A Witch’s Heart: A Witches Cocktail for Hilarie Burton Morgan’s new book, “Grimoire Girl”
Inspired by the magic that is Hilarie Burton Morgan’s new book, Grimoire Girl, comes A Witch’s Heart cocktail—a recipe and potion to awaken the magical memories within, for remembrance and the heart. Featuring Hilarie’s own MF Libation’s Blackberry Gin, and with rose, maple, and rosemary, this is a bewitching witches cocktail to warm your center. Each element is added from little magical tips and tidbits you’ll find throughout the book, crafting a recipe to embrace the power and wisdom within. A perfect sip to enjoy as you read Grimoire Girl, reflect on the wisdom and memories that makes you the witch you are, or even while you begin writing your own magic grimoire.
Step into a World of Grimoire Magic
In Grimoire Girl, Hilarie Burton Morgan explores the inheritance we leave behind—the stories, connections, and magic that defines our sense of being. It is a grimoire of lessons, reflections, magic, and more. And of course—befitting such a bewitching book—Hilarie Burton shares a vast array of magical knowledge along the way, from candle magic, to astrological bodies and even the power of various flowers, that the magically-curious will find accessible and enticing.
As Hilarie shares her own reflections and experiences, she prompts the reader to reflect on the hidden gems they might put in their own personal grimoire. Your heart cannot help but glow with warmth as you read along.
A Grimoire Book for Everyone
but especially witches
As witches, we tend to be intrinsically connected to the world around us—from the nature in our gardens and backyard forests, to those early key memories, and the friends and family we choose to surround ourselves with. Grimoire Girl is a steadfast reflection and inspiring reminder of the collection of memories, connections, experiences and knowledge that makes up the magic of our lives, and what we might choose to pass on as our gleaned wisdom. Truly poetic, this is a work every advanced or aspiring witch would covet on their magical bookshelf!
Throughout the work, Hilarie also integrates suggested reads, quotes, and artwork to stir the magic in your mental cauldron, such the creations of Olivia Faust and Amy Blackthorn’s book Blackthorn’s Botanical Magic.
Grab your own copy of Grimoire Girl here!
Then grab a cocktail shaker, a bottle of MF Libations Blackberry Gin, and get ready to shake up your own witches brew.
Inspired by the gems of wisdom and memories contained within Grimoire Girl, I put together a witches cocktail (or potion, if you will) for this work of art. I can only hope it contains a fraction of the magic contained within this grimoire.
A Cocktail for A Witch’s Heart
A crisp, sweet rose and citrus cocktail inspired by Hilarie Burton Morgan’s new book Grimoire Girl, for connection, reflecting on fond memories, and reigniting the inner magic and wisdom within. Dubbed A Witch’s Heart after this enchanting read, it features her MF Libations Blackberry Gin—a magical elixir in its own right, with nuanced herbs and spices like orris root and rooibos, and of course, blackberry. Complimented with cherry liqueur and alluring rose for love and happiness, subtly sweet maple, and lemon to uplift the spirit, the drink finishes with a smoked “rosemary for remembrance,” in the words of one of Hilarie’s inspirations, Alice Hoffman. A concoction to warm and uplift the heart and find the magic and wisdom within each moment. Enjoy the jovial drink as you reflect back on fond memories, embrace connection (whether sharing with your coven sisters/brothers or your favorite magical people), while reading Grimoire Girl or perhaps, even writing your own grimoire.
Read on about the meaning and magic of each ingredient incorporated into this potion below, or skip below to the recipe.
Jump to Recipe
Ingredients to Craft a Witches Cocktail
Every ingredient is inspired by the hidden gems of wisdom gleaming within Grimoire Girl. Read on to uncover the meaning, and also magic of each element of A Witch’s Heart. Plus, tips for magic making are included along the way!
- Rosemary – An especially magical herb, rosemary is often used for the mind, peace, purification, protection, healing and enhancing psychic insight in witchcraft practices. As Hilarie quotes from Alice Hoffman’s Magic Lessons, witches often burn “rosemary for remembrance.” And so, this witches cocktail incorporates burning a little sprig of rosemary to not only integrate a light, woodsy smoke into the potion, but also to honor our memories and to energetically cleanse. To cleanse your energy before making A Witch’s Heart, you can burn the rosemary sprig and waft the smoke around your energy body or by the heart.
- Maple – Effervescent throughout Grimoire Girl is the presence of trees—whether it is the woods behind the gardens of Wethersfield, or the maple trees in front of the window and by the road of Hilarie’s childhood home. With its subtle sweetness and magical associations with love and longevity, maple is the perfect sweetener to ground this witches cocktail.
- Lemon – For most cocktails that have a sweetener, you also need a citrus! Not only does lemon help balance this Grimoire Girl cocktail, but it is used in many magical practices for cleansing, attuning to the moon, as well as inspiring joy and love. As you freshly squeeze lemon to add to the drink, visualize squeezing away or pressing out negative energy and opening the way for love and joy.
- Rose – In Grimoire Girl, Hilarie calls her dear friend and late actress Markie Post “a rose woman” and explores the subtle language and messages of flowers. To many, rose is synonymous with love and in magical practices, it is often used for such—but also for healing, divination, luck, spiritual and psychic powers. In fact, Hilarie mentions the use of rose in drinks and food: “Joy Lenz puts pink rose petals—a symbol of happiness—in her cocktails, causing Sophia Bush and I to immediately fall under her spell.” (Grimoire Girl, page 181). So what better ingredient to integrate into this cocktail, than rose? In this recipe, we use rose tea/hot infusion. To make this, you only need 1/2 tablespoon of food grade dried rose petals (or, you can use a tea bag!) and 1/2 cup hot water. Let steep 5-10 minutes, and ideally chill before using.
- Cherry – Continuing the theme of trees, a cherry tree also makes an appearance in the book. Associated with the planet Venus, it is also a perfect complement to enhance the themes of love, happiness and abundance in this cocktail. I used maraschino liqueur, but you can find suggestions for alternative cherry alcohols here.
- MF Libations Blackberry Gin – The center piece of this potion is Hilarie’s own Blackberry Gin. In “Parties and Potions,” she mentions her love of blackberry and how that manifested into this spirit as part of her liquor line with husband Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Vale Fox Distillery. With stunning aromatics beyond just juniper—orange, coriander, orris and Angelica root, and even blackberries from Hilarie’s own Mischief Farm—this gin is truly a magical elixir all on its own. The nuance and symphony of flavor and subtleties—I’ve truly not had a gin like it before. As MF Libation’s website calls it, “A taste of Hilarie’s own garden.”
- Angostura Bitters – An optional addition to this recipe is angostura bitters. A top secret recipe of 47+ herbal ingredients that only 3 people in the world know the full recipe for, and with origins as a healing tincture for stomach maladies, this makes a great magical addition to the drink and helps balance the floral flavors.
For an extra touch of magic, you can add a magical symbol or sigil of choice with the bitters if you are using egg white. To do so, use a dropper to add the bitters atop the egg white foam after straining, and drag a toothpick through the bitter dots to draw a symbol.
- Egg White – Egg white is another optional addition for the recipe. It is not everyone’s cup of tea, but it certainly adds an elegance and balance to the drink. Egg is also used in witchcraft practices for cleansing and protection, a spiritual symbol of birthing some new. You can save the egg shell from this recipe, to grind it up into a protective powder! Simply sprinkle around the boundaries of your property (it’s good for the soil, too!).
- Garnishes – And lastly, you will garnish the drink with dried rose petals in a crescent moon (as Hilarie reflects on her love affair with the moon in the book) and a smoked rosemary sprig, to aid your magical memory, as you set out to write your own grimoire from the heart. The sweet, alluring smell of the dried rose petals, and the magic of burning rosemary to enhance the mind is a perfect way to add some aromatic and visual magic to this recipe.
A Witch’s Heart Cocktail Recipe
A Witch’s Heart
Ingredients
- 2 sprig rosemary (one will be used for garnish)
- 1/2-2/3 ounce maple syrup
- 2/3 ounce fresh squeeze lemon juice
- 1 ounce chilled rose tea* (see guidance below)
- 2 dashes angostura bitters
- 1.5 ounces MF Libations Blackberry Gin
- 1/2 ounce maraschino liqueur
- 1 egg white (optional)
- dried rose petals (for garnish)
Rose Tea
- 1/2 tbsp dried rose petals food-grade
- 1/2 cup hot water
Instructions
- Lightly smoke 1 rosemary sprig and drop into cocktail shaker and cover while you gather your next ingredient. If you are not a fan of smoked flavors in drinks, I suggest skipping this step and adding fresh rosemary instead.
- Add all ingredients to shaker, except for garnish.
- If using egg white, shake without ice first before proceeding.
- Add ice and shake.
- Strain into stemmed glassware, or over ice.
- Garnish with rose petals in shape of crescent moon. Add rosemary sprig and lightly smoke the end, to burn rosemary for remembrance.
Rose Tea
- To make rose tea, steep 1/2 tablespoons dried rose petals in 1/2 cup hot water. Let steep 5-10 minutes. Chill, if possible. You can also try using rose tea bags if you do not have dried rose petals.
Notes
- Egg White: If using egg white, you will do a double shake: shaking once without ice, then add ice and shake a second time before straining.
A Personal Note
Grimoire Girl is a book filled with magic. Hilarie Burton Morgan is truly a talented, poetic and prolific writer, whose words will endlessly inspire you. In the book, she talks about the concept of “Ithaca” and her childhood home. And after reading this book and reflecting on that, in perfect synchronicity, I ended up with an unexpected visit to my childhood home in the Bay Area. Want to guess the name of that road? Rose Lane. I can help but smile at how perfect that this ended up being a rose witches cocktail.
A truly special thanks for Hilarie, Liz, and Eral for providing me with an advanced copy of the book and a bottle of MF Libations Blackberry Gin. It was such an inspiring experience, to express the magic of Grimoire Girl into a cocktail.
Morgan, Hilarie Burton. Grimoire Girl: Creating an Inheritance of Magic and Mischief. HarperOne, an Imprint ofHarperCollinsPublishers, 2023.
