I’m doing something a little different today… I’m doing a movie themed recipe to celebrate the upcoming live action Beauty And The Beast movie. It happens to be my favorite Disney movie and I was inspired to create a recipe around that so here we are!
I call these Grey Stuff Tarts. If you’re familiar with the cartoon movie, they mention the ‘Grey Stuff’ and I thought, since Beauty And The Beast is based in France, what better way to celebrate the film than to combine pastry and the ‘Grey Stuff’!
When I was researching different ideas on what to create for this movie I came across Grey Stuff ‘copycat’ recipes. I then found out that at Disneyland they serve Grey Stuff and people were recreating that dish. I looked at the ingredients for the copycat recipes and, although they sound amazing, I decided to throw them out and go in completely blind and create my own recipe. I did this for a number of reasons but mostly because a) I’ve never tried the Disneyland Grey Stuff before and b) because I love creating new recipes and finding unique flavour combinations.
Picture this…. It’s 8:00pm on a Thursday night and I walk into the kitchen and pull out a bowl and a wooden spoon. I’m in my pajamas, was in the middle of watching a TV show and I stop it midway just to test a recipe. I grab everything I can think of out of the cupboard, lay it all on the bench and stare at it for a good five or ten minutes before throwing a few things in a bowl and hoping for the best.
No joke, that is how this recipe came about.
And what an awesome recipe – if I do say so myself – this is! This ‘Grey Stuff’ is sweet and creamy with a slight cheesecake tang and a mixture of a cookies and cream and chocolate flavour. I couldn’t stop eating this straight from the bowl. (Yes, it’s now 9:00PM on a Thursday night and I’m sitting on the kitchen floor in my pajamas with a spoon and mixing bowl, eating testing this new recipe…). #TestingIsJustABloggersExcuseToEat.
For the pastry, I decided to make a simple sweet dough. When baked, this dough turns into a shortbread like crust. This sweet crunchy crust paired with the creamy rich Grey Stuff center is just out of this world! You only need four ingredients for this pastry. Cold butter, flour, icing sugar and an egg. Just blitz these ingredients in a food processor until it forms a dough, place it in the fridge for 30 minutes and then roll it out and chop into little tart cases. You don’t need to blind bake these as they are so small, just place then in a tart tin or mini muffin tin and bake until golden. So simple and not intimidating I promise!
You then create the Grey Stuff filling which is a combination of crushed Oreo’s, cream cheese, condensed milk, melted white chocolate and a touch of cocoa powder. You get the lovely Oreo Truffle flavour from the Oreo’s and cream cheese, the sweetness from the white chocolate and the condensed milk and the richness from the touch of cocoa to enhance the chocolate flavour. Once the pastry has been baked and cooled, you pipe the grey stuff into each tart and decorate with a red sugar flower. (I could only find pink sugar flowers so I ‘painted’ them red with red food colouring!).
I served these to my family without telling them what they were and they absolutely fell in love with them. But don’t take my word for it, give these tarts a go! They’re perfect for a Disney themed party or if you just love Beauty And The Beast. They’re decedent and pretty enough to serve at a fancy dinner party if you want to take away the Disney theme altogether.
Share your creations with me on my Facebook, Twitter or #lightscamerabake on Instagram. I absolutely love seeing your creations, especially when they’re Beauty And The Beast themed….
- 50 g Butter, Cold and cut into small cubes (1/4 Cup)
- 1/2 Cup Icing Sugar
- 1 Large Egg
- 1 and 1/4 Cups All Purpose Flour
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 14 Oreos (1 Packet)
- 250 g Cream Cheese
- 1/2 Tin Sweetened Condensed Milk (200g)
- 150 g White Chocolate, Melted
- 1 Tbsp, Cocoa Powder
- 18 Red Sugar Flowers for Decorating, Optional
- First prepare the tart cases.
- Place the cubed, cold butter, flour and icing sugar in a food processor or blender and blitz for 30 seconds.
Add the egg and vanilla extract and blitz until the mixture forms a soft dough around the blades of the food processor.
- Flatten out the dough, wrap in cling wrap and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- You can make the grey stuff filling while you wait.
- To make the grey stuff, crush the Oreo's into a fine crumb.
- Add the cream cheese and mix until well combined.
- Add in the condensed milk and melted white chocolate and mix. (Mix swiftly as the chocolate will begin to set).
- Add in the cocoa powder and mix.
- Set aside while you finish making your tart cases.
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease a tart tin with butter or non stick spray.
- Lightly flour a bench and roll out the dough until it is around 2mm thick.
- Using either a round cookie cutter or rim of a glass, stamp out 18 disks.
- Place them in the tart tin and prick the base of each pastry case with a fork.
- Place them in the oven for around 15 minutes or until the sides are a gold brown.
- I had to do two batches.
- Allow the cases to cool completely before piping in the grey stuff filling.
- Using a piping bag and star nozzle, pipe in the grey stuff filling.
- Top each tart with a red sugar flower if you wish.
- Store these in a airtight container in the fridge.
- Will last for up to a week in the fridge but after around 3 days the pastry cases aren't as crisp.
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