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Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and spread it with a wooden spoon as much as you can; it should be about ¼-inch thick. Cool completely before breaking into shards and eating.

Makes 1 pound

Nutty Chocolate-Covered Toffee

Mrs. Weasley's prowess in the kitchen is impressive. Most home cooks, even good ones, leave toffee to the professionals. Yet Mrs. Weasley sends Easter eggs filled with homemade toffee to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. To Hermione's dismay, Mrs. Weasley sends her a much smaller egg; she's “been reading Rita Skeeter” (see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 28).

A British-American dictionary is useful if you need to know, for instance, that “nappy” doesn't mean “napkin” or “a short nap,” but “diaper.” Less useful is the fact that “toffee” is British for “taffy” because in America, these two confections are very different. Toffee is made with lots of butter and can be either hard or soft, while taffy is very chewy and is likely to pull your teeth out. Toffee is very easy to mess up. You need to watch the temperature carefully and stir constantly to prevent scorching. Do not despair if you ruin your first few batches; it's worth it to learn how to make this delicious candy.

*Soy lecithin is an emulsifier; that is, it keeps the fat in the candy from separating. You can find a bottle of liquid soy lecithin at a health food store. You can also make the toffee without it if you can't find it.

1 cup granulated sugar

½ cup golden syrup or corn syrup

1½ sticks (12 tablespoons) butter

½ cup heavy cream

¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

¾ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon soy lecithin* (optional)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 pound bittersweet chocolate, chopped

2 cups chopped toasted pecans

Grease a rimmed baking sheet and line it with parchment paper, allowing the parchment paper to climb up two opposite ends. This will make it easy to remove the toffee from the pan after it cools. Place the sugar, golden syrup or corn syrup, butter, heavy cream, cream of tartar, salt, and soy lecithin in a medium saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until combined. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Wash down the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in hot water to get rid of sugar crystals. Just a few crystals on the sides can cause the toffee to recrystallize.

Clip a candy thermometer to the saucepan. Continue cooking, stirring constantly, until the temperature reaches 300°F.

Remove the pan from the heat and quickly stir in the vanilla. Quickly pour the mixture into the prepared pan and spread evenly to the edges with a wooden spoon. You need to move fast because the candy hardens quickly. Cool completely in the pan.

Melt the chocolate in a microwave. Spread half the chocolate over the toffee, then sprinkle half the pecans evenly over the chocolate, patting it down with your hands to make sure it sticks. Refrigerate for 10 minutes to allow the chocolate to set.

When the chocolate is hard, tug a corner of the parchment paper to loosen the toffee, then carefully flip it over and peel off the parchment paper. Spread the remaining chocolate over the toffee and sprinkle the remaining pecans over the chocolate, patting them down with your hands. When the chocolate is set, break the toffee into irregular pieces.

Makes about 2 pounds

Oversized Blueberry Muffins with Crunchy Tops

Harry is too nervous to eat on the morning of his fateful hearing, but Mrs. Weasley offers him muffins among several food choices for breakfast in Grimmauld Place. In the end, it doesn't matter what Harry chooses because he can barely get it down (see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 7).

When chemical leaveners were discovered in America at the turn of the nineteenth century, muffins followed just as surely, with blueberry being one of the most popular. The Americans didn't keep the discovery to themselves, and so American muffins are enjoyed for breakfast in England as well.