I also have a Frozen Butterbeer recipe! Check it out! 🙂

As I continue my little celebration of the release of Harry potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 1, today I get to share with you my favorite treat that I have ever, ever made: butterbeer!

It seems to be the Harry Potter food that most people want to try more than any other! Fortunately, now you can, of course, at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. And the best part about it, is that you know it’s the right stuff, because Jo Rowling herself taste approved the park’s recipe!

I was lucky enough to go to WWOHP back in June. In fact, I was there the second week after it opened!!

It. was. amazing. We spent two days there, and I loved every second of it, and I can’t wait to go back!! My only complaint is that I wanted more! I wanted it to be even bigger! But I have a feeling that I would have wanted that no matter what! 🙂

As for the butterbeer…well, I have to admit that it was definitely on the top of my list of things to do there! We ordered our butterbeers at the Hog’s Head Inn (where the line was much, much shorter than elsewhere), and I couldn’t even wait to take a picture before I tried mine!

It was so delicious! It was something like a cross between a butterscotchy cream soda and a root beer float. It’s also strangely addictive. We kept finding ourselves wanting to go back for more (thank goodness for the awesomely adorable souvenir mugs)! I knew immediately that it was something I wanted to try to replicate for my blog. And believe it or not, I really did! I’m awfully glad about that fact too, because I seriously crave this stuff!!

There are several homemade butterbeer recipes that have popped up online since the opening of WWOHP, but I have to admit, I haven’t tried any of them. To be perfectly honest, they’re either too long and involved to make, or there isn’t enough effort involved in making it more than just a bottle of cream soda. I wanted to find something that was easy and fast, but not just your plain old glass of cream soda with boring whipped cream on top.

I started with the butterbeer itself. Jo Rowling describes it as being butterscotch, but not so sickly sweet. After trying the WW version, I, like others, started with a base of cream soda. Admittedly, the WW butterbeer is very, very close to cream soda. All I needed to do was find a way to make it more like butterscotch in flavor.

I considered butterscotch syrup, but ruled it our for two reasons:

1. I couldn’t find any here on my tiny island.

2. I honestly thought it would add to much sweetness to the already sweet soda.

What else could give me that buttery flavor, but butter? Butter in soda, though? That sounds really gross to me. Imitation butter flavor turned out to be the perfect solution. Believe it or not, just a dash added to 12 ounces of cream soda was perfect! For those of you who don’t have access to cream soda, try my easy and deliciousÂ Homemade Cream Soda recipe.

To avoid using artificial flavors, you can use clarified butter (which will add the flavor of butter, not oil), and a great resource with instructions is found here, from David Lebovitz, but it’s quite a bit more work, which is why I settled on imitation butter. The clarified butter also doesn’t always mix well with the cold beverage. It only works for me about half of the time. I prefer working with natural flavors whenever possible, but I don’t recommend using clarified butter in the drink recipe (it works beautifully in the foam). If you don’t want to use artificial flavoring in your butterbeer, either take your chances here (but no promises from me that it works…sorry), or skip the flavoring in the actual drink altogether and only flavor the foam. If you choose to use clarified butter, you’ll want to use two or three tablespoons to get as much flavor as you would from the imitation butter.

Now, all I had to worry about was the “foam.”

The best way I can describe the foam from butterbeer is that it tastes similar to vanilla ice cream, but more buttery and with a consistency more like a soft whipped cream. Seems like a great jumping off point, so I started with a basic whipped cream recipe and tweaked it until I had the right flavor.

All you need for the butterbeer foam is heavy cream, sugar, vanilla, and butter extract (or clarified butter, which is excellent in this). Once you whip all those ingredients together, you just need your butterbeer, and you’re all set! *Bonus! This is another gluten-free recipe! A vegan/dairy-free whipped cream recipe that I think would work well for this can be found here. Make as directed, adding in the butter extract as below.

This has been, by far, the most fun, the most exciting thing that I have made. Ever. I could hardly wait to blog about it!! It truly does taste like what I remember from the park, and I hope everyone gets a chance to try it! If you can’t make it to Florida for a taste of the real thing, I promise this will make up for it! It’s just as delicious (and just as addictive)! Enjoy!!

Homemade Butterbeer (You can also check out myÂ Frozen Butterbeer recipe!)

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients

**All research I conducted turned up that McCormick’s Imitation Butter Flavor is vegan, but I cannot guarantee it**

FOR THE BUTTERBEER

6 12-ounce bottles chilled cream soda, or 1/2 recipeÂ Homemade Cream Soda, substitute diet cream soda for a still yummy sugar-free version

3 teaspoons (1 tablespoon) imitation butter flavor, or 2 tablespoons clarified butter (instructions linked above **clarified butter does not always blend well with the cold beverage, see info above**)

OPTIONAL – 1 ounce light rum, per serving, for adults only

FOR THE FOAM (Vegan/Dairy-free recipe linked above)

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)

To make the butterbeer: Set out 6 16-ounce glasses. Place 1/2 teaspoon of imitation butter (or 1 teaspoon clarified butter) in each glass. Pour 12 ounces of cream soda into each glass, over the butter. Lightly stir, if necessary.

To make the foam: In a large bowl, or the bowl of a standing mixer, whip the heavy cream on medium high speed for 3-4 minutes until it starts to thicken. Add the sugar and continue whipping until very soft peaks begin to form, another 3-4 minutes (if you need to whip more or less, then be sure to do so, the times can vary quite a bit based on environment). Stir in the vanilla and imitation butter (or clarified butter), then whip for another 30 seconds or so, until soft peaks form.

Spoon a generous portion of foam on top of each glass of butterbeer, mixing gently, if desired (or spoon the foam into the bottom of the glass and pour the butterbeer over the top). Serve immediately.

Recipe by Darla

Other great Harry Potter recipes from Bakingdom:

Double Double Chocolate Cauldron Cakes

Harry’s Favorite Treacle Tartlets

Honeydukes Candyfloss Cupcakes

Harry Potter Sugar Cookies

Hogwarts House Pride Spice Cake

Read about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter here:

Inside the Wizarding World of Harry Potter