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This year, while hanging out on a close-to-Xmas weekend at my aunt and uncle's house in Florida, we passed time by watching a Youtube video of a couple who went through the Disney World Cookie Stroll at Epcot. My aunt and I speculated about how much fun it would be, but neither of us had the chance to try it out in person yet. And with Covid restrictions limiting the amount of people in the park on a given day, we imagined it might be even harder to attend.
So instead of killing ourselves to get there, and to replace of the lack of full descriptions of the cookies for us to live through vicariously, I decided to bring the stroll to us, crafting a list of recipes I'd both tried and been meaning to try, gathering ingredients (surprisingly easy on the morning of Xmas eve), and getting to work from 10am on. I even created a passport to mimic the ones you'd get at the park—though full disclosure, I did borrow their logo for the top of that. It's just too cute! And while my computer may not love the cleaning it'll need from being covered in flour, sugar and more, we definitely enjoyed jumping from room to room, eating our body weight in cookies and having some quality family time, while nearing closer and closer to a sugar coma.
Below is a comprehensive overview of my cookie efforts and how it all went—links to recipes and all. Hope you enjoy!
I decided to start the crawl with a nice, light palate cleanser. We were coming off a delicious dinner and I didn't want to overwhelm everyone with intense flavors or dense cookies right off the bat. I used to eat Lorna Doone cookies for a snack when I was a lifeguard at camp and looovvvveeeddd them, so I tried to find a recipe that would mimic them a bit. And since my aunt had some Chanukah themed cookie cutters she'd gotten as a gift for shopping at Publix during the holidays, I used those to shape them into menorahs, dreidels and stars for a nice added touch.
The edges were crispy, the rest was chewy, and they had that delectable buttery rich taste without being too much. I think I chose well.
Oh the snowball cookie. This was one I was really excited to make, but turned out to be much more difficult than I expected with the recipe I found. It was super crumbly and I was very afraid that it wouldn't come together at first, then when it did, that it would break apart when I baked it and again when I tried tossing in powdered sugar.
In the end, everyone seemed to like them, though they weren't the best-in-show. They had a more cocoa flavor than red velvet and while they were crumbly and a bit drier than I would like in a cookie, still provided a sweet touch that would make a good, yet not overwhelming, dessert to a meal. Would I make them again? Maybe, but I might go with a more dough-like recipe.
I was extremely excited, not only to taste these, but to go through the process of making them. I've been seeing pictures of these cookies online for years, but never really thought to try my hand at them. These sugar cookies were the perfect edible decoration and the photos I've seen looked adorable.
They were a bit more effort than the other cookies, from having to wait 3 hours for them to chill in the fridge, to rolling and shaping each "candy cane", leaving out the peppermint extract because I firmly believe mint is a palate-cleanser, not a dessert ingredient. And they did spread a bit in the oven (the only extra step I wish I'd taken was to chill again after I'd shaped them so they held the shape a bit better). All-in-all though, nothing good comes easy and these were really fun to make and tasted great! I may even save this as my go-to sugar cookie recipe moving forward—candy cane shaping steps notwithstanding.
The recipe I used for the gingerbread cookies is a tried-and-true option I've been using for the past 3-4 years. While shaping them into gingerbread men isn't the easiest—they spread when baked—they always yield a moist, chewy flavor-bomb of a gingerbread cookie that literally leaves your mouth watering for more.
No need to wonder if I'd make these again. I've made them before and there is a reason I keep coming back.
We saw chocolate crinkle cookies as an option on Epcot's walk, so I decided to give them a whirl, and OH MY GOSH was I glad I did. As anyone who knows me will tell you, I'm a chocoholic. If I don't end my day with something sweet—usually of the chocolate variety—it's very likely I will have trouble sleeping. So something super chocolatey was a must for me on this "journey".
These were basically fudgey brownies in cookie form, covered in powdered sugar, in case the sweetness from the chocolate wasn't enough/to compliment the overwhelming chocolatey flavor. They were so good, I almost snuck out of bed in the middle of the night to sneak some more. We may be Jewish, but someone has to pretend to be Santa and make cookies disappear, right?
A Jewish staple, black and white cookies have been gracing delis and bakeries alike for years and are a favorite among, well, everyone who tastes them and isn't just a little bit insane. The cookie itself is a mix between a pound cake and a Lofthouse cookie with a white and chocolate glaze that acts as ying and yang flavors. While most people prefer one flavor over another, with many often splitting by their preference, I prefer a blend, offering several notes on the palate at one time.
This recipe is one I've borrowed from before, for an office potluck. At the time, I'd made the cookies using a recipe from another site and used the glaze recipe from here. But rather than make myself crazy this time, I went with the one full recipe and they came out great, though very big! They were dense, chewy, sugary, chocolatey and will definitely be making an appearance in my cookie roster again.
From the video we watched, it seemed like if you got a stamp from every booth at Epcot, you were rewarded with a special cookie at the end of the stroll. While I'm sure it is every parent's nightmare to reward their kids with a cookie for eating other cookies, I decided to go with it. My mom has requested chocolate chip cookies with a mix of Ghirardelli's white and milk chocolate chips and who was I to say no when I was already in baking mode?
I have used this recipe in particular before and it always came out amazing—despite its misleading name (click the recipe link and you'll understand). And though I riffed on it a bit with the mixture of chips, this time was no different, except that instead of the usual digging in, many opted to save these for another day. Turns out there is such a thing as too many cookies.
In these crazy times when most places for fun are pretty much shut to the public, creativity is so important. I was lucky enough to be able to experience this with family members with whom I've been safely social-distanced, but there's no rule that says you can't make these ahead of time, ship to friends and family and do this over Zoom if you don't have the in-person option. You butter believe I'm gonna try it with my friends when I'm home! Its a really fun concept and I promise you won't even care about the extra 10 pounds you gained overnight 😉
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