Butterbeer
If you’ve ever been through any of the many attractions contained within The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studio’s Orlando or Hollywood resorts, you’ve likely been fortunate enough to sample a mug or three of their concoction known as butterbeer. In the scorching sun of Florida it’s especially refreshing. Every element of Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, and the Ministry of Magic has been carefully considered to help create a magical experience for Universal’s visitors. Their butterbeer is no exception. They truly developed a unique and enjoyable drink unlike anything you will find elsewhere.
While the precise recipe for butterbeer is likely kept in a vault at Gringotts Bank, diehard fans have tinkered about in their kitchens attempting to closely approximate the popular beverage. Many have speculated that the primary ingredient in butterbeer is cream soda with the addition of several extracts such as caramel, rum, and/or butter flavoring to give the drink a more unique flavor. The drink’s topping is a whipped non-dairy cream with the addition of butterscotch or a similar flavoring.
In the past year especially, there have been a wide number of officially licensed Harry Potter Butterbeer products popping up on grocery store shelves. Recently, I’ve sampled Hershey’s Butterbeer Kisses, Goldfish Butterbeer graham crackers, and Butterbeer flavored Peeps.
The difficulty is, there are things you can do with a drink, that you can’t easily reproduce in a candy or cracker. While butterbeer likely has a butterscotch element, it also has the cream soda base and cream top. The candy and cracker items I’ve tasted recently rely heavily on butterscotch for its main flavor profile.
Harry Potter Hershey’s Butterbeer Kisses
When opening a bag of Hershey’s Butterbeer Kisses, it’s difficult to miss the scent of butterscotch that immediately spills from the bag, engulfing the air with its potent aroma.
Beneath the familiar Hershey’s kiss foil, the “kiss” has a semi-soft butterscotch flavored shell, filled with what appears to be a vanilla cream center.
They’re a touch too sweet for my tastes, but have a very pleasant flavor reminiscent of butterbeer.
We’ll give them 3 out of 5.
Goldfish Butterbeer graham crackers
Traditionally, goldfish crackers were a savory cheese flavored cracker, but in recent year they’ve branched out into sweet, graham cracker based crackers more reminiscent of cookies. Recent flavors have included cinnamon roll, cookies & cream, and vanilla cupcake.
Like other sweet varieties, Butterbeer flavored goldfish crackers are made of graham cracker but with butterscotch flavoring added.
To me, they seemed slightly bitter at first, but after a handful or two, they weren’t too bad. Not sure I would describe the flavor as “butterbeer”. They largely taste like a mild butterscotch flavored graham cracker.
The packaging is fabulous, so expectations were high. The crackers inside do not really deliver a unique flavor or experience though.
btw, Goldfish Butterbeer crackers contain genetically modified ingredients.
We’ll give them a 2 out of 5.
Peeps Butterbeer Marshmallows
It’s difficult to imagine Easter without Peeps Marshmallows. A near certain way to have the kids bouncing off the ceiling. Ingredient #1 is sugar!
The package of Peeps Butterbeer Marshmallows says “Sweet Butterscotch with notes of shortbread.” Let’s just say the “notes of shortbread” must be really subtle because the butterscotch flavor itself is difficult to detect. The most prominent flavor is marshmallow with a gelatin aftertaste. The butterscotch color is fun.
What the heck, we’ll give it 3 out of 5.
Butterbeer
8
servings10
minutesIngredients
6 cans of Cream Soda (chilled)
- Butterbeer Topping
1 cup Heavy Cream
1/2 cup Butterscotch Topping
Directions
- Pour 6 cans of Cream Soda into a large pitcher.
- Add caramel extract and butter extract to the Cream Soda. Gently stir to mix.
- Combine the heavy cream and powdered sugar in a large mixing bowl and whip the ingredients with an electric hand mixer until stiff peaks appear.
- Add the butterscotch topping and stir to combine.
- Pour the cream soda into tall glasses or mugs. Use a tablespoon to add the butterbeer topping to the top of each serving.
- Drizzle additional butterscotch topping if desired.
- Enjoy!