Happy Halloween week everyone!

If you’ve followed along with Sew You Think You Can Cook over the past three years (Thank you) you’ll know that I love having a theme for the week leading up to Halloween. If you’re new here, I hope you’ll be excited about this year’s theme and stick with me all week!

We’ve celebrated candy corn, ghosts, and homemade candy. This year, we’re exploring the wizarding world of Harry Potter!

To some (okay, most) of my friends I’m the biggest Harry Potter fan they know. But in this worldwide web I’ve quickly discovered that I have menial fan status compared to many!

Growing up my closet doors were plastered with Harry Potter pictures. Photos from those page-a-day calendars, movie posters, newspaper articles, soundtrack CD jackets, birthday cards, movie tickets, etc. I went to every midnight movie release (dressed up as Hermione) beginning with Prisoner of Azkaban and never settled for only seeing it once. It became the norm for me to leave the movie theater at 2 in the morning feeling let down by the screen play’s adaptation to the books I’d so adored that I came to expect and accept it. Knowing that I’d simply have to “adjust” to the movie version and simply see it again!

I own two copies of each book (hardcover and soft) as well as the new illustrated version of The Sorcerer’s Stone. I have read each book more times than I can count and have the audio books on CD in my car on constant repeat. (I’m currently near the end of book 6 if anyone wants to listen along.) I’m also already looking forward to delving into The Cursed Child again, too.

For our 1 year anniversary 5 years ago (wow that makes me feel a little old) we went to Orlando to experience Harry’s world first hand. We returned the following year for my birthday, too. During that birthday trip I was chosen by Ollivander to get my own personal wand. (Minute 1:20 of this vacation video.) Unfortunately, I never got the chance to experience the Diagon Alley expansion having delivered Firecracker opening week and moving to Ohio less than two months later. We do have plans to explore California’s Hogsmede and Hogwarts soon, though!

My Ollivander’s wand joined my collection of Harry Potter collectibles including a replica of Hermione’s wand and Time Turner.

As you can see… I’m easily distracted when it comes to Harry Potter…

To kick off the week I’m starting with Harry’s favorite dessert: Treacle Tart.

Esther of Why’d You Eat That? has a beautiful post describing the history of treacle – I highly recommend you read it!

This dessert is sticky, sweet, and tart. I found myself doing a lot of recipe searching and found large discrepancies for the amount of bread crumbs used in the filling but always the one cup of golden syrup. Some recipes included ginger while some stuck with just lemon. The tart crust was also a recipe that varied, as was what to do with the topping. The only consistencies were the use of golden syrup and fresh (not packaged) breadcrumbs.

Treacle Tart

Ingredients for crust:

• 2 C flour
• 1/4 C sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 sticks cold butter, cubed
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/4 – 1/2 C heavy cream
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 whole egg, divided

Ingredients for filling:

• 6 slices white bread
• 1 C golden syrup
• zest 1 lemon
• juice 1/2 lemon
• pinch ground ginger

Steps:

1. Make the crust: Put flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor fitted with the dough blade and pulse to mix. Add in the cold cubed butter a little at a time pulsing to create crumbs.
2. In a small bowl whisk together the egg yolks, 1/4 C heavy cream, vanilla, and lemon juice. Pour into the food processor and blend until the dough comes together. Add up to another 1/4 C heavy cream one tablespoon at a time if needed.
3. Divide dough into two disks, wrap, and refrigerate 2 hours.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place bread on a baking sheet. Toast 10-15 minutes. Remove crusts and pulse, in batches if needed, in a food process until small crumbs. (Do not fill processor bowl more than half way.)
5. Roll out one disk of dough on a heavily floured surface. Brush off excess flour before transferring to a tart or pie pan. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
7. Place golden syrup in a glass bowl over a double boiler. Heat until easily stirrable then add the bread crumbs, lemon zest, lemon juice, and ginger.
8. Brush the tart crust with egg white before pouring in the filling.
9. If using a top crust, roll out the second disk of dough and cut strips. Brush with an egg wash mixture of egg yolk and 1 tbsp heavy cream and create a lattice top to the tart.
10. Bake 20-25 minutes until set. Allow tart to cool before serving with whipped cream or ice cream.

*This recipe is modified from Kathryn at http://www.instructables.com/id/Harry-Potters-Favorite-Treacle-Tart/?ALLSTEPS*

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