Tag Archives: recipes

Recipe Cards from The Hollywood Brown Derby at Disney Hollywood Studios

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Today my family and I are having a lazy Sunday – watching TV, arguing with Disney folks on Twitter, drinking coffee, and generally just hanging around. I thought I might bake something, so pulled out my file of beloved recipe clippings that I return to time and time again.

As I was flipping through my file, I came across two recipe cards that I haven’t used in quite a while, and thought you might enjoy.

I picked these up at our first time eating at the Hollywood Brown Derby in 2006, in what was then Disney-MGM Studios.

Hollywood Brown Derby Recipe Cards

So cute!

We were talking with our server about how much we loved the Cobb Salad and Grapefruit cake, so she ran off and brought back these awesome recipe cards. If you know me, you know that my house is a bit of a mess. But somehow, I’ve managed to hang on to these gems through 7 years and a house move.

I’ve made the grapefruit cake several times with excellent results. Here’s the recipe card. It says right on it that it may not be reproduced without express permission…I hope that doesn’t include this picture.

Brown Derby Grapefruit Cake Recipe

Best. Cake. Ever.

And here’s the recipe for the famous Cobb Salad. I’ll admit that I haven’t been able to adequately reproduce this one at home. It’s more about the technique than the recipe, and my knife skills and patience are just not up to the task. I’m also not sure exactly what “1 each Bead Garlic, chopped” means. Maybe a clove?

Cobb Salad Recipe Brown Derby

Best. Salad. Ever.

 

So there you go. I was going to make bread pudding today, but now I’m thinking grapefruit cake…mmmmm.

So I’ll leave you with images of these awesome dishes as prepared by the Hollywood Brown Derby.

Grapefruit Cake

Grapefruit Cake—Brown Derby Original! Light Layers of Yellow Cake with fresh Grapefruit-Cream Cheese Icing

Famous Cobb Salad

“Our Famous Cobb Salad” with Finely Chopped Greens, Turkey Breast, Bacon, Egg, Tomatoes, Crumbled Blue Cheese, Avocado, Chives, and Cobb Dressing

 

Replicating Disney Snacks at home – Frozen Banana Attempt

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You may have seen my prior attempt at making Scotch Eggs, a la the Rose & Crown Pub in Epcot. Well these past few 90+ degree days in New England have felt like August in Orlando, and reminded me of one of my favorite snacks to grab while in Disney – Frozen Bananas! (Here’s an adorable picture of Disney blogger Suzannah from Zannaland.com enjoying a frozen banana back in the ’70s. Too cute!)

My first experience with a frozen banana (that sounds wrong…) was at Disney’s California Adventure in 2005. It was my daughter’s first trip to Disney, and it was her 4th birthday. I was still zealously careful about what she ate at that point (No junk food for my kid! Yeah, right…) So when I saw the frozen bananas, they seemed like the perfect treat. The version with no chocolate or peanuts, of course.

So yesterday on a whim, and without instructions, I decided to try my hand at making them. I have bananas. I have a freezer. How hard could it be? Well, not very hard at all as it turns out, but the result was not exactly like being in Disney. But that’s OK.

Advice – start with less-ripe bananas. I used what was on hand, and they were a bit softer than ideal, and a little harder to work with.

What you’ll need:

  • Bananas
  • Something to skewer them with. I suggest chop sticks or cake-pop sticks. The thin bamboo skewers you might have around for the grill are too thin and won’t hold the weight of the banana.
  • Plastic wrap

Bananas and chopsticks

First, remove the stem of the banana, keeping the peel on.

Then, skewer the banana, pushing the stick as far as you can go before hitting the curve. You don’t want the stick to poke out.

Skewering the banana

Skewering the banana

Next, peel the banana, and wrap in plastic. I like the kind that’s more like sticky wax paper. Be sure to make them airtight to keep them from turning yellowish-brown.

Wrapping the banana in plastic

Wrapping the banana in plastic

Finally, pop them in the freezer, and wait a few hours. I placed them in the ice tray, hoping that would speed up the freezing process.

Bananas in the freezer

Freezing the bananas

Finally, take them out and enjoy!

Frozen Banana

Frozen Banana

At this point, you could take them out and dip them in Magic Shell to cover with chocolate. Or, you could get fancy and make a chocolate ganache to dip them into…

Not a bad use of bananas that are about to get too ripe! Normally I throw them into the freezer (unpeeled), and defrost when time to make banana bread.

Another word to the wise – eat them right away. Defrosted bananas get mushy fast.

Have you tried to make Disney treats at home? Share your story in the coments!