Part 6

Put the sugar, glucose and water into a kettle and set on the fire. Stir until it begins to boil, wash down the sides of the kettle with a damp cloth, put in the thermometer and cook to 254. Have someone beat the egg whites stiff and put them into another kettle and have them ready. As soon as the thermometer registers 254, take off the fire quickly and begin at once to rub the syrup against the sides of the kettle, to grain it a little, occasionally splashing the batch up against the sides to wash down that which is creaming. When the batch begins to look cloudy and shows white streaks, stop graining, put the paddle into the pan with the eggs, and commence pouring slowly about one-half of the syrup into the eggs, stirring the eggs while pouring, then immediately pour the eggs back into the syrup, stirring the syrup very fast. Scrape out all the eggs and syrup that sticks to the pan that originally held the eggs, and keep beating the batch. Scrape down the syrup that splashes on the sides of the kettle occasionally, and beat until it begins to stiffen a little, then add a teaspoonful of vanilla and a teaspoonful of orange flower water. Beat through well, then add about a pound and a half of almonds, walnuts, candied cherries and pineapple, cut fine. Mix in well and scrape out of kettle into a pan which has been previously dusted with XXXX sugar and let set a few hours. When set or hard cut up in pieces weighing about thirteen ounces, shape round and long with flat ends about two inches thick, dusting with XXXX sugar. Then dip in milk chocolate and when the chocolate hardens, cut up as desired. Do not grain the batch too much before pouring into the eggs or it will harden before you can get it mixed. You can also use your own judgment about the kind of nuts or fruit you like, but we simply tell you to use candied fruit and nuts together as that seems to be the most popular.

STUFFED DATES

Remove the seeds from the dates. Color and flavor some fondant. Form it by rolling it in small pieces and lay it in the date; press it together firmly. Dust with XXXX sugar. Pistachio flavor with a delicate color of green is especially nice.

NUTTED DATES

Remove the seeds from the dates and fill them with nuts; press together firmly and roll in granulated sugar.

CANDIED ORANGE PEEL

Keep the peel of the fruit as you use it, in a weak brine until enough has collected to preserve. Wash it thoroughly in several waters. Let it boil in plenty of water until tender, changing the water several times. If the peels are fresh, they need be boiled in one water only. When they can be pierced with a straw, drain off the hot water. Let them cool and scrape out the white pulp with a spoon. Make enough syrup to cover the yellow peels, using the proportion of a pound of sugar to a pint of water. When the syrup is boiling, drop in the peels and let them cook slowly until they are clear. Then boil rapidly until the syrup is reduced to dryness, using care that it does not burn. Spread the peels on a flat dish and place them in a warm place to dry for 12 hours or more. When perfectly dry pack them into preserve jars. They are cut into shreds and used in cakes, puddings, and wherever raisins and citron are used. The boiled peel may be cut into shreds before being cooked in the syrup.

SPINNING SUGAR

Although spinning sugar has been called the climax of the art of sugar work, you need not be deterred from trying it. It cannot be made on a damp day or in a moist atmosphere.

Spun sugar makes a beautiful decoration for ice creams, glace fruits and other cold desserts.

1 pound sugar. ½ cup water. ½ saltspoonful cream of tartar.

Put the sugar, water and cream of tartar into a kettle and stir until it commences to boil. Wipe down the sides of the kettle and steam. Put in the thermometer and cook to 310. Care must be used so that it does not burn. Remove it from the fire. Place the pan in a pan of cold water to stop the boiling, because the heat of the pan and sugar might cause it to boil higher.

Place two of the steel bars (which you use for the slab) on a table so that the ends project a little way; spread some papers on the floor under them. For spinning, two forks may be used, but some wires drawn through a cork are better because they give more points. After the syrup has cooled a little; take the pan in the left hand, the wire or forks in the right; dip them into the syrup and spin it over the rods, and on the return motion, under the rods; fine threads of sugar will fly off the points and remain on the rods. If the syrup gets too cold, it may be reheated. Take the spun sugar carefully off the rods from time to time and fold it around a pan turned over, or roll it into nests or any form desired. Place the spun sugar under a glass globe as soon as made. Under an air tight globe with a piece of lime, it may be kept crisp for a day or two, but it readily gathers moisture, and it is better to make it the day it is to be used. Do not attempt to make it on a damp or rainy day, and do not have a boiling kettle in the room.

SALTED ALMONDS

Put one tablespoonful butter in your kettle, for each pint of nuts you have, and set the kettle on the stove until the butter melts and is very hot, then put the nuts in the kettle with the butter, and stir constantly until nearly done, or brown enough, as they cook somewhat after taking off the stove, then sprinkle well with salt, and pour them out in a sieve which has been set over a pan, so as to allow any remaining butter to run off. If you wish, you may first blanch your almonds by pouring boiling water over them, and then rubbing off the skins, as you all know how.

You will find these nuts far nicer, when roasted and salted in this manner, than by doing it in the oven, as they are more brittle and nicer in every way.

SALTED PEANUTS

Use the raw Spanish peanuts, without blanching them, and roast and salt in the same manner as directed for almonds.

PACKING CANDY IN BOXES.

Dainty looking candy may be spoiled in packing, and what would be a nice appearing box of candy loses its charm because it is not packed with care and taste.

Candy boxes may be bought in almost every town, but if you have saved some that you have received, these may be used as well. Paste an appropriate postal card over the name of the firm on the lid.

Line the box with wax paper and cut it so that it will be large enough to fold over the top of the full box of candy.

Put chocolates, fudge and creams in the bottom of the box. If you have made some of the brittles, you will find them very convenient to fill in hollows so that the bottom is level.

Cut a piece of white cardboard to fit between the layers. Bristol board or two pieces of heavy writing paper will answer the purpose. Fold the strips of white paper, as illustrated.

Illustration on previous page will give you a good idea how to arrange the candy in diagonal rows. Be very careful not to put rows of candy near each other which do not harmonize. Fill in the corners of the box with coated nuts, grilled nuts and candied cherries so that it looks well filled.

Ornament the top of the box with crystalized mint and rose leaves, crystalized violets, large silvered dragees and chocolate coated nuts wrapped in tin foil; two or three is sufficient for one box.

Fold over the wax paper, and cover the box with a candy box lace. Tie a piece of embroidery floss, white, around the box and put on the lid.

Cut white paper the correct size of your box, making it long enough so that when the ends are folded up they will just come to the top of the box. Tie the box with gilt cord.

Sometimes bon-bons with a soft center are put in bon-bon cases, which adds to the appearance of the box.

CENTER CREAM

2½ pounds sugar. ½ pound glucose. 1 pint water.

Put the sugar, glucose and water in the kettle and set on hot fire. Stir this and wipe down sides of kettle same as bon-bon cream, and when it starts to boil, cover until it steams well, remove cover, put in thermometer, and cook to 238, then remove from the fire and pour on slab which has previously been moistened a little. You will see that so far, you handle this the same as bon-bon cream, but it is not necessary to use quite so much care with it, as the glucose in it has a tendency to keep it from sugaring any, but do not get careless with it simply because we tell you this. This fondant must not stand until perfectly cold, but commence creaming it when about half cold, and cream it in the same way that you do bon-bon cream. It is better to scoop this fondant off into your crock just before it sets firmly. When you see it is up to that point, quickly scoop it into the crock, for if you allow it to remain on the slab until it sets perfectly hard, and sweat it same as bon-bon cream, it is very sticky to handle. If you should happen to scoop it into the crock a few seconds too soon, it does not matter, as it will come out just the same in the end. It will take longer to cream this fondant than it does bon-bon cream. When you put it in the crock, cover with a damp cloth the same as the other. This is a snow white, very soft, smooth, and sticky fondant, and is used for the centers of chocolate creams, as it makes a much softer center for them than bon-bon cream does. We will tell you farther on how to handle it, but always remember, we will speak of this as =center cream= and the other, bon-bon cream.

MAPLE CENTER CREAM

Make exactly same as above, only instead of white sugar, use two-third maple and one-third white. If you use maple syrup instead of maple sugar, allow two pounds of syrup for every pound of sugar desired. You will find this cream very sticky, and it takes longer to cream it up than the other, but it makes a delicious chocolate cream. Do not get discouraged and think it is not going to cream for you, for if you cooked it to the right degree, it will never fail to cream.

HOW TO MOULD IN CORNSTARCH.

As you use the center cream for the inside of chocolate creams, you must have some method of moulding them on account of that cream being so soft and sticky. This is done in cornstarch, the same kind as you use for cooking purposes, as that does not stick to the candy in the least. Get the cheapest grade possible, as that answers the purpose. It should cost you from five to eight cents a box, and we would advise you to get four or five boxes at once, as it never spoils and may be used indefinitely, over and over again. When you are through with it, scoop it out into a large jar until you need it again.

Take a square, shallow pan, from one-half to one inch deep, or a pie pan will answer the purpose as well, and =sift= starch into it until you have enough in to fill it. Then with a smooth stick that extends over each side of the pan, smooth it off very even. By having the stick extend over edges of the pan, you will not pack the starch down, which is very necessary to avoid, as you cannot make your impressions perfect if your starch is packed in the least, and consequently this starch must be =sifted= into the pan and not scooped in. In smoothing it off, place your stick on the pan at one end and push it across, and in that manner you will not pack the starch in the least. Now take your stick with the style of moulds glued on you intend using, take hold of each end of it, and press the moulds down into the starch until the stick strikes the sides of the pan; carefully raise the stick and you will then find your impressions in the starch ready to be filled. Continue in this manner until you have the pan full of impressions, always remembering that every time you make a new row of impressions, you must, when pressing the moulds down in the starch, press away from the ones you just made, the least trifle, so you will not spoil them, as this cornstarch is very treacherous, and if you should happen to press the moulds the least bit toward the impressions previously made, you would cause them to cave in. By having the ends of your stick protrude over the edges of the pan as directed, you will thus get all the impressions the exact depth. You must be =very careful= and do not jar the table a particle or attempt to move the pan before filling the impressions with center cream, for if you do, you are liable to spoil them.

Take as much center cream as you wish, and put it into the double boiler with hot water underneath it, set on the fire and stir until it melts, and do not allow any water to get in with the cream. As soon as it is thin, color and flavor any way you wish, and let it remain on the stove until it gets good and hot. It must be hot or it will not harden in the starch, but remember the hotter you get it, the harder it will be after it is cool, and as you do not wish them to be too hard, be careful and not allow it to get too hot. The best way to test this, is to take some out upon your spoon and touch your tongue to it and if it is very warm it is ready to use. Now set off the stove, but do not take the inside boiler with the cream in it out of the water, as it must be kept warm. Dip a little out in a spoon and pour it into the impression. In doing this you will soon get an idea about how much to dip out each time in the spoon in order to fill the impression. If you have dipped out too much to fill it, as soon as it is full, quickly turn the spoon up, as you only want the impression level full. Continue in this manner until you fill them all. You must work rapidly, and will soon be able to drop the cream in the impressions without striking the edges and breaking them down. If you use a funnel to drop these centers, you must warm it a little over a fire, but do not get it hot, just warm; then take the handle of the funnel in your left hand, and with your right hand push the stick down into the end of the funnel, and have someone else pour the heated center cream into the funnel. Hold the end of the funnel over one of the impressions in the starch, and lift the stick with your right hand, allowing enough cream to run into the mould to fill it. Continue in this manner till all have been filled. If the cream becomes too thick to run out of the spoon, or funnel, readily, set it back on the stove a few moments, until the water under it boils again, then it will be thin enough to run out as before. If you made this cream correctly in the first place, it will never be necessary to add any water to it in order to have it run out of the spoon; but in case you misread your thermometer and cooked it a little too much, it may be so thick that it will require a few drops of water, but add very little. In from ten to twenty minutes, the centers will be hard enough to pick out of the starch and blow off. Very little of the starch will stick to them as you lift them out, but what does will blow off easily. You may do this with your mouth, or better still, if you have any kind of a small bellows in the house, put the centers in a pan as you take them from the starch, and when they are all taken out, squeeze the bellows on them several times, and they are perfectly clean. In blowing this starch off, we would advise you to take them outdoors and do it, as the starch makes quite a dust in the kitchen. They are now ready to coat with chocolate, and do this as directed in article on Chocolate Coating.

All chocolate creams are moulded in this manner, excepting Orientals. You may make these any shape or size centers that you have moulds for. These centers should be coated within several hours after being moulded.

If you wish chopped nuts of any kind in the centers, stir them in well, just before you commence dropping them in the starch, or you may if you wish, drop a large piece or a whole half of a nut in each impression, then pour the cream on top of it.

If you use a funnel, and wish to use nuts in the centers, do not add the nuts to the cream before being run in the starch, but simply drop them in the empty mould before hand, and run the cream on top, till it fills the mould.

If they do not harden in the starch, it is because of the water you added or else because you did not get the cream hot enough, and they may be picked out, blown off, and re-melted again without hurting the cream in the least. These centers will mellow up a great deal after being coated with chocolate, and are better after they stand a few days.

If you should have more cream melted up than you have impressions made for, you may flavor it highly with wintergreen or peppermint, and with a spoon, drop it out in wafers.

While it really does not come under this heading, we will say here that centers moulded in this manner and coated with bon-bon cream make a very nice cheap bon-bon, but are not to be compared with the ones made after the style we direct you to, in article on Bon-Bon Making. A great many confectioners never make bon-bons in any other manner than this, but you will see the others are much finer.

It is a failing of many persons to heat the center too hot so that it will run through the funnel more readily, but the result is a hard center that will never get soft, and nothing can be done to soften it after it is once hard. A chocolate center becomes soft within three or four days.

CHOCOLATE CREAMS.

You may make them any flavor or color you desire. You may, if you wish, roll bon-bon cream up into balls and coat them with chocolate, but this does not make a nice chocolate cream, and the proper way is to mould the centers in cornstarch as directed, using the center cream for this purpose. Either rose, wintergreen, peppermint, strawberry, vanilla, or lemon make a fine chocolate cream. It is best to make each flavor a different shape. Color the rose, strawberry, and wintergreen a delicate pink and the lemon a deep yellow. The vanilla should be left uncolored, and you may put chopped nuts in any of these in the manner we directed, in article on Cornstarch Work.

When moulded, blow off the starch, and coat with chocolate as directed in article on Chocolate Coating. If you desire a nut on the top of any of your chocolates make a flat shaped center, and put the nut on before the chocolate sets, and press down very gently, so as not to make a base on them. Maple chocolates, made from maple center cream in this manner, are very fine. English walnuts, pecans, or almonds, blanched and split in two, are the prettiest nuts for this purpose; however, we do not advise putting nuts on chocolate creams, except on rare occasions, as you will notice the finest grades of chocolate creams do not have nuts on them.

If you are able to purchase any silver dragees, which are kept only in large candy stores, they are very pretty on the tops of chocolate creams. As you see by this, there is no limit to the many different styles of chocolate creams possible to make, by adopting any ideas you have of your own and following this recipe.

CHOCOLATE MARSHMALLOWS.

Buy your marshmallows, as that is cheaper and much easier than making them, and coat them with chocolate the same as chocolate creams. If they are very large, it is best to cut them in two before coating, as they will look prettier. Pistachio nuts, chopped very fine and sprinkled over them before the chocolate sets, look very nice.

CHOCOLATE CARAMELS.

Make some caramels, either vanilla or strawberry flavor, which are the best for this purpose, and coat same as directed for other chocolates.

CHOCOLATE DATES.

Remove the seeds from dates, roll them up, and coat with chocolate as directed. If you stuff these dates with chopped hickory nuts after removing seeds, then press firmly together and coat with chocolate, they are very fine.

CHOCOLATE FIG PASTE.

Buy some fig paste or Oriental jelly, and coat with chocolate same as others, and you will find it makes a very fine piece of candy.

CHOCOLATE COATED FUDGE.

Cut freshly made fudge up in squares and coat with chocolate. Chocolate fudge, coated in this manner, is probably better than the other flavors. Opera fudge, cut into squares and coated with chocolate, is much nicer than the other kind of fudge.

CHOCOLATE WAFERS.

Drop out some wintergreen or peppermint wafers in the manner described before, only use center cream instead of bon-bon cream, then coat with chocolate. It is best to use the center cream in making these, as it mellows up more after being coated than bon-bon cream, as it is much softer.

CHOCOLATE WALNUT BRITTLE.

Make a batch of walnut brittle as directed, and cut into oblong pieces about one inch long, then coat with chocolate. These are very brittle and nice eating.

CHOCOLATE CHERRIES.

Select large candied cherries, and coat with chocolate same as other centers. These are probably the finest chocolates you can make, and also the most expensive, and I would advise you to only use them in dressing off the top layer of your boxes.

CHOCOLATE NUTS.

Either English walnuts, pecans, or Brazil nuts are very fine when coated with chocolate. Do it in the same manner as other chocolate coating, but do not roast these nuts before coating them.

CHOCOLATE ALMONDS.

Roast the almonds in the oven, being careful about getting them too brown, and when cool, coat with chocolate. Never coat nuts of any description with anything but =sweet= coating; if you should use chocolate on them that is the least particle bitter, they would not taste good at all. The best way to coat these small nuts, is to work your chocolate, then put in quite a number of the nuts, roll them around a little, then with a pair of tweezers, lift them out one at a time and lay on your oilcloth. This is much quicker than lifting them out with your hands, one at a time.

FILBERT PYRAMIDS.

Roast the filberts in the oven, same as you do other nuts, then coat with chocolate, and in laying them on the oilcloth, lay three of them in the form of a triangle so that they will touch each other, then lay another one on top and when the chocolate is set, they will stick firmly together and look very pretty in a box. If you have a pair of tweezers, they are very convenient with which to pick the nuts out of the chocolate, and lay them so that they will touch each other. In laying the last filbert on top, if you will allow quite a little chocolate to stick to it as you lift it out, it will improve the looks of the pyramid, as it will run down over the other nuts.

PECAN FRITTERS.

Pour out a little chocolate coating, work it until nearly cold, then mix into it broken pecan meats until it is pretty thick, then with a spoon drop it in the form of patties on the oilcloth, and make them about the size of a silver dollar. Have enough nuts mixed in the chocolate so that they will be thick enough to hold their shape after being dropped out and will not spread any, and consequently they will be very rough looking, which they should be. These are about the finest candy in this line which it is possible to make, providing of course that you use the Sweet Coating for this purpose.

PEANUT FRITTERS.

Make them in the same manner as pecan fritters. Always use roasted peanuts, and if you have the raw Spanish peanuts, roast them in the oven first, as they are better than the large peanuts.

CHOCOLATE COATED PINEAPPLE.

Cut some candied pineapple into points and coat with chocolate.

CHOCOLATE COATED KISSES.

Molasses and Moonlight Kisses are greatly improved when coated with chocolate. Cut the kisses into pieces about two inches long and coat with chocolate.

CHOCOLATE NABISCOS.

Buy a few Nabisco wafers, cut them in four pieces and dip in sweet chocolate.

CHOCOLATE COCOANUT.

Make a batch of cocoanut centers as given in this book, roll them round and dip in chocolate. This makes a nice topping piece for your boxes. You may also set a small round dragee on top of the ball, while the chocolate is still warm.

MARASCHINO CHERRIES.