I was inspired by Kristine Fraser and decided I would also try making Disney World foods at home. Which is awesome because Disney foods but even more awesome because I rarely cook anymore…(I’m skipping the Dole Whip from her list, because that’s not an official recipe, I don’t care what anyone says. Dole Whip is vegan and that recipe isn’t vegan. Also, we have the official Dole Pineapple Frozen Yogurt mix which DOES make more realistic Dole Whip anyway.)
Cheshire Cat Tails are the recipe I was most excited about but also very sure was going to be a failure. Because… I LOVE Cheshire Cat Tails. They are one of my favorite Walt Disney World snacks. I love, love, LOVE them. But… puff pastry is HARD and pastry cream is whut? I’ve never made pastry cream!
As I was prepping to make them, I began to question the whole pastry cream thing. Why does that recipe even include pastry cream? I do not recall pastry cream being in a Cheshire Cat Tail. Has it just been so long since I’ve had one that I’ve forgotten? I talked to TW about it. She also didn’t remember pastry cream. I wandered around the internet looking at descriptions and photos of Cheshire Cat Tails (and also Tiger Tails, in Animal Kingdom because they’re pretty much the same darn thing.) I looked at other people’s recipes and decided that Kristine’s recipe is likely very good but it is not accurate because of the pastry cream. Instead, I went with Chef Dave’s recipe and hoped for the best.
Turns out this was the easiest darn recipe in the entire world. And, it tastes VERY similar to the real deal. I would do some things just a little differently next time (and there will be a next time. Many next times.)
1) I’d let the puff pastry get a little warmer. I was afraid of trying to work with it if it got too warm so I probably started working with it just a LITTLE too soon. It was a little stiff and it didn’t want to adhere to the chips so more of them came out during the slicing and twisting than should have.
2) Because chips do fall out during slicing/twisting, I will do that prep work away from the pan that I’m going to bake them on. There was a wee bit of a burnt chocolate taste in some spots because there were so many little chocolate chips all over the baking sheet and I just left them there rather than removing them.
3) If I was going to eat them hot out of the oven, I wouldn’t bother with colorful icing. I’d just go with some plain ole confectioner’s icing and be done with it.
4) If I want the color of the Cheshire Cat Tail (or want to make a Tiger tail in Black/Orange or a Clemson Go Tigers! Tail in Orange/Purple or a Tigger Tail in Orange/Black) I’ll let them cool before drizzling the icing over them and I’ll pop them in the fridge for a bit to firm up that icing even more. Then just warm them up for a little bit in the toaster or microwave.
For Kristine’s recipe and photos, click here.
Photos of mine before I iced them.
Photos of the first batch that I drizzled icing over while they were VERY warm.
Photos of the second batch that I drizzled icing over while they were cool. (This is the batch that went to Jenn.)
These were SO good that TW, who doesn’t even like the real Cheshire Cat Tails, said a few hours later she wished there were more. And we talked about NOT sending three to Jenn’s house and just sending her two.
SO good. HUGE success. Need more, ASAP.