OK, so I was trying to come up with a way to tie this to Christmas. After all, Coffee Cup Love (or Mug Love) isn't exactly a seasonal subject... but then again it is.

Every Christmas season, Starbucks and Barnes & Noble come out with Christmas mugs. Whether it's their own design, Grinch-themed ones, Charlie Brown, Scrooge... the list goes on. And every year I say no. No... I have ENOUGH mugs. I mean... I have a bit of an obsession really. After all, what fun is it to offer someone just a plain coffee mug? It's much more fun to give them one with "personality".


Yes... and that's not even ALL of them. There are still the ones I bought Clark. (Yes, I have impressed my obsession on to him. Isn't that part of marriage?) And my "standard" mugs, and my travel mugs... you get the idea.

So, this year Starbucks has a "Night Before Christmas" type line you can find at Barnes and Noble. It's probably one of the cutest things I've ever seen. There are matching napkins (that you can see in this post) and a Santa-Cookie set that comes with a plate and matching mug to set out with milk and cookies, right? Most adorable thing EVER.

But... I stayed strong. I walked away.

Luckily, my hubby loves me, and he did not. He bought me the napkins and the dove mug, because it was the one I liked the most. So, I now have one seasonal coffee cup (as you can see, I used it this morning).

Do you have any "obsessions" or "loves" that are amplified this time of year?

Here it is. My confession...

I. Love. Harry. Potter.

Perhaps it's because I grew up with Harry. Perhaps it's because I initially wasn't allowed to read the books. Maybe it's because J.K. Rowling is awesome. Who knows. All I know is, I love Harry Potter.

So much that October this year became Harry Potter month. It just hasn't been the same since the movies ended. There's nothing to look forward to with the series. It's truly over. Ended. So sad. Anyway, October became Harry Potter month. I made a schedule of what I was going to cook and when we were going to watch each movie. I spaced it out over the month so we would finish right before Halloween (saving that day for It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!, of course).

My senior year of high school is when the last book came out. Clark likes to tease me because I made him go to the midnight release of the book. He also makes fun of me because I dressed up. He always seems to exaggerate my "costume". Truly all I did was put on some jeans, a button down, and tie. However, with my hair, he always said I was a Hermione. Just to come clean... here's the one piece of evidence.


Now that that's out of the way, let's move on to the recipes, shall we?

How do you celebrate Harry Potter? By making butterbeer and pumpkin pasties, of course! While there are plenty of other sweets that could be made, these two stand out the most to me. So, here you are. Celebrate all the awesomeness that is Harry Potter with your very own butterbeer and pumpkin pasty!

Butterbeer

Ingredients:
This recipe is for four servings of butterbeer.

- 4 12oz bottles of cream soda (or just 48 oz of cream soda, a two liter works just fine)
- 2 tsp of imitation butter PER serving (I actually used "Butter Buds" because I was unable to find legitimate imitation butter, which should be a liquid.)
Optional: 1 shot of gold rum per serving

For the foam:

- 1.5 C heavy whipping cream
- 4 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp imitation butter (or butter buds)

Directions:

- Make sure your cream soda is nice and cold! In the bottom of your glass, put your butterbuds/imitation butter and your rum if you're making this adult-butterbeer. Pour your cream soda over it and make sure it mixes well.
- For the foam, whip your heavy cream on medium speed for three to four minutes.
Note: Because Michael was sleeping when I was making this, I just whisked it to death for four minutes. Had I used an electric mixer, my foam probably would have been a bit more "firm".
- Add the sugar and whip for another two minutes or so, until soft peaks begin to form.
- Add your vanilla and butter and mix for another 30 seconds or so, until soft peaks can be seen again.
- Add your foam to the top of your cream soda mix.
To make the foam mix in a little bit, I saved some cream soda and pour it on top of the foam as well so it was foamy throughout rather than just on top.
If you like, sprinkle some raw sugar, sprinkles, or whatever you like on top of your butterbeer!

WARNING: You will have a mustache, especially if you have one already...


And if you don't make enough for seconds, people can get violent.

Now on to the...


Pumpkin Pasties


Ingredients:
(For the dough)
- 1/2 C butter, cold, cut into pieces
- 3/4 tsp sugar
- 1.5 C all purpose, unbleached flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 8 oz cream cheese (low or fat free), cut into pieces

Directions:
- Preheat your oven to 350.
- Mix your dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
- Add the butter and use a pastry cutter (like you do for blackberry scones) to blend it in until it looks like you have course crumbs.


- Add the cream cheese and use the pastry cutter until you no longer can, switching over to a spatula or spoon until you get a nice mess.


- Add some flour to a surface or the bowl and knead the dough until you get it nice and round. Divide into two (if you don't want to make the whole recipe) and freeze or refrigerate half (if you want to).
I would suggest putting it in the fridge while you make the filling as well.


Ingredients:
(For the filling)
- 3/4 C pureed pumpkin
*Note: I only used half of the dough recipe, but made the whole filling recipe. Needless to say I had quite a bit left over. If you only intend to make half, make sure to cut the filling recipe in half as well.*
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
- 1 egg
- 1/3 C sugar
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp vanilla

Directions:

- In a small saucepan, heat your pumpkin and spices until warm (over low to medium-low heat).
- Whisk in your egg, vanilla, sugar, and salt. Let cool for a few minutes before proceeding.

BRING IT ALL TOGETHER NOW!

- Roll out your dough and use a biscuit or cookie cutter to cut into circles. I am not blessed with either of these, so I used the fabulous Boogie Wipes container and a knife.

- After you cut them, roll them out to make the dough thinner (note how they're not perfectly round, which is totally fine).
- Use a heaping teaspoon to put filling in them. Make sure you put it closer to an edge, rather than right in the middle.

- Fold them over and roll or pinch the edges with your fingers (or I believe you could use a fork).

Now you need: (optional)
- 1 egg, scrambled
- raw sugar

- Use a basting brush and lightly go over the tops of them with your scrambled egg. Next, sprinkle sugar on top.
A half recipe makes about seven pasties (but may make more if you have a standard biscuit cutter for the dough)!

- Put them in the oven and cook for 20 to 25 minutes, until they're nice and golden on top (or just about to be golden, which is what I prefer).



Enjoy with your butterbeer or all on their own! These things go fast!

Have a Harry-Potter-Filled-Happy Halloween!




Butterbeer recipe inspired by: Bakingdom.com.

Pumpkin Pastie recipe adapted from: BrownieBites.com.