We made it to Disneyland! We arrived Wednesday morning, and what’s the first thing we did? Eat beignets. A lot of beignets!
As you may know, one of our favorite restaurants in Disneyland, Cafe Orleans, offers Mickey-shaped beignets as a dessert menu item. Beignets are a New Orleans staple (which is why you’ll find them at Cafe Orleans and at the Mint Julep Bar in Disneyland’s New Orleans Square) — rich, buttery pastry fried in hot oil until it turns into a golden brown pillow of deliciousness.
Mickey Beignets with Raspberry Coulis and Vanilla Bean Creme Anglaise
The beignets are doused in powdered sugar and artfully stacked upon one another to form a towering pile of dessert. And, at Cafe Orleans, the beignets are served with healthy helpings (and by “healthy” I mean large, not actually healthy, sadly) of vanilla bean creme anglaise and raspberry coulis.
So, basically, these are doughnuts (they’re so much more than doughnuts), and when I dip a little Mickey ear into that raspberry coulis, it tastes exactly like a gourmet jelly doughnut! (Please don’t tell my husband this, because he currently does not like the raspberry coulis, and if I tell him it tastes like a jelly doughnut I might no longer get to eat all of the raspberry coulis myself.)
Of course, there’s a debate over what the beignets should look like inside, so I snapped a shot to showcase the light, airy, practically hollow center.
Cross Section
Cross Section
I really find this to be one of my favorite Disneyland desserts, and it’s quickly climbing the list of my favorite Disney desserts overall. I’d love to hear if you’ve tried them, and, if so what you think!
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By the way, they also have Gingerbread Mickey Beignets in the fall — here’s the recipe! (Thanks to reader Linda Keane for sending a pic!)
Gingerbread Mickey Beignets are Served Seasonally
In other beignet news, I also sampled the beignets at Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen Express tonight! More on those in another post!
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AJ, have a great time at D23! All of these posts and tweets really make me wish I was there! Someday I’ll make it to Disneyland…
Wow I’ve had beignets in new orleans and they were so delecious but i had no idea they served them in WDW. I must go and try them sometime. Your right about them being like doughnuts but so much more. Oh and i might just give those ginger bread beignets a try. Thanks for the post.
I’ve been to Cafe Orleans twice and had no idea about the gingerbread variety in the fall! Now I MUST go back in the fall, for those and the holiday haunted mansion!
I will have to try these when I am in DL. I will say though that the classic beignets from Cafe du Monde in New Orleans don’t come with any sauces…and they don’t need any!
Cafe Orleans is a favorite of my boyfriend and i…we probably dine there more than i’d like to admit. But yes, the beignets are amazing! We usually don’t get them there, however, because we don’t need 5 beignets for the two of us. So we will get the smaller 3-pack at the mint julep window or go to Ralph Brennan’s Express window — those are equally amazing bc you see them cooking the beignets right in front of you so they are fresh and hot! yum!! the reason i’d say disneyland’s beignets are equal is because they are mickey shaped! haha Okay, last note..i actually think the gingerbread beignets taste pretty nasty. They sounded so good and I was so excited and then was equally dissapointed. (ps you can NOT get a mix of regular and gingerbread even though they are the same price…i tried).
“Golden brown pillow of deliciousness.” What an apt description.
Have fun at D23!
One of the great things about staying at WDW’s Port Orleans Riverside is to take a nice cool early morning walk, along the river to Port Orleans French Quarter where they also have freshly cooked beignets. And, I am sure the walk back cancels out all the calories.
My kids fell in love with beignets the first time we visited WDW in 2007, we stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter and my son and daughter had them for breakfast. We became DVC members and go back to WDW just about every year and a half and we stay at different resorts each time; however, one breakfast each visit is back to Port Orleans French Quarter so they can at Sassagoula Floatworks and Food Factory Food Court and eat beignets. My daughter has even tried making them for her and her brother at home, but she says they are never as good as Disney’s.
I wish we could grow mickey-shaped apples to lure our kids into eating healthy fruits!
The beignets and mint julep are one of my must haves every time I visit Disneyland. They are delish!!
Wow, I have never seen a beignet before and those Mickey Beignets look absolutely delicious! I love the cross-section picture because I expected it to be filled with something of the sort since it would probably collapse.
The gingerbread beignets look delicious as well, and that sauce is a bit curious…
I love beignets. Now I want Mickey beignest.
Even though our first family trip to DLR was for seven glorious days this past June, we still weren’t able to “do it all”. And I just realized that somehow (how is it possible?!!?) we missed ever trying the beignets at Cafe Orleans! I guess I must have filled up on the pomme frites and monte christo, and felt so overstuffed that I didn’t dare look at the dessert menu. But wow, how could I have forgotten to get them some other time?
Ah well, I really need to go back next summer for Cars Land, and on that trip, I am *definitely* going to get some beignets!
We seriously must go through DL with blinders on!!Live in the shadow of DL and go there semi weekly for the kiddos and we NEVER have eaten anything beside QS at Village Haus. *sigh* Add the Plaza’s fried chicken, Cafe Du Monde’s pommes frites & beignets & I’m sure whatever else AJ tells me is fabulous to our ever growing list of must eats!
Our favorite beignets are from Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen Express, second goes to Cafe Orleans, third Port Orleans French Quarter Resort and when we’re not at Disneyland or WDW, we settle for the Zappolli at Olive Garden to tide us over until we can get Disney beignets again!
Hope you’re having a great time!! I haven’t had a DL Beignet for such a long time!! Thanks for sharing that!!
Ever since visiting Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans 8 years ago, I’ve been a beignet freak!!
However, it seems like the only place I find them is on Disney property.
Fortunately, I’m also a Disney freak, so I get my fair share.
Love the ones at Cafe Orleans you reviewed, as well as the ones at Port Orleans French Quarter in Walt Disney World.
But as Gabriella stated above, Ralph Brennan Jazz Kitchen Express has the best. YUM!!!!
My Disney friends LIVE for Disneyland beignets. Ralph’s Jazz Kitchen, Cafe Orleans, or the Mint Julep bar, they get it whenever they can at either. A few can eat a whole order of them by themselves!
They are damn good but I’ve only ever had them with my friends because I’m only able to eat one, sometimes two, at most because of all the powdered sugar on it. If I ate any more than that I feel I would need dentures.
I’m going to Disney World, Florida, next January. Can I find those beignets there????
Thanks
G– Disney world has regular beignets at Port Orleans Resort, but no Mickey beignets.
Thanks AJ
That’s were I’ll be staying!!! I will give them a try ;o)
My boyfriend and I are about to move to LA in the spring, and I took him to Disneyland for the first time several weeks ago. We GOBBLED beignets. I think he asked if we could get some every night we were there haha. One night we couldn’t get them at Orleans, so we went to the Jazz Kitchen in Downtown Disney. They’re just as good, and cheaper, but unfortunately not in my favorite shape. Have fun in Disneyland!
Thanks for linking to me, AJ! 🙂 You rock. Come back to CA soon so we can hang out.
I haven’t been to DL in about 20 years and the beignets they sell now are not anything like the wonderful, round, hollow, egg batter webbed inside beignets with cinnamon sugar that I remember back in the day…OK, I can accept the Mickey shape, but these are too much like a donut now and less like the beignets I remember from the past. Disappointing for me.