The Butterbeer Project, trial 2
I tried a second Butterbeer recipe over the weekend, and this one is a keeper!
It was a cold, snowy day here at the Three Broomsticks, so a hot Butterbeer seemed to be in order. And this is me, so of course it had to contain alcohol. I was prepared to make up another batch for when my son and his friends came in from their snowball fight, but they were distracted by other things and not paying enough attention when I asked if they wanted some. That's OK. That left more for me.
This recipe is intended for 6-8 people, so I cut it way down. But I'll give you the amounts for the larger batch. First, you pull out a medium saucepan and heat up 6-8 tablespoons of butterscotch sauce, 3 cups of apple cider, and a cup of bourbon.
One of the great things about this recipe is that it's easy to customize to the ingredients you have on hand. In fact, I used substitutions for all three of those ingredients, and the results were delicious. The recipe recommends homemade butterscotch sauce, but I used Smuckers. I couldn't find apple cider, so I used apple juice. And I was just about out of bourbon, so I used half bourbon and half Irish Whiskey. To be honest, Irish Whiskey or Scotch just seems more authentic than American bourbon, anyway, given Butterbeer's British origins.
Heat up those first three ingredients until they're steaming hot but not boiling. Remove from the heat, and stir in 2 cups of ginger beer. (I used diet.) Ginger beer is easy to find in the specialty part of the grocery store soft drinks aisle. It's nonalcoholic, and is similar to a more intensely gingery ginger ale. In fact, the recipe says you can use ginger ale if you can't find ginger beer. But I was glad to have the ginger beer; I liked the extra spiciness of it.
Then just pour it into mugs and add whipped cream on top. I sprinkled mine with cinnamon and nutmeg, and I do recommend it. But that's just me.
Absolutely delicious! And now I have a new favorite hot drink, for when I'm feeling the need for something more magical than my usual herbal teas.