‘This is Ron,’ Harry told Hagrid, who was pouring boiling water into a large teapot and putting rock cakes onto a plate.
‘Another Weasley, eh?’ said Hagrid, glancing at Ron’s freckles. ‘I spent half me life chasin’ your brothers away from the Forest.’
The rock cakes almost broke their teeth, but Harry and Ron pretended to be enjoying them as they told Hagrid all about their first lessons.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling
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26 June 2017 marks 20 years since the first Harry Potter novel was released. In serendipitous timing, I was already reading The Philosopher’s Stone this month: my nannying charges have finally decided to start the series. I’ve been spending bedtimes reading chapters aloud (giving truly appalling voices to Hagrid and Professor McGonagall), and relishing the chance to see the books through their fresh eyes. I know the stories so well at this point, almost by heart; it’s been a true joy rediscovering them through someone else.
I first read The Philosopher’s Stone under the covers, long after my dad thought I was asleep. When I was 11, I wrote to JK Rowling, desperate to know whether there was an Australian school for witches and wizards. In secondary school, I reread the books when school exam stress threatened to overwhelm me. I devoured the seventh in a single day, just after my 21st birthday.
And now 30, and miles away from my family, the series still comforts me when I am homesick, lonely, or anxious. I know I am not alone in this. It’s a story I have heard from many others of my age: these books, and these characters, have grown with us and become part of us, in a way few others have.
Twenty years ago, when I was learning to cook, I made a lot of rock cakes. At their best, they’re somewhere between a biscuit and a scone - light and buttery, and full of sweet dried fruit. The trick is not to overmix or overbake them. Hagrid’s are more rock than cake – try to avoid that.
Rock cakes
Makes 8
Ingredients
250g plain flour
75g light brown sugar
2tsp baking powder
Pinch salt
125g unsalted butter
75g dried cherries
125g sultanas
Zest of a lemon
1 egg
3tbsp single cram
1tsp vanilla
25g caster sugar
Equipment
Mixing bowl
Jug
Fork
Baking tray
Greaseproof paper
1. Preheat the oven to 160C. Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Rub in the butter using your fingertips, until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Toss the fruit and zest through, until evenly dispersed.
2. Whisk together the egg, cream, and vanilla. Pour this into the dry ingredients, and mix through with a fork, and then your hands, until you have a batter. Don’t overmix - as soon as there are no floury bits, stop mixing.
3. Pull the dough from the bowl in eight evenly sized chunks. Keeping them rough, place onto lined baking trays, and sprinkle with caster sugar.
4. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until golden. Allow to cool, and then serve within a day or so; stale rock cakes are, as Harry and Ron discovered, particularly unappetising.
