Try recipes for famous restaurant foods

Honest to God, I thought she said “doe lips.”

My editor was suggesting that I write about how several corporations, in recent years, have begun publishing the recipes for some of their most iconic dishes.

DoubleTree by Hilton has released the recipe for the chocolate chip cookie that workers there give you when you check in. The Cheesecake Factory has parted with the recipe for its popular Chinese Chicken Salad. Disney has published the recipe for its doe lips.

Doe lips? That can’t be right. The most famous doe in the Disney universe is Bambi’s mother, and it is unthinkable that Disneyland would use her lips to make some sort of sugary snack.

“Dole Whip,” my editor repeated.

Oh. Dole Whip. So I decided to write a story — this story — about signature corporate recipes in part to find out what Dole Whip is.

These are not knockoff recipes, in which ordinary people try with varying degrees of success to re-create a favorite recipe from a fast-food joint or theme park. These are the actual recipes used by the actual restaurants and hotels that serve them.

They are even scaled down to home-cook proportions by the corporations themselves. What you see here is, at least theoretically, what you get there.

I started with the Dole Whip, largely out of curiosity. Apparently, it’s hugely popular at the Disney parks, but I have never been to a Disney park. I’ve never been that happy.

I can see why people love the Dole Whip so much, especially in such hot weather areas as Orlando, Fla., and Anaheim, Calif. It is a delightful treat, cool and especially refreshing.

And with only three ingredients, it is also easy to make. All you do is blend together some frozen pineapple, some pineapple juice and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

What you get resembles softserve ice cream, with the flavor of pineapple. It’s sort of part softserve, part slushy, all Disney delicious.

At the Disney parks, a small cup of the stuff goes for five bucks.

I stayed with the good folks at Disney to re-create another of their wildly popular dishes, churro tots. Churros are stiff, uniquely shaped, cinnamon doughnuts popular throughout Central America as well as Spain and Portugal, where they originated. The Disney parks sell more than 5 million of them every year.

The recipe Disney has published is for what they call churro tots — a smaller, bite-size version of the treats. And because doughnuts don’t already have enough calories, especially doughnuts with a high surface-to-interior ratio, they then serve them with a chocolate dipping sauce.

The tots are great by themselves, but they are even better with chocolate. Then again, pretty much everything is better with chocolate.

To my surprise, the churros begin with a pate a choux dough — it’s the type of dough that bakes up with a big pocket of air in the middle; it’s used for eclairs and cream puffs. When you fry it, though, it clearly turns into a churro.

Pate a choux doughs take a couple of steps more to make than some other pastry doughs, but they are quite easy and forgiving. Once you’ve made the dough, you have to pipe it out with a pastry bag and fry it; then roll it in a cinnamon-sugar mixture and, of course, make a chocolate sauce.

It takes a fair amount of energy to make them, but when you are done you have churro tots and a chocolate sauce. Trust me, it’s worth it.

I thought I’d next try something that at least sounded healthful, the Chinese Chicken Salad from the Cheesecake Factory.

It starts innocently enough, with a mixture of lettuces and cabbage, plus bean sprouts, green onions and sliced poached chicken. But then you add crispy fried rice noodles, crispy fried wonton wrappers, a hill of toasted almonds and far too much sesame-plum dressing.

About that sesame-plum dressing: The recipe says it is available in “fine food markets.” I’m guessing the store where I shop is not fine enough. They didn’t carry it. So I bought a bottle of Asian Ginger-Sesame dressing and used about half the amount that was recommended, and that worked fine.

Other than the dressing, the recipe tastes just like it does at the Cheesecake Factory, with a multiplicity of flavors all erupting at once — but somehow all in perfect harmony.

I turned next to Chick-fil-A and its recipe for its very popular but discontinued coleslaw.

Before they stopped selling it (in favor of a trendy kale salad with dried cherries and nuts), Chick-fil-A released the recipe, so its many fans could continue to make it at home.

It is a standard — and excellent — recipe for Southern coleslaw, though with a bit of a twist. Some coleslaw recipes call for Dijon mustard and some do not, but the Chick-fil-A recipe gets its bite from dry mustard.

And that makes all the difference. The sharp mustard overtone is the perfect foil for the creamy and sweet-sour combination that comes from a mixture of mayonnaise, sugar and vinegar.

I next took a recipe for guacamole from Chipotle. The brilliance of this dish is its simplicity; there are no extraneous flavors to get in the way of the purity of the guacamole.

It doesn’t have tomatoes. It doesn’t even have garlic.

All it requires are ripe avocados, lime juice, cilantro, red onion, jalapeno and salt.

Mash it all together and you have a guacamole that is both noble and notable. Also, it is totally addictive.

Finally, I made the chocolate chip cookies from DoubleTree. These are buttery cookies, absolutely packed with chocolate chips and chopped walnuts.

A couple of things make the cookies stand out. One is that, while they are mostly made from flour, they have also have a bit of oats in them for a bit of a heartier chew. And the other unexpected ingredient is just a hint of lemon juice.

It is a minuscule amount of lemon juice, a ludicrously small amount. The recipe calls only for a quarter-teaspoon of the juice for 26 large cookies. Frankly, I doubt it makes any difference at all.

As written, the recipe calls for the cookies to be baked at 300 degrees for 20 to 23 minutes. That didn’t work for me. I got close to 30 minutes, and they still were not ready. So I bumped up the temperature to a more reasonable 350 degrees, and they turned out fine.

No, better than fine. They were excellent. They are just the sort of thing you want handed to you when you check into a hotel.

Churro Tots

Yield: 4 servings

Note: To make your own chocolate sauce, chop 4 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate and place in a bowl. Heat ½ cup half-and-half, light cream or heavy cream almost to a boil (you can boil the heavy cream) and pour over the chocolate. Allow to stand for 1 minute, then stir until chocolate is completely melted and incorporated into the sauce. This ganache will only stay in a liquid form for 1 hour or less.

1 cup water

4 ounces (1 stick) butter, cut up

1 teaspoon salt

1¼ teaspoons cinnamon, divided

1¼ cups all-purpose flour

3 eggs

2 cups vegetable oil, for frying

3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon granulated sugar

Chocolate sauce, see note

In a medium saucepan, bring water, butter, salt and ¼ teaspoon of the cinnamon to a rolling boil. Add the flour all at once, reduce the heat to low and stir vigorously until the dough forms a ball. Remove from heat and let rest for 5 to 7 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, stirring between each addition to incorporate the egg into the dough. In a small bowl, mix together sugar and remaining 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon.

In a medium to large saucepan, bring oil to a temperature of 350 degrees. Spoon the rested dough into a pastry bag or a reusable plastic bag with a corner cut off, fitted with a star-shaped tip. Squeeze out dough shapes about 1½ inches long and fry in batches of no more than 10 or 12 at a time until they are a light, golden brown, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove with a spider or slotted spoon and drain on paper towels before coating in cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Serve with chocolate sauce.

Per serving: 865 calories; 68 g fat; 46 g saturated fat; 217 mg cholesterol; 12 g protein; 59 g carbohydrate; 26 g sugar; 4 g fiber; 642 mg sodium; 52 mg calcium

Recipe by the Walt Disney Co.

Doubletree Signature Cookies

Yield: 26 cookies

Note: This recipe makes cookies that are soft and almost underbaked. If you want cookies that are sturdier and more thoroughly baked, cook them at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.

½ pound (2 sticks) butter, softened

¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

¾ cup packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1¼ teaspoons vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

2¼ cups all-purpose flour

½ cup rolled oats

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

Pinch of cinnamon

2 ⅔ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1¾ cups chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 300 degrees or 350 degrees for crisper cookies. Cream butter, sugar and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Add eggs, vanilla and lemon juice, blending with mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, then medium speed for about 2 minutes, or until light and fluffy, scraping down bowl.

With mixer on low speed, add flour, oats, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, blending for about 45 seconds. Don’t overmix. Remove bowl from mixer and stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.

Portion dough with a scoop (about 3 tablespoons) onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper about 2 inches apart. You’ll need to use 3 baking sheets, or cook in 3 batches, to keep the cookies from spreading into one another.

Bake at 300 degrees for 20 to 23 minutes, or at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, until edges are golden brown but centers are still soft. Remove from oven and cool on baking sheet for about 1 hour.

Per serving: 257 calories; 15 g fat; 7 g saturated fat; 33 mg cholesterol; 4 g protein; 29 g carbohydrate; 18 g sugar; 2 g fiber; 147 mg sodium; 21 mg calcium

Adapted from a recipe by DoubleTree by Hilton

The Cheesecake Factory Chinese Chicken Salad

Yield: 2 to 4 servings

Note: If you can’t find sesame-plum dressing, use another Asian-style salad dressing with sesame as one of the main flavors.

8 ounces iceberg lettuce

4 ounces Romaine lettuce, cored and chopped

4 ounces red cabbage, cored and sliced thin

4 ounces bean sprouts

2 ounces (1 bunch) green onions, sliced thin

8 ounces poached chicken, sliced thin

4 ounces crispy rice noodles

4 ounces crispy wonton strips

8 ounces sesame-plum dressing, available in fine food markets, see note

16 segments of mandarin orange

4 ounces slivered
almonds, toasted

2 teaspoons black and white sesame seeds

2 snow pea pods, sliced thin

Place lettuces, cabbage, bean sprouts, green onions, chicken, rice noodles (reserving some noodles) and wonton strips (reserving some wonton strips) and dressing in a mixing bowl, and toss until evenly covered.

Place the mandarin orange segments around the salad, and top with the reserved noodles, the reserved wonton strips, the almonds and the sesame seeds. Garnish with the thinly sliced snow pea pods.

Per serving (based on 4): 734 calories; 43 g fat; 5 g saturated fat; 43 mg cholesterol; 26 g protein; 64 g carbohydrate; 16 g sugar; 9 g fiber; 776 mg sodium; 179 mg calcium

Recipe from the Cheesecake Factory

Dole Whip

Yield: 1 serving

2 cups frozen unsweetened pineapple

4 ounces (½ cup) pineapple juice

1 large scoop vanilla ice cream

Blend frozen pineapple and pineapple juice in a blender until smooth. Add ice cream and blend until smooth. To serve, spoon immediately into a reusable plastic bag with one corner removed and swirl into a bowl, cup or cone.

Per serving: 309 calories; 5 g fat; 3 g saturated fat; 12 mg cholesterol; 2 g protein; 57 g carbohydrate; 52 g sugar; 4 g fiber; 27 mg sodium; 77 mg calcium

Recipe by the Walt Disney Co.

Chipotle Guacamole

Yield: 4 servings

2 ripe Hass avocados

2 teaspoons lime juice

2 tablespoons
cilantro, chopped

¼ cup red onion, finely chopped

½ jalapeno, to taste, finely chopped

¼ teaspoon salt

Cut the avocados in half and carefully remove the pit. Scoop the avocados and place in a medium bowl. Toss and coat with lime juice. Add the salt and, using a fork or potato masher, mash until smooth. Fold in the cilantro, red onion, jalapeno and salt, and mix well. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Per serving: 169 calories; 15 g fat; 2 g saturated fat; no cholesterol; 2 g protein; 11 g carbohydrate; 2 g sugar; 7 g fiber; 153 mg sodium; 17 mg calcium

Recipe by Chipotle

Chick-Fil-A Coleslaw

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

4 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

¼ cup granulated sugar

¼ teaspoon dry mustard

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup mayonnaise

Two (20-ounce) bags fine shredded cabbage, chopped to ⅛ inch, or 20 ounces cabbage,
shredded, chopped to ⅛ inch

¼ cup finely chopped carrots

In a large bowl, whisk vinegar, sugar, mustard and salt together until sugar is dissolved. Add mayonnaise, and whisk to mix. Add cabbage and carrots. Mix to combine. Refrigerate for 2 hours, and serve.

Per serving (based on 6): 308 calories; 28 g fat; 4 g saturated fat; 15 mg cholesterol; 2 g protein; 15g carbohydrate; 12 g sugar; 3 g fiber; 351 mg sodium; 43 mg calcium

Recipe by Chick-fil-A