Samantha's Bakery

"Ah," Raven replied drooping slightly. Okay, that scratched that plan. He'd have to think and research some more. "That does make sense. I mean, with you being a cook and baker and stuff. You seem really at home in a kitchen. You must really like it, or at least that's what it looks like to me."

“Uh…” the girl lowered her head, not sure how to answer. After a few moments of silent debating, she decided on the truth. Raven was her friend and he wouldn’t laugh at her.

“My aunt runs a bakery… and I’ve been helping her since I was very little,’ she said to the tiled floor of the kitchen.

Raven canted his head. She had told him that before hadn't she? She seemed not to want to talk about it, so he would respect that. "Well, you do an awesome job baking and stuff. So, is there anything I can help with or would it be easier if I just leave you to it? I mean, I've only ever really watched people, never participated in cooking."
He made a face. "Except for the fish that Prof Lewis had me and Dixie make for our detention."

Samantha laughed at that.

"I heard about that, lucky you, getting off with such an easy detention. At least it wasn't horrible like going into the forest or something," she said.

"And as for cooking, I was planning on making some chocolate chip cookies and maybe a few ginger newts. But maybe later on, I think we should head back to the Dungeons now before they send out a search party."

Nodding, Raven hopped off the counter and then turning back with a grin, snagged the quiche. "Mind if I take this with us? It would be a shame to let it go to waste. It's really good."
He headed for the door then waited knowing that if she said he couldn't have it, he'd leave it here. He really did need to do his Potions homework and also to feed Loki. He really didn't want his Crup to eat his pillow again.

"Oh sure, go ahead," the girl replied with a smile, glad that he had liked the Quiche so much. "In fact, there's a last piece of cheesecake left too if you like that sort of thing," she offered. The counter was mostly clean and so was her equipment. Waiting for his response, she ran a damp washcloth down the already gleaming countertop and gave the ovens one last glance.

Raven glanced at the cheesecake, debating. Shaking his head he grinned. "Nah, thanks though. After I eat Samantha's awesome quiche, I'm sure I'll be full. And I still have to study, sooo..."
He shrugged and waved. "I'll see you later, Sam. And just let me know if you need an extra set of hands. I'll be more than happy to help."

"Thanks" the girl grinned, putting away the last of her baking paraphernalia. Glancing once again to make sure the kitchen was spotless, she stepped out behind Raven and locked the door, willing the room to open only in her presence. She didn't want anyone coming in and messing up her workspace.

Raven watched his friend lock up and couldn't help the smile on his face. At least he knew what to get her when Christmas rolled around. Humming to himself he grinned and waved at Sam, not really wanting to head to the dungeons just yet. He nodded at Sam again and headed off in a different direction. Maybe he could find something fun to do.

Will hadn't been in the Room of Requirement for awhile. There was nothing of interest for him and contemplated just going back to the Library until he overheard a group of third years talking about some sort of bakery up in the seventh floor.

Never the one to back down on sweets, it piqued his curiosity and decided to check it out. He blinked when he noticed the rather spotless kitchen, more nicer than the Kitchens. He wondered who was using this place. The smell was certainly heavenly.

“Oh!” the girl exclaimed startled as someone entered the room. She was tending to one of the ovens when the door opened and a very familiar someone walked on, not noticing her by the ovens. Had she forgotten to set the wards again?

She must have, she decided. Thank Salazar the intruder wasn’t someone unpleasant.

Noticing Sam, he blinked. "Oh. Hey Ms. Quill," Will waved with a grin. "Fancy seeing you here." He paused to take a good look around the pristine kitchen and shrugged. "I overheard people talking about a bakery being here. Just decided to check it out." He regarded her with a quizzical eye. "Do you know who set this up?"

Just then Jasmeet entered. She had been meaning to come to the bakery and help out Sam. Seeing that Will was also here, she tiptoed behind him, and placed her right arm on his left shoulder, as if she was leaning.

"Fancy meeting you here Will, hey Sam. I thought I'd come by your bakery," she smiled at the girl.

“Oh, well, I,” the witch started but then decided to show him instead. Standing upright from where she had been tending to the oven, she took a fresh apron from a hook nearby and tied it neatly around her waist. Next, she scraped all her hair back onto a neat ponytail and secured it with an elastic band. Finally, she pulled on her thin kitchen gloves and gestured to herself.

Just then, the door opened once again and Jasmeet entered. I really need to set up the wards, the girl thought.

“Hey Jasmeet, come on in. I’m making Ginger Newts and Chocolate Chip Cookies.”

Jasmeet grinned at the girl. "Ooh, I love making Chocolate Chip Cookies," looking towards Will, "Are you going to help aswell Black?"

Walking towards the desk, she saw extra gloves and a apron. Picking the apron up, she tied it around her waist.

"Ginger Newts?" Will ears pricked up at the sound. There was no beautiful sounding two words like Ginger Newts. Excited, he walked forward to a counter and leaned over it, watching as Sam seemed to be preparing for cooking. "You really cooking Ginger Newts?!"

He had never seen the process of baking them before and he'd never seen them freshly baked either. Having never cooked anything in his life, he was very curious on how she was going to do it.

Samantha nodded at the boy’s enthusiasm. “Yes, Mr. Black, I – well, now Jasmeet and I – will be baking Ginger Newts. I take it you’re fond of them?” she teased.

Turning to Jasmeet, she asked, “Have you baked before?” As nice as Jasmeet could be, Samantha didn’t want to set her a task the girl wasn’t suited for.

Jasmeet grinned, "Just call me Jas, but answering your question, yes I have Sam."

Jasmeet could understand the girl's fear of leaving it under hands that were not experienced. Chuckling to herself, she said, "You tell me what to do and I'll follow your command,” eyeing the hungry look on Will’s face.

Will leaned forward, resting his chin on his arms. "Fond? That would be the bloody understatement of the century! If I could trade a million galleons for a million delicious Ginger Newts, I'd do it in a heartbeat!"

He eyed the instruments and other knick-knacks with an air of curiosity. "And I've never seen someone cook in action before. It'd be interesting to see how relevant it somewhat is to potion making."

Oh, well. Alright then,” the Slytherin grinned and retrieved a recipe card from her secret stash. “Here are the ingredients and instructions. But I’m afraid it’ a little… fussy. The recipe has been a little modified,” the girl lied. It had been modified a lot.

Ellen’s Ginger Newts

Ingredients

1 egg
a pinch of salt
125g butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups plain flour
1 tsp golden syrup
2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method

1. Sift into bowl flour, sugar, soda, cinnamon, salt and ginger then rub in butter until mixture is of a very fine crumb consistency.
   
2. Beat egg with the golden syrup and add to dry ingredients. Work into firm dough with hands.
   
3. Roll into small newt shapes exactly 3cm from head to tail and place on lightly greased oven trays about 4 1/4cm apart.
   
4. Bake the Ginger Newts in a moderately slow oven approximately 15 1/2 minutes.
   
5. Loosen gently and cool on trays.

To Will, she said "Yeah, that's why I'm not so awful at Potions."

Will looked over the recipe list interestingly. It definitely read like potions ingredients and directions. "Doesn't look too hard," He grinned. However, it looked like you needed to have a bit of a creative flair to turn the dough into the shape of a newt. That seemed to be the most interesting part to try.

Jasmeet looked over Will's shoulder to see the ingredients and method and smiled. She knew that there had been some modifications, but it wouldn't hurt to try something a little different.

"Excellent Sam, let's get started,” she said enthusiastically, “Where do we get the ingredients from?” looking around the room.

“Oh you think so?’ the witch asked innocently at the Ravenclaw’s remark about it being not “too hard”. The boy would be singing a different tune after a mere hour in Ellen Quill’s Kitchen. Samantha smirked at the thought.

“Can you please get me an egg, a stick of butter and the syrup – it’s in a jug - from the larder, please?” she asked the Gryffindor now clad in an apron and gloves similar to her own.

Jasmeet smiled and followed Sam's instructions.

Walking towards the larder, and from it, she took the stick of butter, an egg and syrup. Checking that she had gotten exactly what Sam had said, she waked back towards where she and Will were standing.

She could see the Sam had also got to work, and was collecting other ingredients.

The Slytherin had just finished stacking all the ingredients side by side when Jasmeet returned with the requested material. “Thanks,” the girl said. “Could you get a mixing bowl please, the medium sized one over there?” she asked, pointing to a shelf nearby.

To Will, she said “And you’ll just watch I suppose? What a pity, the last apron looks so lonely. And so very pink.”