Picture of Goulash on a white plate on a blue placemat
Cookbook Reviews

The Unofficial Hogwarts For The Holidays Cookbook

Cookbook by: Rita Mock-Pike

Photo of the cover of The Unofficial Hogwarts for the Holidays Cookbook

“Some of the most iconic moments happened around mealtimes and holidays at the castle, it makes sense to reconnect with your favorite wizarding world by re-creating the dishes from those moments in your own kitchen,” Rita Mock-Pike. 

I love Harry Potter both the books and the movies. Food is so prevalent in the series that I was excited to see the release of The Unofficial Hogwarts For The Holidays Cookbook to try to bring a little magic to my own holidays. 

Picture of Goulash on a white plate on a blue placemat

Goulash

I was drawn to this recipe as it has been really cold here and I am searching for hearty, soul-warming meals. Goulash isn’t something I have had before but I love a good stew type dish. It was really simple to put together and didn’t take long at all. The recipe allows you to choose what color bell pepper you want to use, I choose red and wished at the end I had gone with green. The green would have given the dish some more color. 

The goulash was really tasty and so filling, I couldn’t even finish the serving I put on my plate. I will definitely be making this again. 

Picture of the liquid luck drink in a Merry Christmas Y'all glass on a blue placemat with an orange slice.

Liquid Luck

We can all use some luck in our lives right now. This is the adult version of liquid luck. I had a little trouble finding some of the ingredients including traditional orgeat syrup – the only thing the liquor store had was Mai Tai, tropical orgeat syrup. The orange curacao was also impossible to find here locally so I did some research and found triple sec is a good replacement. Cardamom was also not found in any of our local grocery stores so I just used a dash of cinnamon instead. 

Overall the drink was tasty but really strong for me. I am not a huge bourbon drinker but if you are than you should definitely make liquid luck!

Cookbook Ratings: Recipe directions easy to follow: yes, Ingredients easy to find: yes, Specialty ingredients needed: no, Specialty equipment needed: no, Accurate time estimates: yes, Best for home chef skill level: novice, Taste/flavor: delicious, Family friendly: yes, specialty diet: no, How many recipes are unique: most, overall cookbook rating: love it

The Unofficial Hogwarts For The Holidays Cookbook is a great find for any Harry Potter fan. The recipes are easy to follow and there are fun drinks for all ages. I did notice some of the liquors were hard to find locally (at least here in northern Virginia). If you want to experience some of the magic in the holidays this is a great cookbook for you and a great gift for any Harry Potter fans. 

2 Comments

  • Victoria

    The liquid luck sounds intriguing! I recently had to pillage my local liquor stores to find Orgeat and Orange Curacao as well, so I feel your pain. You’d think they would be a bit easier to find. I have seen orgeat for sale on Amazon too so that’s always an option in the future 🙂

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