Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite movies. Notice how I said “one of”? I can’t pick a favorite. I could maybe pick a top ten, and even then I’d struggle. It would also be extremely Disney heavy.
I also couldn’t pick a favorite moment from my time at the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration-it was start to finish amazing. On conference day, we enjoyed breakfast sponsored by Disney Magic of Healthy Living. Chef Gary Jones, Culinary Dietary Specialist at Walt Disney World® Resort, spoke to us about the steps that Disney takes to make sure everyone can safely eat the amazing food at Disney Parks. He also talked about the planning that goes into launching a restaurant like Fantasyland’s Be Our Guest. Be Our Guest opens each day as a quick-service restaurant for breakfast and lunch, then magically transform into table-service for dinner.
One of the special desserts available at Be Our Guest is “the grey stuff”. The grey stuff is a cookies and cream mousse. And yes, just like the song says, it’s delicious. Of course I’m of the school of “anything good is even better as a cheesecake”. This holds true for the grey stuff, too. This is a no-bake version, so it’s still holding on to it’s roots as a mousse. And fair warning-it’s ridiculously sweet and rich. There’s definitely no Mickey Check on this dessert.
Of course anything cookies and cream has to start with the cookies. Take 20 of your favorite chocolate sandwich cookies and crush them into dust. I cannot stress enough how important the dust part of this is. I used my mini-prep to chop and crush them. If you have any large pieces you won’t get the traditional “grey stuff” texture and color. You also want to avoid using any double-stuffed cookies for the same reason.
- 20 chocolate sandwich cookies
- 1 small box instant cheesecake flavor pudding (3.4 oz)
- 3 tablespoons instant chocolate pudding
- 1 8oz block cream cheese, softened
- 1 8oz tub of whipped topping, thawed
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- Mix the cheesecake pudding with milk.
- Put the pudding in the refrigerator to chill.
- Crush the chocolate cookies until there are no large pieces.
- Combine the cheesecake pudding with crushed cookies, whipped topping and cream cheese and mix well.
- Slowly add chocolate pudding until the desired color is reached.
Pretty easy, right? If you can crush and stir you can make this dessert.
I served my grey stuff in brownie bowls, because anything good is even better in a brownie bowl. To make brownie bowls all you need is the special pan and your favorite brownie recipe for mix. You could also serve the grey stuff on top of cupcakes, sliced brownies or by itself. You could just eat it by the spoonful directly from the mixing bowl-that works, too… 
To get as close as possible to the plating style of Be Our Guest, pipe out the grey stuff using a star tip and sprinkle with edible pearls.
Share this with your favorite beast-it’s sure to improve their mood. And make sure you try the real thing the next time you visit Walt Disney World!
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