Butterbeer Recipe
Leading up to the midnight showing of the final Harry Potter movie, I really wanted to have a Harry Potter party. It wasn’t in the cards, so instead I made some Harry Potter themed treats for Hubby and I to enjoy while watching Deathly Hallows Part I the other night.
There are quite a few recipes for butterbeer out there. But I wanted to make something that matches what butterbeer was in my mind while reading the books. To me, butterbeer is warm, buttery, and spiked with a bit of some spicy alcohol. The warm butterbeer is topped with a frothy whipped foam on top that leaves a mustache when you take a sip.
I set out to develop this recipe and Hubby and I agreed that this butterbeer was delicious and very fitting for Harry and his friends.
One Year Ago: French Silk Pie
Butterbeer
Yield: Serves 2
Ingredients:
For the Butterbeer
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 Tbsp honey
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/16 teaspoon ground cloves
Pinch salt
3 Tbsp toffee bits (you can use butterscotch chips here if you have those on hand)
1/3 cup spiced rum
1 cups boiling water
For the Foam
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar, or splenda for sugar free version
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon butter
Directions:
Prepare the butterbeer:
Using an electric mixer, beat the brown sugar, butter, honey, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt in a medium bowl until blended and smooth. Stir in the toffee bits Transfer the mixture to a 4-cup (or larger) measuring cup. Add the rum and then the boiling water. Stir until the butter mixture dissolves. Pour through a sieve to remove any toffee bits that did not dissolve. Divide the buttered rum among 2 mugs.
Prepare 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. Stir in the vanilla and 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. Serve immediately.
Recipe adapted from Food Network and Bakingdom
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
honey and thyme sound like amazing additions! and i had to laugh at 50 granules of yeast 🙂 will definitely have to try this!
beantownbaker — May 23rd, 2013 @ 9:03 pm
Yea, it’s definitely comical. I feel bad for the people who didn’t read the comments to find out that you really shouldn’t try to count out 50 granules of yeast!
This sounds awesome 🙂 I’ll have to pass this recipe on to my husband!
beantownbaker — June 10th, 2013 @ 1:08 pm
It’s seriously so spicy and awesome. I can’t wait to try more flavor combinations.
Hi, I hope I’m not too late to receive a response. I read just about every post on Jeffrey’s blog and I’m a bit confused. Are the given quantities weight or volume (i.e. fluid ounces). I’m used to ml and grams… :-S
Thanks Susan
beantownbaker — September 14th, 2013 @ 1:32 pm
I can’t comment on what is in Jeffrey’s blog. The recipe in this post is referring to liquid ounces.
CAUTION!!! I made my first two bottles this past Monday and followed the instructions exactly. I even purchased the flip top bottles recommended on this site from Amazon. Tonight, after exactly 48 hours, I pulled them out of my kitchen cabinet and placed them in the fridge. Not 10 seconds after I shut the door, I heard a loud pop. Both bottles had exploded in the fridge! There was glass and ginger beer everywhere. My fridge walls are dented from the explosion. If those bottles had been in my hand when they exploded, I would be in the ER right now. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND THAT ANYONE MAKING THIS RECIPE USE PLASTIC BOTTLES. DO NOT TAKE A CHANCE WITH GLASS.
beantownbaker — May 12th, 2014 @ 4:52 pm
Oh wow. Sorry to hear that. I have only made this ginger beer twice and both times I used glass bottles with no issue.
Hey friends!
So how much raw ginger did you end up needing to extract 2 oz of juice?
Also in relation to the glass bottles, you could do this in a glass wine making carboy container with a valve on the top to allow the fermentation a little release. Then transfer to glass bottles and refrigerate to avoid explosion. Check at the wine shops, these materials aren’t too pricey, but can save some disasters!
Thanks!
beantownbaker — September 2nd, 2014 @ 7:01 pm
I really can’t remember how much ginger I needed. It was quite a bit though.
A couple tips for those of you wanting to make this in glass bottles. Use only flip top bottles ( I use a dark green bottle of Trader Joe’s ginger brew- good stuff by the way). Also, during the 48 hours, open the cap a few times which let’s a little bit of the carbonation out (even just every 12 or 16 hours should be enough)Then shake it gently a few times before storing on the fridge. This way, they is much less chance of any explosions.