Chapter 22

Have any kind of sponge cake baked in a rather thin sheet. Cut this into small oblong pieces, the shape of a domino. Frost the top and sides of them. When the frosting is hard, draw the black lines and make the dots with a small brush that has been dipped in melted chocolate. These are particularly good for children's parties.

Lady-Fingers.

Four eggs, three-fourths of a cupful of pastry flour, half a cupful of _powdered_ sugar. Have the bottom of three large baking pans covered with paraffin paper or sheets of buttered note paper. Beat the yolks of the eggs and the sugar to a froth. Beat the whites to a stiff, dry froth, and add to the yolks and sugar. Add the flour, and stir quickly and gently. Pour the mixture into the pastry bag, and press it through on to the paper in the shape and of the size you wish. When all the mixture has been used, sprinkle powdered sugar on the cakes, and bake from twelve to sixteen minutes in a _very_ slow oven.

Caution. The mixture must be stirred, after the flour is added, only enough to mix the flour lightly with the sugar and eggs. Much stirring turns the mixture liquid. If the oven is hot the fingers will rise and fall, and if too cool they will spread. It should be about half as hot as for bread.

You will not succeed in using the pastry bag the first time, but a little practice will make it easy to get the forms wished. There are pans especially for baking lady-fingers. They are quite expensive.

Sponge Drops.

Make the batter the same as for lady-fingers, and drop on the paper in teaspoonfuls. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake in a slow oven from twelve to sixteen minutes.

Sponge Drops, No. 2.

Three eggs, one and a half cupfuls of sugar, two of flour, half a cupful of cold water, one teaspoonful of cream of tartar, half a teaspoonful of saleratus. Beat the sugar and eggs together. Add the water when they are light, and then the flour, in which mix the saleratus and cream of tartar. Flavor with lemon. Have muffin cups very lightly buttered, and drop a teaspoonful of the mixture into each one. Bake in a quick oven. These drops are nice for dessert or tea.

Sponge Cake for Charlotte Russe.

Line the bottoms of two shallow baking pans with paraffin Paper or buttered paper, and spread the lady-finger mixture on it. Bake slowly eighteen minutes. Cut paper to fit the sides of the mould. When the cake is cold, lay this pattern on it and cut with a sharp knife.

Jelly Roll.

Make the sponge cake mixture as for lady-fingers, and bake in one shallow pan twenty minutes. While it is yet warm, cut off the edges, and spread the cake with any kind of jelly. Roll up, and pin a towel around it. Put in a cool place until serving time. Cut in slices with a sharp knife.

Molasses Pound Coke.

One quart of molasses, one pint of water, six and a half pints of flour, one ounce of soda, half an ounce of alum, one heaping cupful of butter, six eggs, one ounce of cinnamon, one pound of raisins. Boil the alum in part of the pint of water, and let it cool before mixing with the other ingredients. Instead of alum, one ounce of cream of tartar may be used.

Soft Gingerbread.

Six cupfuls of flour, three of molasses, one of cream, one of lard or butter, two eggs, one teaspoonful of saleratus, and two of ginger. This is excellent.

Hard Gingerbread.

One cupful of sugar, one of butter, one-third of a cupful of molasses, half a cupful of sour milk or cream, one teaspoonful of saleratus, one table-spoonful of ginger, flour enough to roll. Roll thin, cut in oblong pieces, and bake quickly. Care must be taken that too much flour is not mixed in with the dough. All kinds of cakes that are rolled should have no more flour than is absolutely necessary to work them.

Canada Gingerbread.

One cupful of butter, two of sugar, one of molasses, five of flour, three eggs, one nutmeg, one teaspoonful of ginger, one of soda, one tea-cupful of cream or rich milk, one table-spoonful of cinnamon, one pound of currants. Beat the butter to a cream. Add the sugar, molasses and spice; next the eggs, well beaten; then the milk, in which the soda has been dissolved, next the flour; and lastly the currants. This will make three sheets, or two very thick ones. Bake in a moderately- quick oven, if in three sheets, twenty five minutes; if in two sheets, ten minutes longer.

Fairy Gingerbread.

One cupful of butter, two of sugar, one of milk, four of flour, three- fourths of a teaspoonful of soda, one table-spoonful of ginger. Beat the butter to a cream. Add the sugar, gradually, and when very light, the ginger, the milk, in which the soda has been dissolved, and finally the flour. Turn baking pans upside down and wipe the bottoms very clean. Butter them, and spread the cake mixture very thin on them; Bake in a moderate oven until brown. While still _hot_, cut into squares with a case-knife and slip from the pan. Keep in a tin box. This is delicious. With the quantities given a large dish of gingerbread can be made. It must be spread on the bottom of the pan as thin as a wafer and cut the moment it comes from the oven.

Shewsbury Cake.

Two cupfuls of butter, one pint of sugar, three pints of flour, four eggs, half a teaspoonful of mace. Roll thin, cut into small cakes, and bake in a quick oven. Not a particle more of flour than what is given above must be used. The cakes should be made in a rather cool room, and they cannot be made in very warm weather. They can be kept a long time, and are delicious.

Jumbles.

Three cupfuls of sugar, two of butter, five of flour, one egg, half a teaspoonful of soda, flavor to taste. Roll thin, sprinkle with sugar, cut in round cakes, and cut a small piece from the centre of each. Bake in a quick oven.

Seed Cakes.

Three-fourths of a pint of sugar, one cupful of butter, a quart and half a pint of flour, one teaspoonful of saleratus, two eggs, and seeds. Roll thin, cut in round cakes, and bake quickly.

Cookies.

One cupful of butter, two of sugar, five of flour, a teaspoonful of saleratus, dissolved in four of milk; one egg, flavor to taste. Roll and bake like seed cakes.

Hermits.

Two cupfuls of sugar, one of butter, one of raisins (stoned and chopped), three eggs, half a teaspoonful of soda, dissolved in three table-spoonfuls of milk; a nutmeg, one teaspoonful each of clove and cinnamon, and six cupfuls of flour. Roll about one-fourth of an inch thick, and cut with a round cake cutter. Bake in a rather quick oven. It will take about twelve minutes. [Mrs. L. C. A.]

Kneaded Plum Cake.

Two and a half cupfuls of sugar, half a cupful of butter, half a cupful of sour milk, two spoonfuls of cream, a teaspoonful of saleratus, half a spoonful of cinnamon and of nutmeg, a cupful of chopped raisins, and flour enough to knead (about six cupfuls). Roll an inch thick, and cut in oblong pieces. Bake on sheets in a quick oven.

Eclairs.

Put one cupful of boiling water and half a cupful of butter in a large sauce-pan, and when it boils up, turn in one pint of flour. Beat well with the vegetable masher. When perfectly smooth, and velvety to the touch, remove from the fire. Break five eggs into a bowl. When the paste is nearly cold, beat the eggs into it with the hand. Only a small part of the eggs should be added at a time. When the mixture is thoroughly beaten (it will take about twenty minutes), spread on buttered sheets in oblong pieces about four inches long and one and a half wide. These must be about two inches apart. Bake in a rather quick oven for about twenty-five minutes. As soon as they are done, ice with either chocolate or vanilla frosting. When the icing is cold, cut the _éclairs_ on one side and fill them.

Chocolate Éclairs.

Put one cupful and a half of milk in the double boiler. Beat together two-thirds of a cupful of sugar, one-fourth of a cupful of flour, two eggs, and one-fourth of a teaspoonful of salt. Stir the mixture into the boiling milk. Cook fifteen minutes, stirring often. When cold, flavor with one teaspoonful of vanilla extract. Put two squares of scraped chocolate with five table-spoonfuls of powdered sugar and three of boiling water. Stir over the fire until smooth and glossy. Dip the tops of the _éclairs_ in this as they come from the oven. When the chocolate icing is dry, cut open, and fill with the cream, which should be cold. If a chocolate flavor is liked with the cream, one table-spoonful of the dissolved chocolate may be added to it.

Vanilla Éclairs.

Make an icing with the whites of two eggs and a cupful and a half of powdered sugar. Flavor with one teaspoonful of vanilla extract. Frost the _éclairs_; and when dry, open, and fill with a cream, the same as chocolate _éclairs_. They may be filled with cream sweetened, flavored with vanilla and whipped to a stiff froth. Strawberry and raspberry preserves are sometimes used to fill _éclairs_. They are then named after the fruit with which they are filled.

Frosting.

The white of one egg, one tea-cupful of powdered sugar, one table- spoonful of lemon juice. Put the white of the egg in a bowl and add the sugar by degrees, beating with a spoon. When all has been added, stir in the lemon juice. If the white of the egg is large it will require a very full cup of sugar, and if small, a rather scant cupful. The egg must _not_ be beaten until the sugar is added. This gives a smooth, tender frosting, which will cover one small sheet of cake. The same amount of material, prepared with the whites of the eggs unbeaten, will make one-third less frosting than it will if the eggs are beaten to a stiff froth before adding the sugar; but the icing will be enough smoother and softer to pay for the extra quantity. It may be flavored with half a teaspoonful of vanilla.

Chocolate Icing.

Two squares of Baker's chocolate, the whites of two eggs, two cupfuls of powdered sugar, four table-spoonfuls of boiling water. Beat one and two-thirds cupfuls of the sugar into the unbeaten whites of the eggs. Scrape the chocolate, and put it and the remaining third of a cupful of sugar and the water in a small frying-pan. Stir over a hot fire until smooth and glossy, and then stir into the beaten whites and sugar. With the quantity given two sheets of cake can be iced.

Chocolate Icing, No. 2.

Soak a teaspoonful of gelatine one or two hours in three table- spoonfuls of water. Pour on it one-fourth of a cupful of boiling water, and stir into it one and two-thirds cupfuls of powdered sugar. Prepare two squares of chocolate as for the first icing, and stir them into this mixture. Use immediately.

Caramel Frosting.

One cupful of brown sugar, one square of Baker's chocolate, scraped fine; one table-spoonful of water. Simmer gently twenty minutes, being careful not to let it burn. Spread on the cake while hot.

Golden Frosting.

Into the yolks of two eggs stir powdered sugar enough to thicken, and flavor strongly with lemon. This does not have so good a flavor as other kinds of frosting, but it makes a change.

Marking Cakes in Gold.

Bake round cakes for the children, and when the frosting on them is hard, dip a small brush into the yolk of an egg, and write a word or name upon the cake. It pleases the little ones very much.

PRESERVING.

In using self-sealing glass jars great care must be taken. If the work is properly done the fruit can be kept for years. Have a kettle of hot water on the stove beside the preserving kettle, and also a small dipper of hot water. Plunge a jar into the hot water, having the water strike both inside and outside the jar at the same time. If you set it down instead of plunging it, it will break. Put the cover in the dipper. When the jar is hot, lift it up and pour the water from it into the kettle. Stand the jar in the hot water and fill it with hot fruit from the preserving kettle. Fill to the brim with the hot syrup. Take the cover from the dipper of hot water and screw it on very tightly. In using the jars a second time have the right cover and band for each one. A. large-mouthed tunnel, such as grocers have, is almost indispensible in the work of preserving.

Jellies and jams should be put in tumblers or bowls. A paper should be cut to fit the top, and then wet in brandy, and another paper should be pasted over it Jelly tumblers with glass covers are more convenient than the old-fashioned ones, and where they are used the second paper cover is not necessary. It is better not to cover until some weeks after the jelly is made. White crushed sugar is much the nicest for preserving. If jelly does not seem hard, as it should be the day after it is made, it can be set in the sun for several hours, which will help it greatly.

Strawberries.

To each pound of berries allow half a pound of sugar. Put the berries in a kettle, and mash them a little, so that there will be juice enough to cook them without using water. Stir them to prevent scorching. Cook fifteen minutes; then add the sugar, and let them boil hard one minute. Put them in the jars as directed. More or less sugar may be used, as one prefers.

Raspberries.

To each pound of berries allow three-fourths of a pound of sugar, and cook the same as the strawberries.

Cherries.

Cherries may be preserved either with or without stones. Many think the stones give a richer flavor. To each pound of cherries allow one third of a pound of sugar. Put the sugar in the kettle with half a pint of water to three pounds of sugar. Stir it until it is dissolved. When boiling, add the cherries, and cook three minutes; then put in the jars.

Currants.

Currants should be prepared the same as raspberries.

Pineapple.

Pare the fruit, and be sure you take out all the eyes and discolored parts. Cut in slices, and cut the slices in small bits, taking out the core. Weigh the fruit, and put in a pan with half as many pounds of sugar as of fruit. Let it stand over night In the morning put it over the fire and let it boil rapidly for a minute only, as cooking long discolors it. Put it in the jars as directed.

Grated Pineapple.

Pare the fruit clean; then grate it on a coarse grater, rejecting the cores. Weigh it, and put to each pound of fruit a pound of sugar. Let it stand over night. In the morning boil for a minute, and it is done. Put it in jars as directed.

Blackberries.

Blackberries are prepared like strawberries. If they are quite ripe, not quite so much sugar is needed.

Whortleberries.

To each quart of berries allow one-third of a pound of sugar, and half a pint of water to three pounds of sugar. Put the water and sugar over the fire, and when boiling hot, add the berries. Cook three minutes. Put in the jars as directed.

Crab-Apples.

To each pound of fruit allow half a pound of sugar, and a pint of water to three pounds of sugar. When the syrup is boiling hot, drop in the apples. They will cook very quickly. When done, fill a jar with the fruit, and fill it up with syrup.

Pears.

Pare the fruit and cut in halves. Throw into cold water, or they will be discolored. Use one pound of sugar for three of fruit, and one quart of water for three pounds of sugar. When the syrup is boiling, take the pears from the water, and drop into the syrup. Cook until they can be pierced easily with a silver fork. Fill the jars with fruit, and fill up to the brim with syrup, using a small strainer in the tunnel, that the syrup may look clear. Bartlett pears are delicious, as are, also, Seckel; but many other varieties are good.

Peaches.

Have ready a kettle of boiling water. Fill a wire basket with peaches and plunge them into the boiling water. In two minutes take them out, and the skins will come off easily. Drop the fruit into cold water, to keep the color. For three pounds of fruit use one pound of sugar, and one pint of water for three pounds of sugar. When the syrup is boiling hot, take the fruit from the water, and drop into it. Put but a few in at a time, as they cook very quickly. Take them from the syrup with a silver fork, fill the jar, and fill up with strained syrup. Peaches are much nicer preserved whole, as the stones give a rich flavor.

Brandied Peaches.

The Morris white peaches are the best. Take off the skins with boiling water. To each pound of fruit allow one pound of sugar, and half a pint of water to three pounds of sugar. When the syrup is boiling hot, put in the peaches, and as fast as they cook, take them out carefully and spread on platters. When cool, put them in jars, and fill up these with syrup, using one-half syrup and one-half pale brandy. First-proof alcohol, diluted with an equal quantity of water, can be used, instead of brandy, but it is not, of course, so nice.

Plums.

The large white plums must be skinned by using boiling water, as for peaches, and then throwing them into cold water. For one pound of fruit allow half a pound of sugar, and half a pint of water for three pounds of sugar. Cook but few at a time, and take them out carefully. Fill up the jar with hot syrup.

Damsons.

Wash the fruit, and for one pound of it use half a pound of sugar, and half a pint of water for three pounds of sugar. When the syrup is boiling hot, put in the fruit, and cook three minutes. Dip the plums and syrup together into the jars.

Quinces.

Pare and quarter the fruit, and take out all the cores and the hard place around them. Boil the fruit in clear water until tender; then spread it on towels to dry. For one pound of fruit allow half a pound of sugar, and one pint of water for three pounds of sugar. When the syrup is boiling hot, put in the fruit, and let it cook very slowly; or, set it back on the stove so that it hardly cooks at all, and keep it on for an hour or more, if you can without its cooking to pieces-- as the longer it cooks, the brighter red color it will be. Put it in jars, and strain the syrup over it, as with other fruits.

Sour Oranges.

Grate off the rind, cut the orange into two parts, and remove the pulp. Weigh the peel, place it in a large stone pot, and cover with brine made of three gallons of water and a quart of salt. Let it stand twenty-four hours, and drain off the brine. Again cover the peel with brine made of the same quantity of water and half as much salt as was first used, and let it stand another day. Drain, cover with clear cold water, and let it stand a third day. Drain again, and put in a boiler and cover with fresh cold water. Let it come to a boil, and boil fifteen minutes; then take out and drain. Make a syrup of three quarts of sugar and one of water, for every six pounds of peel. When the syrup is clear, drop in the peel and boil until it is clear and tender--perhaps four hours of slow boiling. Great care must be taken that it is not scorched. It must be stirred every fifteen minutes. The sugar may be either white or brown. The orange used is not the common orange, but the wild, sour fruit, found in Florida. The pulp may be used for marmalade.

Grapes.

Squeeze the pulp of the grapes out of the skins. Cook fee pulp (a few minutes) until you can press it all through a sieve. Reject the seeds. Add a little water to the skins, and cook until they are quite tender. Then put the skins and pulp together. Measure; and to each pint add a pound of sugar, and boil fifteen minutes.

Apple Ginger.

Four pounds each of apple and sugar. Make a syrup of the sugar, adding a pint of water. Chop the apple very fine--with one ounce of green ginger; or, if you cannot get the green ginger, use white ginger root Put in the syrup with the grated rind of four lemons, and boil slowly for two hours, or until it looks clear.

Raspberry or Strawberry Jam.

For each pound of fruit allow a pound of sugar. Mash the fruit in the kettle. Boil hard for fifteen minutes; then add the sugar, and boil five minutes.

Orange Marmalade.

Take equal weights of sour oranges and sugar. Grate the yellow rind from a fourth of the oranges. Cut all the fruit in halves at what might be called the "equator." Pick out the pulp, and free it of seeds. Drain off as much juice as you conveniently can, and put it on to boil with the sugar. Let it come to a boil. Skim, and simmer for about fifteen minutes; then put in the pulp and grated rind and boil fifteen minutes longer. Put away in jelly tumblers.

Quince Marmalade.

Cut up quinces--skins, cores and all, cover with water and boil until tender. Rub through a sieve, and to every pint of pulp add one pint of sugar. Boil two hours, stirring often. Peach, crab-apple and, in feet, all kinds of marmalade may be made in the same manner.

Currant Jelly.

Wash the currants clean. Put them in the preserving kettle and mash them, and boil twenty minutes or more, or until they are thoroughly cooked. Dip them, a quart or more at a time, into a strainer cloth, and squeeze out all the juice. Measure this, and for each pint allow one pound of sugar. Put the juice over the fire, and let it boil rapidly for five minutes; then add the sugar, and let it boil rapidly one minute longer. Take off of the fire, skim clear, and put in tumblers.

Barberry Jelly.

The barberries need not be stripped from the stems. Put the fruit in a kettle with water enough to come just to the top of the fruit, and boil until thoroughly cooked. Put in a strainer cloth and get out all the juice. To each pint of it allow one pound of sugar. Boil the juice hard for fifteen minutes. Add the sugar, and boil rapidly five or ten minutes, or until it is thick.

Grape Jelly.

Mash the grapes in a kettle, put them over the fire, and cook until thoroughly done. Drain through a sieve, but do not press through. To each pint of the juice allow one pound of sugar. Boil rapidly for five minutes. Add the sugar, and boil rapidly three minutes more.

Cider Apple Jelly.

Cut good, ripe apples in quarters, put them in a kettle, and cover them with _sweet_ cider, just from the press. (It should, if possible, be used the day it is made--or, at any rate, before it has worked at all.) Boil until well done, and drain, through a sieve. Do not press it through. Measure the liquor, and to each pint add one pound of sugar. Boil from twenty minutes to half an hour.

Crab-Apple Jelly.

Wash the fruit clean, put in a kettle, cover with water, and boil until thoroughly cooked. Then pour it into a sieve, and let it drain. Do not press it through. For each pint of this liquor allow one pound of sugar. Boil from twenty minutes to half an hour.

Other Jellies.

Jellies can be made from quinces, peaches and Porter apples by following the directions for crab-apple jelly.

PICKLES AND KETCHUP.

Pickled Blueberries.

Nearly fill a jar with ripe berries, and fill up with good molasses. Cover, and set away. In a few weeks they will be ready to use.

Sweet Melons.

Use ripe citron melons. Pare them, cut them in slices and remove the seeds. To five pounds of melon allow two and one-half pounds of sugar and one quart of vinegar. The vinegar and sugar must be heated to the boiling point and poured over the fruit six times, or once on each of six successive days. In the last boiling of the syrup add half an ounce of stick cinnamon, half an ounce of white ginger root and a few cloves. When the syrup boils, put in the melon, and boil ten minutes; then put in jars. Skim the syrup clear and pour it over the melon.

Peaches, Pears and Sweet Apples.

For six pounds of fruit use three of sugar, about five dozen cloves and a pint of vinegar. Into each apple, pear or peach, stick two cloves. Have the syrup hot, and cook until tender.

Sweet Tomato Pickle.

One peck of green tomatoes and six large onions, sliced. Sprinkle with one cupful of salt, and let them stand over night. In the morning drain. Add to the tomatoes two quarts of water and one quart of vinegar. Boil fifteen minutes; then drain again, and throw this vinegar and water away. Add to the pickle two pounds of sugar, two quarts of vinegar, two table-spoonfuls of clove, two of allspice, two of ginger, two of mustard, two of cinnamon, and one teaspoonful of cayenne, and boil fifteen minutes.

Spiced Currants.