Recipe of the Week: Greater Earthen Potion

     Have you ever looked at an item on Neopets and thought "That looks good! I wish I could reach through the screen and take a bite!"? Well, now you can! Well, sort of. Now you, too, can make delicious detectable delights straight from Neopia in the comfort of your own home.

      Disclaimer: If you are under 18 please get an adult to assist you. If you are allergic to any of the ingredients listed please do not attempt to make any of the recipes, or find a substitute for said ingredient. Be safe! We don't want anything to happen to you, but we are not held responsible for any burns, scratches, or any other baking related mishaps.

      This time, boys and ghouls, we’re going make a potion just like Kauvara herself! And, to go with the potion, we’re going to make some pumpkin cookies because I have to meet the word requirement! Er…I mean…in the spirit of it being (almost) Halloween! (Hey, August is close enough to Halloween, ok?!) What goes better with potion than pumpkins, after all?

      This week's recipe: Greater Earthen Potion and Pumpkin Cookies

      That's right, a potion and some Pumpkin Cookies for the magic collaboration issue of the Neopian Times!

      Ingredients Needed for the Potion: punch bowl, “potion” bottles (optional), 28 oz lime flavored sherbet, 2 liter bottle of lemon-lime soda, 2 liter bottle of ginger ale, green food coloring (optional), whipped cream (optional)

      Ingredients Needed for the Cookies: parchment paper, a cookie sheet pan, a mixer (preferably electric), a pumpkin shaped cookie cutters, flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking soda, salt, cloves, butter, plastic wrap, egg white, granulated sugar, granulated brown sugar, powdered sugar, piping bag, sealable plastic bag, orange and green food coloring, whisk, pumpkin puree, vanilla extract, baking soda

     First we’re going to make the cookies, because they take longer.

     Step 1: Put parchment paper on your cookie sheet. It’s important that you’re not using wax paper. It looks similar, but wax paper will melt in the oven, will ruin the cookies, and could start a fire.

     Step 2: In a large bowl, whisk together 2 cups of all purpose flour, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground ginger, ¼ teaspoon of ground nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon of baking soda, ½ teaspoon of salt, and a pinch of ground cloves.

     Step 3: Using your mixer, beat together ½ cup of room temperature unsalted butter, ½ of granulated sugar, and ½ cup of brown sugar until everything is smooth. Add ½ cup of pumpkin puree, and beat that to combine everything. Add 2 large egg yolks and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, and beat everything together until it’s light and fluffy. This should take about 2 minutes.

     Step 4: Reduce mixer to the low speed, and add the mixture we made in step 3 gradually. Wait until it’s evenly incorporated, then turn off the mixer. Take the dough out, and shape it into a disk. Wrap it in plastic wrap, and then put it in the fridge. We want to refrigerate it until it’s firm, which will take about 1 hr.

     Step 5: Take the dough out of the fridge and remove the plastic. Put flour down on whatever workstation you want to use (counter, table, etc.), and roll your dough out. You want it to be about ¼ inch thick. Now, using your pumpkin cookie cutter, cut the dough into shapes. Carefully transfer your little dough pumpkins onto your parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Space them about 1 ½ inches apart. Put the pan in the freezer and freeze them until they’re firm. This should take about 15 minutes.

     Step 6: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Get assistance with this step if needed.

     Step 7: After the dough pumpkins are firm, bake them until they juts begin to brown on the edges. This should take about 10 to 12 minutes. After removing them, let them cool slightly on the baking sheets, then transfer them somewhere that’s not warm to cool down. You want them cooled completely before we put royal on, otherwise it will melt off and make a big mess.

     Step 8: Using your clean mixer, beat egg whites and powdered sugar on low speed until it’s smooth and shiny. Divide the icing evenly between two bowls. In the first bowl, add two drops of orange food coloring. In the second bowl, add two drops of green food coloring. Using separate spoons, mix the icing in the respective bowls until we have one bowl of orange icing and one bowl of green icing.

     Step 9: Transfer each color into its own piping bag. If you don’t have a piping bag you can use a sealable plastic bag and just snip corner off.

      Now it’s decorating time! Of course, you can decorate how you see fit, but if you want the cookies to look like the one on Neopets, follow the next few directions

     Step 10: Using the piping bag with the orange icing, carefully pipe a border around the cookie, leaving a small border. Then carefully fill the rest of the cookie in with orange icing. Use a toothpick while it’s still wet to mix everything together to avoid having any texture or gaps in the icing. Wait for the icing to set and harden before moving to the next step. This should take less than a minute.

     Step 11: Using the piping bag with the green icing, carefully pipe four green stripes on the pumpkin itself (the large part) just like the picture shows. Wait for this to set and harden (again, should take less than a minute). Then eat and enjoy!

     You can even put them in your Haunted Cookie Jar! Now it’s time to make our potion!! This potion is actually super easy to make.

     Step 1: Using a large punch bowl, scoop in 24 oz of lime sherbet.

     Step 2: Slowly pour in 2 liters of ginger ale, and 2 liters of lemon-lime soda. It may get foamy. If it does, quickly stir it to break up the foam.

     Step 3: The potion we’re making is pretty green, so if yours doesn’t turn out as green as you’d like just add a couple drops of green food coloring until it looks like you want it.

     Step 4: If you’d like, you can add more lime sherbet on top, or whipped cream. Serve immediately in potion bottles or glasses/cups!