Harry Potter Sweets: "Cauldron Cakes"

Hello Nomsters,
With the release of the final Harry Potter movie less than 48 hours away, I thought this would be a good time to cook up some Harry Potter favorites as a tribute to the epic adventure we've experienced by following "The Boy Who Lived" for the past fourteen years. From the books we read throughout our childhood, to the movies we anticipated during our teen years, it would be neglectful to not take note of the influence that JK Rowling's universe has played in our generation. I'm sure most of us are thinking "how can it actually be the last movie?!" Now, while I know not everyone may be a fan of the series, I can say that this blog and those closely connected to Nightly Noms are in the least Potter fans, if not complete and utter "Potheads."

With billboards scattered around cities with the slogan of "It All Ends," we can't quite help but feel that a huge part of our own childhoods are ending. Just think, for those of us who just turned twenty, it won't be until we're around thirty that we can say that we haven't spent more than half of our life following a certain boy wizard and his friends' adventures. So, in honor of my personal obsession with the adventures of Mr. Potter, and due to the fact that I'm going to see the midnight premiere with friends, I've decide to tweak, bake, and invent some of my own Harry Potter sweet recipes.

I thought that cooking up some Cauldron Cakes would be a fun experiment and spent some time debating about the best way of executing a recipe. Should we make a lava cake? Chocolate vs. Cinnamon? Cauldron shaped vs. the traditional baking pan? In the end we decided to go with a recipe of chocolate cinnamon cupcake with a caramel cream cheese filling (to mimic a bubbling over effect.") We hope you enjoy these Potter-inspired recipes and look out for an upcoming post for Butterbeer Ice Cream Floats


"Cauldron Cakes"
Cakes
Ingredients

-1 1/4 Flour (sifted)
-1/2 cup Cocoa Powder (sifted)
-2 to 3 tsp Cinnamon (sifted)
-1 1/4 cup Sugar
-1 cup Milk (room temp, can be 2% or whole, if you only have skim, you can use that and add a bit of cream)
-1/2 tsp Baking Soda
-1/4 tsp Salt (sifted)
-Vanilla
-2 Eggs (room temp)
Along with the Cauldron Cakes, Exploding Bon Bons sounded like a good challenge so we've included a recipe for our version of those also.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard cupcake pan with baking cups (or spray with pam, or use saran wrap and rub butter to avoid sticking).

2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt into a bowl/measuring cup.

3. Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer or hand-held electric mixer. Beat on medium speed until fluffy. Stop to add the sugar; beat on medium speed until well incorporated.. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing slowly after each addition.

4. Combine the vanilla extract and milk in a large liquid measuring cup.

5. Reduce the speed to low. Add one-third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, then gradually add one-third of the milk mixture, beating until well incorporated. Add another one-third of the flour mixture, followed by one-third of the milk mixture. Stop to scrape down the bowl as needed. Add the remaining flour mixture, followed by the remaining milk mixture, and beat just until combined.

6.Add the sifted cocoa powder and cinnamon, beating (on low speed) just until incorporated.

7. Use a standard-size ice cream scoop to fill each cupcake paper with batter, so that the wells are about 1/3 to 1/2 full. Then, using a spoon, place a dollop of your filling into the center (don't push down!) Bake for 15 to 20 minutes (start checking at 15 minutes) or until a toothpick inserted into the center/side of a cupcake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely. If you use a mini bundt pan and can't get them out without smooshing them, then place a piece of saran wrap over a cookie tray, place it on top of the bundt pan, and flip it. Then, lightly tap the tin in an attempt to get them loose.

Filling/Icing
Ingredients
-1 8oz package Cream Cheese
-1/4 to 1/2 stick Butter
-1 tsp Vanilla
-1/4 package of Instant Vanilla pudding mix OR 1/2-1 cup of Confectioners (Powdered) sugar
-4 to 7 Tbsp Maple Syrup (sweeten to taste, but in small increments to monitor filling consistency)

Method
1. place your softened cream cheese and butter in a bowl, use a hand or stand mixer to incorporate them into each other. Add roughly a tsp of Vanilla, mix,
2. Add either your pudding mix or the confectioners sugar and mix well,
3. Add in maple syrup and mix until creamy
4. See Cake recipe above for filling prodecure

Now, I have to admit that I was a bit worried about how these would come out; but, in the end they came out better than I could have imagined. In the end, you could actually keep them upright or flip them right side up (since I used a decorative bundt pan). Originally I had planned to use a cupcake pan with baking cups, but after rummaging around my kitchen I found the perfect pan, so I decided to use that rather.

Depending on how much filling you place in the baking cup/batter, you get a larger "hole" in the center, giving them their Cauldron-like appearance! I personally made up the recipe for my filling, but I'd probably play with it a little more to perfect the taste, or I would use cream cheese frosting. As you can see from the pictures, I used some of the left over icing to give the cakes a "bubbling" effect. That just requires the use of a steady hand, or a self-made piping bag. My friends and I will be munching on these tonight as we anxiously wait to head to the theater, so hopefully I'll be able to post more feedback in my next post :)


Finally, before Potter fans around the world dress up, line up, and excitedly chatter about all of the insanely wicked memories they have that relate to world of Harry Potter, we raise our Cauldron Cakes in honor of some of the best adventure stories of our time and hope for many more!

nox, 


The Georgetown Foodie


We always love comments, please take the time to leave one below :)

Nightly Noms Recipe: Blueberry Stuffed Graham Cracker Cupcakes w/ Cream Cheese Frosting

Hey Nomsters,

I'm back for more. I know, two posts in one week? It's a bit of a shocker, but with so many blogs out there  I have to give you a a good reason to stay up to date with The Georgetown Foodie. I'm sure you're sick of hearing about cupcakes, but there's a recipe at the end of this post, so it's worth your time!

In the past couple of years the "Cupcake Craze" has taken over bakeries around the country. For DC dwellers, we can barely take a bite out of a baked good without being asked if we've tried a Georgetown Cupcake. For Georgetowners, we like G'twon Cupcakes well enough, but whispers of our devotion to Baked & Wired's Vanilla Chai don't go unnoticed. And then there's the new addition of Sprinkles, which has exponentially increased the amount of lines we must avoid on our cobblestone paths. Same goes for Chicago natives, from Molly's Cupcakes, to the boutique-inspired cupcakes at more, cities are experiencing an influx of cupcake consumers. But how long will the cupcake craze last? Big name publications like WSJ and The Post have been predicting a cupcake cataclysm for the past few months, but with no avail. Our take on the situation? It won't be cupcakes that go out of style (not with the millions of kids that love the individually sized cups of cake and icing) it'll be the fact that cupcake consumers just don't want to shell out $3+ dollars for something we can make ourselves, if we really want to, especially if we're already spending $3 dollars for our latte fix. For those of you who opt for the cupcake fix, keep buying, it's not a sin to enjoy a pricey treat every once in a while; but, if you're looking to take cupcakes to a party or make them for your own, at least consider the value in baking up some of your own tasty treats!

Here's a recipe straight out of the Nightly Noms' test kitchen for some delicious Blueberry Stuffed Graham Cracker Cupcakes w/ Cream Cheese Frosting. Of course you don't have to stuff them, but it adds a nice touch!

Blueberry Stuffed Graham Cracker Cupcakes 

w/ Cream Cheese Frosting

Cupcakes

Ingredients
-1 1/4 cup All Purpose Flour (sifted)
-1 1/4 cup Sugar
-2 Eggs (room temperature if possible)
-8 Tbsp Butter (1 stick, room temperature)
-1/2 tsp Baking Soda (sifted)
-1/4 tsp salt (sifted)
-1/2 cup Graham Cracker Crumbles (sifted, like the Keebler ones used for pie cfrusts)
-1 1/4 tsp Vanilla
-1 cup Milk

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard cupcake pan with baking cups (or spray with pam, or use saran wrap and rub butter to avoid sticking).


2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt into a bowl.

3. Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer or hand-held electric mixer. Beat on medium speed until fluffy. Stop to add the sugar; beat on medium speed until well incorporated.. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing slowly after each addition.

4. Combine the vanilla extract and milk in a large liquid measuring cup.


5. Reduce the speed to low. Add one-third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, then gradually add one-third of the milk mixture, beating until well incorporated. Add another one-third of the flour mixture, followed by one-third of the milk mixture. Stop to scrape down the bowl as needed. Add the remaining flour mixture, followed by the remaining milk mixture, and beat just until combined.

6.Add the graham cracker crumbs, beating (on low speed) just until incorporated.

7. Use a standard-size ice cream scoop to fill each cupcake paper with batter, so that the wells are two-thirds full. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes (start checking at 15 minutes) or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

Frosting

Ingredients
-4Tbsp Butter (1/2 stick, you can use a full stick if you want a more whipped texture)
-8 oz Cream Cheese (your standard package at the store)
-1 box of Confectioners Sugar (approx 16oz or ~3.75 cups)

Method
1. If you have a mixer or hand mixer, place butter and cream cheese into a bowl and mix on low to medium until incorporated with each other. Add vanilla and mix,

2. Add confectioners sugar (powdered sugar) about a cup at a time and mix into butter/cream cheese mix until the entire box has been mixed in well. Consistency should be light, but not too whipped.
(if you don't have a hand mixer, no worries, that just means a bit more mixing. Make sure you let the butter/cream cheese soften and then used a fork to mix them together. Add vanilla and then start adding confectioners sugar until well incorporated.)

3. Frost the cupcakes, if you want the look that's in the pictures, you can either use a piping bag, OR you can take a large ziploc bag, fill it with the frosting, and cut a hole in one corner.

*if you want your frosting to be a bit firmer as to give the cupcakes a similar appearance as the ones displayed, I would suggest loading your piping bags and them placing them into the fridge for about 20-30mins.

Let us know what you think and be sure to leave a comment :)

Enjoy and keep up the cooking,
-GF

Nightly Noms Update: Menu, Relay, Catering!

Hello Nomsters!

I hope everyone enjoyed January, we definitely got our fair share of winter weather alerts. Anyway, just wanted to update everyone on Nightly Noms! We've been testing out new items in the kitchen, which has resulted in us offering Banana Blondies and S'mores cookies as February 2nd delivery options. The Banana Blondies are probably the better choice for those seeking a sweet treat that doesn't involve chocolate, moist and gooey, these blondies have the delicious flavor of bananas in bar form. Similarly, the S'more cookies pack a punch for those looking for the campfire combo without the mess. Each cookie is filled with chocolate chips, marshmallows, and graham cracker pieces for a delicious treat.

Remember, Nightly Noms not only bakes for the weekly delivery service, but we also offer "catering." So, if you're looking to have a Valentine's day soiree, but don't want to bake, just email us and we'll take on the challenge! Or, if you want a dozen cookies, muffins, or S'mores bars for a birthday party or just to nibble on, email us and we can do side orders that can be picked up/dropped off on whatever day you want them! The possibilities are endless (and tasty).

Finally, we'd love if you'd join the Georgetown Foodie+Nightly Noms Relay for Life team! It's a great opportunity to get involved with Nightly Noms and our fundraisers and events are sure to be tasty! So sign up here, and we'll be sure to invite you to our first event, which will be a "Noms with Nightly Noms" event to show our appreciation to our new team members!

Anywho, look out for some restaurant reviews in the near future, and keep an eye on the twitter and facebook for east "put togethers" as meals/snacks!

-gtown foodie

Simple Recipes and Common Sense: Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Hello Nomsters!

Happy November, I know we've been slacking on our blog updates, but with midterms, crazy rallies, and the return of the "McRib" things have been a bit busy.... and for the record, I was kidding about the last reason. Anyway, hopefully everyone is having a splendid Sunday, and to make things just a bit sweeter, here's a recipe for some of the best pancakes ever!

I first tasted this recipe at a family friend's house in New Haven, CT. She had planned on making pancakes, but realized that she didn't have any buttermilk. However, in true foodie fashion, she used yogurt as a substitution. The result was a thick, blueberry-packed pancake that just melts in your mouth. These results were most likely due to the yogurt substitution and the amount of baking powder in the recipe. Ever since I've been playing around with the recipe and different ingredients, but the blueberry are still amazing, especially since when my family makes them we make a compote to accompany the yummy cakes.

I usually make the original blueberry, but this week I opted for bananas/chocolate chip with maple syrup, which yielded delicious results. So if you're in college and haven't already grabbed brunch or are looking for a delicious meal for your family, try your hand at these tasty pancakes.

Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Ingredients:
1 ⅓ cups Flour
3 Tbsp Sugar
2 ½ tsp Baking Powder

¾ tsp Salt
1 ¼ cups Vanilla Yogurt
2 large Eggs
¼ stick Unsalted Butter, melted
2-3 bananas cut into small pieces
As many chocolate chips as you want!
Maple Syrup, for serving

Instructions:

-Whisk first 4 ingredients in a large bowl,
-Whisk yogurt, eggs, and 2 Tbsp. butter in medium bowl; stir in dry ingredients,
-Fold in bananas and chocolate chips,

-Heat large nonstick griddle or skillet over medium hear; brush with butter,
-Drop batter by ⅓ cupfuls onto griddle,
-Cook pancakes until brown, brushing griddle with more butter as needed, about 3 minutes per side,
-Transfer to sheet in over to keep warm. Serve pancakes with maple syrup!

I highly recommend this recipe! The overall process is pretty easy, and the results are amazing, thick, fluffy, pancakes that will have you begging for another.

Also, in delivery news, we'll be tabling in red square soon, and this week's menu offerings are Cinnamon Brown Sugar Muffins and Chocolate Chip Cookies!


Keep on nomming!


-GF

Nightly Noms Menu Update: Say Hello to Halloween!

Hey Georgetowners,

We know you love a good Halloween weekend, and while we won't be providing you with delivery service after you return from your escapades on Halloween night, nothing's going to stop us from bringing you some tasty treats the Wednesday before!


This past week, Nightly Noms featured our newest muffin: Pumpkin Apple (maybe we'll name it "The Charlie Brown", which was a huge hit according to people in the Voice office, so we'll be offering those again for the October 27th delivery. Along with those moist apple-packed muffins, we'll be baking up "Halloween Fudge Browns" which will be festively decorated for the occasion (think candy corn accents)! These thick, over sized brownies are fudgey, gooey, and pair wonderfully with a glass of milk! Take a bite out of them this Wednesday and hopefully they'll appear on the menu more often!

So pregame your candy-filled Halloween weekend with a dose of homemade baked goods!

You know you won't regret it....

Happy Baking!

-Nightly Noms
[p.s. if you would really like us to bake up chocolate chip cookies this week, feel free to voice your opinion via comments, our wall, or email, we'll listen :) ]

NN Update: Falling into Seasonal Favorites

Hello Nomsters!

I hope everyone on Georgetown's campus is enjoying their Thursday night and are getting ready to relax over the lovely three day weekend! I've returned home to Chicago for the break, but I promised a post about the latest tastes that Nightly Noms has been baking up, so here we go!

With the leaves turning and the fall breeze stirring, we've decided to "spice" up our weekly delivery menu a bit. Two weeks ago we offered Chewy Gingersnap cookies and Pumpkin Brown Sugar Muffins (aka Pumpkin Spice). Both items were a hit and we hope that if you have a moment you'll take a bit of time to leave a comment/review either on this blog or at nightlynoms@gmail.com.

Our gingersnaps are a chewy combination of spicy and sweet goodness that is sure to give you a pick me up after a few hours studying in Lau!

The Pumpkin Brown Sugar Muffins we baked up were a moist mix of pumpkin and cinnamon with a sweet brown sugar coating on top. Maybe you aren't craving pumpkin pie yet, but these muffins are definitely a tasty addition to a Pumpkin Spice Latte or cup of coffee!






And finally, for this past week's delivery Nightly Noms baked up our well-known Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins and our latest seasonal addition: Pumpkin Snickerdoodles. Regardless of being a baker, foodie, eater, or just random enjoyer of baked goods, Snickerdoodles are a fun cookie because of the name itself, not to mention the overall taste of warm, chewy, cinnamon-sugar covered Snickerdoodles is delicious. Adding pumpkin to the mix seemed like a fun alteration and ended up making more than one person say "nom nom."


Anywho, I hope you've enjoyed this quick update on the NN menu, we'll likely be offering these new Noms well into the month of November, along with adding others that we've been tweaking on in the test kitchen and of course the usual favorites!

Remember, we're here to improve your "foodie experience," so feel free to email us requests and questions. And while you're procrastinating on Facebook, we'd really really appreciate if you'd invite your friends to "like" us.

All the best and Happy Baking!

-The Georgetown Foodie

Happy Fall! Weekly Orders

Nomsters!

Happy Fall! Hopefully you all are still enjoying the warm weather. To kick off the season, for this Wednesday's (Sept. 22nd) delivery we'll be baking up Pumpkin Spice Muffins and Ginger Snap Cookies! So make sure you order muffins by 6pm Wed. and cookies by 11:30pm Wed.

Place Online Orders Here!

Also, If you haven't seen it already, Nightly Noms was featured in The Guide this week. So pick up a copy in The Hoya, or check out the interview online!

Remember, a portion of NN's profits goes to Operation Smile!

So keep ordering and enjoying the yumminess of late night baked goods!

-nn

p.s. thank you to everyone who has helped this blog reach over 1,000 page views!

Update+Weekly Orders!

Hey Nomsters,

Thanks for a great first week of deliveries. As some of you know, we had a few minor problems with our oven, but hopefully all is well now!

Along with thanking our supporters, Nightly Noms has to give a big shout out to The Georgetown Voice blog and Chris Heller, Vox Populi for writing a great post about NN. We really appreciate the support. Concerning comments on the post, of course with the good, comes the skeptical, so for those of you who left some “interesting” comments on the post… oh well, we can’t win all of Georgetown over in the first round!

In regards to this week’s delivery offerings, we’re baking up Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins, Cinnamon Apple Breakfast Muffins, and Chocolate Chip Cookies. Once again, please, please try to order the Muffins 6pm on Wed. to ensure you get your noms, but feel free to order cookies up until 11:30pm!

Order Here! :)

Here’s a bit of a description also:

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins: Our traditional muffin batter loaded with extra bananas, cinnamon, and chocolate chips. These muffins are moist and are great served warm for breakfast or dessert.

Cinnamon Apple Muffins: These special muffins are made from “Amish Friendship Bread” batter, meaning that we use a starter. If you’re unsure of what this “starter” business is, it basically means we were given a base to a recipe that we must maintain and bake every ten days to ensure that we can keep making the muffins. We sort of see the starter as our baby, day one we have the starter, day six we “feed” the starter sugar, milk, and flour, and day ten we bake! Then it’s back to day one again. This recipe yields an extremely soft muffin with a cinnamon swirl, and to give you a serving of fruit for the day, NN has baked up these muffins with apples. (the recipe we linked to is different from ours, but the website gives some good info!)

Chocolate Chip Cookies: Chocolate Chip Cookies are always a favorite and when they have a nice soft texture, life just gets a little bit better! So place your orders before Wednesday or that night and we’ll do our best to make sure they get to you warm!

Remember, our recipes are from scratch, meaning less preservatives! Nightly Noms also tries to use less sugar and more natural sweeteners, like fruit!

Thanks for the support and hopefully we'll deliver to you soon!

-NN

Nighty Noms Update! 1st delivery date is September 8th, order now!

Hello little Nomsters (yes, I sort of ripped that form Lady Gaga, but it’s catchy and I like it),

The time has come to start a new semester on “the Hilltop.” Fall brings new friends, old flings, welcome parties and of course, the start of Nightly Noms delivery!!!

Place orders for September 8th Delivery Here!

Last year Nightly Noms attempted to make your Tuesdays and Thursdays that much more enjoyable by offering fresh, homemade, from scratch bake goods and delivering them to your dorm or apartment door, and this year will be no different. EXCEPT, this year, Nightly Noms will be delivery Wednesday nights 10pm-12am, instead of Tues/Thurs. In addition, Nightly Noms hopes to starting selling a second day a week in either Red Square or Lau so that you don't always have to delivery to enjoy Noms!

NEW NIGHT: Wednesdays 10pm-12am Delivery

(place orders for noms [besides cookies] as early as possible, or by 6pm the Wed of Delivery)

(place orders for cookies up to 11:30pm Wed of Delivery)

Of course we'll be offering old favorites like S'mores Bars and Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins, but we'll also be delivering new items such as Chocolate Chip Cookies, Double Fudge Browns, and Snickerdoodles!

Nightly Noms will bake extra Noms in order to allow for Wednesday night "on demand deliver;" however, orders are subject to availability only. If you place an order after 5pm or between delivery hours, we will do our best to fill your request, but no assurance is guaranteed.

Although Nightly Noms will no longer allow people to place "on demand orders (orders made after 6pm Wed) for certain noms, we will be taking orders and baking cookies up until 11:30pm Wed night! So if you forgot to place your order for a muffin, try a cookie instead!

Remember, we're students who love to bake and make it a top priority to keep the kitchens we work in are as clean and pristine as possible. In addition, a portion of our profits are donated to Operation Smile!

So get ready for the start of a great year and let Nightly Noms curb your cravings along the way!

nom! nom! nom!

Delivery Areas: Village A, Village B, Darnall, Henle, Harbin, New South, Lau, Leavy, SWQ most common areas on campus+most apts