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Nicole Simeone
The Grey Stuff…and a Little Bit More!
Don't believe me? Keep on reading!
Again The Mouse proves he can get to me even during the nationwide stay at home orders. The Disney Parks blog released a recipe for Be Our Guest’s Grey Stuff.
I can attest the dessert from the restaurant is as delicious as the song from the 1991 classic boasts. I’ve had the pleasure of sampling The Grey Stuff twice. I will be honest and say the first time was better than the second. For no other reason than quantity. Pictures say it all:
But, needless to say both were quite a delight!
Sorry, sorry. Back to the recipe.
The Disney blog has the full ingredients and process. Below is the recipe cut in half for anyone reading with a two-person or less household. Don’t worry, even this makes enough for leftovers.
- 3/4 cup cold milk
- 1.7 oz of instant vanilla pudding
- 8 Oreos
- 4 oz Cool Whip
- 1 1/2 Tablespoon instant chocolate pudding
For the most part, I followed the instructions on Disney’s blog. I know, I know. In baking, you should follow recipes to the letter. But I couldn’t help it. And they were minor changes anyway.
I only folded in half of the crushed Oreos into the vanilla pudding. Adding any more than that seemed like overkill. That was until I got to combining the Cool Whip and pudding-cookie mix.
Before I added the pudding, I did break out the whisk for a quick whipping of the Cool Whip. Why did I do that? Something just told me that the white goo needed some puffing up before having pudding added to it. I remember the dessert being light and fluffy. The Cook Whip was going to have an uphill battle against the pudding.
Once I started folding in the pudding into the whipped topping (yes, that was another deviation), I realized my judgment was leading me astray. I added the rest of the crumbles to the mixture and carried on incorporating all the ingredients through folding.
After I was satisfied, everything was mixed together, I put some cling wrap over the bowl and let it sit. Disney’s recipe said to let everything sit for an hour. I put The Grey Stuff in the fridge around noon and didn’t call me back until around five just so we could have this after dinner.
That doesn’t mean I left well enough alone. I think Lumiere would have my back when I say presentation is everything. Disney’s recipe calls for The Grey Stuff to be piped onto a shortbread cookie. This seemed an odd choice for the dessert since that’s not what they used at Be Our Guest.
A little internet sleuthing gave me the reason behind the shortbread selection. The at-home recipe is striking a balance between the East and West Coast dessert options. In California, diners at the Red Rose Taverne ordering The Grey Stuff get a red velvet cupcake enveloped by a white chocolate mousse on a shortbread cookie. For patrons visiting Be Our Guest, they now receive The Grey Stuff in a white chocolate cup made to look like Chip.
I didn’t have the tools to make the white chocolate presentation cup. Nor did I want to just settle for the shortbread cookie. So I took another look at the photo from our 2016 trip. After some deliberation, Adam and I decided the dessert had originally included a brownie base. I was sorely tempted to whip up brownies. Who doesn’t love brownies? But for the sake of ingredients and time, I went a different route.
I pulled out my Mom’s Graham cracker crust recipe, quartered it, and substituted Oreos for the crackers.
- 6 Tablespoons of Oreo crumble (about 6 or 7 cookies)
- 2 Tablespoons of sugar
- 1/8 cup of unsalted butter, melted
Add all three ingredients to a food processor to combine. I pulled out my small loaf pans and pressed the cookie mixture into the bottom.
Cook for about seven to eight minutes at 350 degrees. After taking them out of the oven, run a knife along the edges. But, wait a bit before trying to remove them from the pans.
When I was ready to assemble the dessert, I cut the Oreo crust in half to create the base for The Grey Stuff. Next, I broke out my 1M tip and put it into a piping bag. If you are out of piping bags, snipping the corner of a freezer bag works too. I used the tip to create a rosette swirl onto the cookie, because, well, it’s Beauty and the Beast, I had to. The edible pearls went on to complete the picture. Et, voila!
A pretty picture to be sure, but what about the taste?
With the base of this dessert being Cook Whip and pudding, it was already getting off on the right foot. Having Oreos mixed in basically sealed the deal that this would be delicious and be appealing to a wide range of folks. So, in short, yes, it was delicious.
It was not an exact replica of what you’d find in the park. As Adam reminded me several times while I was making this, the recipe was aimed at parents with kiddos at home needing to be entertained.
I see his point, and this recipe would absolutely get high marks for that end game. Although, I would say if you are making this recipe with kiddos, skip the food processor on the Oreo crushing. Instead, go for the freezer bag and rolling pin method. It takes longer and is far more satisfying from the kid’s point of view.
Obviously, there is interest in this recipe in adults not looking to entertain kids, but their own taste buds. While I liked this dessert, I think we can get closer to what we’d get if we were able to frequent Be Our Guest or the Red Rose Taverne. So stay tuned, Nerd Girls, there are experiments afoot!