Warm Butterbeer

So we are on our sixth snow day of the year. And while being a teacher definitely has it's perks on days like this, I am really sick of snow and cold, not to mention being couped up in the house for days at a time. I went out and shoveled the driveway this morning just so I could escape. It was 7 degrees.

When I came back in, I briefly thought about hot chocolate. We have been drinking so much lately that the suggestion received very little enthusiasm. I went on a kick awhile back (you may remember) in the hot drinks category. I had one more recipe that we hadn't tried yet.

Butterbeer.

For those unfortunate enough to not know anything about the Harry Potter world, go now to your local library and check out the series. I firmly believe that you will want to read them all if you start on the first, so just get them all.

I'll wait.

Back? Okay. Butterbeer is a favorite drink in the wizarding world. J.K. Rowling made it up, but she has said that she imagines it tasting "a little less sickly than butterscotch." There are a lot of recipes out there, especially since the Wizarding World of Harry Potter has opened at Universal Studios in Orlando, so it took awhile to sort through them all and find one that sounded right. We had 10 inches of snow last night, what am I supposed to do?

This one sounded most like what I think Butterbeer should be, plus it is super simple to make.

Add a heaping tablespoon of butterscotch sauce and a tablespoon of cream to a can of Cream Soda. If you are lucky, press the "on" button on your Cocomotion. If not, you can also heat this on the stove or in the microwave.

Enjoy.

This went over really well. We ended up making two more batches before the day was over. This is really sweet, so I added a bit more cream on the second batch and prefer that version. The Kids I don't think even noticed there was a difference.

In the books, too much Butterbeer can make one a little tipsy, especially if you are a house elf. To make this more of adult drink, a shot of butterscotch schnapps is recommended.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Warm Butterbeer

2 Tablespoons Butterscotch Sauce
1 Tablespoons Heavy Cream
1 Can Cream Soda

Mix it all together and heat.

Caramel Apple Sips

Know what else you can add that caramel sauce to? Apple cider.

Just add a tablespoon of the caramel to each cup of apple cider. Heat. Stir. Enjoy.

I love this. The Girl isn't a big fan of apple juice, so she was pretty unimpressed. I had to bribe The Boy to taste it and then he wanted more. And more.

This is definitely a keeper. It's a nice change from the creamy drinks I usually make and less involved than regular apple cider. I seem to be the only one who likes the spices, anyway.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Caramel Apple Sips

4 cups apple cider

1/4 cup caramel sauce

Bring the cider to a simmer in a medium pan over medium high heat. Add the caramel sauce and whisk until melted.

Remove from heat, pour into mugs.

Mulled Dr. Pepper

I mentioned my recent obsession with hot drinks the other day. This was actually the first recipe I tried. I found it long ago in a Taste of Home cookbook and thought it sounded good. I surprisingly had all the ingredients on hand, so I set it to mulling on one of our snow day afternoons.

Cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, nutmeg, allspice, salt and brown sugar all go into a slow cooker.

Add in your Dr. Pepper and a bit of lemon juice and cook for a couple hours.
Dr. Pepper seems to be a flavor that you either really like or you really don't. I can remember my great-grandma called it "grasshopper juice." I have a vivid memory of looking at a captured grasshopper spitting on my finger while I was thinking, "she's right, it does look like Dr. Pepper." Just a little side note to remind you how impressionable young children can be...

The Girl liked this okay. I liked it. Jeff, however, wasn't even going to try it after getting his first whiff. He also threatened to cancel his life insurance policy if I continued to try to poison him. It wasn't THAT bad, but I don't think I will ever make it again unless The Girl specifically requests it.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Mulled Dr. Pepper

8 cups Dr. Pepper

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon whole cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3 cinnamon sticks (3 inches)

In a 3-qt. slow cooker, combine all ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 2 hours or until heated through.

Discard cloves and cinnamon sticks. Yield: 8-10 servings.

Caramel Steamed Milk

It's cold here. I mean really cold. And snowy and icy. Our weatherman keeps saying the words "arctic air." That can never be good.

As a result, I am moving through on a hot chocolate drinking marathon. I love hot chocolate, but I was starting to crave something else. Anything else.

And so it began.

I hit Google up for as many hot drinks I as it could find. Turns out, there are a lot of hot drinks, many of which contain an amazing amount of alcohol. That wasn't really what I was going for, but maybe later, that will come in handy. Anyhow, I found several that sounded good and am in the process of trying them all.

This caramel steamed milk was the first one I tried. It sounds weird, I know, but don't discount it yet.

It is so simple. Add a tablespoon of caramel syrup to a cup of milk and heat it up. You can use store bought syrup of make your own.

You can heat it on the stove, in the microwave or if you are lucky, your brother gave you a Cocomotion for Christmas one year. The first batch I cooked on the stove. Slowly. Painfully slowly. The second time, I mixed it up in my machine. That was by far my favorite since you get a nice layer of foamy milk on the top.
I could have stopped here. This is the perfect just-before-bed-get-the-kids-calmed-down treat. I have a cup right now as I watch the "wintry mix" fall outside my window.

Give it a try. It is so amazingly good.

UPDATE: I have also used the Butterscotch Sauce in place of the Caramel...yummm...

UPDATE: When I posted this, I hadn't really spent any time away from it. Now that I have, I realize that I don't think I conveyed my love for this drink. Seriously, I think about it all day long. Try it. It will make you happy.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Caramel Steamed Milk

1 Cup Milk

1 Tablespoon Caramel Sauce

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan placed over medium heat. Bring to just a boil and remove from heat. Alternatively, you can steam or heat a cup of milk using your preferred method and stir in the tablespoon of caramel once the milk is hot. The sauce will easily melt and mix with the milk. Serve immediately.