After considering many different butterbeer recipes, it seems there are two basic approaches when deciding on a recipe. While both approaches include directions for making a frothy head to top your butterbeer, the significant differences come in the making of the “beer” itself.

The simple approach involves adding some simple flavoring to cream soda. The more involved, but in my opinion tastier approach, involves cooking your own “flavoring” to add to the cream soda. Both approaches to the recipe have their strengths and weaknesses, as well as varying degrees of “authenticity” when compared to the Wizarding World’s original.

Simple Butterbeer recipes

The simplest approach to making butterbeer is to add some purchased flavorings to your favorite cream soda, mix it up, make the frothy topping, spoon it on top, and enjoy. My children were happy to serve as taste-testers for me while I tried two different versions of the simple butterbeer.

Simple Butterbeer recipe #1

The prize for Butterbeer most reminiscent of the Butterbeer we enjoyed at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter goes to this treat from Autumn Clemons as outlined in her article at designdazzle.com. Just remember that this recipe is reminiscent of the original, not identical to it.

Butterbeer Recipe Ingredients:

• 2 liter cream soda
• 2 tablespoons Butter extract
• 2 teaspoons rum extract

*drop the extracts into the 2 liter bottle, put on cap and slowly rotate until combined.

Butterbeer cream topping ingredients

• 1 7oz container of marshmallow creme
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon rum extract

*add all items together in an electric mixer and combine until smooth.

Pour the butterbeer into a glass, drizzle with the cream topping, and enjoy!

Here’s what we liked about this one:

• It’s easy to serve a crowd. Just add the flavorings right into a 2-liter bottle of cream soda.
• It replicates the fizziness of the original better than any others we tried. This might have something to do with how it’s mixed up, by swirling the 2-liter of cream soda after adding the flavorings, as opposed to pouring it out and stirring it. Or maybe it’s something about the combination of this particular recipe’s beer and froth. Whatever it was, my kids were impressed that this one kept on fizzing, much like the original. It is not as sweet as the original, though.
• If you’re serving this for a party, you can even print out butterbeer labels to cover the cream soda label.
• Marshmallow cream and whipping cream make for a yummy froth!

The downside:

• It makes a lot. If you’re making this for yourself, you’re going to have left overs.
• It uses a lot of extracts. The beer itself uses both butter extract (quite a bit of it) and rum extract. Personally, I could taste the artificial quality of the extracts, and they seemed to overpower the drink. You may want to consider cutting the amount of extract used by up to half.
• While similar to the original, it’s not as sweet, and my kids definitely missed the sweetness.

Simple Butterbeer recipe #2

The runner-up in the simple approach category is a recipe with only a few ingredients. We found it sweeter than our winner, but the basic froth of sweetened whipped cream was no match for the marshmallow cream/whipped cream/rum extract combination in the winning recipe. You can find very detailed instructions and photos on chicaandjo.com. This recipe makes two drinks.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 tbsp powdered sugar
• 24 oz of your favorite cream soda
• 2 tsp vanilla butter nut flavoring

Directions

1. Measure the heavy whipping cream into a bowl, then add powdered sugar.
2. Whisk briskly until whipped.
3. Once your cream topping is ready, add your vanilla butter nut flavoring to your cream soda and stir gently so you don’t get rid of all the carbonation in the soda.
4. Just like in the above recipe, pour the butterbeer into a glass, drizzle with the cream topping, and enjoy!

Best Butterbeer recipe

After trying the two simple versions, we tried a more involved (but not difficult) recipe courtesy of huffingtonpost.com, which calls for cooking butter and sugar and a few other ingredients to make a homemade flavoring for your butterbeer, and greatly reduces the amount of artificial extracts and flavorings in the finished product.

Ingredients

• 1 cup light or dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 6 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup heavy cream, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon rum extract
• Four 12-ounce bottles cream soda

Directions

1. In a small saucepan over medium, combine the brown sugar and water.
2. Bring to a gentle boil and cook, stirring often, until the mixture reads 240 F on a candy thermometer.
3. Stir in the butter, salt, vinegar and 1/4 heavy cream. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
4. Once the mixture has cooled, stir in the rum extract.
5. In a medium bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar mixture and the remaining 1/2 cup of heavy cream. Use an electric mixer to beat until just thickened, but not completely whipped, about 2 to 3 minutes.
6. To serve, divide the brown sugar mixture between 4 tall glasses (about 1/4 cup for each glass). Add 1/4 cup of cream soda to each glass, then stir to combine. Fill each glass nearly to the top with additional cream soda, then spoon the whipped topping over each.

And for the judges’ opinions – what we liked:

• This recipe really is quite tasty. We found it to be sweeter than the simpler recipes above, and just all around yummy.
• I liked that I could taste the butter and brown sugar flavors, and not be overwhelmed by artificial extract flavors. There is a small amount of rum extract in it, but not nearly the amount in the simple recipes.

What we didn’t like as much:

• While tastier, adding the butter/sugar mixture to the cream soda “clouds” the soda, creating a contrast between the original butterbeer, which is a crisp, clear drink. You’ll have to make a choice between flavor and resemblance to the original.

More Butterbeer recipe options

As if making three different Butterbeer recipes in one weekend weren’t enough, there were more recipes we could have tried but didn’t. One frozen Butterbeer recipe looks very similar to the cooked butter and sugar version that we tried, and since we liked the flavor of that one, I suspect the frozen version would be tasty as well. If you’d like to give it a try, you can find the recipe at enchantinglysweet.com (archive).

Another recipe I really would have liked to try involved adding butterscotch flavored syrup (the kind you might add to your coffee) to some marshmallow cream, and using that to top plain cream soda. This would be an ultra simple recipe. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any butterscotch flavored syrup at any store in my area. If you try this one, be sure and leave us a comment letting us know how it tastes.

Butterbeer recipes at home: Final thoughts

While none of the recipes we tried were exactly like the original Butterbeer, we had a fun time testing and testing some more. The next time we get a craving for Butterbeer, we’ll go back to our favorite simple recipe and lessen the amount of extracts. I’d also try using the marshmallow fluff version of the froth on any of the other recipes that call for a simple sweetened whipped cream.

Try some of these recipes, or mix and match to create something better – I’d love to hear your results and your favorites!

Oh, if you’re curious about Butterbeer nutritional facts, Walletpop.com had the original variety served inside The Wizarding World of Harry Potter tested. They came up with 200 calories per glass.

Like this post? Then you’ll love this one: How to make butterbeer cookies.

The post Butterbeer recipes tested & rated – Harry Potter fans rejoice! appeared first on Orlando Informer.

Let’s take a look…

#5 – Advanced Dining Reservations not required
It’s become part of Disney World gospel that many of its restaurants can get booked solid up to 180 days in advance. In the overall scheme of things this isn’t necessarily a poor reflection on Disney’s — if anything, it shows just how strong its culinary offerings are. However, for the average vacation planner, it can be a real headache. Juxtapose this with the restaurants at Universal Orlando. Whether we’re speaking of those inside the theme parks or those at CityWalk, Universal’s restaurants rarely book up more than a day or two in advance. What’s more, the vast majority of the time you can “walk up” to any one and get seated in less than 20 minutes.

File this one under an interesting side note: contrary to Disney, Universal’s most popular eating destinations — Leaky Cauldron and Simpsons Fast Food Blvd — are both quick-service venues, meaning they are first-come-first-served for all guests.

#4 – You can plan on a slow season
About three years ago, I basically gave up on the idea of going to Magic Kingdom and expecting to have a leisurely visit. This isn’t because I’m determined not to enjoy myself at Disney; I’m as nostalgic about Magic Kingdom as you are, and I won’t deny for a moment that there’s a special feeling one gets as they enter Main Street U.S.A. that no other theme park in the world can capture.

The real reason I don’t look forward to visiting Magic Kingdom nowadays is the crowds. While once upon a time we could count on the park being less busy certain times of the year, for the everyday tourist it seems like Magic Kingdom is always crushed. I’m not saying no one should ever visit, or that the park can’t be enjoyed with good planning. I’m simply saying that gone are the days when, for at least a few weeks each year, we could count on it being slow at Magic Kingdom.

Disney acknowledged this fact recently when they raised their prices: $95 for a one-day ticket to Magic Kingdom, $90 for a one-day ticket the other three parks. For better or for worse, there are most certainly slow times at Universal… very slow times… like today and the rest of September and most of October and November (not counting Halloween Horror Nights and Thanksgiving weekend).

#3 – Hardly have to wait for character meet and greets
Last night was the opening of Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. For those of us who keep on eye on things around Orlando’s theme parks, here was the most interesting feature of the night: the two hour wait to meet Jack & Sally from Tim Burton’s “A Nightmare Before Christmas”.

Granted this is anecdotal evidence, but I don’t think anyone who knows Orlando’s theme parks well could argue with this conclusion: it is much more of a challenge (and a time suck) to meet all the characters at Disney than it is at Universal. In fact, many guests who have never visited Universal are surprised to find the resort has elaborate meet and greets just like Disney.

Again, like my point with Advanced Dining Reservations, this issue does not necessarily reflect poorly on Disney World in general (i.e., they have lines for their characters because those characters are popular). I’ll I’m suggesting is that it is a nice change of pace for the theme park weary-family to go from the character lines at Disney to the casual meet and greets at Universal. And really, don’t the kids get just as much of a kick out of meeting Optimus Prime and Bumblebee as they do meeting Aladdin and Jasmine?

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2 – Hotel accommodations
Okay, so when you offer 2,400 hotel rooms instead of 24,000 hotel rooms, and when you have two theme parks instead of four, you can be a little more picky about how close you get those hotel rooms to your entertainment destinations. That being said, it still feels absolutely incredible to spend your vacation on-site at one of Universal’s luxury hotels — Portofino Bay Hotel, Hard Rock Hotel, or Royal Pacific Resort — and know that you are just a heartbeat from the thrills of CityWalk and Universal’s theme parks. Even diehard Disney fans have to agree with this, and I won’t even mention the unlimited Express Pass benefit!

What’s more, for those guests who don’t quite have the budget for Universal’s current on-site hotel options, there are a bazillion room choices on I-Drive and in the immediate area, many of which are within walking distance of Universal Orlando. And if you do choose to stay on I-Drive, you’re likely to find quite a lot of fun things to do right next to your hotel: Fun Spot America, Pointe Orlando, WonderWorks, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, lots of mini golf, and let’s not forget SeaWorld!

#1 – New attractions
I’ll keep this one brief:

• Major new attractions opened recently at Universal: Transformers, Kang & Kodos’ Twirl ‘n’ Hurl, Fast Food Blvd and Springfield, Cinematic Spectacular, Despicable Me, Forbidden Journey, Escape from Gringotts, and both of the Wizarding Worlds of Harry Potter.
• Major new attractions opened recently at Disney World: The little Mermaid, Be Our Guest, and New Fantasyland.

I’m sure many will take issue with my brief analysis of new attractions — you’re welcome to leave comments below. My only point here is that Universal Orlando is building some remarkable stuff at their parks, and they’re building that stuff remarkably fast…

Honorable mention – Universal caters to adults

Earlier I brought up Disney’s Main Street U.S.A. and how it has a unique quality unlike any other place on earth. Bravo to Disney for creating this, and I think we all appreciate it (especially in the fall and during the holidays, right?). Similarly, Universal Orlando has its own unique trait: it exudes an undeniable excitement and energy that you can’t find anywhere at Walt Disney World. Whether it’s because of the wider variety of thrill rides, the in-park concerts (usually included with admission), the more easily available adult beverages and bars, or events like Halloween Horror Nights, Universal is where you go once you graduate from Disney World.

Okay, okay — I shouldn’t use such provocative language as “graduate”… let’s just agree that Disney and Universal each have a certain core audience they attract, and if you’re 18 or older and you don’t know what attracts guests to Universal, you owe it to yourself to find out!

That’s it for this BIG 5. I encourage everyone to share your comments and let me know what I got right, and what I got wrong. But before you write anything, please be aware that (1) I acknowledge Disney World started it all in Central Florida and (2) I know the attendance at Magic Kingdom is higher than the attendance of both of Universal Orlando’s theme parks combined.

Leave your own reasons for why the Disney faithful would absolutely adore Universal below.

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