Confession: I have not actually tried the Elote in Disney’s California Adventure Park. Not living near the parks, sometimes I will have a craving for something I’ve seen… most often on Instagram! It seemed simple enough so I went for it. For anyone that doesn’t know what Elote is, it’s also known as Mexican Street Corn. If you have ever been to Mexico, you can find this on every street corner. Sort of like hot dogs in New York City. Roasted corn smothered in mayonnaise (yes, mayonnaise) and then sprinkled with cotija cheese, chile powder, cilantro and a squirt of lime. It’s absolutely delicious!
So back to Disney’s version. They do sell a classic version with a chile lime mayo. What’s unique about the Cozy Cone Elote is that they use cheddar cheese puffs to crust the corn. Yup, you read that right. Cheese puffs! You know the ones. Cozy Cone sells them in two options; regular or spicy. Decisions, decisions… how about both? For the cheese puffs I decided to go with crunchy in cheddar cheese and spicy flavours. There are so many different cheese puff flavours out there, so you can do whatever inspires you. I knew my kids wouldn’t eat the spicy ones, but it just sounded so good to me that I had to do both.
First things first, you have to cook the corn. I love doing corn on the BBQ, so that was how I did mine. I put them straight on the grill in their husks (soak them for 20-30 mins first). This keeps the husks from burning and essentially steams the corn. Pre-heat the BBQ to about 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Put the corn on the grill for 10 mins without disturbing them. Flip them and cook another 10 mins. Check them after 20 mins total, sometimes they need another 5 mins or so. Take the corn off and let them cool for a few minutes before taking off the husks. I highly recommend this method. If you don’t have a BBQ you can microwave them. Do the same method of soaking the corn in their husk. Put them in a single layer in the microwave and cook on high for 3-5 mins. Let them rest before taking them out of the husk.
Next, you need to crush up the cheese puffs for the crust. I used my Magic Bullet to grind them into a fine crumb, but a food processor would also work. Make sure there is no moisture or you will end up with mush instead of a crumb. I just dumped the crumbs onto a plate.
Once you husk the corn, put a skewer in the bottom. Food is always more fun on a stick. I made these the week before we moved so it was slim pickings around the house. So I ended up using a chop stick and that worked great!
I read in a description somewhere online that the corn is buttered and then smothered in mayonnaise. But I felt that that was a bit excessive (okay but seriously, what part of this treat isn’t?), so I skipped the butter and went straight for the mayo. Any brand will work, so use what you have in the fridge. Don’t skimp on the mayonnaise, this is what binds the cheesy goodness to the corn.
Once your corn is completely covered in the mayonnaise, roll it in the cheese puff crumbs. I found I had to push them on to really make it stick. Make sure it completely covers the corn.
In the photos I had seen online I noticed they have some sort of sauce drizzled on them. Because I haven’t actually tried it I didn’t have any idea what it was. So I just made one up that I thought would fit the flavours. I decided to go with a lime crema. Like I previously mentioned, it was the week before we moved so I was just trying to use up everything in the house. In a perfect world I would have used sour cream but all I had was Greek yogurt, which was fine. I kept it pretty basic; 1/4 cup Greek yogurt, zest of a lime, juice of 1/2 lime, sprinkle of taco seasoning. And that was it! I had a squeeze bottle so that I could drizzle it on to the corn. It added the perfect balance to the spicy cheese puffs!
In Disney, an Elote will set you back $6.49 USD. I worked it out to under a dollar to make at home. Hope you enjoy this guilty pleasure as much as I did!
For other Copy Cat Disney recipes, check out our other posts here.
Have a magical day!
Heidi