Disney: Pinocchio (1940)

We’re finally here with the next Disney Classic for the Baking Through Disney project. We’re here with the second Disney movie.  Please note that I am trying to do this by year of release so we’re at Pinocchio. I never watched a lot of Pinocchio and actually acquired this one in the last few years to give it a rewatch so now its my third viewing of this one.

If you happen to want to check out more on this project, feel free to drop by the page HERE.

Let’s check it out! 🙂

Pinocchio (1940)

Director: Norman Ferguson, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts, Ben Sharpsteen

Voice cast: Cliff Edwards, Christian Rub, Evelyn Venable, Charles Judels, Frankie Darro, Mel Blanc, Walter Catlett, Dickie Jones

A living puppet, with the help of a cricket as his conscience, must prove himself worthy to become a real boy.-IMDB

Pinocchio is a story that carries a story that sends a good message about repelling temptations, always telling truth and generally being a good boy.  To be honest, I’ve never been a fan of Pinocchio.  As a child, I only really remembered the don’t lie message from it and then when I watched it again a few years ago, I really love the pets in this one, Figaro and Cleo.  I’m a cat person, so that’s not exactly a surprise to many.  Still, watching it again, I can’t help but see that the art and colors in Pinocchio are quite refined and was definitely a step up from Snow White in the quality of the animation art-wise.  Its about the adventures of Pinocchio and how a wooden boy learns the ways of being a real boy through knowing the values of being good and earning a conscience of his own.

We can never quite talk about Disney Classics without looking at its musical value.  I believe that its hard to not know Pinocchio by its signature song at the very least, “When You Wish Upon A Star.” Its a hopeful song and one that has a nice melody.  However, it does keep the fun going with its other tunes like “I’ve Got No Strings”.  It really gets a lifting spirit to the movie with those pieces and the orchestral soundtrack behind it carries the emotions it needs to mesmerize its audience.

Pinocchio also carries a wonderful range of voice casts.  One of the most important aspects of animation, other than the art, is having a voice cast that can carry the audience into the movie and this one does a fantastic job.  Its hard to find quality animation in the modern days that quite does the same thing to help connect us with our characters.  Pinocchio is a little wooden boy who needs to learn and somehow we can get his innocence and naivety through his words.  The bad guys also have a sly tone from the fox duos to Stromboli and the temptation of the clueless boys who fall for the trap at the carnival.  Pinocchio falls into danger, seemingly learns a lesson and falls for another temptation.  And we grow with him as he conquers each one until he realizes what is important to him and channels how to be brave and goes to save Geppetto.

I might not be a huge fan of Pinocchio as a child or even now, and its definitely not one I revisit a lot, but there is no doubt that it is a masterpiece in animated films.  Its wonderful to see the step up in the art just in a few years between Snow White and Pinocchio.  The story might not be quite as immersive or heartfelt as Snow White, or as renown but it carries a message about growing up, making good choices and learning to see what are temptations and how to overcome these obstacles.  Life is dangerous and this is what Pinocchio’s adventures are about.

Have you seen Pinocchio? What do you think of it?

The baking project should be up before the end of January as I wrap up the final concept of what I want to do.
Any suggestions for what you think would make for a good baking project for Pinocchio?

Baking Through Disney: Snow White and Apple Charlotte!

It took me a thousand years to get this done but I vowed to at least get this first one done by the end of the year, so here we are!  Sure, its not the cupcakes and fanciness but I finally got my baking stuff in order in a new kitchen set-up so it was a little bit of a mess. However, Snow White is all about poison apples so first choice would have been candied apples but it seemed kind of complicated with the syrup and whatnot so I opted for an easier but still unique idea for any apple dessert.  It pretty much came down to Tarte Tatin and Apple Charlotte both from my “Made in Quebec” Cookbook that I bought back in February this year.

If you’d like to read the review on Snow White or any of the adaptations, you can find it HERE.

APPLE CHARLOTTE
(from Made in Quebec by Julian Armstrong)

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 4 medium apples, peeled and cored
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp granulated sugar
• 1 tsp butter
• pinch ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup firmly packed ground brown sugar
• 4 or more slices white bread, crusts removed
• 2 tbsps butter, at room temperature

1. Slice apples thinly and place in a medium saucepan. Measure lemon juice into measuring cup and fill with water to make 1/4 cup liquid.  Stir into apples along with granulated sugar, butter, and cinnamon.  Place over medium-low heat and cook, stirring often, just until apples are tender, are 15 minutes.  Let cool.

2. Butter a 6 cup baking dish.  A baking dish with sides at least 3 inches high is recommended.  Sprinkle the bottom of the dish with a little brown sugar.  Butter the bread on both sides.  Then, dividing brown sugar evenly, pat onto each side of buttered bread slices.  Cute 2 of the slices in half.  Press a full slice onto the bottom of the baking dish; if necessary, add more bread slices to cover bottom of dish. Line the sides with the 4 half slices, pressing them firmly into place.

3. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375F.

4. Pour apple mixture into bread-lined baking dish.  Cover apples with remaining slice of buttered, sugared bread and gently press down.

5. Bake, uncovered, for 30 to 35 minutes or until bread is browned and crisp.  Serve hot or at room temperature, with whipped cream or ice cream.

Notes from what I did:

• They recommend to use Cortland apples. However, I only had Empire apples on hand so they work also.  Any sort of apples work.
• Room temperature butter is very important.  We don’t have any of that so it was really  hard to get the bread buttered without having to struggle and breaking up the bread.
• I took about 5.5 slices of bread and for the edges, I cut the piece of bread into 4 pieces in thin lengths to line the side.
• I did not measure how much brown sugar I used but I might have used less(?)
• The top should be covered in bread but buttering and sugaring bread in the middle of the night made me lose a bit of patience so I just stopped.

Apple Charlotte has an interesting texture.  I’ve never had it before but the point is that its a dessert wrapped up in toasted, crunchy and sugared bread.  The seasoning of the cooked apples covers up any of the sugared bread. Its not a bad texture and I can actually see it working exceptionally well with ice cream or even maple syrup for a Canadian twist. I’m probably going to try that later. The apples do have a really nice taste and mixed with the sugared and crunchy taste was quite good.  I might prefer apple crisp or apple crumble pie or even straight up apple pie but its because of the fluffy pastry pie shells that I enjoy eating.

Have you had Apple Charlotte before?  

P.S. I’ll be giving an update on how I plan to approach this with much more dedication in 2016 for the next Weekly Adventures on January 1st! 🙂