic confectioneries. It was when he opened a box of chocolate frogs that Harry discovered a card bearing the name Albus Dumbledore, the famous headmaster of Hogwarts. These frogs are an unmissable treat in the world of magic; you just have to make sure they don’t jump too far.
INGREDIENTS • serves 6
1 3/4 oz milk chocolate
1 3/4 oz semisweet chocolate
2 3/4 oz marshmallows
Frog-shaped molds
PREPARATION TIME • 20 mins RESTING TIME • 3 hrs
Break the chocolate into large pieces using a Crackling spell and place them in a heatproof bowl. Make a water bath to melt the chocolate. Fill a large pan partway with water, then place the heatproof bowl on top—it should be smaller than the pan but wide enough that its base is suspended in the water, but not touching the bottom of the pan.
Place the pan over a gentle heat until the chocolate melts. (Make sure that there is enough water in the pan to heat the bowl.) Divide the melted chocolate carefully between the frog-shaped molds so that it coats the insides thoroughly. Turn the molds over on a sheet of parchment paper to allow the excess chocolate to run off. Let the frog cases chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Wizard’s Cookbook Page 7