How to Make a Magical Cocktail: Hufflepuff

Months ago, I put together a Harry Potter themed cocktail party for the fun of it and I made a challenge for myself to come up with drinks that were not replications. After deciding to make cocktails for each house, I came up with a few other goals.

1) The drinks must taste good
2) Try to make each cocktail show at least 1 of the house colors
3) Make the cocktails for this party lower abv so everybody can try them without getting drunk
4) If possible, add an element of surprise

Hufflepuff left me feeling very indecisive. Their colors are yellow and black and I knew I would have to go with yellow as the color for this cocktail. Yellow is fantastic and terrible for cocktails because there are so many options available, but I felt really indecisive about where to begin with flavors. I’m really thankful to be friends with Stephanie Martin an all around amazing woman and the biggest Harry Potter fan that I know. You and find her on Twitter @Stephster_m_m and Instagram stephanie.martin.1987. She is a proud Hufflepuff so I asked her about thoughts for flavors that seemed very Hufflepuffy. One of flavor combinations that Steph mentioned jumped out right away and that was pears and blackberries.

I tried to make this cocktail from the point of view of a hardworking Hufflepuff taking a break in their common room. Pottermore describes the room with “Small, round windows just level with the ground at the foot of the castle show a pleasant view of rippling grass and dandelions, and, occasionally, passing feet. These low windows notwithstanding, the room feels perennially sunny.” From that description, I wanted to make a cold blended drink because I associate warmth with sunniness. I also knew I could incorporate floral or herbal elements which gave me a lot of room to work with.

To make a really nice blended pear cocktail, my first thought was to poach the pears, puree it, and measure them in ice cubes so they are easily portioned later. One advantage is that if I kept this in an airtight container in the freezer, this step can be done well in advance. I opened my French Laundry cookbook and used a poaching liquid recipe for a different pear recipe and started from there. For this cocktail, I chose Comice pears because they’re very sweet and generally easy to find. Bartlett pears were my second choice and if I was desperate I’d find try to find the ripest Anjou pears.

Anything very cold would slightly numb your taste buds so I thought of ways to add more pear flavor. I did some research and came across St. George’s Pear Liqueur and bought myself a bottle and it adds a nice depth to the pear flavor. St. Germain (elderflower liqueur) would add a floral component to the drink and since everything has been quite sweet, some lemon juice was added to brighten and balance the cocktail.

For the blackberries, I tried to carbonate them in my whipping siphon to add some surprise, but this did not end well. The cells slightly rupture from the pressure so while the berries do get carbonated, they leak juice and puddles of this on the cocktail made it ugly. As I kept thinking about the blackberry problem, I suddenly remembered the description of plants in the common room and went for a simple garnish of fresh blackberries and to use a rosemary garnish as a skewer. The scent of rosemary would complement all the flavors, but not be overpowering since you’d only smell it. Gold leaf (optional) because why not? Even Hufflepuffs deserve a decadent treat once in awhile.

RECIPE: Makes 2 cocktails (scale this for large batches)
8 oz. Frozen poached pear puree with French Laundry Cookbook poaching liquid recipe (found with Verjus Sorbet and Poached Peaches recipe, pg. 269)
1.5 oz. St. George Pear Liqueur
1.5 oz. St. Germain
1 oz. Freshly squeezed lemon juice

Blackberry and Rosemary Garnish
4 Blackberries, washed
2 Rosemary sprigs, washed
Gold leaf (optional)

Wash and set aside blackberries and rosemary sprigs to dry. This can be done a few hours in advance. Pick blackberries that are similar in size by pairs. Pick off rosemary leaves on the bottom of a sprig that is slightly longer than the width of two blackberries. Using a paring knife, slightly whittle the end of the rosemary stem to make a skewer. Pierce two blackberries on the stem and top each berry with gold leaf.

Place all ingredients in a blender and pulse a few times until smooth. Pour into coupe glasses and place a blackberry and rosemary garnish in each glass and enjoy like a Hufflepuff!