On a recent episode of The Best & Worst of Walt Disney World, Pete Werner, Sean Faulk, and I (Steve Porter) shared recipes from Walt Disney World that we thought would make great side dishes and desserts for your Thanksgiving Day meal! We wanted to share these recipes with you so that you have time to gather the ingredients as the holiday is quickly approaching.
Whether you’re looking for an appetizer, a side dish, or a dessert, we hope you find something Walt Disney World-inspired this year!
Below you can find the recipes for each of our suggestions:
Pete’s Suggestions
Jiko Mac and Cheese
Yields 4 to 6 servings
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2 cups whole milk
- 8 ounces shredded Italian four-cheese blend (such as mozzarella, asiago, fontina, and provolone)
- 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 pound elbow macaroni, cooked and kept warm
Preparation:
- Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add flour, stirring until combined. Cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes, or until golden (do not let brown).
- Add milk to butter mixture, whisking until completely smooth and no lumps remain.
- Simmer mixture, stirring frequently, until sauce coats the back of a spoon, 5 to 8 minutes.
- Add cheese to saucepan in batches, stirring until completely melted. Add salt and pepper, stirring to combine.
- Place cooked macaroni in a large bowl.
- Add cheese sauce, stirring to combine.
- Serve immediately.
Liberty Tree Tavern Cranberry Relish
- 12 oz Frozen Cranberries
- 12 oz Orange Marmalade
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- ¾ cup Brown sugar (packed)
- Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
Preparation:
Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and mash with a stick blender to desired consistency.
Trails End Cornbread
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup cornmeal
- 1 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 T. baking powder
- 1 3/4 cup flour
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup milk
- 2 eggs
Preparation:
- Blend flour, cornmeal, salt, baking powder and sugar in a mixing bowl.
- In a separate bowl, blend milk, eggs, and oil with a mixer.
- Using that same mixer, slowly add the blended liquid to the dry ingredients prepared in step 1, mixing just enough to incorporate the wet and dry ingredients.
- Spray a 9 x 13 baking pan with nonstick food spray and pour the batter into the pan, spreading evenly.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for 20 – 25 minutes. or until golden brown.
- Allow to cool.
Sean’s Suggestions
Disney Churros Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Water
- 2 ½ Tbs of White Granulated Sugar
- 2 Tbs Vegetable Oil
- 1 Cup All-Purpose Flour
- Oil for Frying
- Cinnamon and Sugar for Taste
Preparation:
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine water, 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar, salt and 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Stir in flour until mixture forms a ball.
- Heat oil for frying in deep-fryer or deep skillet to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Pipe strips of dough into hot oil using a pastry bag. Fry until golden; drain on paper towels.
- Combine 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon. Roll drained churros in cinnamon and sugar mixture.
Hundred Acre Wood Cupcake – Tigger
Ingredients
- 3 Eggs
- ½ cup Vegetable Oil
- Half Stick of Butter
- Ground Espresso or Mocha (both taste well, just depends on what you prefer)
- ½ Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 3 Cups of Powdered Sugar
- 4 Tablespoons Orange Juice
- 1 Orange
- A Zester
Preparation of the Cake:
I made a batch of cupcakes from scratch and another batch with Betty Crocker ‘Super Moist’ chocolate fudge cake. The Betty Crocker Mix was much better and much less time consuming, but if you have a great cake batter recipe, feel free to use it.
Mix Betty Crocker Super Moist Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix with eggs, vegetable oil and 1 cup of water in a large mixing bowl along with 2 tablespoons of espresso or mocha. When smoothly blended, pour batter ¾ of the way into cupcake liners and place in cupcake trays. Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. For extra flavoring, I put a half a teaspoon of extra ground coffee in the bottom of each of my cupcake liners.
Preparation of the Icing:
Combine the butter and vanilla extract and beat in the powdered sugar slowly. The mix will be a bit chunky, so add in the orange juice and it will smooth it out. Use the zester on the outside of a large orange to add the orange zest right into the batter. If the icing is not spreadable at this point, add more orange juice.
Now the icing should come out a very light yellow color. So to correct this, we will use food coloring. We will need yellow and red food coloring to make orange. We all learned about mixing colors in grade school, but the same rules don’t always apply while baking. 9 times out of 10, adding red food coloring to anything will make it turn pink because it’s really mixing red with white (from sugars and other light ingredients in baking) so when mixing colors, I consider red to be pink, so mixing pink with yellow to make orange means you’ll need a lot more yellow than you will pink. I added 10 drops of red food coloring into the mix and 30 drops of yellow; this gave me the rich orange color seen in the photo above.
Now just put the icing in the fridge a while to let it harden some and pipe stripes onto your cooled cupcakes.
Hundred Acre Wood Cupcakes – Eeyore
Ingredients
- 3 Eggs
- ½ cup Vegetable Oil
- 1 small pack Instant Vanilla Pudding
- 1 ½ cups Milk
- 15 Oreos
- 1 small tub Cool Whip (8oz)
- 2 Tbs Instant Chocolate Pudding
- Sprinkles and 1 Raspberry for Decoration
Preparation of the Cake:
I made a batch of cupcakes from scratch and another batch with Betty Crocker ‘Super Moist’ Chocolate Fudge cake. The Betty Crocker Mix was much better and much less time consuming, but if you have a great cake batter recipe, feel free to use it.
Mix Betty Crocker Super Moist Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix with eggs, vegetable oil and 1 cup of water in a large mixing bowl. When smoothly blended, pour batter ¾ of the way into cupcake liners and place in cupcake trays. Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.
Preparation of the Icing:
The icing for this cupcake is the recipe for “The Grey Stuff” from the Be Our Guest Restaurant in Magic Kingdom. I found this recipe online and it didn’t come out right at all. It was more of a pudding consistency, but as I retyped the ingredients, I realized I used the whole package of chocolate pudding when it should’ve only been 2 tablespoons. So that is probably why mine didn’t come out correctly. It still tastes good but it certainly wasn’t the plan. So, this is the actual recipe for “The Grey Stuff”; best of luck in getting it to come out properly.
- In a medium bowl, combine pudding mix and milk. Whisk well and refrigerate for 10 minutes.
- Place Oreos in a food processor and blend until they become crumbs.
- Mix the crushed Oreos in with the pudding mixture and mix well.
- Fold in Cool Whip and chocolate pudding mix until well combined and refrigerate for one hour before serving.
- When ready to serve, place “The Grey Stuff” in a piping bag and add a dollop to the middle and then pipe a spiral around it. Top with sprinkles.
Hundred Acre Wood Cupcakes – Piglet
Ingredients
- 3 Eggs
- ½ cup Vegetable Oil
- Bacon
- 6 ounces of fresh Raspberries
- 5 Cups Powdered Sugar
- 2 Sticks of Butter
- Strainer
Preparation of the Cake:
I made a batch of cupcakes from scratch and another batch with Betty Crocker ‘Super Moist’ vanilla cake. The Betty Crocker Mix was much better and much less time consuming, but if you have a great cake batter recipe, feel free to use it. Mix Betty Crocker Super Moist Vanilla Cake Mix with eggs, vegetable oil and 1 cup of water in a large mixing bowl. When smoothly blended, pour batter ¾ of the way into cupcake liners and place in cupcake trays. Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.
Preparation of the Icing:
Puree the raspberries in a blender and pour the mix through a strainer to leave out any seeds. Add powdered sugar and butter into a mixing bowl, while adding in the pureed raspberries as you mix. I also added 6 oz. of cream cheese into my recipe because I enjoy the cream cheese taste and wanted that kind of icing. If you don’t add the cream cheese, you will get the traditional fluffy buttercream icing. If the icing is too “wet”, just add more powdered sugar to dry it up a bit and it should be just as good taste wise. Once the cupcakes are iced, added fried bacon crumbles to the top for some crunch and saltiness to counterbalance the sweetness of the raspberries.
Hundred Acre Wood Cupcakes – Winnie the Pooh
Ingredients:
- 3 Eggs
- ½ cup Vegetable Oil
- 8 oz. of cream cheese
- ¼ Cup Honey
- Powdered Sugar
- ½ Cups Corn Syrup
- 2 ½ Cups Granulated Sugar
Note: You will need a candy thermometer for the preparation of the spun sugar.
Preparation of the Cake:
I made a batch of cupcakes from scratch and another batch with Betty Crocker ‘Super Moist’ yellow cake. The Betty Crocker Mix was much better and much less time consuming, but if you have a great cake batter recipe, feel free to use it.
Mix Betty Crocker Super Moist Yellow Cake Mix with eggs, vegetable oil and 1 cup of water in a large mixing bowl. When smoothly blended, pour batter ¾ of the way into cupcake liners and place in cupcake trays. Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.
Preparation of the Icing:
Combine honey and cream cheese into mixing bowl and beat until fully blended. Add powdered sugar gradually as you continue to blend. Once blended, refrigerate for 15-20 minutes to allow icing to thicken, then using a piping bag, pipe the icing onto the cooled cupcakes. The icing will still have a runny consistency because of the cream cheese so don’t add it until the cupcakes have fully cooled.
I have been told that this icing has too much honey taste, I added a lot because its Winnie The Pooh-themed, so you can start by adding in half the honey but still keep the same amount of cream cheese and add more until getting the desired taste.
Preparation of the Spun Sugar:
Note: This will make a huge mess of your kitchen, it isn’t fun to do, it will scald your skin very badly if the sugar gets on you and it is much more difficult than it sounds.
Combine granulated sugar, corn syrup, and ½ cup water in a medium pot on the stovetop on high. Let the mix come to a boil, it will eventually caramelize and the mixture will go from clear to dark brown. Check the temperature with a candy thermometer. When the mix reaches 300 degrees, turn the stove top to low. As the mix cools, use a fork to scoop the syrup and let it drip back into the bowl from an elevated stance. When I scooped the syrup out, I held the fork about 3 feet above the bowl to allow for a long drip. As the syrup cools (it will take a while) the sugar will become very thin, like a thread or a spider web. When the mix reaches this consistency, shake the fork back and forth rapidly over a bowl to allow the strands to break loose and cool even further. Once fully cooled, the sugar can be picked up and twisted to create a nest shape. I watched a YouTube video to figure out how to make this because it’s a very visual process. So, I recommend doing that.
Steve’s Suggestions
Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup from Le Cellier
Yields 8 servings
Ingredients
- 5 cups milk, warmed
- ½ pound bacon
- 10 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup celery
- 2 each red onions, finely chopped
- 1 ½ cups flour
- 1 quart chicken stock
- 1 pound cheddar cheese, shredded
- To taste – kosher salt
- To taste – freshly ground black pepper
- 1 ½ teaspoons Tabasco sauce
- 3 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 12 ounces slightly warm ale
Preparation:
- Slowly heat milk.
- Brown the bacon first, then render until crisp.
- Add the butter and melt.
- Add celery and onions, cook until translucent.
- Add flour and mix thoroughly to form a roux.
- Add chicken stock and simmer for three minutes.
- Add warm milk and stir vigorously to thicken.
- Cook roux until thickened (it should not have a starchy taste).
- Reduce heat to low, add cheese, and stir until melted.
- Season with kosher salt, pepper, Tabasco, and Worcestershire sauce.
- Just prior to serving, add warm ale.
- Garnish with cooked bacon and fresh chives.
Cook’s note: When reheating the soup, do not bring to a boil, as it will break down.
Chip’s Sticky Bun Bake from Garden Grill Restaurant
Yield 6 – 8 servings
Cinnamon Smear
- 1 1/4 cup margarine, softened
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
Sweet Cinnamon Dough
- 1 cup milk
- 2/3 ounce cake (fresh) yeast, crumbled (approximately 3 tablespoons loosely packed)
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- Pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 cups bread flour
- 2 room temperature eggs
Icing
- 1 teaspoon milk
- 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 4 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preparation of cinnamon smear:
- Cream together margarine, cinnamon, and brown sugar.
- Add eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl after adding each egg. Mix well and place in refrigerator.
Preparation of sweet cinnamon dough:
- Heat milk in a small saucepan to 90 – 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove from heat, add cake (fresh) yeast, whisk until dissolved, set aside.
- Mix sugar, butter, salt, cinnamon, eggs and flour in large bowl, until smooth.
- Add yeast mixture slowly, stirring until dough comes easily away from sides of the bowl.
- Knead dough on lightly floured surface for 5 to 10 minutes.
- Place dough in large bowl, cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest 10 minutes or until doubled in size.
- Coat bottom and sides of 12-inch cake pan or 9 x 13-inch pan with butter.
- Punch down dough, knead it a few times, roll out on a floured surface into a 15 by 10-inch rectangle.
- Spread cinnamon smear over dough. Roll up dough beginning at the 15-inch side and pinch edge together to seal.
- Cut into 1-inch slices, quarter each slice, place pieces close together in the pan.
- Cover, let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size; about 45 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees, bake about 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Preparation of icing:
- Mix milk, confectioners’ sugar, softened butter, and vanilla extract together in a small bowl until smooth.
- Drizzle over the warm bun.
Clam Chowder from Liberty Tree Tavern
Yields 3/4 gallon
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup salad oil
- 1/2 cup celery (1/4″ dice)
- 1/2 cup onion (1/4″ dice)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 qt. clam juice
- 1 qt. milk
- 1 cup potatoes (peeled, diced, and cooked)
- 1 1/2 cups chopped clams
- 1/2 tsp. salt pinch white pepper
- 1/4 tsp. ground thyme
Preparation:
In a saucepan over medium heat, sauté the celery and onions in oil. Add flour to make a roux. In a separate pot, heat clam juice and milk together until they simmer. Combine roux and hot liquid slowly to prevent lumps. Add clams, potatoes, and seasonings to soup. Simmer for 20 minutes and serve. Soup can be made up to three days in advance.
We hope you enjoyed our recipe suggestions and we wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving Day! If there are any other Thanksgiving Day recipes inspired from Walt Disney World, Disneyland, or any Disney Park around the world that you recommend, we’d love to hear about them in the comments below!
