Chocolate Frogs

My apologies all around for the lengthy delay in my getting this ready to post, but at last the chocolate frogs have arrived on Dumbledore’s Vegan Army!

I made boxes, chocolate frog cards, and everything. I even renamed the founders of the four houses to jive with the four houses of Dumbledore’s Vegan Army!

First step: Make the boxes. I used blue construction paper and this handy template obtained from the Leaky Cauldron website.

I then wrote “chocolate frogs” and some swirly designs on top with gold paint marker.

Step 2: Make your chocolate frog cards! No chocolate frog is complete without them. Make sure to collect them all! I googled around and found a website with some pre-made cards, and I just switched them around to fit with DVA’s houses (as mentioned above) and printed them out. Note: Dumbledore & Merlin are not changed.

Left to right: Merlin, Salazar Soytherin, Albus Dumbledore; Sheila Seitanclaw, Viktor Vegandor, Trista Tofupuff
Step 3. Finally, you get to play with chocolate!

Ingredients:
-vegan chocolate (I used a mixture of dark chocolate bars and semisweet chocolate chips): The amount depends on how many frogs you plan on making.
-caranuba wax: This is totally optional, I just use it because it provides a glossy finish (and because my dad always uses it when he’s making chocolate confections). You only need a few shreds.

You will also need a chocolate frog mold. I got mine at a cake&candy specialty store, but if you don’t have one of those you could always find them online.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. If you don’t have a double boiler, not to worry! I never use one, nor do I know anyone who does. Just get two different sized pots, filling the larger one partway with water and putting the smaller one inside. Voila!
Put the chocolate (and wax, if using) into the smaller pot and heat on medium heat. If the water at any point starts to boil, turn it down… you just want it to be hot enough to make the chocolate melt. Once it’s melted, start spooning it into the molds. Let set in the refrigerator (or, if you’re in a hurry, the freezer).

Assemble and enjoy!

Pumpkin Pasties

Ever since Harry first took a bite out of a pumpkin pasty and gave another one to Ron on their way to Hogwarts for the first time, I’ve had a vision of how these would look and taste.  With a flakey crust and a just sweet enough, spicy pumpkin filling, they’d be more like a little meal than a dessert.   The books don’t mention Harry and friends eating pasties every time they get on the train, but I like to think that a trip to to Hogwarts just wouldn’t be complete without a pumpkin pasty or two.

Most vegan pumpkin pie fillings rely on tofu, but I want my soy-free people to be able to enjoy these, too, so this is recipe for pumpkin filling thickened with blended cashews.  These are only a little sweet like I imagine they’d be in the wizard world.  Not that witches and wizards seem to need to worry about their teeth as almost all the food at Hogwarts is some sort of dessert and Hermione is probably the only one of them who’s seen a dentist.

*note the crocheted owl in the background

Pumpkin Pasties Recipe

Dough

This is the empanada dough from Veganomicon without the cornmeal and it’s the easiest to work with, flakiest crust I’ve ever made.

2 ¼ cups all purpose flour

2 Tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

½ tsp baking powder

½ cup non hydrogenated shortening

½ – ¾  cup cold water

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

Combine flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl.  Add the shortening in small chunks and mix on low-med speed until the dough is crumbly and resembles pebbles.  Add the vinegar to ½ a cup of the water and add slowly while the mixer is going or in batches if not using an electric mixer.    The dough should form a ball.  If it’s still crumbly add a little more water until it holds together.   Form dough into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.   Prepare the pumpkin filling while dough is chilling

Pumpkin filling

You’ll probably have leftovers so go ahead and halve this if you want, or make a little pie with the leftovers.

1 cup raw cashews

Water to blend cashews

1 16 oz can pumpkin

2 Tablespoons cornstarch or arrowroot

½ cup sugar

¾ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp ground ginger

Place cashews in a food processor, add ¼ cup water and mix on high speed until a paste has formed. Add more water 1 Tablespoon at a time if necessary. (You could also try soaking and draining the cashews before hand so not as much water will need to be added.)

Add pumpkin and cornstarch and blend again until smooth and no cashew chunks are visible.  Add a little extra water if necessary. The key is to make sure the filling is thick enough so that it doesn’t ooze out of the little pies.  Add in the sugar and spices and blend to combine.

Assemble

Preheat oven to 400 F

Roll out dough to a little less than ¼ inch thick and cut into 3 ½ to 4 inch circles using a biscuit cutter or a drinking glass.  Take one round and stretch it out a bit and then place about 2 tsps of filling in the center.  Fold circle over into a half moon shape and press down the edges with a fork to close.  Make a little slit in the top and sprinkle with a little sugar if you want.   Transfer to greased or parchment covered baking sheet and bake for about 25 minutes until pasties are golden brown.

Delightfully Dark Mark Cookies

Okay, so how many of you blog-reading Harry Potter fans out there are representin’ Soytherin house? Because these cookies are for you!

These are the cookies I made to bring along to the midnight showing of Half-Blood Prince. They’re a dark chocolate shortbread cookie with the dark mark on top to show off your devotion to the Dark Lord. They have a very nice, light texture, but are a little crumbly so if you plan on sneaking them into the movies make sure you put them in a sturdier container, like tupperware. Don’t think you can just put these babies in ziplock bags and get away with it!

Chocolate Shortbread Cookies
Makes about 30

1 cup margarine
3/4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon chocolate extract (or more vanilla)
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tablespoon black cocoa powder (optional, but it makes both the flavour and colour a little darker)
1/4 teaspoon salt
Couple splashes of soymilk, if needed

In a large bowl, beat the margarine with an electric mixer until smooth. Add powdered sugar, and beat until smooth. Add the extracts and mix until an even consistency is reached.

In a separate bowl, stir together the salt, flour, and cocoa powders. Add to the wet mixture, and mix until well combined. The dough should be neither sticky nor dry. Mine was a little dry, so I added a little bit of soymilk just until it stuck together as a dough. If it’s too soft, chill in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes.

Transfer dough to a large plastic (ziplock) bag. Keeping the bag unzipped, use a rolling pin to flatten the dough evenly, making sure to spread it to the bottom corners, then working your way up to the open end. The dough should nearly fill the bag, and should only be about 1/8″ thick.

Refrigerate the rolled-out dough (making sure to keep it flat) for about a half hour. You can use this time to do a little death eater tango or, if you’re boring like me, clean up the kitchen a little and prepare for the last step.

Preheat oven to 350F.

When dough is nice and firm, cut the plastic bag and turn the dough onto a cutting board. Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut the dough into about 25-30 2″ squares.

Gently lift each square from the cutting board and transfer to a prepared baking sheet (ungreased or with parchment paper).

To avoid them puffing up, poke each cookie twice with a fork, penetrating to the baking sheet. You may need to hold the surrounding dough down with your fingers, as each piece will want to stick to the fork.

Bake for 9-12 minutes, until they look done. Immediately transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Evil Icing
Note: I never measure ingredients when I make this icing, so I’m not putting any amounts here. The amounts differ based on humidity, altitude, how much/what kind of food coloring you’re using, etc anyway. You’ve probably made icing before, but if not you’ll see how ridiculously easy it is.

Powdered sugar
Soymilk
Green food coloring (I used about 1/2 teaspoon green and a few drops neon green)

Put powdered sugar in a small/medium-sized bowl (use what looks like is going to be a little more than you need, when it gets wet it’ll get more compact). Add a few splashes of soymilk and mix. Add food coloring and mix. Add more sugar if too liquidy, more soymilk if too dry. Transfer to a small ziplock bag and close the bag. Cut a tiny corner out of the bag to pipe icing (Alternatively, you can put all the ingredients directly into the bag and mix them up that way).

Assembly:
Practice drawing dark marks on a piece of paper first to figure out your best way to do it (I just copied from the picture on the back of the HBP book). Then, once cookies are cooled completely, pipe dark marks onto the cookies. Voila! Delightfully dark mark cookies for all your death-eater friends. Plus, now you’re an expert at drawing dark marks!

Golden Snitch Cupcakes

Harry Potter nearly swallows the golden snitch during a quidditch match in Sorcerer’s Stone. Here is a recipe for golden snitches that you are supposed to swallow! (but please, chew first. No choking!)

I made these cupcakes for the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Little did I know when I came up with the idea that there was going to be a golden snitch birthday cake in the book! So it turned out to be very fitting.

The golden vanilla cupcake recipe is from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, as is the peanut buttercream frosting. The sugar cookie recipe is from Kelly’s upcoming vegan cookie book .

Really Golden Vanilla Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes

1 cup soy milk
generous pinch turmeric
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract, caramel extract, or more vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F and line muffin pan with gold foil cupcake liners.

In a small stainless-steel saucepan beat a generous pinch of turmeric powder into the soymilk. Stirring occasionally to prevent a skin from forming on the top, cook mixture over medium-low heat till soy milk just starts to simmer, about 2 to 3 minutes. When turmeric powder appears to be dissolved and the soy milk has a light yellow hue, remove from heat and cool for 5 minutes.

Whisk the soy milk and vinegar in a measuring cup and set aside a few minutes to get good and curdled.

Beat together the soy milk mixture, oil, sugar, vanilla, and other extracts, if using, in a large bowl. Sift in the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and mix until no large lumps remain.

Fill cupcake liners two-thirds of the way and bake for 20 to 22 minutes till done. Transfer to a cooling rak and let cool completely before frosting.

Peanut Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup margarine, softened
4 tablespoons shortening
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoon barley malt syrup or molasses, optional
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 to 4 tablespoons rice milk, soy milk, or soy creamer

With electric handheld mixer, cream together margarine and shortening at medium speed till smooth. Add peanut butter, barley malt syrup, and vanilla, and beat until very smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in sugar; mixture will be very stiff. Dribble in rice milk a little at a time, beating continuously till frosting is pale tan and very fluffy. Adjust the thickness of the frosting by adding rice milk or more confectioners’ sugar in small incrememts if necessary.

Sugar Cookie Wings

This recipe will make more dough than you need for the wings. You can reroll the dough and make scar or horcrux cookies, or save it for later and make something completely different! Or, you could probably half the recipe and be just fine too. Be my guest! I made scar cookies with my leftover dough.

3/4 cup Earth Balance margarine
1 1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons agave nectar
1/2 cup soy milk plus 1 tablespoon cornstarch, dissolved
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup soymilk, plus more as needed

Heat the soymilk/cornstarch mixture either on the stovetop or microwave, until thick. Set aside to cool.

Cream margarine, sugar, and agave with an electric mixer or a very strong fork. Add cooled soymilk mixture, vanilla, and 1/4 cup soymilk.

Sift in the flour, baking powder, and salt, a little at a time, mixing as you go. If the dough is too dry, add more soymilk.

Refrigerate dough for about an hour or up to overnight. Alternatively, you can freeze the dough for about 15 minutes if in a hurry.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Lightly flour a countertop and rolling pin. Roll out a portion of the dough to about 1/8″ thick. You want the dough to be pretty thin, or else the cookies will be too heavy and fall out of the cupcakes when you try to assemble the golden snitches.

If you happen to have small wing-shaped cookie cutters, good for you! Use them to cut out your wings. I don’t, so I cut out a wing shape from a sturdy piece of cardboard (like you get when you buy a calendar). I covered it with foil and set it on top of the dough, using a knife to cut the shape out. Cut out twice as many cookies as you have cupcakes, maybe a few extra just in case. Use the extra dough to make scar cookies, horcrux cookies, whatever your imagination can dream up!

Place the wings on a cookie sheet that has been lightly misted with oil or covered with parchment paper. Press the tines of a fork lightly into the dough to make little lines on the wings.

Bake for about 3-5 minutes, until slightly golden on the bottom but still soft to the touch. Watch closely so they don’t burn: remember, they’re thin, so they’ll bake quickly! Let cool on racks before assembling cupcakes.

Assembly:

Frost the top of each cooled cupcake with a generous mound of PB frosting. You want the tops to be pretty domed, round like a golden snitch.

Carefully stick two wings into each cupcake. Use a butter knife or other utensil to carve lines into the icing to make it look snitch-like. Enjoy!

Butterbeer Sandwich Cookies

First of all, welcome to Dumbledore’s Vegan Army.  If you found this blog you were probably searching the dark corners of the internet looking for vegan treats to make for your Harry Potter marathon or premiere party.  Maybe you were listening to a Harry Potter audio book and getting cravings for foods that we muggles can’t  just conjure up with the flick of a wand.     If you long for some of Mrs. Weasley’s cute little pies or some of Madam Rosemerta’s famous butterbeer, you’re about to find some awesome ideas and recipes to fullfill any vegan’s Harry Potter themed food needs.  Enjoy!

I wanted to sneak some treats into the theater to see The Half-Blood Prince, and it didn’t seem like greatest idea to sneak a bottle of cream soda spiked with butterscotch schnapps, so I decided to make a more solid form of butterbeer.  These cookies are sweet, buttery and butterscotchy, just like I imagine real butterbeer to be.  They are a really sturdy little cookie that won’t crumble in your purse while you’re hiding them from the theater staff.

Recipe follows: