Disney Food Post Weekly Round-Up: December 13, 2009

I wanted to start this week by recapping some great news about Disneyland! A new cupcake kiosk has opened in Downtown Disney and will be selling the sweet treats through January 9th!

Also, I wanted to share a couple of fun links from blogs with whom I had the opportunity to collaborate:

Resourceful Mommy recently posted an interview with the Disney Food Blog where I had the chance to give some thoughts on Dining in Disney World.

Touring Plans posted this week a guest blog from DFB about Avoiding Crowds and Saving Time and Money While Dining in Disney World. Be sure to check it out!

And here are some more recent Disney food posts from around the web!

Mommy Musings shares some some photos of the gorgeous Grand Floridian Gingerbread House.

futureprobe sings the praises of the dining options (and the smells!) in Epcot’s The Land.

Daveland has some great photos of Disneyland’s Blue Bayou Restaurant, including some delicious dessert pics!

The Disney Blog shares news about Disney World holiday dining experiences.

All Ears Net offers a review of Todd English’s bluezoo restaurant in Disney World.

The Disney Chick shares her experience making Cape May Cafe’s chocolate cookie mousse.

The Daily Disney at the Orlando Sentinel shares the recipe for Chicken Asiago Pasta from the All-Star Resorts.

Disney Every Day takes us for a photo tour through the renovated Disney World McDonald’s.

Main Street Gazette visits Epcot’s Tangierine Cafe in the Morocco pavilion.

KatisKupcakes made up some adorable Hundred Acre Wood Cupcakes!

DisneyShawn takes a look at Rosie’s All-American Cafe in Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

The Cupcake Store at Disneyland’s Downtown Disney

By AJ 16 Comments

Check out these great photos from the new Cupcake Store kiosk in Disneyland’s Downtown Disney! The kiosk will be around until January 9th, and flavors include: vanilla bean with butter-cream frosting; chocolate with chocolate butter-cream frosting; red velvet with cream-cheese frosting; yellow cake with butter-cream frosting and sprinkles, and chocolate or vanilla cake with coconut icing. Cupcakes are $4.95 a piece.

Thanks to Misti Song and her family for the photos!

The Cupcake Store Kiosk

Cupcake Packaging

Cupcake Display

Holiday Decorated Cupcake

Chocolate and Chocolate

Snowman Decoration

Thanks again to Misti and her family!

Disneyland Cupcakes and Star Wars Beer

By AJ 1 Comment

I happened upon a couple of pieces of news today that I just had to share (I’m breaking my “no Saturday post” rule all too often these days):

new-glarus-imperial-stout-trooper

1. New England Imperial Stout Trooper Beer hits the shelves the week before Christmas in 750ml bottles. Distributed in CT, MA, RI, NY, and FL, this Star Wars tribute beer ranks an “average of 4.31 on Beer Advocate [and] appears to be very close to breaking the top 100, should that average hold up on this next batch.” Perhaps that piece of news isn’t 100% “Disney,” but you can see the connection…right?

Cupcake Packaging

2. Disneyland has a new Cupcake Cart, which will be offering cupcakes to hungry Downtown Disney visitors through January 9th! According to the OC Register,

Cupcakes sell for $4.95 each. The flavors: vanilla bean with butter-cream frosting; chocolate with chocolate butter-cream frosting; red velvet with cream-cheese frosting; yellow cake with butter-cream frosting and sprinkles, and chocolate or vanilla cake with coconut icing.

The kiosk opened last Friday night and sold about 240 cupcakes in the first five hours, said owner Carol Streeter. The Mission Viejo-based bakery plans to open a retail location there in January.

For more cupcake photos — see our Cupcake Store blog post!

Disney Foodie Friday: Holiday Gift Ideas Part 3

By AJ Leave a Comment

Lots of shopping happening in my corner of the world, and I’m exhausted! For those of you who are smarter than me and doing your shopping online, here are a few fun foodie gift ideas for those Disney fans in your life.

Gift Ideas for Disney Foodies

Tiana’s Cookbook (The Princess and the Frog), Recipes for Kids by Disney Press: First up, Ryan from Main Street Gazette suggested we throw this cookbook in the mix! Perfect for all of the new Princess Tiana fans out there! Here’s what Disney says about it: “This kid-friendly cookbook features recipes inspired by Tiana’s restaurant in The Princess and the Frog. With simple instructions, large photographs, and charming character art, the book features everything from Tiana’s famous beignets to a bayou smoothie. A star-rating system lets kids know how difficult the recipes are and the characters offer cooking tip. This charming cookbook is sure to please!”

Silvestri Sweets Disney Apple Dipping Kit, 14-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 2): This looks like a great activity for a snowy afternoon — perfect for the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve! The kit contains plenty of caramel, chopped peanuts, Mickey sprinkles, and wooden sticks. All you have to do is supply the apples and the man power!

Disney Character Lunchbox Pins: Okay everyone, these are about the most adorable things I’ve seen in a long time. There are lunchboxes for Mickey (shown), Chip and Dale, Stitch, Minnie, and Tinkerbell. Each have a hinged opening so you can see what’s inside! Wait ’til you see what Stitch is having for lunch…

Leonidas Belgian Chocolates: Special Edition Mickey Mouse Chocolate Assortment Box: These look so delicious as I’m sitting here after an hour at the gym… (P.S.: If you’re hungry, do NOT click on that link and read what the fillings are on those chocolates.)

Disney Mickey Mouse Deluxe Holiday Gift Tower: Three boxes decorated with Mickey and friends sounds great, but I know you want to hear what’s inside! Here’s the list:
* 6.0 oz. Chocolate Drizzled Popcorn with Nuts
* 3.0 oz. Peppermint Bark
* 3.0 oz. Chocolate Covered Bing Cherries
* 3.0 oz. Shortbread Fingers
* 2.1 oz. Chocolate Covered Grahams

For the other two posts in this series (e.g. more gift ideas!), click here: Disney Foodie Friday Week 1 or here: Disney Foodie Friday Week 2

Send Your Suggestions for Disney Food Gifts!
If you see any fun Disney foodie gifts, let me know so that I can highlight them for other Disney Food fans! You can contact me via twitter, facebook, or email. Looking forward to your suggestions! 🙂

Please note: By making purchases via certain links, a tiny percentage of what you spend goes toward supporting the Disney Food Blog. This week, links 1, 2, 4, and 5 will return that benefit.

Collectible Disney World Gingerbread House Pins

By AJ 8 Comments

Calling all collectors! Here’s one of those special times when Disney Food and Disney Pins collide. After catching up on those great photos of the gingerbread displays, here’s your chance to fill out your pin collections with this year’s representations of these works of art.

I’m including the SKU number for each pin at the end of its Disney Pins description; hopefully you can use it to order the pin through Walt Disney World Mail Order ((407) 363-6200 or [email protected]).

For those of you who are in Orlando now, note that Chef Lothar Neumaier will appear for an artist signing between 1:00pm – 3:00pm on Friday, December 11th at the American Adventure Pavilion at Epcot.

Disney’s Contemporary Resort

Contemporary Resort Gingerbread Display Pin 2009

This limited release pin depicts the impressive gingerbread house created by Chef Brian Piasecki for Disney’s Contemporary Resort. The pin includes a pin-on-pin Mickey Mouse in front of the gingerbread house, which was inspired by the “it’s a small world” Attraction at Magic Kingdom® Park. SKU: 109131382

Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa

Grand Floridian Gingerbread House Pin 2009

This limited release pin depicts the impressive gingerbread house created by Chef Erich Herbitschek for Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. The pin includes a pin-on-pin Minnie Mouse in front of the gingerbread house. SKU: 109131351

Disney’s Boardwalk Inn

Boardwalk Inn Gingerbread Display Pin 2009

This limited release pin depicts the impressive gingerbread house created by Pastry Chef Keith Hiner and Pastry Chef Yoly Lazo for Disney’s Boardwalk Resort. The pin includes Stitch in front of the gingerbread house, which also features Donald Duck and Daisy Duck. SKU: 109131375

Disney’s Beach Club Resort

Beach Club 10th Anniversary Gingerbread Carousel Pin 2009

This limited release pin depicts the impressive gingerbread house created by Master Pastry Chef Stefan Reimer for Disney’s Beach Club Resort. The pin includes Chip and Dale in front of the gingerbread house, which resembles a grand carousel. SKU: 109131368

Epcot’s American Adventure

American Adventure in Epcot -- Gingerbread House Pin 2009

This limited release pin depicts the impressive gingerbread house created by Chef Lothar Neumaier for Epcot®. The pin includes a pin-on-pin Goofy in front of the gingerbread house, which also features Bambi.

Chef Lothar Neumaier will appear for an artist signing between 1:00pm – 3:00pm on December 11 at the American Adventure Pavilion at Epcot®. SKU: 109130880

Thanks to pin expert Cody at Global Disney Pinvestigation for the grand idea to share the info about these pins!

More Disney Holiday Treats

By AJ 3 Comments

This just in:

more pics of Disney holiday treats! (For those of you who, like me, are living vicariously through these photos, please thank Erin Foster for this set!)

And for those of you who still need your Disney Holiday fix, check out all of our related posts on our Disney Holiday 2009 page; or take a moment to vote in our Holiday Treats Poll coming up after the photos!

Getting started — did you know Disney World has Christmas Candy Corn?! It’s not just for Halloween anymore! (Now all we need is Christmas Disney Peeps!)

Disney Christmas Candy Corn

And for the chocolate + mint fans out there, here’s some peppermint bark:

Disney Peppermint Bark

Just about to ask about those big ol’ peppermint candy cane trees? Here’s a whole shelf! Does anyone know how you’d actually eat those things?

Candy Cane Trees

And here’s a fun Advent Calendar with chocolates to mark the days. (If you buy one now, you’ve already missed a few days so you’ll just have to eat more chocolate…there’s nothing I can do about that…)

Disney Chocolate Advent Calendar Front

Disney Chocolate Advent Calendar Back

Now to wake you up from that sugar shock, here’s some Holiday Cheer Coffee straight from Mickey:

Disney Holiday Cheer Coffee

Disney Holiday Treats week continues tomorrow with a special surprise post, but while you’re waiting, you’re welcome to vote in our poll!

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Tips for Dining in Disney World Guest Blog on TouringPlans.com

By AJ 4 Comments

Do you read the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World? Me too. I’m also a devotee of their website, TouringPlans.com, so I was honored to be asked to write a guest blog about dining in Disney for the site!

You can find my top tips for saving time, saving money, and avoiding crowds while dining in Disney World up on their blog today! TouringPlans also has a Disney Crowd Calendar and step-by-step itineraries to help you avoid long lines.

Thanks for reading!

Disney Foodie Decor: Walt Disney World Gingerbread Houses

By AJ 5 Comments

Get a comfy chair, my friends, ’cause this is a long one! Lots of great photos of the Walt Disney World Gingerbread Houses, including some fantastic detail shots that I can’t wait to share with you. Tuck yourself into your snuggie, get a cup of hot chocolate, and off we go to tour the WDW Gingerbread Houses!

Disney’s Contemporary Resort
One of my favorite parts of Disney World is Mary Blair’s gorgeous mural on the Grand Canyon Concourse, and this 17-foot-high tree fits perfectly within the look and feel of her masterpiece.

Disney's Contemporary Resort Gingerbread Tree

And, as is common in Disney’s gingerbread displays, there’s a hidden Mickey!

Contemporary Gingerbread Tree Hidden Mickey

Here are the stats on this Gingerbread display:

Contemporary Display Ingredient List

Contemporary Gingerbread Display Ingredient fun facts:
136 lbs. of honey
101 lbs. of flour
50 eggs
75 lbs. of icing
5 lbs. of spices
5 pounds of sugar syrup

And there are even a few beautifully designed character cookies for sale, so you can take a piece of this work of art home with you.

Contemporary Kids

Here’s a close-up of my very favorite one:

blair cookie

Disney’s Beach Club Resort
Over to the Epcot resorts to visit the traditional gingerbread carousel at the Beach Club! According to Disney, this holiday season marks the 10th anniversary of the carousel, a “fully detailed, life-sized carousel in the resort’s lobby that is created from a recipe that uses gingerbread, chocolate and sugar paste, and tons of enthusiasm, energy and talent.” Remember if you’re visiting: once a day, a guest is chosen for a photo with pastry chef Stefan Riemer!

10th Anniversary

Beach Club Carousel

There are always gorgeous details and intricate additions to the carousel; here are a few of this year’s special additions:

Minnie on the Carousel

Tink Herself Crowns the Carousel

This year, 10 “hidden Mickeys,” one for each year, can be found on the carousel! There are also a few additional gingerbread structures flanking the spinning masterpiece: A princess castle, Chip and Dale’s Tree House, and a “What Will You Celebrate?” carousel horse, complete with an invitation list!

Beach Club Gingerbread Castle

Chip and Dale's Tree House

Carousel Horse

What Will You Celebrate? Invite List

Beach Club Carousel Ingredient fun facts:
36 lbs. of honey
96 lbs. of bread flour
100 pints of eggs
10 lbs. of spices
10 quarts of simple syrup
100 lbs. of icing
50 lbs. of dark chocolate
10 quarts of egg whites
100 lbs. of confectioner sugar

If staring at all of this gingerbread makes you hungry, head over to the merchandise center nearby to get your own gingerbread treats:

Items for Purchase at Beach Club Gingerbread Center

Disney’s Boardwalk Inn
I love the Boardwalk Inn’s display this year! It’s funny, joyful, bright, and packed with detail. This year, the lobby of Disney’s Boardwalk showcases a gazebo made of gingerbread and chocolate — and one Donald Duck in quite a predicament!

Boardwalk Gazebo

Look out Donald!

Close Up Donald

Luckily, Daisy and Stitch are prepared to step in…kind of…

Daisy at Boardwalk

Stitch at Boardwalk Gazebo

And here are some incredible details found in and around the gazebo:

Donald and Daisy Claus

See the Hidden Mickey

Chip and Dale Roasting Marshmallows

Second Hidden Mickey

And, of course, the Ingredient list:

Boardwalk Ingredient List

Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
The biggest and most famous of the gingerbread displays, the Grand Floridian’s life-sized gingerbread house is a classic tradition at Walt Disney World.

The gingerbread house is so large, it doubles as a bake shop selling cookies, gingerbread ornaments, stollen bread, chocolate-peppermint bark, lollipops, and Grand Floridian logo boxes filled with truffles. Demonstrations of how to decorate a gingerbread house take place in front of the gingerbread house daily except Sundays.

Grand Floridian gingerbred house

GF House

Of course, this gingerbread house has plenty of detail as well:

Front Door Detail

BIGGFSnowman

Can you find Timon and Puumba?

Cool view from above! Check out that footprint!

BIGGFfromabove

And on the other side…some friendly Cast Members waiting to share their wares!

BIGGFsalespeople

Gingerbread house fun facts:
Chefs spend 400 hours baking the gingerbread and 160 hours decorating the house.

Structure Composition:
16 feet high
17 feet wide
1,000 board feet of trim
60 sheets of plywood
40 window panes
80 square feet of retail space
100 square feet of display
10,000 pieces of gingerbread used

Gingerbread Ingredients:
1,050 lbs. honey
600 lbs. powdered sugar
35 lbs. spices
800 lbs. flour
140 pints egg whites
180 lbs. apricot glaze

Here’s a Jeff Lange video of this phenomenal display:

American Adventure and Italy Displays at Epcot’s World Showcase
Finally, we head back over to Epcot to visit some lesser-known gingerbread displays!

GB house announcement AmAdv

Santa’s Bake Shop at Liberty Inn at the American Adventure pavilion is another life-sized gingerbread house made entirely of gingerbread, cookies, and icing. Stop by to purchase drinks and goodies here, too!

Gingerbread House at American Adventure

AmAdv Gingerbread ingred

Here are the costs for the goodies inside!

Costs for the Goodies

Italy has its own intricate gingerbread display. Can you see a hidden Disney character?

Italy's Gingerbread Display

Even the detail here, on this smaller display, is amazing. Check out Santa as he heads out into the canal!

And here’s that Disney character I mentioned — it’s Luigi from Cars!

Can You See Luigi

Heading Home
Hopefully you’ve enjoyed our Gingerbread Display tour through Walt Disney World! I am grateful to Disney Moms Panelist Erin Foster, DisneyFotoBlog.com’s James Chapman, and GD Pinvestigation Blog’s Pinvestigator Cody for contributing their fantastic photos for this collection.

And our Disney Holiday Foods week at the Food Blog will continue, too. On Wednesday, we take a gander at even more holiday treats; then on Thursday, we’ll take a look at how Disney Gingerbread and Disney Collectibles collide!

Note: Thanks to StitchKingdom.com for forwarding along Disney’s press release with ingredients info!

More Holiday Treats and Merchandise from Walt Disney World

By AJ 9 Comments

As we ramp up to the Holidays in Walt Disney World, we’ve got more photos for you Festive Foodies!

premade gingerbread at bw bakery

To start, we’ll continue to whet your appetite (literally!) with with a few photos of yummy treats available all around the parks and resorts (thanks to Cody from the GDPinvestigation Blog for contributing so many)! Following those, I have a few shots of some food-related holiday merchandise that just might tempt you into a trip to Downtown Disney… 🙂

And stay tuned tomorrow for what is becoming a HUGE “Gingerbread Houses in Disney World” post, with photos contributed from at least three excellent photographers. I can’t wait to share with you their views through the lens.

Disney World Holiday Treats

This beautiful Christmas Tree cookie is sold at the American Adventure’s life-sized gingerbread house. Great stocking stuffer, eh?

Christmas Tree Cookie

And here’s a fun Gingerbread House Kit that’s sold at the American Adventure’s gingerbread house as well!

American Adventure Gingerbread House Kit

But if you don’t want to make your own gingerbread house, the Boardwalk Bakery is selling pre-made versions!

Treats at the Boardwalk Bakery

Pre-Made Gingerbread House at Boardwalk Bakery

And while you’re at the Boardwalk, you can snag some of these adorable cupcakes and brownies.

Christmas Tree Cupcakes

Boadwalk Holiday Brownie

Over at the Contemporary, you can pick up these yummy gingerbread cookies…

Contemporary Gingerbread Cookies

…along with these minty treats!

Candy Cane Mickey Lollipops

All over the World, of course, you can find the ubiquitous holiday “crisped rice treat!”

Holiday Crisped Rice Treats

Of course, you need to have some chocolate-covered pretzels…and some Christmas-y chocolates!

Christmas Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Christmas Chocolates

(Psst! If you missed our past posts on Disney’s holiday treats, you can find them here: Holiday-Colors Dole Whip and Disneyland’s Homemade Candy Canes)

Disney World Holiday Merchandise

These first two can be found in Frontierland in the Magic Kingdom. I love that Christmas apron!

Christmas Apron

Frontierland Mickey Mugs and Notepads

And these were found over in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. How cool is the peppermint-themed Tink stocking? And the plate and mug are perfect for egg nog and cookies left out for Santa…

Tinkerbell Peppermint Stocking

Holiday-Themed Plate and Mug Set

Tinkerbell Peppermint-Themed Mug and Notepad Set

More holidays at Disney Parks to come! Thanks for reading, and thanks to all who have contributed their stories and photos! See you tomorrow with Gingerbread Galore!

Disney Food Post Round-Up, December 6, 2009

By AJ 2 Comments

Eat here

The holiday season at Disney Parks is upon us, and that means we get some deee-licious photos coming our way of the holiday treats available! Thanks again to Erin Foster for the fantastic chocolate Mickey waffle and holiday Dole Whip photos! And be sure to check out the info about the candy canes in Disneyland — you need a ticket to get one this year!

In other Disney food news, read up about the latest Disney holiday treats special on the Food Network, a great merch discount you can get just for eating counter service in Disney World, and the newest Tables in Wonderland holiday dinner event (ressies are first come, first served!).

**Stay tuned to the Disney Food Blog next week for a photo blog of the famous Gingerbread displays in the resort hotels of Disney World (I can’t wait), along with some great info about how those displays are made!**

____________________________________________________________________
Here we go to this week’s Disney Food Post Weekly Round-Up!

Speaking of candy canes, Dis Unplugged has an awesome post with pics of Guy Fieri at Disneyland — making the holiday special I just watched last night!

Heather McPherson at the Orlando Sentinel shows us how Disney bakers make holiday cookies at Disney World.

George at Imaginerding.com sent along a cool post about re-creating recipes from literature — including Alice in Wonderland’s “eat me” cookies! This one’s from a couple of weeks ago, but it’s a really fun read if you’re a bookworm like me.

Scott Joseph’s Orlando Restaurant Guide shares the bad news that the Bocuse d’Or US Finals will be leaving Disney World and heading to New York City.

Disney Geek Dad has posted his take on Disney dining. Take a look and leave a comment with your thoughts.

Cooking With Mickey makes Bread Pudding from 1900 Park Fare via video!

DisneyFotoBlog has some stunning shots of Disney World gingerbread houses

Watch Me Eat reviews the Celebration Tavern in Celebration, FL, but we’ve also got to share his Christmas 2008 post from Celebration while we’re here!

MousePlanet has the third and final Best of WDW 2009 post, including some great WDW dining polls. We’ll be doing polls throughout the year, and I can’t wait to see if the percentages match!

Speaking of polls, be sure to cast your vote in our first poll, Best WDW Steakhouse, in the right-hand sidebar of this blog! Thanks for reading!

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