Melody's Pecan Pie

Enjoying a classic Civil Rights era treat!

Pecan pies have always been something of a mystery to me, as they're completely not my family's tradition when it comes to baked goods. Admittedly, maybe that shouldn't come as a shock: they are, after all, pretty iconically a southern food, and my family has lived in different parts of New England since they immigrated here. 

But because pecan pie is such a staple of southern comfort food, it shouldn't come as a surprise that it would have been a popular treat among Civil Rights leaders and activists. Soul food was an important part of the movement, as African Americans encouraged members of their community to embrace and celebrate their heritage by cooking things like collared greens. Martin Luther King Jr.'s favorite dessert was reportedly pecan pie, and so it seemed like a perfect choice for our Melody recipe this February. Read on to find out how to make a historic version of the pie in your own kitchen!

Molly's Sticky Buns

Celebrate Christmas like the McIntires!

In a sharp contrast to Maryellen's Christmas story, Molly's Surprise is all about how traditions have changed for the McIntires because of the war. With Dad overseas - and no letters from him in weeks! - things were always going to be different, but Mom doesn't have time to decorate, and Molly's grandparents can't come thanks to a flat tire. With a little help from her siblings - and a surprise from Dad - Molly manages to find a way to make the holidays special even with things so different. 

A traditional holiday snack for the McIntires are sticky buns, a cinnamony treat usually smothered in caramel and pecans. As this Christmas was apparently the year I wanted to practice baking with yeast, and I wanted to revisit some of the American Girl books for baking inspiration, I thought these would be a fun thing to try.

Maryellen's Sweet Story Cake

A retro recipe due for some time in the spotlight!

Have you been wondering what to make for Valentine's Day this year? Look no further! This vintage cake is the perfect thing for a dessert that's just a little bit different, but in a way you're sure to love. 

At least, that was my experience with it. I know I'm often quick to say I have a new favorite dessert recipe after trying out a historical or historically inspired recipe, but this cherry and almond flavored cake had a really unique flavor that totally made it worth hand pearling the decoration. Read on to see how to make this vintage 1948 recipe yourself!

Maryellen's Rum Balls and a Giveaway Hosted by Pippaloo!

A no bake classic from the mid century!

I'm kicking off the holiday season with a very exciting post, featuring rum balls two ways and a giveaway from one of my favorite doll crafters: Pippaloo! 

Pippaloo makes extremely detailed, perfectly sized custom doll food. After taking a hiatus for a good long while, her shop is back open on Artfire. Her monthly releases are announced on her blog several days in advance of appearing in her shop, and her December Menu should be available at 12:00 noon EST today! You should definitely head over there to check out her work. 

Now that she's back in action, she's planning on doing a spotlight on historical dishes our favorite historical dolls might have enjoyed. After some discussion of what might be best to offer as a giveaway, we chose rum balls as a fittingly quirky look at a popular recipe from the 1950's. The version created by Pippaloo is a perfect replica of the rum balls I made, making them a one of a kind addition to any holiday displays or play. 

Read on to find out more about these yummy treats as well as how to win a set of doll sized set yourself!

Melody's Butterscotch Squares

Also known as blondies!

Now, I love chocolate. There’s nothing like having a fudgy brownie, fluffy chocolate cake, or slathering spoonfuls of Nutella onto crusty bread. Long time readers will remember that some of my favorite recipes I’ve ever done for this blog have involved chocolate, like that delicious flourless chocolate cake or my hands down favorite cake recipe for chocolate war cake. 

But not everyone shares my enthusiasm for chocolate. Of course there are people with allergies – my art teacher growing up suddenly developed an allergy to chocolate as an adult and was always sad she couldn’t indulge in one of her favorite treats – but others just don’t like it. We’d always tease one of my best friends growing up for hating any kind of chocolate, but still wearing her mom’s old sweatshirt that declared an undying love for the stuff. 

In honor of those people, I’ve turned to something with no chocolate in it at all, that’s also perfect for a summer bake sale.

Nanea's Guava Bread

Just like Mrs. Mitchell used to make… more or less!

I really can’t gush enough about how hungry I was reading Nanea’s books. It seemed like her mother was always taking the time to make some delicious treat for special occasions, average weekend mornings, or to bring comfort to friends in need. One treat that came up over and over again was her guava bread, which the Mitchell family would often enjoy for breakfast. 

I’m going to say right off the bat that it didn’t live up to my expectations as a fruit bread. However, as a nut bread? I think we have a winner. Read on to find out what went in to making this Mitchell family favorite!

Nanea's Hawaiian Care Package

Direct from Hawaii to DC!

Last up on our trip around the world is somewhere a little closer to home… for some of us, anyway: Hawaii! 

I’ve mentioned before that my Aunt Diane and Uncle Greg lived in Hawaii for several years while my uncle was stationed at Pearl Harbor. I was complaining about how it was hard to find guava products and macadamia nuts in my neighborhood because I’ve really been wanting to make guava bread, and Diane surprised me with a care package filled with Hawaiian goodies to try out, or get reacquainted with! 

They’ve since moved back to the northeast (hopefully for good!), but it was a lot of fun to get to sample these treats and remember the fun times I had visiting them while they lived in Hawaii.

Nanea's Carrot and Pineapple Muffins

A World War II era favorite with a tropical twist!

Everyone, meet Nanea Mitchell! She’s American Girl’s newest historical character, and comes from 1941 Honolulu, Hawaii. I plowed through her books as soon as I had them out of the box, and can safely say as someone who specializes in Pacific War history, they are pretty darn great. Besides covering the attack on Pearl Harbor and the resulting changes in Hawaii very well as well as age appropriately, Kirby Larson has done an exceptional job showing how 1941 Hawaii was an extremely diverse community where neighbors participated in cultural exchange every single day. 

Often involving food. Lots and lots of food. 

Picking what Nanea’s first recipe on the blog should be was a tough one, but these muffins are a tasty snack for just about any time of day, even if I can’t exactly in good faith call these health foods.

Melody Makes Rosa Parks' Featherlite Pancakes

The fluffiest pancakes you will ever eat.

So, I think it goes without saying that it's a really exciting time to be interested in Black history in Washington, DC. Everyone has been making a big deal about the opening of the new African American Museum of History and Culture - which I'm finally going to be visiting on Tuesday!! - and so there's a lot of efforts by different organizations to promote the museum, and raise awareness about the influence of Black Americans throughout history. It's been fun seeing other museums and institutions promote parts of their collections that might not have been on display recently, and see how they're working to teach people about an area of history that was (and still is...) too often underrepresented.

Take for example Rosa Parks' recipe for peanut butter pancakes, which is held in the Library of Congress and penned in her own handwriting! While a few of my friends and I were at the Library of Congress Book Festival last month, we happened to see a presentation that mentioned it, and immediately knew we had to find the recipe, get together and make them. So we did. We discovered they're basically the fluffiest, tastiest pancakes you could ever hope for, and are definitely something more people should know about.

Julie's Granola

The favorite healthy snack from 1974!

My brother's basketball season is wrapping up, and March Madness will be starting soon. Or so I'm told - I don't really follow professional sports.

He's been trying to be more conscious of food choices he's been making this season, and it got me thinking about how the definition of health food has really grown and developed since people started recording what they were cooking for what. One thing that still often gets labeled a health food today is granola, whether as a snack or an accompaniment to breakfast, in bar form or not. It can be sort of a controversial health food depending on how you make it, but since it's something both my brother and another (fictional) blonde basketball player both enjoy, I decided I'd give making my own a shot. Can't be too hard, right?

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... 

Maryellen's Peanut Blossoms

A delicious cookie with a slightly depressing origin story. Prepare to be surprised!

After watching a couple different televised holiday baking challenges this year, I think it's pretty safe to say that just about any cookie can be a holiday cookie depending on your family's traditions. A flavor profile might not be appropriate for a summer or spring baking challenge, but just about anything can be a holiday cookie.

A staple of many holiday cookie platters is the peanut blossom, sometimes better known as "the ones with the Hersey Kisses in them". What a lot of people don't realize is that these were a creation that became popular in the 1950's (a decade full of delicious sweet treats, as well as all those horrifying gelatin concoctions), and actually weren't developed by the Hershey company! So how exactly did these wind up on the back of bags of Hershey Kisses?

Ivy's Chinese Almond Cookies

Crispy cookies with tasty almond flavor!

When I was a kid, I definitely fantasized about making some of the food my favorite AG characters talked about making and enjoying in their books. I know I've talked about this before, so it's probably not news or especially surprising to my readers, but it really was a big dream of mine. Now that I'm an adult who doesn't need supervision in the kitchen (most of the time), I get to actually put those plans in action, and it's always fun when I have an official AG recipe to go off of to help make these creations.

Of course, sometimes those recipes haven't worked out that well for me in the past, so I always go in with a little bit of informed risk. Considering the way these cookies are presented in the books, it actually might have been appropriate to run into a minor disaster while baking them!

Rebecca's Rugelach

A tasty rolled pastry that just might need to be a staple at my house!

You know me: I love baking, dessert and cookies! And pastries. Whichever. For every savory idea I have for this blog, I've probably got about ten sweet ones to match it, and it's difficult to find a good balance most of the time. Rugelach have been something I've been wanting to try for a long time, and this weekend, I finally decided the wait was over. Nothing was going to get in my way!

No seriously, there's no catch this time. Everything turned out really great! And now I'm left wondering what else this dough can be turned into, because even without the yummy filling, the dough was pretty delicious. I'm definitely on the market for more interesting flaky treats to make with it.

A Nutting Party with Samantha

Featuring no actual nutting, but plenty of food!

When I was a kid, I used to love looking through birthday party planning books. They always seemed like they had such fun ideas for recipes, party treats and events that all followed a theme of your choosing, and while I don't think I ever followed a book's suggestions to the T, I still enjoyed browsing.

The American Girl Party Book is no exception, especially considering the photography is pretty solid and I happen to be overly invested in the topics it covers. Shocking, I know! Each character has two party theme suggestions beyond just throwing yourself or someone else a Samantha or Molly themed birthday party. Sam's suggestions were a painting party, or a nutting party, and as we headed into actual fall, I decided I wanted to try my hand at some of the recipes that went along with this theme. I've often wondered if the shorter recipes are any easier to make than the fully written out, largely from scratch recipes, and decided now was as good a time as any to give it a shot.

Rebecca's Charoset

A tasty, sweet fruit and nut spread that's perfect for Passover!

I've been sitting on this recipe for a long time. A year, actually! Last spring I just didn't do much at all for the blog. I wanted to, but I just couldn't work up the motivation for it, so a lot of ideas got tabled, and some of them got forgotten about entirely. This one, however, did not, because it definitely sounded intriguing, easy and tasty, which is a pretty winning combination and a great way to keep me thinking about it a year down the line.

This year, Passover begins at sundown today, April 3 and ends the evening of April 11. For those not in the know, Passover is a festival celebrating the liberation of the Jews from slavery in Egypt. Because they fled Egypt so quickly, the story goes that the Jews didn't even have time to wait for bread dough to rise, so eating unleavened bread - known as matzo or matzah - has become one of the best known culinary and cultural traditions associated with the holiday. While this recipe does involve matzo, it's not going to be what we're focusing on. Instead, we're going to be talking about charoset!