Double Potions (Harry Potter-Themed Cocktails)

Though I own all of the hardcover versions of the Harry Potter books, I recently bought the electronic version so that I could carry them around with me on my phone all the time. That's how much I love you, Kreacher. Yes, Kreacher is my favorite character. And guess what? I was sorted into Slytherin House. That's right, and I'm a parselmouth too. I found this out recently; I've been encountering snakes everywhere. One jumped out at me while I was taking my dog on a walk at the park, then a few days later, a second one jumped out at me in the garden and then just a few days ago, I saw a freshly roadkilled one just in front of my house. Obviously I'm a descendent of Salazar Slytherin, right? I know he was a white man but maybe I'm one sixty-fourth white? It's possible.

Anyway, to get in the Halloween spirit - which is coming up this weekend - I wanted to share five Harry Potter-related cocktails. I picked five different potions and tried to come up with appropriate ingredients for each. I didn't want this to be a boring overdone post (as I've seen a few Harry Potter-related cocktail posts out there) so I decided to spice mine up by making individual flavored vodkas for each drink.

These five cocktails take a little bit of prep time since the homemade flavored vodka needs to soak for a few days.

The directions for each flavored vodka are super easy and straightforward. Add the vodka and flavorings to an airtight bottle and leave to steep for at least 3 days in the fridge.

RASPBERRY VODKA
2 cups vodka
1 pint raspberries

Roughly chop the raspberries and drop into a bottle. Top off with vodka and leave in the fridge to steep for at least 3 days.

LEMON VODKA
2 cups vodka
¼ cup lemon zest

Use a vegetable peeler to scrape the zest off of two to three lemons. Slice up the pieces of zest and drop into a bottle. Top off with vodka, seal the bottle, and keep in the fridge for at least 3 days.

JALAPENO VODKA
2 cups vodka
1 jalapeno, sliced

Thinly slice the jalapeno and remove the seeds. Drop the pepper slices into a bottle, top with vodka, and leave to steep for at least 3 days. Depending on how spicy your pepper is, this vodka can get really hot. If you're not keen on spice, remove the ribs from the peppers before adding them to the bottle.

ORANGE VODKA
2 cups vodka
¼ cup orange zest

Use a vegetable peeler to scrape the zest off of one to two oranges. Slice up the zest and drop into a bottle. Top off with vodka and seal the bottle. Leave the vodka in the fridge to steep for at least 3 days.

MOONPIE VODKA
2 cups vodka
½ cup marshmallows
¼ cup chocolate chips
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Add the marshmallows, chocolate chips, and vanilla extract to a bottle and top with vodka. Leave the vodka to steep in the fridge for 3 days.

With these five vodka flavors, you can whip up five potions. And, because this is Double Potions, all of these cocktails contain two ounces of liquor. If you wanted to go all out and do double shots, you could. However, I've gotten less tolerant of alcohol these days so I prefer taste to the inebriating quality of a drink.

ELIXIR OF LIFE
2 oz. raspberry vodka
4 oz. soda water
3 raspberries
1 mint sprig
1 rock candy lolly

Shake the vodka with ice to chill and then pour into the serving glass. Top off with soda water and garnish with raspberries, mint, and rock candy. The raspberries are heart-shaped and symbolize life. The rock candy represents the Sorcerer's Stone. The mint adds a little greenery, which is another symbol of life. As you can see, I put some thought into the assembly of these cocktails.

FELIX FELICIS
2 oz. lemon vodka
1½ oz. lemon juice
3 oz. pineapple juice
gold candy stars
+ honey

Rim the serving glass with honey and then roll in the gold candy stars.

Pour lemon juice, lemon vodka, and pineapple juice in a shaker over ice. Give it a good shake to chill and then pour into the glass.

The word for "pineapple" in Chinese is similar to "good luck" and feng shui says that citrus brings good luck so obviously lemons are lucky. And, it all works out since Felix Felicis is supposed to be a golden liquid. The alternative is to use melted Velveeta, since apparently their marketing department refers to it as "liquid gold" but that doesn't sound like a yummy cocktail.

PEPPERUP POTION
2 oz. jalapeno vodka
3 oz. orange juice
1 oz. lime juice

Combine orange juice, lime juice, and jalapeno vodka in a shaker with ice. Give it a good jiggle to chill the ingredients and then pour into a serving glass. Garnish with a cilantro leaf.

This was probably my favorite of the five potions. The citrus juice is bright and complements the spicy jalapeno vodka. Obviously, citrus is great for colds (yay for Vitamin C) and Pepperup Potion is meant to cure colds so there's that connection for you. And there's the obvious connection of spicy peppers and the fact that Pepperup Potion makes smoke shoot out of wizards' ears when they drink it.

SKELE-GRO
2 oz. orange vodka
3 oz. Rumchata

Pour the orange vodka and Rumchata into a shaker over ice. Give it a shake and then pour into a serving glass.

Oranges contain Vitamin C, which is supposed to be good for bone density and the Rumchata is creamy and reminds me of milk, which contains calcium. Skele-Gro is meant for growing/repairing bones (like when Professor Lockhart removes the bones from Harry's arm).

WOLFSBANE POTION
3 oz. moonpie vodka
6 oz. milk
2 tablespoons cocoa mix

Warm up milk until scalding and stir in cocoa mix. Pour into a mug and then stir in the moonpie vodka.

This was one of the more difficult cocktails to brainstorm. I figured moonpie was a nice dessert-y reference to the werewolf. And I thought that this would be a great opportunity to make a hot, soothing cocktail.

These cocktails would be so much fun to serve up at your Halloween party, right? The little potion bottles are super cute and cheap. I found them at Michaels - the little Florence flask-looking bottles were $1 each and the heart-shaped bottle was $2.

And, if you're making a party, might I suggest having some bezoars on hand as well? Meatballs, falafels, or even bitterballen make great bezoars. Since they're chock-full of protein, they soak up the alcohol and essentially "cure" your "poisoning."

Cheers! And 10 points to Slytherin! You guys, sure all of the bad guys were from Slytherin, but not all Slytherin are bad guys, okay? I'm super cool. I mean, I just showed you how to get an Outstanding on your Potions O.W.L.'s which will set you up to take N.E.W.T. level Potions, you know, if you care about schoolwork, you Hermione-wannabe.

xoxo.