Josefina's Agua de Melon

A fun, different way to cool down this summer!

So originally, I wanted to do a series of posts featuring birthday treats highlighted in each American Girl birthday book, like I did with holiday treats last December. Unfortunately, between not having a lot of free time on my hands and kind of needing to cool it on how many desserts we go through a month, that plan has... kind of gotten away from me.

Still, I wanted to do something, so happy birthday, Josefina! Very late, but I suppose it's better late than never.

Josefina posed an interesting challenge at first because her birthday treats were a special bread and a cantaloupe. I'm sort of burnt out on trying to make bread work for me, and I mean, what is there to do with a cantaloupe that's not a fruit salad?

Well, little did I know that there was a very easy solution just waiting to be discovered!

Marie-Grace's Chocolate Chess Pie

A tasty pie that's easy to make and suuuuper chocolatey!

Remember when I used to post about things that weren't desserts? Yeah, me too.

There's just something about trying out a new dessert recipe that's always caught my interest more than making something savory. I'd like to say that's because I've always been a more confident baker than chef, or that baking just comes more naturally to me, and both of those statements are true, but let's be honest: trying out new dessert recipes is fun because desserts are pretty universally delicious, and I definitely have a sweet tooth.

This one definitely embodies some of my favorite things in a recipe: it was easy to make, didn't require a lot of clean up and was super chocolatey! I'm sure a lot of you are wondering what on Earth a chess pie is - I know I was when I first found the recipe. All I can say right now is that you really should just click read more to find out, because I promise it's going to be something that at least a few of you might want to try out yourself!

Felicity's Spicy Carrot Cake

Don't worry, this isn't the kind of spicy that sets your mouth on fire!

Happy Mother's Day, everyone! I hope everyone had a stress free holiday and took a chance to tell any maternal figures in their lives how much they mean to them.

Obviously moms are a pretty important part of American Girl books - dads, grandparents, aunts and uncles are too, but moms in particular have always stood out to me as the stand out adult characters. While my favorite is hands down Ruth Walker (Addy's Mom), Martha Merriman reminds me the most of my mother for reasons I've already discussed, and since Felicity is the doll she said she probably would have wanted as a child, it seemed fitting to find a recipe from the colonial era to serve at our family dinner tonight.

The one she picked turned out to be another winner, and while it's not as simple to make as War Cake, it was definitely worth the effort!

Molly's Chocolate War Cake

You'll never need a box mix ever again!

Happy VE Day, everyone! It's been sixty nine years since the war in Europe ended - can you believe that? I definitely can't! I also can't quite wrap my mind around how we're almost to the point where World War II is as far away to us as the Civil War was to people in 1945. To me, it seems like World War II really wasn't that long ago

When the news of victory in Europe reached the American public, spontaneous parties broke out all over the world, with huge crowds gathering in the streets of cities like London, New York and Los Angeles to celebrate. In my hometown, people stormed the town green to share their excitement, because apparently even if we don't all bring our sheep down there for grazing, it's still the focal point of this little New England town.

So, what did people make to celebrate an occasion like this? One of the tastiest from scratch cakes I've ever had the pleasure of making!

Wookie Cookies with Julie and Ivy

May the Fourth be with you!

As some of you may know, today is something of an unofficial holiday for Star Wars fans, and as Star Wars first premiered in 1977, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to do a feature on the blog in honor of it! This features a recipe I've been curious to try pretty much as far back as I can remember, and I'm not actually sure what took me so long to sit down and say alright, today we are going to do this.

And never fear, Julie and Ivy haven't totally taken over the blog! I've got two new posts plans that don't feature either of our favorite girls from the 70's, ahaha.

But without further ado, let's get on to the recipe! I mean, what exactly is a Wookie Cookie?