Part 39

Take the balls of cream, one at a time, on the tines of a fork, pour the melted chocolate over them with a teaspoon and when well covered, slip them from the fork upon oiled paper.

COCOANUT CREAMS.

Take two tablespoonfuls of grated cocoanut and half as much "French candy;" work them both together with your hand till the cocoanut is all well mixed in it. If you choose, you can add a drop of vanilla. If too soft to work into balls, add confectioners' sugar to stiffen; make into balls the size of hazelnuts and dip twice, as in the foregoing recipes, flavoring the melted "French Cream" with vanilla.

VARIEGATED CREAMS.

Make the "French Cream" recipe, and divide into three parts, leaving one part white, color one pink with cochineal syrup, and the third part color brown with chocolate, which is done by just letting the cream soften and stirring in a little finely grated chocolate. The pink is colored by dropping on a few drops of cochineal syrup while the cream is warm and beating it in. Take the white cream, make a flat ball of it, and lay it upon a buttered dish, and pat it out flat until about half an inch thick. If it does not work easily, dip the hand in alcohol. Take the pink cream, work in the same way as the white and lay it upon the white; then the chocolate in the same manner, and lay upon the pink, pressing all together. Trim the edges off smooth, leaving it in a nice, square cake, then cut into slices or small cubes, as you prefer. It is necessary to work it all up as rapidly as possible.

RASPBERRY CREAMS.

Stir enough confectioners' sugar into a teaspoonful of raspberry jam to form a thick paste; roll it into balls between the palms of your hands. Put a lump of "French Cream" into a teacup and set it into a basin of boiling water, stirring it until it has melted; then drop a few drops of cochineal coloring to make it a pale pink, or a few drops of raspberry juice, being careful not to add enough to prevent its hardening. Now dip these little balls into the sugar cream, giving them two coats. Lay aside to harden.

Remember to _keep stirring_ the melted cream, or if not it will _turn back to clear syrup_.

NUT CREAMS.

Chop almonds, hickory nuts, butternuts or English walnuts quite fine. Make the '"French Cream," and before adding all the sugar, while the cream is quite soft, stir into it the nuts, and then form into balls, bars or squares. Several kinds of nuts may be mixed together.

MAPLE SUGAR CREAMS.

Grate fine maple sugar and mix, in quantity to suit the taste, with "French Cream;" make any shape desired. Walnut creams are sometimes made with maple sugar and are very fine.

STICK CANDY.

One pound of granulated sugar, one cupful of water, a quarter of a cupful of vinegar, or half a teaspoonful of cream of tartar, one small tablespoonful of glycerine. Flavor with vanilla, rose or lemon. Boil all except the flavoring, without stirring, twenty minutes or half an hour, or until crisp when dropped in water. Just before pouring upon greased platters to cool, add half a teaspoonful of soda. After pouring upon platters to cool, pour two teaspoonfuls of flavoring over the top. When partly cool, pull it until very white. Draw it into sticks the size you wish, and cut off with shears into sticks or kiss-shaped drops. It may be colored if desired. (See page 444, for coloring.)

CHOCOLATE CARAMELS.

One cupful of grated chocolate, two cupfuls of brown sugar, one cupful of West India molasses, one cupful of milk or cream, butter the size of an egg, boil until thick, _almost_ brittle, stirring constantly. Turn it out on to buttered plates, and when it begins to stiffen, mark it in small squares so that it will break easily when cold. Some like it flavored with a tablespoonful of vanilla.

GRILLED ALMONDS.

These are a very delicious candy seldom met with out of France. They are rather more trouble to make than other kinds, but well repay it from their novel flavor. Blanch a cupful of almonds; dry them thoroughly. Boil a cupful of sugar and a quarter of a cupful of water till it "hairs," then throw in the almonds; let them fry, as it were, in this syrup, stirring them occasionally; they will turn a faint yellow brown before the sugar changes color; do not wait an instant once this change of color begins, or they will lose flavor; remove them from the fire, and stir them until the syrup has turned back to sugar and clings irregularly to the nuts.

These are grilled almonds. You will find them delicious, as they are to alternate at dinner with the salted almonds now so fashionable.

PEPPERMINT DROPS.

One cupful of sugar crushed fine, and just moistened with boiling water, then boiled five minutes; then take from the fire and add cream of tartar the size of a pea; mix well and add four or five drops of oil of peppermint. Beat briskly until the mixture whitens, then drop quickly upon white paper. Have the cream of tartar and oil of peppermint measured while the sugar is boiling. If it sugars before it is all dropped, add a little water and boil a minute or two.

CURRANT DROPS.

Use currant juice instead of water, to moisten a quantity of sugar. Put it in a pan and heat, stirring constantly; be sure not to let it boil; then mix a very little more sugar, let it warm with the rest a moment, then, with a smooth stick, drop on paper.

LEMON DROPS.

Upon a coffeecupful of finely powdered sugar pour just enough lemon juice to dissolve it, and boil it to the consistency of thick syrup, and so that it appears brittle when dropped in cold water. Drop this on buttered plates in drops; set away to cool and harden.

NUT MOLASSES CANDY.

When making molasses candy, add any kind of nuts you fancy; put them in after the syrup has thickened and is ready to take from the fire; pour out on buttered tins. Mark it off in squares before it gets too cool. Peanuts should be fresh roasted and then tossed in a sieve, to free them of their inner skins.

SUGAR NUT CANDY.

Three pounds of white sugar, half a pint of water, half a pint of vinegar, a quarter of a pound of butter, one pound of hickory nut kernels. Put the sugar, butter, vinegar and water together into a thick saucepan. When it begins to thicken, add the nuts. To test it, take up a very small quantity as quickly as possible directly from the centre, taking care not to disturb it any more than is necessary. Drop it into cold water, and remove from the fire the moment the little particles are brittle. Pour into buttered plates. Use any nuts with this recipe.

COCOANUT CANDY.

One cocoanut, one and one-half pounds of granulated sugar. Put sugar and milk of cocoanut together, beat slowly until the sugar is melted, then boil five minutes; add cocoanut (finely grated), boil ten minutes longer, stir constantly to keep from burning. Pour on buttered plates; cut in squares. Will take about two days to harden. Use prepared cocoanut when other cannot be had.

BUTTER-SCOTCH.

Three cupfuls of white sugar, half a cupful of water, half a cupful of vinegar, or half a teaspoonful of cream of tartar, a tablespoonful of butter and eight drops of extract of lemon. Boil _without stirring_ till it will snap and break. Just before taking from the fire, add a quarter of a teaspoonful of soda; pour into well-buttered biscuit tins, a quarter of an inch thick. Mark off into inch squares when partly cold.

EVERTON TAFFY, OR BUTTER-SCOTCH.

Two cupfuls of sugar, two cupfuls of dark molasses, one cupful of cold butter, grated rind of half a lemon. Boil over a slow fire until it hardens when dropped in cold water. Pour thinly into tins well buttered, and mark into inch squares before it cools.

MAPLE WALNUTS.

Beat the white of one egg to a stiff froth, stir in enough powdered sugar to make it like hard frosting, dip the walnut meats (which you have taken care to remove from the shells without breaking) in a syrup made by boiling for two or three minutes two tablespoonfuls of maple sugar in one of water, or in this proportion. Press some of the hard frosting between the two halves of the walnut and let it harden. Dates may be prepared in this way, and butternuts and English walnuts also.

POP-CORN CANDY. No. 1.

Put into an iron kettle one tablespoonful of butter, three tablespoonfuls of water and one cupful of white sugar; boil until ready to candy, then throw in three quarts nicely popped corn; stir vigorously until the sugar is evenly distributed over the corn; take the kettle from the fire and stir until it cools a little, and in this way you may have each kernel separate and all coated with the sugar. Of course it must have your undivided attention from the first, to prevent scorching. Almonds, English walnuts, or, in fact, any nuts are delicious prepared in this way.

POP-CORN CANDY. No. 2.

Having popped your corn, salt it and keep it warm, sprinkle over with a whisk broom a mixture composed of an ounce of gum arabic and a half pound of sugar, dissolved in two quarts of water; boil all a few minutes. Stir the corn with the hands or large spoon thoroughly; then mold into balls with the hands.

POP-CORN BALLS.

Take three large ears of pop-corn (rice is best). After popping, shake it down in pan so the unpopped corn will settle at the bottom; put the nice white popped in a greased pan. For the candy, take one cup of molasses, one cup of light brown or white sugar, one tablespoonful of vinegar. Boil until it will harden in water. Pour on the corn. Stir with a spoon until thoroughly mixed; then mold into balls with the hand.

No flavor should be added to this mixture, as the excellence of this commodity depends entirely upon the united flavor of the corn, salt and the sugar or molasses.

HOARHOUND CANDY.

Boil two ounces of dried hoarhound in a pint and a half of water for about half an hour; strain and add three and a half pounds of brown sugar; boil over a hot fire until sufficiently hard; pour out in flat, well-greased tins and mark into sticks or small squares with a knife as soon as cool enough to retain its shape.

JUJUBE PASTE.

Two cupfuls of sugar, one-quarter of a pound of gum arabic, one pint of water. Flavor with the essence of lemon and a grain of cochineal. Let the mixture stand, until the gum is dissolved, in a warm place on the back of the stove, then draw forward and cook until thick; try in cold water; it should be limber and bend when cold. Pour in buttered pans, an eighth of an inch thick; when cool, roll up in a scroll.

CANDIED ORANGES.

Candied orange is a great delicacy, which is easily made: Peel and quarter the oranges; make a syrup in the proportion of one pound of sugar to one pint of water; let it boil until it will harden in water; then take it from the fire and dip the quarters of orange in the syrup; let them drain on a fine sieve placed over a platter so that the syrup will not be wasted; let them drain thus until cool, when the sugar will crystallize. These are nice served with the last course of dinner. Any fruit the same.

FIG CANDY.

One cup of sugar, one-third cup of water, one-fourth teaspoonful cream of tartar. Do not stir while boiling. Boil to amber color, stir in the cream of tartar just before taking from the fire. Wash the figs, open and lay in a tin pan and pour the candy over them. Or you may dip them in the syrup the same as "Candied Oranges."

CANDY ROLEY POLEY.

Take half a pint of citron, half a pint of raisins, half a pound of figs, a quarter of a pound of shelled almonds, one pint of peanuts before they are hulled; cut up the citron, stone the raisins, blanch the almonds, and hull the peanuts; cut up the figs into small bits. Take two pounds of coffee-sugar and moisten with vinegar; put in a piece of butter as large as a walnut; stew till it hardens, but take off before it gets to the brittle stage; beat it with a spoon six or eight times, then stir in the mixed fruits and nuts. Pour into a wet cloth and roll it up like a pudding, twisting the ends of the cloth to mold it. Let it get cold and slice off pieces as it may be wanted for eating.

MOLASSES CANDY.

Put one quart of West India molasses, one cupful of brown sugar, a piece of butter the size of half an egg, into a six-quart kettle. Let it boil over a slack fire until it begins to look thick, stirring it often to prevent burning. Test it by taking some out and dropping a few drops in a cup of cold water. If it hardens quickly and breaks short between the teeth it is boiled enough. Now put in half a teaspoonful of baking soda, and stir it well; then pour it out into well-buttered flat tins. When partly cooled, take up the candy with your hands well buttered then pull and double, and so on, until the candy is a whitish yellow. It may be cut in strips and rolled or twisted.

If flavoring is desired, drop the flavoring on the top as it begins to cool and when it is pulled, the whole will be flavored.

STRAWBERRY CONSERVE.

Prepare the fruit as for preserving, allowing half a pound of loaf sugar to one pound of fruit. Sprinkle the sugar over the fruit at night; in the morning, put it on the fire in a kettle and boil until the berries are clear. Spread on dishes and put in the sun until dry; after which roll the fruit in sugar and pack in jars.

PEACH CONSERVE.

Halve the peaches and take out the stones; pare. Have ready some powdered white sugar on a plate or dish. Roll the peaches in it several times, until they will not take up any more. Place them singly on a plate, with the cup or hollow side up, that the juices may not run out. Lay them in the sun. The next morning roll them again. As soon as the juice seems set in the peaches, turn the other side to the sun. When they are thoroughly dry, pack them in glass jars, or, what is still nicer, fig-drums. They make an excellent sweetmeat just as they are; or, if wanted for table use, put over the fire in porcelain, with a very little water, and stew a few minutes.

PEACH LEATHER.

Stew as many peaches as you choose, allowing a quarter of a pound of sugar to one of fruit; mash it up smooth as it cooks, and when it is dry enough to spread in a thin sheet on a board greased with butter, set it out in the sun to dry; when dry it can be rolled up like leather, wrapped up in a cloth, and will keep perfectly from season to season. School-children regard it as a delightful addition to their lunch of biscuit or cold bread. Apple and quince leather are made in the same fashion, only a little flavoring or spice is added to them.

COCOANUT CARAMELS.

Two cupfuls of grated cocoanut, one cupful of sugar, two tablespoonfuls of flour, the whites of three eggs, beaten stiff. Soak the cocoanut, if desiccated, in milk enough to cover it; then beat the whites of the eggs, add gradually the sugar, cocoanut and flour; with your fingers make, by rolling the mixture, into cone shapes. Place them on buttered sheets of tin covered with buttered letter paper and bake in a moderate heat about fifteen or twenty minutes. They should cool before removing from the tins.

DRIED PRESERVES.

Any of the fruits that have been preserved in syrup may be converted into dry preserves, by first draining them from the syrup and then drying them slowly on the stove, strewing them thickly with powdered sugar. They should be turned every few hours, sifting over them more sugar.

CANDIES WITHOUT COOKING.

Very many candies made by confectioners are made without boiling, which makes them very desirable, and they are equal to the best "French Creams." The secret lies in the sugar used, which is the XXX powdered or confectioners' sugar. Ordinary powdered sugar, when rubbed between the thumb and finger has a decided grain, but the confectioners' sugar is fine as flour. The candies made after this process are better the day after.

FRENCH VANILLA CREAM.

Break into a bowl the whites of one or more eggs, as the quantity you wish to make will require; add to it an equal quantity of cold water, then stir in XXX powdered or confectioners' sugar until you have it stiff enough to mold into shape with the fingers. Flavor with vanilla to taste. After it is formed in balls, cubes or lozenge shapes, lay them upon plates or waxed paper and set them aside to dry. This cream can be worked in candies similar to the French cooked cream.

CHOCOLATE CREAM DROPS.

These are made or molded into cone-shape forms with the fingers, from the uncooked "French Cream," similar to that which is cooked. After forming into these little balls or cones, lay them on oiled paper until the next day, to harden, or make them in the morning and leave them until afternoon. Then melt some chocolate (the best confectioners') in a basin set in another basin of boiling water; when melted, and the creams are hard enough to handle, take one at a time on a fork and drop into the melted chocolate, roll it until well covered, then slip from the fork upon oiled or waxed paper, and set them aside to harden.

FRUIT AND NUT CREAMS.

Raisins seeded, currants, figs and citron, chopped fine, and mixed with the uncooked "French Cream," while soft, before the sugar is all mixed in, makes a delicious variety. Nuts also may be mixed with this cream, stirring into it chopped almonds, hickory nuts, butternuts, or English walnuts, then forming them into balls, bars or squares. Several kinds of nuts may be mixed together.

ORANGE DROPS.

Grate the rind of one orange and squeeze the juice, taking care to reject the seeds; add to this a pinch of tartaric acid; then stir in confectioners' sugar until it is stiff enough to form into balls the size of a small marble. This is delicious candy.

The same process for lemon drops, using lemons in place of orange. Color a faint yellow.

COCOANUT CREAMS.

Make the uncooked cream as in the foregoing recipe. Take the cream while soft, add fresh grated cocoanut to taste; add sufficient confectioners' sugar to mold into balls and then roll the balls in the fresh grated cocoanut. These may be colored pink with a few drops of cochineal syrup, also brown by adding a few spoonfuls of grated chocolate; then rolling them in grated cocoanut; the three colors are very pretty together. The coconut cream may be made into a flat cake and cut into squares or strips.

With this uncooked cream, all the recipes given for the cooked "French Cream," may be used: English walnut creams, variegated creams, etc.

COFFEE, TEA, BEVERAGES.

Boiling water is a very important desideratum in the making of a cup of good coffee or tea, but the average housewife is very apt to overlook this fact. Do not boil the water more than three or four minutes; longer boiling ruins the water for coffee or tea making, as most of its natural properties escape by evaporation, leaving a very insipid liquid composed mostly of lime and iron, that would ruin the best coffee, and give the tea a dark, dead look, which ought to be the reverse.

Water left in the tea-kettle over night _must never be used for preparing the breakfast coffee_; no matter how excellent your coffee or tea may be, it will be ruined by the addition of water that has been boiled more than once.

THE HEALING PROPERTIES OF TEA AND COFFEE.

The medical properties of these two beverages are considerable. Tea is used advantageously in inflammatory diseases and as a cure for the headache. Coffee is supposed to act as a preventative of gravel and gout, and to its influence is ascribed the rarity of those diseases in Prance and Turkey. Both tea and coffee powerfully counteract the effects of opium and intoxicating liquors: though, when taken in excess, and without nourishing food, they themselves produce, temporarily at least, some of the more disagreeable consequences incident to the use of ardent spirits. In general, however, none but persons possessing great mobility of the nervous system, or enfeebled or effeminate constitutions, are injuriously affected by the moderate use of tea and coffee in connection with food.

COFFEE.

One full coffeecupful of ground coffee, stirred with one egg and part of the shell, adding a half cupful of _cold_ water. Put it into the coffee boiler, and pour on to it a quart of boiling water; as it rises and begins to boil, stir it down with a silver spoon or fork. Boil hard for ten or twelve minutes. Remove from the fire and pour out a cupful of coffee, then pour back into the coffeepot. Place it on the back of the stove or range where it will keep hot (and not boil); it will settle in about five minutes. Send to the table _hot_. Serve with good cream and lump sugar. Three-quarters of a pound of Java and a quarter of a pound of Mocha make the best mixture of coffee.

VIENNA COFFEE.

Equal parts of Mocha and Java coffee; allow one heaping tablespoonful of coffee to each person and two extra to make good strength. Mix one egg with grounds; pour on coffee half as much boiling water as will be needed; let it froth, then stir down grounds, and let boil five minutes; then let it stand where it will keep hot, but not boil, for five or ten minutes, and add rest of water. To one pint of cream add the white of an egg, well beaten; this is to be put in cups with sugar, and hot coffee added.

FILTERED OR DRIP COFFEE.

For each person allow a large tablespoonful of finely ground coffee, and to every tablespoonful allow a cupful of boiling water; the coffee to be one part Mocha to two of Java.

Have a small iron ring made to fit the top of the coffeepot inside, and to this ring sew a small muslin bag (the muslin for the purpose must not be too thin). Fit the bag into the pot, pour some boiling water in it, and, when the pot is well warmed, put the ground coffee into the bag; pour over as much boiling water as is required, close the lid, and, when all the water has filtered through, remove the bag, and send the coffee to table. Making it in this manner prevents the necessity of pouring the coffee from one vessel to another, which cools and spoils it. The water should be poured on the coffee gradually so that the infusion may be stronger; and the bag must be well made that none of the grounds may escape through the seams and so make the coffee thick and muddy.

Patented coffeepots on this principle can be purchased at most house-furnishing stores.

ICED COFFEE.

Make more coffee than usual at breakfast time and stronger. When cold put on ice. Serve with cracked ice in each tumbler.

SUBSTITUTE FOR CREAM IN COFFEE.

Beat the white of an egg, put to it a small lump of butter and pour the coffee into it gradually, stirring it so that it will not curdle. It is difficult to distinguish this from fresh cream.

Many drop a tiny piece of sweet butter into their cup of hot coffee as a substitute for cream.

TO MAKE TEA.

Allow two teaspoonfuls of tea to one large cupful of boiling water. Scald the teapot, put in the tea, pour on about a cupful of _boiling_ water, set it on the fire in a warm place, where it will not boil, but keep very hot, to almost boiling; let it steep or "draw" ten or twelve minutes. Now fill up with as much boiling water as is required. Send _hot_ to the table. It is better to use a china or porcelain teapot, but if you do use metal let it be tin, new, bright and clean; never use it when the tin is worn off and the iron exposed. If you do you are drinking tea-ate of iron.

To make tea to perfection, boiling water must be poured on the leaves directly it boils. Water which has been boiling more than five minutes, or which has previously boiled, should on no account be used. If the water does not boil, or if it be allowed to overboil, the leaves of the tea will be only half-opened and the tea itself will be quite spoiled. The water should be allowed to remain on the leaves from ten to fifteen minutes.