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Friday, June 13, 2014

Oatmeal Bread

Oatmeal Bread
Photo by Kate Tompkins
2 cups quick (not instant) rolled oats
3 1/2 cups boiling water
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon instant yeast
6 1/2 cups flour (approximate)

Combine oats, water, molasses and salt in a large bowl and let cool. Sprinkle yeast over top and stir, then start adding the flour gradually, until it forms a stiff dough. You can begin by stirring but you will have to knead the dough to get the last few cups in. Let it rise until double, punch down and divide into two loaves. Place in pans and let rise again. Bake in a 350°F oven for 45 minutes or until bottom of loaf sounds hollow when knocked. It will look brown from the beginning, thanks to the molasses, so don’t rely on that to tell when it is cooked.


Based on a recipe from Things Mother Used to Make by Lydia Maria Gurney, New York, 1914, which you can find on Project Gutenberg. My version has been modernized.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Homemade Butterbeer

Homemade Butterbeer
Photo by Kate Tompkins
15 ounces Sprite
1/4 cup whipping cream
4 pumps (one ounce) Torani Butter Rum Syrup (no substitutions), divided
2 Butterbeer souvenir mugs or any glass that will hold at least 8 ounces

In blender (Magic Bullet is great for this), combine whipping cream and 1/2 ounce (two pumps) of Torani syrup. Pulse until cream is whipped, about 30 seconds. Put one pump of syrup into each glass. Fill up with Sprite and top with whipped cream. If you prefer the whipped cream spread through the mixture, place it in the bottom before adding the syrup.

Serves 2

We did the Warner Brothers London Making of Harry Potter studio tour last year and of course had to sample the butterbeer. So when I ended up back home with two souvenir mugs, naturally I wanted to be able to refill them. I tried several of the online recipes, but none of them seemed quite right or were too complicated. This one is dead easy, and if you use whipping cream from a spray can (in which case, just pour the syrup over it) it’s even easier.

This doesn’t look like the official Butterbeer we had at Warner Brothers in London, as it’s clear rather than amber, but the taste is a pretty good approximation. Some of the online recipes call for cream soda, but it seemed to me there was a lemony undertaste, so I like the Sprite in it.


Torani syrups can be found online if no one sells them in your area. I get mine through Buy Coffee Canada.