Hollywood & Vine - Root Beer Bourbon Sweet Potatoes

I am so glad to be back to blogging after a loooong hiatus.  The day after my last blog post I took a home pregnancy test and got a big positive!  That was great, but it wasn't long before any mention of food made me ill, and I certainly wasn't able to cook.  Honestly, food lost all appeal for the majority of my pregnancy and then I was too tired to cook after having the baby.  Now my daughter is almost 6 months old and I feel like life is returning to normal... kind of!

I decided to make these Root Beer Bourbon Sweet Potatoes because I had a ton of sweet potatoes left over from holiday cooking.  Actually, I had all the ingredients on hand except for the bourbon.  These sweet potatoes hail from the Hollywood & Vine restaurant in Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.  I have only gone to the character breakfast at Hollywood & Vine, so I have not tried the "real deal" version of the sweet potatoes in the park.  I wonder how these measure up?

This recipe was fairly easy.  Here are the ingredients: 

The most time-consuming part of the recipe is peeling the sweet potatoes.  I peeled them and cut them into 1/2" rounds (approximately).  I then put them into a 9x11 inch baking dish and put them into a 350 degree oven. 

Next, I put all of the sauce ingredients into a pan.  4 cups of root beer, 2 Tbs lemon juice, 1 cup bourbon, a pinch of ground cloves, 3/4 cup brown sugar, and a stick of butter (1/4 pound). 

I brought this mixture to a boil and then turned the heat down to a simmer.  The sauce simmered for about 20 minutes.  

In a small bowl I mixed 6 Tbs of cornstarch into 3/4 cup water.  Be sure to whisk this so there are no lumps.  Whisk this mixture into the root beer sauce and stir until it thickens.

Once the sweet potatoes were tender (took about an hour in my oven), I tossed them in some of the sauce.  This recipe made a TON of sauce... way too much for my 3 pounds of sweet potatoes... so just add the amount that looks good to you. 

The verdict:  These potatoes were ok.  I think that I personally didn't like the round cuts of potato.  They took a long time to cook and were still kind of tough around the edges.  I think cubes of potato would work better, or just mash them and add some of the sauce.  The sauce was very mild.... not bad, but I don't know if it added enough flavor to make it worth the effort. 

As far as price goes, the ingredients I used probably came to about $10... $5 going towards the bourbon.  Not too bad considering it would feed at least 6 people with a ton of sauce to spare (I froze the extra in some ziploc baggies).  The dinner buffet at Hollywood & Vine is $35/adult so it makes sense to make these at home if you are only craving sweet potatoes! 

I am so glad to be back to cooking and blogging.  I think the next blog will be one of my all-time favorite Disney foods... the Crystal Palace Puffed French Toast.  I don't know how I will ever lose all my pregnancy weight but the French Toast is definitely worth the splurge!

Boardwalk Brownies

Wow... this year has been crazy and it has made it hard to keep up with my adventures in cooking.  First of all, I moved into a place that has a teeny, tiny kitchen... so it is hard to keep organized and find counter space to actually cook.  Also, I got married in late August (yay!), so I was dieting most of the summer.  It is hard to lose weight for your wedding and also make Disney treats!

But now that things have settled down, it is time to dive into the thousands of recipes (literally) I have on my "have to try" wish list.  The hard thing is choosing what delectable treat to do next.

Well, I had a little bit of help from my in-laws, since they requested brownies for their birthdays.  The first birthday was my Step-Father-In-Law's, and he wanted chocolate brownies with frosting.  After perusing my recipes, I found the Boardwalk Brownie recipe (from Disney's Boardwalk Bakery) and then I added a frosting that I got from the Pioneer Woman (she has a great cookbook and website).

Here are the ingredients for the brownies...

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. The original recipe states 330 degrees, which seems weird... so we are going with 350!

Start with 1 cup butter, 2 cups sugar, 1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed, 1 1/8 cups cocoa powder and 1 cup light corn syrup (yep, there's a *little* bit of sugar in this recipe!)

Cream the ingredients together.  I used my handy-dandy Kitchen Aid Mixer.

Then add 6 eggs, one at a time...

You can see what the dough looked like before the eggs, on the top of the mixing paddle...and the creamy goodness that appeared when I mixed in the eggs on the bottom of the paddle.

Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl and add 6 Tablespoons canola oil.   Mix.

Next, add 2 cups all-purpose flour.  Mix until it is all incorporated. 

Then line a 9x13 inch baking pan with parchment.  This is something I have never done before and it made life so much easier!  It was so easy to life the brownies out of the pan after they had cooled.  Make sure that you leave yourself extra parchment on two sides, to use as handles when you need to pull the brownies out.  

Pour in the chocolate-y goodness...

Spread it out as evenly as you can...

Then put the brownies in the oven for at least 35-40 minutes.  Since everyone's oven is different, keep checking them every 5 minutes at the 35 minute mark.  The original recipe says to bake for 15 minutes and that is just crazy talk.  It must be a typo and they probably meant 45 minutes. 

 

Ok, when the brownies are almost done, start preparing the frosting.  Now, the Disney recipe didn't include a frosting, but frosting had been requested, so I wasn't going to disappoint!  This is a recipe for an icing that went on a chocolate sheet cake, so I thought it would work.

First, melt 1 3/4 sticks of butter in a pan.

Then add 4 Tablespoons cocoa powder.

Stir and simmer, and then turn off the heat. 

Add 6 Tablespoons milk (I used skim since that is what I had in the house) and 1 tsp vanilla.

Stir and then add just about 1 pound of powdered sugar. 

Stir...

I decided to switch over to a whisk to take care of any lumps...

Then admire your baked brownies...

 ...and smooth the frosting over the warm brownies.

Add decorations (candies, nuts) if you like.  I put some little Mickey Mouse sprinkles on top.

The frosting did wrinkle a bit as it cooled, but it didn't make it taste bad :)

Side view... after pulling the brownies out of the pan with the parchment (this helped sooo much!)

 I should have let them cool some more before cutting them, but I was in a rush to bring them to the birthday party, so they don't look as pretty as they might have.

A piece of frosted Boardwalk Brownie... 

As you can see, the texture of these brownies were very, very fudge-y and dense.  In a good way.

So, that is my experience making the Boardwalk Brownies.   They were delicious and were a hit at the birthday party.  The great thing about both of these recipes, but especially the brownies, is that it really only requires pantry items.  I always have cocoa in the house, and this is a great way to turn it into a decadant treat, when you absolutely have to have something chocolate-y!

When I visit Walt Disney World in November, I will have to buy one of the brownies from the Boardwalk Bakery and see how close my brownies are to the original.

Disney's California Food & Wine Festival

Here is my "better late than never" blog post on the day I spent at Disney's California Food & Wine Festival way back April.  I had a great time attending a few of the culinary and wine demonstrations. 

I was a bit concerned that the demonstration area looked a little small... and I wondered how long I would have to wait in line if I wanted to make sure I got a seat.   But a kind Cast Member said that if I got in line about 45 minutes early, I would be okay.  That didn't seem too bad to me. 

The first demonstration of the day was by Bret Thompson, of MILK cafe/bakeshop in Los Angeles.  I hadn't heard of him or his shop at the time, but oddly enough I just saw him on the Food Network today competing on "Cupcake Wars".  So, maybe he is a culinary star in the making. 

Along with his Executive Pastry Chef, David Baker (yes, that's his real name), he proceded to make Banana Dulce de Leche Ice Cream with Almonds and a topping of Banana's Foster. 

His easy receipe for making Dulce de Leche is to just take a can of condensed milk and slowly simmer the unopened can in water for 2 - 2 1/2 hours.  Cool the can completely and then when you open it you will have a lovely caramel.  I remember a friend's mother doing this when I was a kid, and I couldn't believe that the condensed milk could transform into something so delicious.  I haven't done it myself, but I have to say I am going to have to give it a try.

Along with the ice cream, the duo also made Anzac cookies, which originate from Austrailia.  They are basically an oatmeal and coconut cookie with macadamia nuts.

I was pleasantly surprised by the generous size of the food sample (and the bottle of water Disney provided each audience member).   The quality of the food was very good, although I am not a huge fan of banana or coconut. So, neither the ice cream, nor the cookie would be something I would make myself.  The ice cream was very, very banana-y.. so, not a winner for me.  However, the cookie was delicious.  I couldn't really taste the coconut (a plus to me) and it was crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside.  Yum! 

Unfortunately, Bret did not have printed recipes to give out to the audience.  Instead, he directed everyone to his cafe's website.  However when I went to the the site, I could not find the recipes for these particular treats.  There is a recipe for a delicious-sounding double chocolate cookie... which I think I might like better, so I will not complain too much.  The website is http://www.themilkshop.com/ and the recipe is under the Press section. 

Overall, the presentation was entertaining, but since it was hard to follow the actual cooking... and there was no recipe to take home, it wasn't as informative as I was hoping.

The second presentation of the day was by Greg Stillman, who is Executive Chef of Naples Restaurant in Downtown Disney and previously was the chef at Catal (also in Downtown Disney).  I had been hoping for some Italian cooking, but instead Greg decided to present a Spanish dish... Gazpacho.

Greg suggested using a Vita-Prep blender, as he says it is THE BEST.  Well, I hope it is, because I researched it and they run $500 and up.  Yikes!  I think I will stick with my food processor.

For the Gazpacho, he rough chopped in the blender:

1/2 red onion

a cucumber (the regular skin kind, not the english kind... he feels there is more flavor)

2 plum tomatoes

extra virgin olive oil

2 red bell peppers

a serrano pepper (remove the ribs and seeds for less heat)

smoked paprika

apple cider vinegar

salt and pepper

He combined all of the ingredients into the blender and then chilled the gazpacho... but he did not strain it.  He really likes to have the texture of some of the vegetable pieces and not have it completely smooth.  His recipe is also different from a lot of gazpachos because it is more vegetable (red peppers, cucumbers, etc.) and less tomato. 

Chef Stillman also added a shrimp sauted with harissa as a lovely accent to the soup.  The whole dish was beautiful and delicious.

 

 

  

I really enjoyed the smokey flavor of the gazpacho and the fact that I could really taste the red bell pepper and cucumber.  It was refreshing and had a bit of a kick to it.  The shrimp didn't have a pronounced flavor from the harissa, but it was cooked nicely and went well with the soup.  Chef Stillman suggested that a nice dab of avocado would be great on top as well ... and I agree.  That would put it over-the-top.

Well, since this is getting long, I will end this post here.  I will continue with my "coverage" of the food & wine festival (including a wine seminar) in my next post. 

Chilled Strawberry Soup from 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian Resort

I must disclose that I don't remember ever eating the Strawberry Soup from the buffets at 1900 Park Fare, but when flipping through my Disney recipes I thought that it sounded interesting.  Some people might think it sounds weird... like my sweet fiance who didn't complain when he thought that the soup was what we were having for dinner... not dessert.  He also thought it was going to be warm... ewww.  He was very relieved to learn that it would be cold and sweet... and we would have something more substantial for our entree.

Another reason I decided to make this soup is that I bought a HUGE bag of frozen strawberries from Costco, with the best intention of making heathy smoothies for breakfast every day.  Well, that didn't happen.  So these strawberries had been taking up half of my freezer for a long time.  Time to use them up!

The recipe is so very easy.  I defrosted 2 1/2 pounds of frozen strawberries and placed them in a large bowl.  In the bowl I added 2 cups of heavy cream... this is not a light recipe  :)

Next, add in 1/4 cup sour cream...

... and a 1/3 cup plain yogurt (I used greek yogurt)

Then, 1 Tablespoon of sugar, if your strawberries need it. 

As you can see, this is super simple.  Just adding ingredients to one bowl.  Next, take a hand blender (or put all of this into a regular blender) and blend to a smooth consistency.  

Isn't it a pretty pink?

After chilling for an hour or so, I served it in bowls with a dollop of yogurt.  Those more talented than me might be able to dollop the yogurt in the form of a mickey head :)

So that's it!  My review of the soup is that it was good, but not great.  The creaminess was delicious, but it wasn't sweet enough for me (and I added extra sugar).  I think that it might have been better if I had used strawberries that were frozen in syrup and then used that syrup in the soup.  My Costco strawberries did not have any added sugar. 

This made such a  large vat of soup that I ended up making strawberry ice cream the next day... by using the soup as my ice cream base in my ice cream maker.  That turned out well, although even with more sugar added, just not sweet enough.

Nevertheless, this recipe was very simple and can be easily adapted for different tastes.  I bet it would still be good if someone wanted to make a lighter version with half and half and reduced fat sour cream and yogurt.  I am eager to try this soup at 1900 Park Fare the next time I visit WDW, and see if I came close to the original.