How to make your own Disney Mickey pretzels at home

As most of the country continues to shelter in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, the question of how to have some fun at home endures.

Disney fans like me have been keeping the magic alive by making our favorite Disney treats and snacks, like Churro Bites, Dole Whip, Grilled Cheese and Mickey Beignets. And while these recipes have definitely delivered, there’s been one Disney snack I’ve been missing above all others that I was determined to perfect — the Mickey Pretzel.

Disney previously shared a simple pretzel recipe to make with store-bought pizza dough. But this recipe just didn’t cut it for a Mickey pretzel aficionado like me. So I set out to find the best recipe to get me closer to the real thing at home.

I finally settled on Alton Brown’s Homemade Soft Pretzels recipe — with a few minor modifications.

The ingredients are simple and there’s a good chance you already have everything you need in your kitchen pantry. I used the most of the same ingredients Alton’s recipe calls for: yeast, flour, sugar, kosher salt, baking soda, an egg yolk and pretzel salt. His recipe also calls for vegetable oil and unsalted butter but I substituted what I had on hand: olive oil and salted butter (in my world, there’s no such thing as too salty).

After activating the yeast in some warm water, mix the flour, sugar and kosher salt using a dough hook for about 5 minutes, then oil the ball of dough and store it in a bowl to rise for about an hour.

Once the dough has risen, divide it into eight equal pieces — each one will make one pretzel.

To make each pretzel Mickey-shaped, split each dough segment in half. The first half will make Mickey’s head. Split the other half in two to make the ears.

Next, bring a water and baking soda mixture to a boil and use a slotted spatula or spider to gently place each pretzel in the boiling water for 30 seconds. Afterward, place your pretzels on a parchment-lined, lightly oiled cookie sheet, brush each boiled pretzel in an egg wash, sprinkle them with pretzel salt (you can also use kosher or sea salt) and bake for about 12 minutes or until golden brown.

This recipe yields gorgeous, golden-brown pretzels. Just look at the bottom of these beauties.

At Disney parks, I love to dip my Mickey pretzels in cheese sauce (affectionately referred to by a devoted following as “plastic cheese”). I haven’t found any that perfectly replicate Disney’s cheese dip, but some say Cheez Whiz comes closest.

Keep checking back as we share more Disney recipes. In addition to the ones I mentioned above, we’ve also shared recipes for Cookie Fries and Disneyland’s famous Monte Cristo sandwich, and we have more to come. Until my beloved Disney parks re-open, keeping the Disney snacks coming is the next best thing!

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Are you recreating your favorite Disney snacks at home, too?