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SCHOLASTIC, 1998
(available in paperback from Scholastic, 1999)
J. K. ROWLING’S tale of a boy’s magical adventures at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry took the world by storm. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is the first in a series that by 2003 had sold almost 200 million copies worldwide and had been translated into fifty-five languages.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone introduces Harry on his eleventh birthday, when he receives an invitation to attend Hogwarts. Although his magic-hating uncle tries to stop him, Harry is assisted by Hagrid, the enormous kindhearted Hogwarts groundskeeper. At Hogwarts, Harry learns fundamental spells and charms, and is introduced to Quidditch, a fast-moving game played high above the bleachers on lightning-fast airborne broomsticks. He meets Dumbledore, Hogwarts’s headmaster; fellow students Ron and Hermione, who become his best friends; and a greasy-haired potions professor, Snape, whom Harry and his friends suspect of plotting to steal the precious Sorcerer’s Stone, which ensures its owner’s immortality. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are determined to protect the stone, bringing them face-to-face with dark and powerful forces.
Having grown up as a “Muggle,” or nonmagical person, Harry is constantly surprised by the wizarding world. Food is no exception. On the train to Hogwarts, Harry expects to buy Mars Bars off the food cart, “but the woman didn’t have Mars Bars. What she did have were Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans, Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice Wands, and a number of other strange things Harry had never seen in his life.”
The tables of the Great Hall, where Hogwarts students come together to eat, are laden with more typical British fare. At the welcoming feast, Harry is stunned to see plates of food magically materialize—roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops, lamb chops, sausages, bacon, steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, and carrots. After the meal the plates clean themselves, and luscious desserts—including treacle tarts—appear.
Treacle tarts are well known in every English kitchen. Treacle (known as “molasses” in America) is the dark, viscous residue left over from the process of refining sugar. Not as sweet as white sugar, but with sweetening properties, treacle has been used in England since the eighteenth century in dishes ranging from treacle gingerbread, said to have been served to Charles II, to oatmeal biscuits. By the 1880s, a different method of refining sugar had been invented, which left behind not only the dark molasses, but also a very sweet, light, golden syrup.
Our treacle tart recipe combines Lyle’s Golden Syrup with molasses to create a dessert that is pure magic: rich but not too heavy. Although a bit harder to find than dark molasses, the subtle flavor of Lyle’s Golden Syrup makes the effort worthwhile.
For the crust 1 cup all-purpose flour ½ teaspoon salt 6 tablespoons butter, cut in small pieces 2–3 tablespoons ice water |
For the filling ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons golden syrup, such as Lyle’s ¼ cup dark molasses Grated peel of 1 lemon Juice of 1 lemon (about 3 tablespoons) 1 cup soft white bread crumbs 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger (optional)
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Preheat oven to 375°F.
To make the crust: In a pastry blender or a food processor fitted with a mixing blade, combine the flour, salt, and butter and process to the consistency of coarse crumbs. Gradually add the ice water until a smooth ball forms. Wrap the dough ball in plastic and refrigerate 30 minutes (dough may be made in advance and refrigerated overnight).
Press the dough into a 9-inch pie or tart pan, pressing sides up about 1 inch from the base of pan. Reserve enough dough to make a lattice top if desired (about ¼ of ball). Bake 10 minutes. Allow to cool 15 minutes.
To make the filling: Combine all the filling ingredients in a saucepan, and simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture is slightly thinned.
Pour the mixture into the prebaked piecrust. For a lattice top, crisscross strips of dough on top of the tart. Bake 20–25 minutes, until crust is golden and mixture bubbles. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
Yield: One 9-inch pie, 6 to 8 servings
NOVEL THOUGHTS
Betsy Lasch and her two sisters founded the Book Bags of New Prague, Minnesota, after convincing friends with whom they were already trading books that a more formal book discussion group would be fun.
A Book Bags meeting celebrates the senses, as the hostess often prepares food, drink, decorations, costumes, and activities related to the book. “Every meeting is an adventure that submerges us into the setting, character, and themes of the book,” says Lasch. The group saw opportunity for both fun and serious discussion in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. The hostess greeted guests at the door dressed in a black skirt, a wizard’s cape, a pointed witch’s hat, and holding a magic wand, and served an apple-cinnamon-raisin mixture baked in a pumpkin for refreshment, but when the group sat down to talk about the book, discussion focused on efforts by fundamentalists in a nearby community to have the Harry Potter books banned because of their depiction of witchcraft and perceived “dark messages.”
Jennifer Watson of the Meeteetse Book Group of Meeteetse, Wyoming, enlisted the help of her thirteen-year-old daughter, Amanda, to prepare food and festivities for her Harry Potter book club meeting. Amanda served chocolate frogs that she had made from molds purchased on the Internet and jelly beans, in honor of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans. The soundtrack from the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone movie played in the background as book club members wearing Harry Potter hats ate off plates decorated with images from the movie. “I think by wearing the hats and enjoying the special treats and decorations, we were able to look at the book the way a child would,” says member Rosemary Lowther. “We laughed and had a great time, and even in the most serious of groups, sometimes you need to laugh.”
Amanda acted as the Sorting Hat, the magical hat that places first-year students into one of the four Hogwarts houses. To her mother’s dismay, Amanda placed her in Slytherin House, home to the ruthlessly ambitious, if not downright evil.
Linda Gomberg of Seal Beach, California, gave a new twist to some old recipes to create a Harry Potter dinner for her Second Wednesday Dinner Club. Her menu included magic mushrooms (portobello mushrooms layered with slices of eggplant, cheese, red onion, and basil leaves), sorcerer’s salad, chocolate frogs, and “eyes.”
“The eyes are cookies that I’ve been making for over thirty years with my children and grandchildren,” says Gomberg. “They’re addictive.” Formed from balls of margarine–peanut butter dough, the eyes are then dunked into melted chocolate, leaving a bare spot on top—“just like a buckeye,” says Gomberg.
Gomberg also scattered brooms around, in case any members felt the urge to play a pickup game of Quidditch.
cup finely chopped almonds (optional)