Drop of Disney

Happy Birthday Donald Duck! Today, Donald celebrates 85 years since his first appearance in Silly Symphony, “The Wise Little Hen,” on June 9, 1934. Since his debut, Donald Duck has become famous for his fiery temper and desire to be #1. Donald is such a classic character and to celebrate this special anniversary, I’m excited to share these Donald Duck inspired treats!

For this dessert, I was inspired by one of my favorite shows in Disney, Mickey’s Philharmagic. While Mickey is technically the title character, Donald feels like the true star, as you follow him through different musical movie moments as he journeys to retrieve Mickey’s sorcerer hat.

As part of the show, Donald dives through different transitions, often showing the audience his rear end, with his feet sticking out behind him. In thinking about how to recreate this in a dessert, I knew these mini banana cream pies would work perfectly.

Lined with chocolate and caramel these pies are filled with thick vanilla pastry cream, sliced bananas, and whipped cream. To add a touch of Donald, I used whipped cream to add fluffy duck tails, Nilla wafers to make duck feet, and topped them off with blue candy replicas of Donald’s signature hat.

To make these pies, I used 5-inch pie tins to create four small pies. These pies are perfect for two people to share but can also be eaten by one person depending on how hungry they are.

While these pies can be made in one day, I chose to make them over two so that the dough and pastry cream had ample time to chill and set. On the first day, I made the pie crust dough, the pastry cream, and the caramel sauce. I then let all of them chill in the refrigerator overnight. On the second day, I rolled out and baked the pie crusts, made the candy hats and whipped cream, and assembled the pies.

To make the candy hats, I used an ice cube tray I had from the Disney store. There is only one Donald hat mold in the tray, so you’ll have to make the candies one at time, but they set quickly in the refrigerator so it shouldn’t take very long.

One the pie crusts are baked and cooled, you can start assembling the pies. First, melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Then, using a pastry brush or a small rubber spatula, spread a layer of chocolate on the bottoms of the pies. Place in the refrigerator to set.

Once the chocolate is set, drizzle an even layer of caramel over the chocolate bottoms. Since I made my caramel in advance and kept it in the refrigerator, I needed to first warm it up so that it was spreadable. To do so, I microwaved it for about 30 seconds. Make sure it’s not too hot as it will melt the chocolate.

Then, spoon the pastry cream into the pie crusts, press the sliced bananas on top of the cream, and spread a layer of whipped cream on top.

To decorate, spoon a dollop of whipped cream in the center of the pie to make the tail, place two Nilla wafers below it, and a candy hat at the top right. Keep chilled in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Happy 85th Birthday Donald!

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Donald Duck Butt Pie

Celebrate Donald’s 85th Birthday with these adorable banana cream pies! Lined with chocolate and caramel these pies are filled with thick vanilla pastry cream, sliced bananas, and whipped cream, and topped with Nilla wafer duck feet and Donald’s signature blue hat.

Course Dessert

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time 2 hours

Servings 4 mini pies

Ingredients

• 4 fully baked and cooled 5-inch pie crusts
• 1 oz bittersweet chocolate, broken into pieces
• 1 cup heavy cream, very cold
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• ¼ cup caramel sauce
• 2 ½ cups pastry cream, cold
• 2 ripe bananas, sliced into 1/4-inch-thick rounds

Caramel Sauce

• ⅓ cup heavy cream
• ⅛ vanilla bean
• ½ cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• ⅜ teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Pastry Cream

• 2 cups whole milk
• ½ vanilla bean
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons cornstarch
• ½ cup + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Pie Crust

• ½ teaspoon salt
• ⅓ cup water, very cold
• 1 ½ cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• ½ cup + 2.5 tablespoons unsalted butter, very cold

Decoration

• ½ cup blue candy melts
• Nilla wafers

Equipment

• 4 5-inch pie pans
• 1 Disney shaped ice cube mold
• food processor

Instructions

Caramel Sauce

1. Pour the cream into a small saucepan. Split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and use the tip of a sharp knife to scrape the seeds from the pod halves into the milk. Bring the cream to just under a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to low to keep the cream warm.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, water, salt, and corn syrup. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Then cook, without stirring, until the mixture becomes amber colored, 5 to 8 minutes. Remove from the heat.
3. Carefully and slowly add the cream to the sugar mixture. When you first add the cream, the mixture will boil vigorously. Let it simmer down and then whisk until smooth. Add the lemon juice. Let cool for about 2-3 minutes.
4. Cut the butter into 1-inch chunks and add them to the caramel one at a time, whisking constantly after each addition. Let the caramel come to room temperature, whisking occasionally.
5. Once cooled, place the caramel in an airtight container until ready to use. If not using immediately, keep in the refrigerator.

Pastry Cream

1. Place a fine mesh strainer over a medium size bowl. Set aside.
2. In a small bowl, mix cornstarch and sugar together. Add the eggs and whisk until smooth. Set aside.
3. Pour milk into a medium saucepan. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and use the tip of a sharp knife to scrape the seeds into the milk.
4. Add the salt to the milk and place the saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to just under a boil, stirring occasionally. Make sure the milk doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan as it will burn.
5. Ladle ⅓ of the milk mixture into the egg mixture, whisking constantly.
6. Pour the egg mixture into the milk mixture and continue to whisk over medium-high heat until thick, about 2 minutes. There should be a few slow bubbles, but not a full boil.
7. Remove mixture from the heat and pour through a fine mesh sieve.
8. Cool for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
9. Cut the butter into 1 tablespoon pieces. Whisk butter into cream, mixing until smooth after each addition.
10. Cool cream by pressing plastic wrap directly on top of the cream. Chill for at least 3 hours and keep in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Pie Crust

1. In a small bowl, add the salt to the water and stir to dissolve. Keep in the refrigerator until ready to use.
2. Place the flour in the bowl of a food processor. Cut the butter into 1-inch pieces and scatter the pieces over the flour. Pulse briefly until the mixture forms large crumbs, there should still be small pieces of butter visible.
3. Add the water mixture and pulse for several seconds until the dough starts to become a ball, but isn’t fully smooth.
4. Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface and shape into a disk about 1-inch thick. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
5. Once dough is chilled, place it on a lightly floured surface and roll it out to about 1/8 inch thick. Lift and rotate the dough every so often to prevent it from sticking.
6. Once rolled out, cut out 4 circles about 2 inches larger than the pie dishes, re-combining and re-rolling the dough if needed.
7. Carefully transfer the dough to the pie dishes, pressing them gently into place with your fingers. Trim the dough even with the rim of the pan with a sharp knife.
8. Chill the shell until firm, about 30 minutes.
9. Preheat the oven to 375°Line the pastry crusts with parchment paper and fill with pie weights. If you don’t have pie weights, you can use rice or popcorn kernels.
10. Bake the crusts until the surface looks light brown, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and remove the weights and paper. Return the crusts to the oven and bake until golden brown, about 5 minutes longer.
11. Let the crusts cool completely on wire racks before filling.

Donald Duck Hats

1. Place candy melts in a disposable pastry bag or ziploc bag.
2. Melt in the microwave, checking every 30 seconds.
3. Pipe the candy melts into the hat mold and place mold in the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes to set.
4. Repeat, re-microwaving the candy melts if needed, until desired number of hats are complete.

Assembly

1. Place the cooled pie crusts on baking tray.
2. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat.
3. Using a pastry brush or small spatula, spread the melted chocolate evenly over the bottom of the pie crusts. Refrigerate the crusts for 10 minutes to set the chocolate.
4. Pour the heavy cream into a medium bowl and whip until thickened. Add the sugar and continue to whip the cream until it holds medium-firm peaks.
5. Remove the pie crusts from the refrigerator and drizzle the caramel evenly over the chocolate. If the caramel has been in the refrigerator, warm it in the microwave for 30 seconds.
6. Remove the pastry cream from the refrigerator and spoon into the crusts.
7. Place the banana slices evenly over the pastry cream, lightly pressing them into the cream.
8. Using a small rubber spatula, spread the whipped cream evenly on top of the pies.
9. Place a small dollop of whipped cream in the center of the pie to make Donald’s tail.
10. Place two Nilla wafters under the dollop for Donald’s feet and place 1 candy hat at the top of the pie.
11. Keep the pies in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Recipe Notes

Adapted from Tartine