As travel plans continue to be pushed off into the indefinite future, I’m spending a lot of time thinking about trips of the past. As a kid, the best parts of staying at a hotel were the simple things: the very existence of a continental breakfast or a hot tub, watching TV in bed, and, courtesy of several stays at Doubletree hotels, free cookies, which seemed to exist beyond the bounds of time by being soft and warm regardless of when we arrived at the hotel. (Either that, or they have a cookie army baking them every 10 minutes just in case someone walks in.)
Even as an adult, I let myself indulge in these moments of nostalgia when I travel. I still smile if I’m on a road trip and get to stay somewhere with a self-service waffle iron off the lobby. And while it’s been more than half a decade since I was handed one of those warm cookies, they make me recall overnight stopovers on drives across the country and sharing a double bed with my younger brother.
Hilton released the recipe for them in early April, just as the impact of stay-at-home orders was becoming clear, and as grocery stores all over the country were starting to see empty flour shelves—which is to say, just in time. Even under quarantine, I grabbed the chance to eat the Doubletree cookies again.
If you also have happy memories of warm cookies, you can find the recipe for them on Hilton’s website. I’ve made my share of cookies, and I was surprised they needed to bake for such a long time (more than 20 minutes) at such a low temperature—probably why they stay so soft. One quibble with the recipe though: Letting the cookies cool for an hour defeats their purpose, pull them off after 30 minutes.
There are plenty of hotel recipes to recreate beyond these cookies, though. At a time when hotels, resorts, and parks can’t be filled with guests, many businesses have followed in Hilton’s footsteps and released recipes for some of their most beloved eats and drinks. It’s not quite the same as a warm cookie upon arrival, but it’s a little taste of being away—one we could all use right now.
Disneyland’s Dole Whip
Are there travelers more passionate about a place than Disney aficionados? Almost certainly not. And though there are no lines for Space Mountain or the Haunted Mansion right now, Disney opened its cookbook to reveal the secrets of its Dole Whip. The cult treat has one of the easiest recipes you’ll ever find—it’s just vanilla ice cream, pineapple, and pineapple juice in a blender—and now you can have it without waiting in line while soaked from Splash Mountain.
Ingredients:
1 scoop vanilla ice cream
4 oz. pineapple juice
2 cups pineapple chunks
Directions:
- Put all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.
The Peninsula Beverly Hills’s charred Caesar salad
Want to make your Zoom meeting a power lunch? Make a charred Caesar salad from the Belvedere at Beverly Hills’ Peninsula Hotel, for that feeling of being a power broker without the pressure to put on pants.
Ingredients:
3 heads romaine hearts, chopped
1 bunch kale, stems removed, washed and thoroughly dried
1 pound Brussels sprouts
4 oz. Parmesan, shredded
4 oz. Parmesan, shaved
.5 cup croutons
Directions:
- Pre-heat oven to 400°F.
- Cut the Brussels sprouts into quarters. Toss liberally in olive oil and salt. Roast until crispy and soft, about 30 minutes–they are ready when they turn dark brown. Set aside to cool and lower the oven temperature to 300°F.
- Toss kale in olive oil and bake slowly in a single layer until crispy, about 30 minutes. Resist the urge to pile on kale as it can result in a soggy chip.
- Set Brussels sprouts and kale aside to cool.
- In a large bowl, place romaine, roasted Brussels sprouts, crispy kale, shredded Parmesan, and croutons and toss with dressing (see recipe below).
- Garnish with shaved Parmesan. I like to finish with a drizzle of olive oil to really drive the flavor home.
Peppercorn and white anchovy dressing
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
2 Tbsp. half and half
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
2 oil-packed anchovy filets
1 clove garlic
1 egg yolk
.25 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup olive oil
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
3 dashes Tabasco
Cracked pepper to taste
Method:
- Blend garlic, anchovy, and water together in blender until smooth.
- Add vinegar, Dijon, lemon juice and lemon zest.
- Add yolk.
- While blender is on low, slowly add the olive oil.
- To finish, add Tabasco, Worcestershire, Parmesan, and cracked pepper.
The Rosewood London’s curried lamb pie
There are few dishes as quintessentially British as a savory pie. And there are few places more elegant to eat it in than the Holborn Dining Room of the Rosewood in London. Though the restaurant is not open to the public at the moment, chef Callum Franklin shared his recipe for curried lamb pie. It takes half a day to make, so now’s the time.
Ingredients:
1 boneless lamb shoulder
28 oz. chopped tomato (10-12 tomatoes)
2 Spanish onions diced
1 tsp. root ginger pureed
1 tsp. garlic minced
.75 tsp. turmeric
3 Tbsp. madras curry powder
1.5 tsp. chilli powder
1.5 tsp. ground cumin
1.5 tsp. ground coriander
1.5 tsp. garam masala
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
7 oz. diced peeled potatoes, steamed until just soft
.5 Tbsp. unsalted butter
28 oz. puff pastry
1 whole egg beaten
Method:
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Roast shoulder for 25 minutes, until golden, then put into a casserole dish.
- In separate heavy bottomed pot, sweat down onion, garlic, and ginger.
- Toast spices lightly on the stove and add to onions, then add tomato and cook out briefly.
- Pour the mixture over the shoulder and top up with water if needed to cover.
- Braise at 350°F for 2.5 hours with lid on.
- Allow shoulder to rest and then remove from liquid, chill, break down meat into nuggets, removing any fat.
- Put braising liquid back on to reduce, skimming fat off as much as possible until it thickens, then chill and mix with meat, add diced potato, and check seasoning for taste.
- Preheat oven to 350°F, cut pastry in half and roll one piece into a 18” x 14” rectangle and the other half 12” x 8”, both just under .25 inches thick.
- Butter a 12” x 8” oven dish and place large sheet of pastry inside, allowing excess to flap over sides.
- Refrigerate the pastry for 30 minutes.
- Add cold lamb mix to pie base, place second pastry sheet on top and brush well with beaten egg, fold overlap over and crimp edges.
- Make a small hole in the middle of the lid to allow steam to escape.
- Bake for 45 minutes in the oven at 425°F and serve out of the oven.
The Art of Living Retreat’s Carrot Ginger Soup
Many of us have exhausted our stamina for undertaking big food projects right now, so one of the biggest challenges meal-wise at this point is making something that you feel good after eating—that isn’t out of the freezer or straight from a jar. The Art of Living Retreat in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains is known for its all-encompassing wellness retreats, but while those are off-limits, it’s sharing fresh recipes from its kitchen like a simple carrot and ginger soup. Spoon it up before one of their online meditation sessions and let yourself de-stress a little.
Ingredients:
4 medium carrots, cut into 2–3 inch chunks
1/2 small onion, rough chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
2 Tbsp. ghee
.5 tsp. salt
Pinch of white pepper
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh ginger
.5 cup almond milk
2 cups low sodium vegetable broth
Directions:
- Heat ghee in a pan and sauté chopped ingredients until onion is clear and carrots are tender, about three minutes.
- Add broth and stir for one minute.
- Place broth/carrot mixture into a food processor along with remaining ingredients and blend for 2 to 3 minutes, or until smooth. Or, place all ingredients in a pot and use an immersion blender until smooth.
- Heat in a medium-size pot before serving.
- Pour into mugs or bowls and garnish with cilantro.
Bonus: Grand Velas Los Cabos will cook from your pantry
The beaches and the party scene of Los Cabos are both currently off limits, but the chefs from the Grand Velas resort are not. They’re available to help you figure out what you can make with whatever you happen to have around. Make a list or take a picture of the ingredients in your kitchen and upload it to the Velas website here, and the chefs will concoct something you can cook to avoid having to eat more of that leftover stew you made on Sunday and thought would be such a good idea to eat all week.