Cécile's Chicory Coffee

Bringing New Orleans to your kitchen!

Happy Black History Month! Ever since I started the blog, I wanted to try and do a Black History month feature, but AG's less than perfect track record when it comes to spotlighting Black characters meant for a long time, that would mean just Cécile and Addy themed recipes all month. Not a lot of period diversity there. 

After Melody came out, things looked a little better, but the plan still didn't happen for various reasons (namely, grad school), and we're off to a slow start this month for reasons I won't bore you with. But I promise I have a recipe lined up and ready to go for Cécile, Addy, and Melody, plus a surprise character whose tastes are a little more modern. Any guesses as to who it might be? 

Today we're going to be looking at something I've been wanting to feature on the blog for a long time, but wasn't sure I'd be able to get my paws on it without a trip down south or paying ridiculous shipping for something I don't actually like drinking: coffee. More specifically, chicory coffee, a New Orleans specialty that can be hard to find outside of Louisiana. 

The combination of having a coffee drinking wife and stumbling upon the real deal in our very own grocery store meant I could finally justify sharing the interesting history of this regional favorite with all of you. Read on to discover why people decided to pair coffee with this unusual root.

Cécile's Grated Chocolate Cake

It might not look like it, but this cake definitely delivers on chocolate flavor!

We're wrapping up the month of March with another historic cake: Eliza Leslie's chocolate cake. Why have I called it a grated chocolate cake, and why does the cake itself look so blonde? Because this is actually the ancestor to what we know of as chocolate cake! 

We've talked a lot about chocolate in the history of this blog because I'm a bit of a dessert fiend, but I was very excited to try my hand at this recipe because it's pretty far removed from chocolate cakes I've made in the past, as well as what we think of as chocolate cakes today. It's also yet another historical cake recipe that relies on eggs to give it its rise, something I'm always fascinated about and eager to try to perfect. 

Read on to see how this one turned out!

Marie-Grace and Cécile Celebrate La Chandeleur at Hillwood!

A French tradition in 20th Century American Style!

Not far from the National Zoo, visitors to DC can swing by the Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens, a beautiful historic home with an incredible amount of European art. Marjorie Post bought the property after her divorce from her third husband and arranged for the property to be turned into a museum after her death. Originally bequeathed to the Smithsonian, the museum is managed by the Post Foundation, and is a really lovely place to visit if you want something that’s a little removed from the hustle and bustle of the National Mall. The museum is also a vocal supporter of the LGBT community and hosts Pride themed events and has a delightful café on property as well. 

I’ve had tea at Hillwood before – a really lovely date with my fiancée the last time she visited me! – but I had never been inside the house proper before and have been meaning to do so since I moved here. So when my friend Ama sent me a link to their annual Crêpe Day celebration, I leaped at the chance to go look at some beautiful artwork and enjoy some hopefully tasty crepes. 

Read on to hear about how our adventure went?

Cécile's Beignets

Also known - as per Lottie LaBouff - as Tiana's Man Catching Beignets.

I've always been intensely intimidated when it comes to deep frying. Frying anything in oil is bad enough because if not done properly, it makes a huge mess, can start fires, and might leave you with annoying or extremely painful burns all over your hands, wrists, face, etc.

So, needless to say, I've always talked myself down from trying to make any doughnuts, especially after the mess I made making latkes for Hanukkah in 2013, when I was quasi forbidden from ever frying anything ever again because the oil took so long to clean up.

Well, that changed. I'm still not sure I'm ever going to become a deep frying guru or rabid enthusiast, but I did give it a shot, and things went pretty awesome, if I do say so myself. Somewhat ironically, the person who encouraged me to give this a try was my mom, the person who originally said she never wanted me to fry anything ever again! It turns out with the proper equipment, deep frying is not as hard as it seems and can create some pretty tasty treats to enjoy in the comfort of your own home.

Even if it's still a lot to clean up. And kind of makes your house smell like oil for hours and hours.

Cécile's Pralines

Trying out this whole candy making thing again...

You all know I've got quite the sweet tooth. The ratio of desserts to every other kind of food on this blog is frankly a little embarrassing. But candy making definitely isn't my favorite thing to try my hand at. It's tricky, and I don't do it often enough to have a good eye or instinctive feel for it. Plus, it's usually really messy!

But these historic treats were just too tempting to pass up. They sounded easy enough too: caramel, pecans, that's not so bad, right?

Well, not exactly. Now that I know what to expect, I think round two might go better. Round one did get a little messy... 

Cécile's French Onion Soup

A time consuming treat, but totally worth while in the end!

One last thing before we head into the fun that is December and all the spice and seasoning of the holiday spirit! I've been wanting to try my hand at making French onion soup for a while, and like many of the things I want to make, I just haven't been able to get around to it. Until now! And let me tell you, it was worth every minute spent staring at the stove wondering what's taking these onions so long to cook?

But best of all, I didn't have to go out and buy special bowls to cook this in. The recipe I found suggests an easy way to get all that gruyere flavor without the hassle of finding just the right dish to serve it in. Always a good thing for my wallet and my cabinets!

Cécile's Lemon Cake

Making me appreciate how much easier baking cakes has become!

I've often talked about how before the 1850's and the introduction of commercially available baking powder, baking a cake was a lot more difficult than it is today. All that being said, I don't think I've actually made a historical cake without baking powder before. I've made a cake without eggs, of course, but I've been wanting to try and tackle a really authentic, no baking powder cake for quite a long time. It seemed like an interesting challenge, and after doing a lot of thinking about it, I finally found a recipe that seemed like a good beginner's cake.

And it was, and it wasn't. I say that for a couple reasons which you'll find out about in a bit, but I just want to say this up front: I would definitely give this another try now that I'm a little more comfortable with the recipe, so don't lose hope! You too can make an authentic cake from the mid 19th century with relatively little fuss.

Cécile's Yumbo Gumbo

Super tasty, but what was it doing in a kid's cook book??

I've been dying to break this book and recipe out for months at this point, if not years. After last year's Mardi Gras post was kind of a disaster (you may remember the King Cake that never rose and then didn't bake through and just turned into a giant, sticky, inedible mess on my dining room table), I was looking for something that was hopefully simpler and wouldn't turn me off the idea of doing any New Orleans style recipes on this blog ever again. And because Cécile is actually only my second favorite awesome fictional lady from Louisiana, I knew just where to turn to.

Of course, this didn't actually get posted on Mardi Gras - I'll explain why later - and there were still quite a few road bumps a long the way because I'm still not very good at cooking dinner under a time table, but overall? I think I'm going to count this one as a win.

Cécile's Chèvre on Toast

What's not to love about cheese on toast?

Are you looking for something quick and easy to make for breakfast? Lunch? A lazy dinner that doesn't involve a lot of clean up, prep time, or much of anything else? Or an appetizer for a party you're throwing to prove what a sophisticated, high class adult you are?

Look no further. These little cheese toasts look elegant and are simple enough for even the most inexperienced cook to make. Although they're not my personal favorite thing I've ever made for the blog, they seemed to be a hit with my taste testers and were happily gobbled down almost as soon as I took them out of the oven, which will hopefully be the case for you, too if you ever decide to try your hand at this French treat!

Marie-Grace and Cécile's Traditional King Cake

Spoilers: this was kind of a disaster, but it seemed like a good idea at the time!

Mardi Gras - or some variation thereof - isn't a tradition that's unique to New Orleans, but I think when the holiday comes up, it's the first place people think of. It's another floating holiday, marking the day before Ash Wednesday and thus the official start of Lent, or one of the Christian traditions I've always been really lousy about actually participating in. Since observing Lent traditionally means making some personal sacrifices and changing your diet to something considered simpler and less rich, that means cutting down on things like butter, sugar and basically everything else delicious.

Mardi Gras is a celebration of everything that Lent kind of isn't, and is hugely popular in New Orleans. People go all out with decorations, parades and parties, and pretty much any piece of media featuring the city involves it in some way - even The Princess and the Frog takes place near and on Mardi Gras, and so obviously the two girls from New Orleans couldn't be left out of that party.

I'm sorry to say that this was kind of a culinary disaster, but after the effort I put into making it, I definitely wasn't going to keep my attempt to myself! Let's just say King Cake turned out to be a lot harder to make than it seemed to be.

Cécile’s Pâte à Choux and Easy Mushroom Pâté

Better than any meat pâté you've ever had!

I have been told by quite a few people that I'm a very brave aspiring chef, because apparently I've been taking on recipes that they wouldn't have considered trying if you paid them to do it. I guess it's true that I've tried a lot of unusual things since starting this blog, especially considering before I got the idea for it, I barely felt comfortable cooking pasta unassisted, let alone tackling things like making my own bagels or soups.

But the thing is? I don't feel especially brave most of the time in the kitchen. Most of the time, I feel completely in over my head. It works out more often than it doesn't, but sometimes I realize that just because a recipe seemed straightforward enough when I read it doesn't mean it's actually going to be all that straightforward to do.

This post is a little bit of both. One of the elements was basically totally stress free, while the other was pretty frustrating and had I not already been cooking almost all day long, I would, I might have tried to start it over. Which one is which? You'll just have to read on to find out.

Cécile's Chocolate Truffles

Totally addicting chocolate treats!

On to our final stage of our two part adventure into treats our favorite girls from 1853 New Orleans might have enjoyed during Christmas! Last time, I explained that because Marie-Grace and Cécile's books don't really focus on how they would have celebrated Christmas, I had to get a little creative in coming up with desserts they might have eaten during holiday celebrations. While I picked the bread pudding for Marie-Grace because it was something practical and tasty, I wanted to do something simple and decadent for Cécile to reflect something she and her family might have enjoyed at a fancier party or get together during the holiday season.

After a lot of consideration, we decided to try out this recipe for homemade chocolate truffles, and boy, they were not a disappointment. This was definitely a winner, and I would imagine it's going to be added into the regular rotation for any parties we host at our house!

Marie-Grace and Cécile's Jambalaya

A wildly anticipated dinner from some surprising new additions!

I had thought that Rebecca would be the last doll I added to my collection for quite a while, unless by some miracle, I found a high paying job that let me have enough flexibility to grab an Addy, or I stumbled upon one at a thrift store, or inherited one from someone who didn't want to keep theirs anymore, for whatever reason. So when my mom informed me that she'd sort of had an impulse purchase "for the sake of the blog", I assumed she meant she'd bought a crazy new piece of kitchen equipment. Imagine my surprise when she revealed that she had managed to snag a Marie-Grace and Cécile at an incredibly good price thanks to a deal from the TODAY Show! They got here a few weeks ago, and we've all been eagerly awaiting a good time to feature them on the blog.

This isn't because we were struggling to come up with something to feature with them, but just because scheduling kind of prevented us from being able to do what we wanted. As soon as we knew they were coming, my dad and I wanted to make jambalaya, and this was the first weekend everyone was around to do it.