Dining with the Mouse

These are really easy and cute cookies to make for your kids (big and small!) around Halloween time!   These are just simple sugar cookies… but turning them into little Jack Skellingtons  (from the Nightmare Before Christmas movie) really makes them fun for the holiday.   This recipe is based off of a recipe printed in the Delicious Disney Holidays cookbook, although I made some changes.   The book states that these cookies can be found seasonally at Tony’s Town Square Restaurant in the Magic Kingdom.

Here are the ingredients…

First, combine flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.  Whisking the mixture brings all the ingredients together. 

Beat the softened butter and sugar until smooth.  Then beat in eggs and vanilla.  After this, add the flour slowly and mix together.   

Then wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 400. 

On a floured surface, roll the dough out to a 1/4 inch thickness.  Using a cookie cutter (I used an overturned glass), cut dough into circles.   Place cookies at least 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 8-10 minutes.  Cool completely.

For the icing, mix 2 cups of confectioner’s sugar with enough milk to create a glaze.  Vanilla extract can be added, but it will make the icing a bit tan, instead of pure white.   Any other clear extract would work fine for a bit of flavor. 

Spread the glaze on the cookies and let this set. 

Using a black frosting tube, decorate each cookie like a Jack Skellington face (or as close as you can get!).

Aren’t they cute?  They are tasty too…   the cookie has a cake-y texture and isn’t too sweet.  The frosting added the right amount of sweetness.   Boo!   Happy Halloween!

Jack Skellington Sugar Cookies

2013-10-14 18:23:42

Yields 18

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Ingredients

1. 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2. 1 tsp baking powder
3. 1/2 tsp salt
4. 3/4 cup butter, softened
5. 1 cup sugar
6. 2 eggs
7. 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For the Icing

1. 2 cups confectioner's sugar
2. Milk
3. Vanilla extract, optional
4. Black cookie decorating icing in a tube

Instructions

1. First, combine flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Whisking the mixture brings all the ingredients together.
2. Beat the softened butter and sugar until smooth.
3. Then beat in eggs and vanilla.
4. After this, add the flour slowly and mix together.
5. Then wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour.
6. Preheat oven to 400.
7. On a floured surface, roll the dough out to a 1/4 inch thickness.
8. Using a cookie cutter (or an overturned glass), cut dough into circles.
9. Place cookies at least 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
10. Bake 8-10 minutes.
11. Cool completely.

For the icing

1. Mix 2 cups of confectioner's sugar with enough milk to create a glaze. Vanilla extract can be added for flavor.
2. Spread the glaze on the cookies and let this set.
3. Using a black frosting tube, decorate each cookie like a Jack Skellington face.

Dining with the Mouse http://www.diningwiththemouse.com/

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The Liberty Tree Tavern is a wonderful restaurant in the Liberty Square “land” of the Magic Kingdom.  I really like the colonial atmosphere and I have always had a good meal there.  The Liberty Tree Tavern serves a la carte lunch options and a “family style” turkey meal at dinner.  I love the options at lunch and I enjoyed the New England Pot Roast entree a few years back. 

Here is the menu description of the pot roast:
New England Pot Roast… Our Tavern Keeper’s Favorite – Braised beef in a Cabernet wine and mushroom sauce served with mashed potatoes and garden vegetables – $18.99

Sounds like a good choice for dinner, right?  There are a few different recipes for the Liberty Tree Pot Roast floating around on the web and in the Disney cookbooks… and I chose to follow the New England Pot Roast recipe in the Cooking with Mickey and the Disney Chefs because I only had about 2 1/2 pounds of meat (some recipes called for 6 pounds).  I did tweak the recipe a bit, but I will explain that as I go. 

Here is a picture of all the ingredients needed:

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Crystal Palace Lemon Bars (Sort of)…

My attempt to make the lemon bars from the Crystal Palace was quite the adventure.  While dining at the restaurant for lunch and dinner, you may be lucky enough to find their delicious lemon bars on the buffet… 

I love a good, tart lemon bar, so I was excited when I found that someone on the internet had been given the recipe from their server at the Crystal Palace.   However, I looked at the recipe with skepticism, because it sounded a bit off… but if it was from the actual recipe from the restaurant it had to be right, right?   Well, part of this blog is to show my failures at cooking Disney recipes and this was one big failure.   The bars’ crust seemed ok, but the filling was weird.  It called for a ton of butter, which just melted down in the oven.  It was a big, liquidy-oily mess and never transformed into yummy lemon bars.

Oh no….

But now I had a hankering for lemon bars, so I found a promising recipe by Barefoot Contessa, which I will demonstrate here. 

Here are the ingredients.

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  In a mixer,  cream together the butter and sugar until light.  Then, with the mixer on low, add the flour and salt until just combined. 

Scoop the dough out onto a floured board and (with floured hands) press it into a 9x13x2 inch baking sheet.  Then chill for 15 minutes.  Since I was baking in a glass dish, and I worry about putting a chilled dish into a preheated oven, I chilled the dough ball for 15 minutes first, and then pressed the dough into the dish and put it into the oven. 

Bake the crust for 15 – 20 minutes, or until lightly browned.  Let cool.

 In the meantime, make the filling.   Wait until the crust is already cooled to start the filling because if you mix the lemon and the eggs too early, the mixture could start to curdle. 

Whisk together the eggs and sugar…  

Then add the lemon zest…

Then the lemon juice…

… and the flour.

Pour the lemon mixture over the cooled crust and bake for 30-35 minutes, until set. 

Let cool and then dust with confectioners’ sugar.

Then you can enjoy your delicious sweet and sour treat… yum!

These are even better once chilled for a bit, since they set up and the filling gets a bit more firm.

This recipe states that it is 12 servings, but I think 24 is more realistic… they are very good, but very rich.   The smaller serving is just enough. 

This lemon bar recipe didn’t exactly recreate the bars at the Crystal Palace (the shortbread crust was similar, but the filling was a bit softer and had a stronger lemon flavor), but it is a good recipe when you have a craving for a lemon bar. 

Do you like lemon desserts or do you prefer chocolate desserts?

Crystal Palace Lemon Bars (Sort of)

2013-04-26 16:29:51

Serves 24

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For the crust

1. 1/2 pound unsalted butter, room temperature
2. 1/2 cup granulated sugar
3. 2 cups flour
4. 1/8 tsp kosher salt

For the filling

1. 6 large eggs, room temperature
2. 3 cups granulated sugar
3. 2 tbs grated lemon zest (about 6 lemons)
4. 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
5. 1 cup flour
6. Confectioners' sugar

Instructions

1. First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light. Then, with the mixer on low, add the flour and salt until just combined.
2. Scoop the dough out onto a floured board and (with floured hands) press it into a 9x13x2 inch baking sheet. Then chill for 15 minutes. Since I was baking in a glass dish, and I worry about putting a chilled dish into a preheated oven, I chilled the dough ball for 15 minutes first, and then pressed the dough into the dish and put it into the oven.
3. Bake the crust for 15 - 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. Let cool.
4. In the meantime, make the filling.
5. Whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and flour. Pour over the cooled crust and bake for 30-35 minutes, until set. Let cool and then dust with confectioners' sugar.

Dining with the Mouse http://www.diningwiththemouse.com/

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