Harry Potter Week: Day 5 - Butterbeer!

Harry Potter Week: Day 5 - Butterbeer!

How could we have a complete menu of all things Harry Potter if we didn't have Butterbeer?  Obviously, we could not.  The movies always made me wonder what exactly butterbeer was.  Was it actually an alcoholic beverage?  Is it more like a virgin buttered rum?  And, if there is in fact no booze in it, then why does Hermoine act liquored up and hang all over Harry and Ron while walking back to Hogwarts?  Of course, you could look online here and find out what it really is, but where's the fun in that?

I love that it's spilling over the side!

Anyhoo, I borrowed a recipe, but I adapted it a bit.  Actually, I tried it both ways. I think it's a matter of preference.

Butterbeer
adapted slightly from Bakingdom

FOR THE BUTTERBEER
6 12-ounce bottles chilled cream soda
3 teaspoons (1 tablespoon) imitation butter flavor, or 2 tablespoons clarified butter

FOR THE FOAM
 2 cups heavy cream
6 tablespoons sugar, or splenda for sugar free version
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons imitation butter (if using clarified butter, double the amount to 3 teaspoons, or 1 tablespoon)

I've tried both cream soda and root beer.  I found the cream soda with the sugared whipped cream to be a littttttttle too sweet.  Maybe reduce the amount of sugar in the foam?  I didn't try that, but what I did try, was to substitute root beer instead.  It wasn't so sickly sweet with the root beer, but like I said, it's a matter of preference.  It would also be pretty tasty with a shot or two of rum.  =)

Thank you all for joining me this week during my Harry Potter madness!!  And, thank you J K Rowling for your creative mind.  I still enjoy the movies and watch them every so often.  In fact, most of the food that I featured this week was for a low key Harry Potter Fest.  We almost made it through all the movies over Memorial Day Weekend. 

Someday, I'd like to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  I should probably start saving now.