The Wizard's Dessert Cookbook: Magical Recipes Inspired by Harry Potter, The Hobbit, Fantastic Beasts, The Chronicles of Narnia, and More

La Gastronomie des Sorciers

by Aurelia Beaupommier

Stir up some culinary magic with desserts inspired by the stories and characters of JRR Tolkien, Stephenie Meyer, Roald Dahl, CS Lewis, and many more!

From Hobbits to Willy Wonka to Ghostbusters, from Harry Potter to Merlin, wizards and fantastic creatures alike wish to put a little sweetness in their daily lives. There are bites to snack and share, charming cookies and cakes, and divine desserts that are full of mystery! Discover all their wonderful recipes, including:
-Butterbeer (Harry Potter)
-Paige’s pecan tartlets (Charmed)
-Gingerbread men (Shrek)
-Energy spheres from Dungeons and Dragons
-Peculiar’s eyes (Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children movie)
-Lucy Pevensie’s magic cordial (The Chronicles of Narnia)
-Bilbo’s 111th birthday cake (The Lord of the Rings)
-Queenie Goldstein’s strudel (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them)

And many, many more!


Whether you are a beginner wizard or a confirmed alchemist, you will see, dessert is the preferable food of all magical creatures!

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction, Cuisine, Food

306 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 18, 2018

Reviews

[Pocki · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm sure this book is fine in the original French, but the English translation is horrible.

When I saw this book at the local sci fi book store I couldn't resist. It's so beautiful (and that's pretty much where both stars in my rating come from), and the team in enchanting. Having read it from cover to cover though, I wish the author would've used some more stuff that can be directly tired to the different stories rather than just making really random stuff up.

The design of the recipe pages is gorgeous, and the accompanying photos are lovely and look magical. However, it doesn't always match the recipe once you've read it carefully. Like a recipe that creates drop cookies showing something clearly made in a muffin pan.

But yeah, the translation... in one recipe for what I guess is gingerbread balls there's random yeast just thrown in. It's nowhere to be found in the French recipe (because it shouldn't be there, as it also never says to let the dough rest or anything like you would with yeast) In another it specifies fresh yeast, when the measurement and instructions suggest dry yeast (you don't use 12g fresh yeast and mix it with the flour!) One recipe for panna cotta with clementine coulis calls for "3 clemetine coulis" and no gelatine, while at the same time giving us ingredients and instructions on how to make the actual coulis (I gather maybe 3 sheets of gelatine?) I just can't trust any recipe!

And yes, I immediately contacted a friend in France who does a lot of baking to ask her about their types of yeast, and later other things too. And she actually found the book at a bookstore and took pictures for me of some of the confusing recipes. Which made me also realise that at least one recipe seems to be missing a step, even in the original. Baked ice cream with no baking?

So... gorgeous book that could've used a bit stronger ties to the books/movies/games/shows it refers to, and a translation that I might have to write to the American publishers to complain about because it destroys the book completely.


I have made the Stardust raisin buns, because I know how to make sweet buns. I could use the recipe as a guideline and then follow my own instincts (after going for dry yeast rather than fresh because I have made bread before and know what the difference is). I also tried Calypso Cookies and they failed COMPLETELY. I followed that recipe exactly but no way could I form balls from what became batter rather than dough.

[QNPoohBear · Rating 2 out of 5]

This cookbook features recipes inspired by fantasy/sci-fi media including books, TV, movies, video games, etc. There are some from Europe I've never heard of. The book is divided thematically by type of food including drinks. The recipes are written in the same cute style as her Harry Potter cookbook but they have the same issues. Most of these recipes are difficult to make and not really something a home cook would even have the ability to make. So many ingredients have to be ordered online! I didn't even know what some of them were.

This is a European cookbook translated for an American audience and as such, use at your own risk. The measurements are in ounces and not cups/tablespoons/teaspoons and therefore look weird. What is 11 3/4 ounces flour? Google says about 1 1/2 cups. You need a scale or some serious research to make these recipes. ALSO many of the recipes say to heat the oven to 360 degrees. Standard U.S. baking temperature is 350 not 360.

The photos of the recipes make things look pretty but not tempting enough to want to try. They're too fussy.

Do not read the e-book. The print is very tiny and the pictures don't load quickly.

[Lynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must-read for fantasy lovers.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

The recipes sound delicious. But the gimmick renders it confusing and verging on useless as a cookbook. I'm also not sure where I'd even get some of these ingredients.

[Nadina · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I had high hopes for this book in a way, I mean a cookbook of geeky fantasy desserts, sounds cool.
Personally, I found maybe 4 recipes that I liked the look and sound of.
Judging the look of the desserts is one of the reasons this book can only get 3 stars from me. A good recipe book in my opinion has pictures for EVERY recipe, and this book did not have pictures for every recipe, in fact it may have just been a bit over half the recipes had pictures. I'm really not sure about exact count, but the point is it didn't feel like enough.
Again, personal opinion, but I only found a couple of recipes because so many of the recipes were fruit based and I personally am not a fruit person.
My final problem with the book is in the ingredients for the "Swamp Mud Tart". Among the ingredients for the crust it lists "14 ounces (400 g) vanilla sandwich cookies with chocolate filling (like McVitie's Digestives Milk Chocolate Biscuits)" my problem with this is that Mcvitie's Chocolate Digestives are NOT sandwich cookies. In fact to imply they are eaten this way is a crime to Milk Chocolate Digestives, and regular digestives...what are they ? Filling-less sandwich cookies? No...don't turn Chocolate Digestives into something they are not. Because snadwich cookies you think Oreos, and Chocolate Digestives are nothing like it. Perhaps chocolate covered cookies like Mcvitie's Chocolate Digestives would have been better?

Now that I feel I have brought some justice for Chocolate Digestives, I think other people might like some more of the recipes, and there were definitely some cute ones, but over all, not enough pictures for me and some of the directions were a bit strange (going for the aspect you are making desert with/for fictional characters).

[Nashalee · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 out of 5 stars
As much as I would like to try every recipe in this book to give a fair review, after at least 8 recipes, I felt like I was wasting food.
Once I had gone through my first 2 recipes, I did some research only to find out that this book was originally French and missing steps due to mistranslations. (Now I finally understand the meaning of Lost in Translation.)
I kept pushing on thinking that this couldn’t have been the same situation for all of them… It was turning out to be the same situation for the rest that I tried.
I only attempted the recipes that had pictures that displayed the result because I work best with visuals. I know it is possible to make recipes without illustrations, but I think I should at least know what the end result is as well as the fact that I’m not planning on competing on the Great British Bake-Off.
All in all, this book was pretty and the pictures within were very aesthetic, yet I’m better off watching tutorials online.

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

omg this is so cute and a cookbook I did not know I NEEDED until I got it!!! You know this fantasy loving gal is gonna be making alllll the recipes this summer.

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this cookbook "enchanting." The translation had a familiar french voice (my mother was French) but was totally readable. Cooking is an art and sometimes art translates differently all over the globe...one must always be willing to cast their own "spell" and this book was a fun foray to that end.

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are a lot of interesting recipes in this that I'd like to try.

[Juli Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty much the same issues as The Wizard's Cookbook, with the added annoyance of the recipes being repetitive.

[Eli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book. Liked the magical way it was written.

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

In terms of practicality, I am not sure how easy this cookbook is to follow to create the food. When I was reading it cover to cover, it seemed a little confusing. Yet, this book makes up for it creatively! I love the whimsy nature of it and that is why I gave it 5 stars plus I really like having a lot of pictures of the food.

[KathleenB · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure how some titles like Watership Down or Ghostbusters really fit in, but still mostly fun connections in recipes. Some look a little complicated but generally doable.

[Stella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll admit, I may never actually bake anything in this cookbook. But I enjoyed reading it.

[Cassie (Reader at heart) · Rating 4 out of 5]

So creative!