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an airtight container, covering each layer with plastic wrap or parchment paper. The nice thing about homemade marshmallows is that you can flavor them any way you want. Try replacing the vanilla with 1 teaspoon almond extract or ½ teaspoon mint extract. You can also add a few drops of food coloring to tint it to any shade. For a really delicious treat, you can toast shredded coconut, grind it in the food processor, and use it in place of the confectioners' sugar, or you can use ground toasted nuts.

Easiest Cranberry Sauce

Along with the one hundred roast turkeys, cranberry sauce is served at Harry's first Christmas dinner at Hogwarts (see Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Chapter 12).

Fenwort, marshwort, moss berries … they sound like they belong in a witch's brew, but in fact, those are all medieval words for cranberries. When cranberries are fresh, they bounce, so in the olden days people sorted cranberries by rolling them down the stairs: whatever bounced to the bottom got sold; whatever stayed on the stairs was discarded.

1 12-ounce package of cranberries, fresh or frozen

1 cup water

1 cup granulated sugar Generous pinch salt

Combine the cranberries, water, sugar, and salt in a small sauce-pan. Bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat and simmer until the cranberries burst open, about 10 minutes.

Cool the sauce completely before refrigerating.

Makes about 2 cups

Christmas Pudding for Kids

Anxiety about drinking the illegal Polyjuice Potion does not interfere with Harry and Ron's appetites. They have three helpings of Christmas pudding before Hermione hustles them away to pluck hair off the heads of the two thugs that the potion will change them into (see Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 12).

In medieval times, the Roman Catholic Church decreed that Christmas pudding should contain thirteen ingredients to symbolize Christ and his twelve apostles and that everyone in the family should get a turn to stir it from east to west to represent the Magis' journey. Traditional Christmas pudding is made with brandy, but this recipe leaves it out.

1½ cups all-purpose flour

1 cup fresh bread crumbs

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon ground cloves

½ teaspoon salt

2 sticks cold butter, cut into pieces

1 cup dried currants or cranberries

1 cup dark raisins

1 cup golden raisins

4 large eggs

¼ cup marmalade

Grated zest and juice of 1 orange

Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

¾ cup apple juice

Fill a large, wide pot halfway with water, place an overturned shallow bowl in the pot, and bring to a simmer. Grease and flour a 2½-quart bowl with a tight-fitting lid and set aside.

Whisk together the flour, bread crumbs, brown sugar, spices, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Scatter the pieces of butter over the flour mixture and rub it in with your fingers until it reaches the consistency of wet sand. Add the currants or cranberries, dark raisins, and golden raisins, and toss to combine.

In a separate bowl beat the eggs, marmalade, grated zest and juice of orange and lemon, and apple juice until well combined. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir to combine. Pour the batter into the prepared bowl and snap the lid tightly in place. Place the pudding in the pot, making sure the water comes halfway up the sides. Cover the pot and steam for 6 hours, adding water to the pot as necessary.

Remove the pudding from the pot and allow it to cool. Unmold the pudding onto a serving platter and serve warm with custard or cream.

Serves 8

To flambé the pudding, as in the Harry Potter books, drizzle brandy over it and ignite with a long match.

Christmas Cake for Grownups

On Harry's first Christmas at Hogwarts, he attends the biggest Christmas dinner he's ever seen, followed by a light supper of sandwiches and tea cakes, such as Christmas cake (see Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Chapter 12).

This rich fruitcake, also called plum cake (in the Middle Ages “plum” referred to dried fruit,