Magical Treats at Home

Pineapple Donut (aka Dole Whip Donut)

September 16, 2019 by Elana Lepkowski Leave a Comment

Pineapple Donut a.k.a. The Dole Whip Donut // magicaltreatsathome.com

Where can I find the original treat?

This treat can be found at the Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe at Disneyland.

I just had to squeeze one last summertime dessert in before I flood your feeds with pumpkin spice, orange sanding sugar, and whatever spooky snacks Disneyland has planned for the next month and a half. And what dessert at Disneyland has the most summer fun packed into every bite? The Pineapple Donut, or as its cult following calls it: The Dole Whip Donut.

First of all, let me make one quick aside here, and that is that Disneyland spells it “donut”, and I almost always spell mine D-O-U-G-H-N-U-T. And it’s driving me crazy to spell it their way. Ok. Moving on…

This tropical doughnut (now I’m referring to the type of dessert so I can spell it this way again) is SO hot it needs its own umbrella. Packed with sweet-tart pineapple jam, this yeast style doughnut is topped with a bright yellow glaze and crowned with meringue reminiscent of that iconic Dole Whip swirl. While this might look like a sugar bomb, the pineapple jam has a nice acidity, that when eaten with the meringue and the not-too-sweet doughnut, it balances really well.

The doughnut has three main parts: the doughnut, the pineapple filling, and the meringue topping (technically four if you count the glaze). And today, for the recipe, I’m going to let you decide how easy or involved you’d like to make this. So here it goes. You can:

buy the doughnuts, pineapple jam, marshmallow cream, and make the glaze
you can make everything from scratch (see recipes below)
you can do a combination of make/buy all the components except the glaze (you need to make the glaze)

As per usual, notes are included below the recipe so please read through. If making the doughnuts, jam, and/or meringue, please keep children out of the kitchen as these all require HOT temperatures.

However, once it is assembly time, kids can definitely help dip, fill, and decorate! Just leave the toasting to the adults.

Now you’ve got an excuse to pick up some drink umbrellas! Let’s bake this!

MSEP Ladybug Macarons

September 9, 2019 by Elana Lepkowski 1 Comment

Main Street Electrical Parade Ladybug Macarons // magicaltreatsathome.com

Where can I find the original treat?

This treat can be found at the Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe in Disneyland.

This past summer, Disneyland brought back the beloved Main Street Electrical Parade (MSEP) for a short run, ending September 30th. Besides the thousands of glittering lights, they also brought out a slew of tasty treats to commemorate the event. Like the giant Ladybug Macaron.

This treat is not new to the park, and was last seen in 2017 during a longer run of the MSEP, and I’m sure will be ending its run at the Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe when the parade closes. But now that we’ve recreated the recipe, you can enjoy it again until the next (hopefully longer) run of the parade returns!

This oversized ladybug-shaped macaron is filled with strawberry buttercream, strawberry jelly, and freeze dried strawberry pieces. These are also gluten free, as the cookies are made using ground almonds and no gluten containing flour if that’s an issue.

I’ve included some additional notes below the recipe, so please read all the way through before making these. However, I will point out that sifting the almond flour and the powdered sugar together is a must. It might seem crazy to sift it four times, but you need that amount of sifting to make sure the sugar has absorbed the oils from the almonds otherwise it will be clumpy. Also, working with egg whites means you need to have a gentle hand when folding in the mix, or even pouring in the sugar. Patience and steadiness will result in great puffy macarons.

BONUS: Download our printable template for these Main Street Electrical Parade Ladybug Macarons below! Perfectly shaped and spaced, with outlines for both colors. Never worry about mismatched macaron halves!

4 inch MSEP ladybug template

1 file(s) 89 KB

Download

Questions? Leave them in the comments below and you’ll probably be helping out another reader! Now let’s bake!

Minnie Mouse Chocolate Covered Caramel Apple

September 2, 2019 by Elana Lepkowski 1 Comment

Where can I find the original treat?

These treats can be found all over the Disneyland Resort.

I jokingly declared it fall over on last week’s Instagram announcement due to both Starbucks and Disneyland bringing out all their seasonal products…. in August. But now that it’s September 1st, somehow that doesn’t feel so strange. So, today we’re making caramel apples. Minnie Mouse Chocolate Covered Caramel Apples!

These caramel apples are easy to find at the parks, and you can grab one at Candy Palace, Pooh Corner, Trolley Treats, and Marceline’s in Downtown Disneyland. The treat consists of an extra large apple (I’ve gotten Granny Smith apples but I’ve also seen Fuji) dipped in caramel, with marshmallow ears, which then get dipped in semisweet chocolate, and then half dipped in white chocolate. The apple then gets decorated with the classic Minnie Mouse bow, and gets a layer of white M&M’s buttons and a red sanding sugar bottom. The apples also seemed to be treated with a citric acid bath probably to stop the apples from browning and to keep them fresh while sitting, albeit briefly, in the candy case. We’re going to skip that step here, but if you’re making a bunch, say for favors, or for a class treat, drop me a line and I’ll let you know how to do that.

These chocolate covered caramel apples are sweet, crunchy, and big enough to share. I find these treats best if eaten at room temp, straight out of the refrigerator they’re too hard, and the flavors too muted. So, if you make these and then store them for awhile, let them sit out on the counter at least 15 minutes before digging in.

This recipe has a few steps, and a bit of a waiting time to make, but once you have all your ingredients prepped, you can double and even triple this recipe to suit your needs. Also, once you’ve covered your apples in caramel and done the first chocolate dip, I would say from here on out the apples are kid ready for decorating. An adult should melt the white chocolate, but kids can dip apples in there, and then decorate the bottom themselves.

We’ve got a few notes on chocolate tempering and how to get candies and sugars to stick to each other below in the notes, so please read all the way through the recipe. Also! Hot caramel can be dangerous, so keep kids away during that part. Hope you enjoy this sweet treat!

Churro Toffee

August 26, 2019 by Elana Lepkowski 3 Comments

Where can I find the original treat?

These treats can be found all over the Disneyland Resort.

I heard about Churro Toffee long before I ever tried it. Several Disney food accounts I follow on Instagram would frequently sing the praises of this spiced, sweet treat reminiscent of the classic Disneyland churro with lots of drooling emojis and exclamation points; I was intrigued. I had to make it.

But first I had to try it! The Disneyland resort has a few places you can pick this up from. I dropped in to Marceline’s in Downtown Disneyland to get mine. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you can watch the candy makers make Churro Toffee in the window there (but mostly they’re making candy apples).

The trickiest part of this recipe is getting the toffee just right. You’d think with what is really just two, sometimes three, ingredients, this would be an easy recipe to make… but it can go very wrong if you’re not paying attention to temperature. Here, both the temperature of the stove, and the temperature of the mixture are very important. If the heat on your stove is too high, the mixture can “break” or separate and you’ll end up with an oily mess headed straight for the garbage. Also, if you let your mixture get too hot, it will burn, and nothing is going to save it. Nothing. So, if you’re new to toffee making, please go get yourself a candy thermometer. But if this isn’t your first time at the toffee rodeo, proceed as usual.

After you’ve got a solid toffee base, you’re in the clear and this treat comes together fairly easily. Once the toffee is set, it gets a quick dip in melted white chocolate and then takes a cinnamon sugar bath. Kids can help with this part! You’ll need to wait a little while before eating because the white chocolate needs to harden (but even when it’s still a little soft you can sneak a bite. I sure did!).

So now that we’ve talked up this sweet treat, let’s get to making some! Read through all the tips at the end of this recipe too and drop a comment below if you’ve got a question!

M&M’s Mickey Mouse Rice Krispie Treats

August 19, 2019 by Elana Lepkowski 1 Comment

Mickey M&M's Rice Krispie Treat // magicaltreatsathome.com

Where can I find the original treat?

These treats can be found all over the Disneyland Resort.

I love a rice krispie treat and the Disneyland resort does not shy away from several varieties on their property. It’s been a few months since making the Minnie Mouse Rice Krispie treats, so I thought it was about time we all made another of these fun, kid friendly, treats.

Using a standard rice krispie base, these treats are then dipped into milk chocolate, and then dunked into a sea of mini M&M’s, covering the entire front of the treat in tiny candies. And if that didn’t sound good enough already, then the whole thing gets a nice drizzle of semisweet chocolate. Because, why not?

Mickey M&M's Rice Krispie Treat // magMickey M&M's Rice Krispie Treat // magicaltreatsathome.com

Actually, that drizzle helps secure many of those mini M&M’s from falling off, and it’s a nice little contrast in chocolate from the milk chocolate holding the candies on. This recipe makes 3 treats, but the beauty of this particular recipe is that is doubles, and even triples, easily (just use the multiplier option in the recipe below!).

If you’re new to making rice krispie treats, or working with marshmallows, be sure to read the notes at the end of the recipe. There’s some helpful tips! Also, this recipe qualifies as “kid friendly” for the assembly! Once the base has cooled, kids can help cut out shapes, dip into chocolate and the M&M’s, and even help drizzle the final chocolate on top. Kids love decorating treats and it’s a great way for them to get involved in the kitchen!

Mickey S’more Square

August 12, 2019 by Elana Lepkowski Leave a Comment

Where can I find the original treat?

These treats can be found all over the Disneyland Resort.

Did you know that Saturday was National S’mores Day? Don’t worry, you won’t find it marked on the calendar, and there isn’t an elf that sneaks into your house at night and leaves s’mores in your shoes. It’s just an excuse to enjoy one of the BEST treats for summer. And Disneyland has you covered… with no fire required!

One of the year-round favorites at the resort, you can usually find this square at Candy Palace, Pooh Corner, Marceline’s in Downtown Disney, and Trolley Treats at DCA. And now you can have it at home too!

The Mickey S’more square is made up of a crisp graham cracker base, a layer of rich milk chocolate fudge, a layer of thick marshmallow, and it’s all covered in a semi-sweet chocolate topped with a yellow chocolate Mickey Mouse. Our recipe below has a few steps, but it all comes together fairly easily once you’re ready to assemble. There’s just the added wait time for the fudge to set up, and the chocolate to set. You WILL NOT need to make graham crackers for this recipe, however, if you do have a homemade recipe you love, by all means use it! We’re using store bought here for consistency and time. For your final square, the Mickey chocolate on top is definitely optional, but we do give an easy way to make one below too, just in case you want a few to snack on!

We won’t be making any campfires for this recipe, and the only fire you’ll see is on a gas stove, but you’ll definitely know you’re eating a S’more when you take a bite of this yummy treat.

Cheshire Cat Tails

August 5, 2019 by Elana Lepkowski 2 Comments

Cheshire Cat Tail // magicaltreatsathome.com

Where can I find the original treat?

These treats can be found at the Candy Palace on Main Street in Disneyland.

These sweet treats, based on the iconic pink and purple coloring of Alice in Wonderland’s Cheshire Cat, are more than meets the eye. At its base, it’s a marshmallow wand, enrobed in a layer of caramel, and then dipped in pink colored white chocolate. The white chocolate is strawberry flavored, and the whole thing is finished with stripes of purple sanding sugar held on with white chocolate.

While these marshmallow wands might seem straightforward, there is actually a lot of temperature control needed, as well as precise ingredients. Why? Because we’re dealing with caramel and chocolate.

Now, admittedly I started this recipe off with the wrong caramel recipe. See, I have this super yummy salted caramel recipe that I love. So without thinking I started there and only when I tried to dip the marshmallows in it, and it just started falling off the marshmallows, did I realize that this yummy recipe was in fact the wrong type of caramel. A soft, liquid-y caramel is not what one wants here for two reasons. One, well, it falls off the marshmallows and does not become fully solid. And two, when the not fully solid caramel hits the very warm white chocolate… it all just melts off into a puddle. Yuck.

So, melting caramels are a good bet here. And on second try this was the perfect solution to getting a firm caramel that held up to being dipped in warm chocolate. Alternatively, there are homemade caramel recipes out there that will become solid, you’ll just need to use that type of recipe. Usually there is corn syrup in it.

With melting chocolate, there are a few factors you need to remember. First, the type of chocolate you’re using will determine how hot you can get your temperature. White chocolate, which isn’t technically chocolate, should not go above 110°f. If you temper your chocolate you will lose its temper and you also risk burning your chocolate if you get it too hot. Also, if you get your chocolate too hot, it will start to “break” when you try to coat items like these caramel covered marshmallow wands. Check out the notes below the recipe for tips dealing with this if it happens. The trick with coating is to get it warm enough to drip off your spoon and keep it warm, not hot, for even coating.

I did say this was a “kid friendly” recipe and you might think I have lost my mind. Molten caramel! Scalding hot chocolate! What the heck?! But really, the fun part for kids is the decorating. Older kids can dip wands into the pink white chocolate because really, at the dipping point the chocolate should not be hot enough to burn skin. And small kids will have lots of fun covering their marshmallow wands with purple sprinkles. And it’s OK if adults enjoy it just as much (I do!!).

So let’s get into the kitchen and whip up a batch of Cheshire Cat Tails! They’re sure to make you grin!

Mickey’s Celebration Churro

July 29, 2019 by Elana Lepkowski Leave a Comment

Where can I find the original treat?

This specialty churro was part of the “Get Your Ears On” celebration found near the Small World Promenade at the Disneyland resort.

Well, July is almost over and that means that Churro Month is coming to an end (for now). And to conclude this on a celebratory note, today we’ve got Mickey’s Celebration Churro for our final churro recipe.

This fun chocolate churro was another favorite of mine, mostly because it was doused in warm cookie butter. And I heard from a number of followers that this too was a win, albeit a bit messy!

Remember, check out all the notes following the recipe below for some tips and tricks to making churros at home. These are definitely easy to make once you get the hang of everything.

Here we’ve got a chocolate churro that’s been covered in chocolate cinnamon sugar, drizzled with cookie butter, sprinkled with sparkling sugar crystals, and then it gets covered in black, white, and red Mickey Mouse decorettes. I opted to purchase cookie butter for ease of use with this recipe, but if you have a recipe for it you like, go ahead and use that! I’ve found that the cookie butter spread at Trader Joes was similar in taste to what was at the park. Also, if you enjoy making Disneyland-inspired treats at home, Amazon has a wealth of options currently for this Mickey Mouse decorettes.

Ok, let’s start up that cooking oil one last time and make some churros!

Banana Pudding Churro

July 22, 2019 by Elana Lepkowski 1 Comment

Where can I find the original treat?

This specialty churro was part of the “Get Your Ears On” celebration found near the Haunted Mansion at the Disneyland resort.

I’ll start this post by putting it out there that I’m not a big banana dessert fan. Sure, I’ll eat a straight up banana, but when presented with any kind of dessert where the banana is transformed into something else… hard pass. So, I was definitely a little hesitant to even try this churro at the park. But, I’m glad I did because I ended up surprisingly liking it. So, now we have the third recipe for #ChurroMonth here on the site: Banana Pudding Churros.

This specialty churro had people divided. There were those who really enjoyed it, like myself, and there were those who hated this churro (with lots of vomiting emoji faces to state their case). A big reason for this might have been that people complained that the banana pudding was sour. And, well, it kinda was in a weird way. I have a feeling it could have been too much of a preservative added in because it seemed like it was heavy on citric acid. Or it could have been a stabilizer, but alas, I never asked anyone about it so I don’t conclusively know.

Like I’ve said in previous posts, since all these recipes are “inspired” and not straight copycat recipes, I can take a cue from the audience and make sure that our banana pudding is not sour. I mean, if you did like that sourness you can buy citric acid in bulk on Amazon or crush up a vitamin C pill and you’ll have done the trick.

This recipe works because of the two components: shortbread crusted churros and banana pudding. Separate they are lacking, but together they are just delicious. The buttery, not too sweet shortbread gets a lift in flavor from the sweet, banana pudding. And I’ll note also that we are not making the banana pudding from scratch, although, if you have a recipe you love and want to make that here, by all means, please do. For me, I’ve stuck to box pudding and am totally OK with it.

So, if you were a fan, I hope you enjoy this week’s churro recipe, and if you were not convinced at the parks, well, I hope you try my recipe and change your mind. Enjoy!

Maple-Bacon Churro

July 15, 2019 by Elana Lepkowski Leave a Comment

Where can I find the original treat?

This specialty churro was part of the “Get Your Ears On” celebration found in Grizzly Peak in California Adventure at the Disneyland resort.

We’re back today with another of our favorite churro recipes for #ChurroMonth here on the site. We just love anything with maple but when you add some salty bits of bacon… WOW! And we weren’t the only ones who were big fans of this treat. Many followers let us know that this churro was also a hit for them. So maybe we should start a #bringbackthemaplebaconchurro hashtag??

Anyway, this churro takes the classic cinnamon sugar recipe and dresses it up with a maple glaze and salty bacon bits. If you’re a fan of sweet and savory treats, this is definitely for you.

If you’re new to making churros, or any fried foods, please read through the notes below. I’ve tried to cover many issues that might arise while making these, but if you don’t see your question answered, leave us a comment below and we’ll get back to you (and you might even help another reader out!).

Ok, enough chatting for now… let’s make some churros!

Pineapple Donut (aka Dole Whip Donut)

Where can I find the original treat?

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MSEP Ladybug Macarons

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4 inch MSEP ladybug template

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Minnie Mouse Chocolate Covered Caramel Apple

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Churro Toffee

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M&M’s Mickey Mouse Rice Krispie Treats

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Mickey S’more Square

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Cheshire Cat Tails

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Banana Pudding Churro

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Maple-Bacon Churro

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