  Treacle Tart surrounded by Harry Potter books. (SHNS photo by Lisa Dutton / Toledo Blade)
 Detail of Treacle Tart. (SHNS photo by Lisa Dutton / Toledo Blade)
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By Kathie Smith
Toledo BladeThanks to Harry Potter, I've discovered there's a world of food in children's books.
After reading three of the five Harry Potter books and seeing two of the three movies, I remember countless references to treacle tarts as a favorite food served at Hogwarts school.
When I noticed a treacle tart recipe in The Whole Beast, by Fergus Henderson (Ecco, $19.95), I knew we had to try it. Later, a colleague said, "Sure, it's a food in Agatha Christie's books and Lewis Carroll ('Alice in Wonderland')." Despite my familiarity with these books, I must say it was Harry Potter's treacle tart that left an impression on me.
Treacle tart is a dessert made with treacle, or dark syrup. A British ingredient called Lyle's Golden Syrup is available at specialty stores. Lyle's Golden Syrup has a unique taste and is used in a wide range of recipes from flapjacks to sponge puddings and sweet-and-sour dishes. It is a cane-sugar syrup used in place of liquid sweeteners such as honey, corn syrup and molasses. It makes an excellent glaze, topping, spread or substitute.
The first reference to treacle tart in the Harry Potter books is in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: Book 1 when the students attend their first banquet at Hogwarts:
"A moment later the desserts appeared. Blocks of ice cream in every flavor you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate eclairs and jam dough-nuts, trifle, strawberries, Jell-O, rice pudding ...," author J.K. Rowling writes.
In Book 5 of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the reader is told that Harry ate "a large plateful of his favorite treacle tart."
Treacle tart has a tender pastry made with butter, sugar, egg, flour and almonds. This recipe fits perfectly into a 10- or 11-inch fluted tart pan. Serve it with whipped cream. It's a rich and sweet dessert best cut into small slices with a flavor that has a hint of lemon and a touch of almond.
One of many Internet pages devoted to Harry Potter has a Harry Potter encyclopedia of foods (www.anycities.com/user/alen1986/foods.html). The list includes butterbeer, which is a frothy, buttery drink served in Hogsmeade, a town near the school; ice pop or ice lolly, which is like a Popsicle; pumpkin juice, which is drunk hot or cold, and trifle, which is a dessert made of layers of fruit, sliced jam roll, flavored gelatin, vanilla custard and whipped cream with sliced almonds. I'm sure readers will note many other foods such as steak-and-kidney pie and peppermint toads--toad-shaped peppermint candies that hop around in your stomach.
A trip to our local library offered a glimpse of the cookbooks out there that are based on children's books. There are cookbooks related to classic children's stories, as well as some newer favorites. Unfortunately, many of the cookbooks are out of print.
Mouse Cookies: Easy-to-Make Cookie Recipes with a Story in Pictures, by Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond, is a companion to the If You Give a Mouse a Cookie series for preschool through first grade. The cookbook includes Grandpa Edsel's Super S'Mores and Mouse Cookies.
You'll find plenty of recipes with honey in The Pooh Cook Book, by Virginia H. Ellison. From Honey Chocolate Pie to Honey Oatmeal Cookies and simple recipes like Honey Sauce, youngsters can learn to cook with their favorite storybook characters.
Have you ever wanted to sample Wee Baby Bear's porridge from Goldilocks and the Three Bears? Or make a small version of Cinderella's Wedding Cake with Orange and Lemon Frosting? The Fairy Tale Cookbook, by Carol MacGregor, retells a shortened form of 20 fairy tales followed by a recipe based on the food mentioned in the tale. MacGregor also has written The Storybook Cookbook with recipes paired to books such as Johanna Spyri's Heidi (Heidi's Toasted Cheese Sandwiches), Marguerite Henry's Misty of Chincoteague (Chincoteague Pot Pie) and Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer (Tom's Fried Fish).
At least two cookbooks at the library are related to Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie series. My Little House Cookbook with Recipes, by Amy Cotler, is for ages 3 to 8, with very simple Butter and Jam Sandwiches and Lemonade. The Little House Cookbook: Frontier Foods from Laura Ingalls Wilder's Classic Stories, by Barbara M. Walker, includes 100 recipes celebrating the foods and cooking techniques of Laura's pioneer childhood, from cornbread to pickles to fried chicken.
Roald Dahl's Even More Revolting Recipes with recipes from Lori-Ann Newman is inspired by Roald Dahl's popular stories. From Charlie and the Chocolate Factory comes Wonka's Whipple-Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight.
Among the many other children's cookbooks at this library:
There's a cookbook to appeal to just about any youngster's reading list. Perhaps we'll see a Harry Potter cookbook someday.
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