Caroline's Hasty Cornmeal Pudding

The breakfast of choice for most of your favorite historical characters!

Some recipes are so incredibly simple that they can stick around as a staple on family tables for generations. Take hasty pudding for example: this simple hot breakfast would've been an easy option for Caroline's mother or grandmother to whip up for breakfast, and it's something Caroline could learn to make herself as soon as she was old enough to be trusted near an open fire. 

But this dish has a much longer history, and is an appropriate breakfast for characters well beyond Caroline's time. Read on to find out more about the history of this breakfast staple!

Caroline's Molasses Pie

A pie that's really more of a cake, but tasty either way!

Molasses is one of my favorite ingredients to use in dessert. I'm a big fan of chocolate and boring old vanilla (which really isn't that boring) as well, but anything with molasses and spice in it tends to win my heart pretty quickly. 

This unusual pie might not be entirely authentic to Caroline's time period - and actually has its roots in the 1870's, and you may know it as shoofly pie - but molasses would have been so much a part of her life that it just felt fitting to give this one to her. Besides, American Girl doesn't seem that inspired by the 19th century these days, so if you want something done at all, let alone right, I guess I'd better do it myself.

Caroline makes Dolley Madison's Gingerbread

A soft gingerbread that's good for all seasons!

Continuing the trend of making recipes from cookbooks I've long wanted to test out is this unique gingerbread recipe from The President's Cookbook, a cookbook from the 1960's that features interpretations of recipes enjoyed by First Families past and present. As I've said before, Presidential cooking has long been something that's fascinated the American public, and food enjoyed at the White House can influence national trends and introduce new ingredients or dishes to the public. 

This recipe is a modern interpretation of a soft gingerbread Dolley Madison was famous for. The cookbook notes that Dolley herself referred to it as "Jefferson's gingerbread", and she gave the recipe to Martha Washington, who recorded it for her own use. That's the copy that made its way into this cookbook, so it's got a pretty long history and an association with quite a few of the Founding Fathers - and more importantly, their wives and slaves who would have been the ones actually planning and preparing these fancy meals. Read on to find out more about this historic recipe!

Caroline's Cider Cake

A brief history of apple cider and a look at a forgotten favorite!

Fall is my favorite season, although I feel like between moving further south and the increasingly worrying trends of climate change, I haven’t really gotten to experience it the way I’d like to in a few years. Still, it’s fun to get excited about Halloween, and to indulge in some of my favorite seasonal fruit: apples. 

Of course, you can get apples all year round, but the best kind are only available from September through October, and I’ve already bought a couple bags full. They’re not as good as the ones from Bishop’s Orchards back home, but they’ll do in a pinch. 

It’s also meant I’ve had apple cider on the brain, and so it really just seemed obvious that we’d have to give this recipe a spin to really get into that fall spirit. 

But first, I just want to say another congratulations to Ashley for winning our giveaway! I hope you enjoy the recipe cards and can’t wait to hear what you try out first. Thanks to everyone who entered. Hopefully we’ll have another five years of exploring America’s culinary history to come!

Maryland Beaten Biscuits with Caroline

Proof that historical bakers didn't mess around!

You know who has two thumbs and is glad the semester's over? This gal. I've still got a busy summer ahead of me, but with most of my final papers and projects behind me, I decided today was as good a day as any to start getting back in the kitchen, this time with a pretty unusual historic recipe from my new neighboring state of Maryland.

Like some recipes I've tackled in the past, I decided to give this one a shot out of curiosity more than anything else because it involves a pretty unique preparation technique. Any guesses what it might be?

Caroline Visits Mystic Seaport and Makes Ship's Biscuits

Be careful not to break your teeth!

As some of you may know, I'm going to be uprooting my life and moving to get a Master's Degree! This is - of course - very exciting, and I'm looking forward to all my new opportunities, but it's also turned me into something of a woman possessed when it comes to hitting up all more local tourist destinations before I pack up and head out. It's kind of silly, because it's not like most of these places are going anywhere, but I still feel obligated to cram in as much as humanly possible before D-Day.

Unfortunately, this has been met with limited success and enthusiasm on the part of most of my travel buddies. My family and friends are super, super busy this summer, and I've had to sadly accept that we just don't have the time to do certain roadtrips before I have to leave. On the bright side, the places we have managed to sneak away to have been a lot of fun, and one of them I knew I wanted to highlight over here because it has a fun tie in to a recipe I've been wanting to make for a while.

I know, I know. Ship's biscuits - also known as hardtack - aren't exactly the most appealing sounding food no matter what time period you live in, but seriously. What better recipe could go with our trip to Mystic Seaport: The Museum of America and the Sea?

Caroline's Welsh Rarebit

A Regency era favorite snack, lunch or dinner!

So, Welsh rarebit. Kind of a weird sounding food, isn't it? I know I had no idea what it was when I was younger, and just from the word alone, I totally assumed it had something to do with meat. Probably rabbit, especially because sometimes you'll see it spelled "rabbit" on menus or in books. In reality, this is usually a vegetarian dish that has nothing to do with rabbits, and there are a couple different versions of it, most of which are named after different regions of the United Kingdom. What they all have in common is that they're essentially toasted bread with a hot, delicious cheese sauce, spread or just plain old slices of cheese placed on top, and that makes this right up my alley.

I know, I know, I just did a post about grilled cheese. But this is definitely going to be different from just about any grilled cheese you've ever eaten, and it's different in a good way. Promise.

Caroline's Wassail

Here we come a-wassailing...

I'm sure there's many a person out there who's heard the by now famous Christmas carol "Here We Come A-wassailing" (or caroling, if you're into the more modern version of this mid 1850's song) who isn't even sure what wassail is, or where the term comes from. As a kid, I know I definitely wondered a bit, because it's sort of a funny word, and if it means caroling... why not just say caroling?

But like many random bits of pop culture we still enjoy today, wassailing actually has very long history, with roots going back well before the song, or even Caroline's Christmas in 1812! The drink we're making today might be a little similar to something she and her family might have enjoyed, though, whether or not they went singing door to door all over Sackets Harbor.

Caroline's Burnt Sugar Cake

Is it more salted caramel, butterscotch, spice cake without the spice...?

Burnt sugar cake? What is this, Gwen, some kind of recipe gone wrong?

Nope! It's actually a very interesting, allegedly quite historical cake that - while a little labor intensive to make - surprised and pleased everyone who tasted it. Although we did run into some speed bumps, this was a big enough hit that I would definitely be happy to make it again for an enthusiastic audience. There was some debate about what flavor cake everyone thought this was, but I promise, it's not quite like any cake you've ever tasted before.

... Unless you've had a burnt sugar cake before.

So, what's this about allegedly historical?

Caroline's Vanilla Ice Cream

A lot easier to make than you might think!

Happy Independence Day, everyone! Hope your 4th of July is going well, and boy, do I have a treat to share with all of you.

Homemade ice cream is always something I've been interested in making, but never had the means to try out until last year. I bought a Cuisinart ice cream maker for my birthday last year, and... promptly didn't get around to using it until this summer. Oh well, better late than never, right? And it turns out, this is an easy, extremely tasty treat that's way easier than I ever imagined it being.

I know this is the second year in a row where I haven't done a Felicity post on the 4th, but I've been dying to give homemade ice cream a shot. Some American Girl enthusiasts might be wondering why I'm not introducing ice cream with Addy or Samantha, since ice cream makers play a part in both their birthday stories and came with their birthday treats sets, but I promise, there's a really cool reason Caroline's getting featured in today's post.

What is that reason, you ask?

Caroline's Fresh Strawberry Tart

Kicking off spring with a fruit that's technically  in season in June, but hush. No one has to know.

Spring is finally here!! Unfortunately, in my neck of the woods, it means that we might have a day of freezing rain and flurries followed by a day that's in the upper seventies and beautiful, followed by another early morning frost and just dear god, it never ends! Just like most years, I'm assuming we're very quickly going to be moving on to hot, muggy summer, so it's time to make the best of the cooler warm weather while we've got it.

I've been trying to find some good spring and summery recipes to feature on the blog, and stumbled upon this one thanks to JaneAusten.co.uk, a great website with a lot of fun information about the popular author and the world she lived in. I'm actually not a fan - although I can't say I wouldn't be either, I've just somehow never read any of her books and only seen a movie adaptation or two - but I do really like this website. It has a great selection of historical and historically inspired recipes that are either mentioned in Austen's works, personal correspondence, or were otherwise popular while she was alive. As Caroline tends to be popular with collectors for her wardrobe's Regency look, it seemed only natural to come here to find something to try out!

Caroline's Colonial Bean Soup

Just the thing when you're trapped inside by the snow!

I've become a bit of a cookbook hoarder. A lot of my recipes also come from the internet, or are suggested to me by family and friends, but I've got an impressive stack of cookbooks I can say are mine and mine alone, and there's just never enough time in the day to go through all of them and do all the recipes I'd like to do.

That doesn't stop me from buying more, though, especially when they boast having some authentic, historic recipes inside. How could I pass offers like that up?

This particular book was picked up on our trip to Old Sturbridge Village, which I talked a bit about in my post about Joe Frogger cookies. It's one installment in a series that offers a variety of historical and regional dishes, and is definitely something I'm going to be keeping an eye out for when I visit other historical sites. For a little book that didn't cost too much, it's got quite a lot of recipes, and does feature some interesting historical trivia, even if it's not quite as in depth with its historical facts as other books I own are. I can also attest that so far, what I've made from it has been really tasty!

All one thing. But still. That's not a bad sign.

Caroline's Joe Frogger Cookies

Super tasty molassesy cookies with an interesting origin story!

Caroline Abbott is the newest addition to the historical character line up - excuse me, the BeForever line at American Girl, and I imagine most of my non AG fan readers aren't familiar with her. Her stories take place during the War of 1812, and although she comes from Sackets Harbor, New York, for some reason, I always find myself wanting to do New England or maritime recipes with her, probably because she loves boats and sailing, and I associate that pretty strongly with my own roots.

Plus, I've maybe been wanting American Girl to make a historical character from New England since forever, and Caroline's another character from New York, so I'm borrowing her for a while until I get someone closer.

Caroline technically joined the group back in May for my birthday, but I've been sitting on a way to introduce her for a while. Quite a while at this point!

To get some inspiration for this post, Caroline and I went on a field trip...