Chapter V: Part III: The Things Margaret Made for Dinner (2)

Wash and dry the currants. Buy the seeded raisins and wash these, too, and then chop them. Cream the butter and sugar, add the egg beaten well without separating, then the molasses with the soda stirred in it, then the milk, then the cinnamon and cloves. Measure the flour, and then take out a half-cup of it, and stir in the raisins and currants, to keep them from going to the bottom of the cake when it is baked. Stir these in, add the rest of the flour, and beat well. Bake in two buttered bread-pans.

Layer Cake

1 cup sugar. 1/2 cup water. 2 eggs. 2 teaspoonfuls baking-powder. 1/2 cup butter. 2 1/2 cups flour. Teaspoonful vanilla.

Rub the butter to a cream in a deep bowl, and put in the sugar a little at a time, and rub this till it, too, creams. Then put in the beaten yolks of the eggs, and then the water. Beat the egg-whites well, and fold in half, then add the flour, in which you have mixed and sifted the baking-powder, and then put in the vanilla and the rest of the eggs.

Divide in two layers, or in three if the tins are small, and bake till a light brown.

FILLING FOR LAYER CAKES

Nut and Raisin Filling

Make the rule for plain icing, and add a half-cup of chopped raisins mixed with half a cup of chopped almonds or English walnuts.

Fig Filling

Mix a cup of chopped figs with the same icing.

Marshmallow Filling

Chop a quarter of a pound of marshmallows; put them over the teakettle to get soft; make a plain icing and beat them in.

Maple Filling

2 cups maple syrup. Whites of 2 eggs.

Boil the syrup slowly till it makes a thread when you hold it up; then add it slowly to your beaten egg-whites, beating till cold.

Orange Filling

1 cup powdered sugar. 1 tablespoonful boiling water. Grated rind of 1 orange. 1 tablespoonful orange-juice.

Put the sugar in a bowl, add the rind, then the water and juice, and spread at once on the cake. This icing must be very thick when made, and if is seems thin put in more sugar.

Caramel Filling

2 cups brown sugar. 1/2 cup cream or milk. Butter the size of an egg. 1/2 teaspoonful vanilla.

Mix all together and cook till it is smooth and thick.

Plain Icing

Put the white of one egg into a bowl with a half-teaspoonful of water, and beat till light. Then stir in a cup of sifted powdered sugar, and put on the cake while that is still warm, and smooth it over with a wet knife.

Chocolate Icing

Melt one square of Baker's chocolate in a saucer over the teakettle, and put in two tablespoonfuls of milk and stir till smooth. Add two tablespoonfuls of sugar and a small half-teaspoonful of butter, and stir again. Take it off the stove and put it on the cake while both are warm.

Caramel Icing

1/2 cup of milk. 2 cups brown sugar. Butter the size of an egg. 1 teaspoonful of vanilla.

Mix the butter, sugar, and milk, and cook till it is smooth and thick, stirring all the time and watching it carefully to see that it does not burn; take it off and put in the vanilla, and spread while warm on a warm cake.

Doughnuts

Margaret's mother did not approve of putting this rule in her cook-book, because she did not want Margaret ever to eat rich things; but her grandmother said it really must go in, for once in awhile very nice doughnuts would not hurt anybody.

1 1/2 cups of sugar. 1/2 cup of butter. 3 eggs. 1 1/2 cups of milk. 2 teaspoonfuls baking-powder. Pinch of salt.

Put in flour enough to make a very soft dough, just as soft as you can handle it. Mix, and put on a slightly floured board and make into round balls, or roll out and cut with a cooky cutter with a hole in the centre. Heat two cups of lard with one cup of beef suet which you have melted and strained, and heat till it browns a bit of bread instantly. Then drop in three doughnuts,--not more, or you will chill the fat, --and when you take them out dry on brown paper. It is much better to use part suet than all lard, yet that will do if you have no suet in the house.

Oatmeal Macaroons

These little cakes are so like real macaroons that no one who had not seen the recipe would guess how they were made.

2 1/2 cups rolled oats. 2 1/2 teaspoonfuls baking-powder. 1/2 teaspoonful salt. 3 even tablespoonfuls butter. 1 cup sugar. 3 eggs, beaten separately. 1 teaspoonful vanilla.

Cream the butter, add the sugar and well beaten egg-yolks, then the oatmeal, salt, and baking-powder, then the vanilla, and last the whites of the eggs. Drop in small bits, no larger than the end of your finger, on a shallow pan, three inches apart. Bake in a very slow oven till brown, and take from the pan while hot.

Peanut Wafers

1 cup of sugar. 1/2 cup of butter. 1/2 cup of milk. 1/2 teaspoonful soda. 2 cups of flour. 1 cup chopped peanuts.

Cream the butter and sugar, put the soda in the milk and stir well, and put this in next; add the flour and beat well. Butter a baking-pan and spread this evenly over the bottom, and then spread the peanuts over all. Bake till a light brown.

Tea-party Cakes

2 squares of Baker's chocolate. 1 teaspoonful of sugar. Bit of butter the size of a pea.

Melt the chocolate over the teakettle and stir in the sugar and butter and a couple of drops of vanilla, if you like. Take little round crackers, and with a fork roll them quickly in this till they are covered; dry on buttered paper. You can also take saltines, or any long, thin cracker, and spread one side with the chocolate.

Almond Strips

White of 1 egg. 1 cup chopped almonds. 2 tablespoonfuls powdered sugar.

Beat the egg just a little and put in the sugar and almonds; spread on thin crackers, and brown in the oven with the door open.

PIES

General Rule

Margaret's mother did not like her to eat pie, but she let her learn how to make it, and once in awhile she had a small piece. Here is her rule:

1 pint of flour.
1/4 cup of butter.
1/4 cup lard, 1 teaspoonful salt.
1/2 cup ice-water.

Put the flour, butter, lard, and salt in the chopping-bowl and chop till well mixed. Then add the water, a little at a time, turning the paste and chopping till smooth, but never touching with the hand. Put a very little flour on the pastry-board and lift the crust on this, and with a floured rolling-pin lightly roll it out once each way; fold it over and roll again, and do this several times till the crust looks even, with no lumps of butter showing anywhere. Put it on a plate and lay it in the ice-chest for at least an hour before you use it.

Pie-crust will never be light and nice if you handle it. Do not touch it with your fingers unless it is really necessary. When you use it, get everything ready for the pie first, and then bring out the crust, roll quickly, and spread over the pie.

In putting the pie in the pan, cut the bottom piece a little larger than you want it, as it will shrink. Sprinkle the tin with flour, lay on the crust, and after it has been fitted evenly, and is not too tight, cut off the edge. Put a narrow strip of paste all around the edge, and press it together; if you wet it with a little water it will stick. If you wish to be sure the filling of the pie will not soak into the under crust, brush that over with beaten white of egg. After you put in the filling, fold your top crust together and cut some little shutters to let out the steam. Put on the cover, wet the edges so they will stick together, and pinch evenly.

Deep Apple Pie, or Apple Tart

Fill a baking-dish with apples, peeled and cut in slices. Sprinkle with flour, cinnamon, and plenty of sugar, about half a cup. Put in the oven and bake till the apples are soft, and then cool, put on the crust, and bake till brown. Serve powdered sugar and rich cream with this. All pies cooked in a baking-dish, with no crust on the bottom or sides of the dish, are called tarts by the English. They are the best kind of pie.

Peach Pie

Line a pie-plate with crust, lay in the peaches, peeled and sliced, sprinkle with flour, and then cover with sugar; put on a top crust, cut some little slits in it to let out the steam, and cook till brown. Or, make a deep peach tart.

French Peach Pie

Put the crust in the pie-pan as before; boil a cup of sugar with two tablespoonfuls of water till it threads. Lay quarters of peaches in the paste, around and around, evenly, no one on top of the other. Break ten peach-stones and arrange evenly on top; the pour the syrup over, and put a few narrow strips of crust across the pie, four each way, and bake.

Pumpkin Pie

1 small pumpkin. 2 1/2 cups of pulp. 2 cups of milk. 1 tablespoonful molasses. 2 eggs. 1 teaspoonful each of salt, ginger, cinnamon, and butter. 2 heaping tablespoonfuls of sugar.

Cut the pumpkin in small pieces and take out the seeds and remove the peel. Put the good part over the kettle and steam it till it is tender, keeping it covered. Then you take off the cover, and stand the steamer you have cooked it in on the back of the stove, till the heat makes the pumpkin nice and dry. Then mash it and put it through the colander. While it is warm, mix in everything in the rule except the eggs; let it cool, and put these in last, beating them till light. Line the pie-tin with crust, and pour in the filling and bake. This rule is a very nice one; it makes two pies.

Cranberry Pie

Cook a quart of cranberries till tender, with a small cup of water; when they have simmered till rather thick, put in a heaping cup of sugar and cook five minutes more. When as thick as oatmeal mush, take them off the fire and put through the colander; line a tin with crust, fill with berries, put strips of crust across, and bake. A nice plan is to take half a cup of raisins and a cup of cranberries for a pie, chopping together and cooking with water as before, adding a sprinkling of flour and a little vanilla when done.

Orange Pie

1 orange. 1 cup of water. 1 small cup of sugar. 2 teaspoonfuls corn-starch. Butter the size of a hickory-nut. Yolk of one egg.

Grate the rind of the orange, and then squeeze out the juice. Beat the yolk of the egg, add the water, with the corn-starch stirred in, orange juice and rind and butter, and cook till it grows rather thick. Bake your crust first; then bake the orange filling in it; then beat the white of your egg with a tablespoonful of granulated sugar, and put over it and brown. This is an especially nice rule.

Lemon Pie

Make exactly as you did the orange-pie, but put in a good-sized cup of sugar instead of a small one, with a lemon in place of the orange.

Tarts

Whenever Margaret made pie she always saved all the bits of the crust and rolled them out, and lined patty-pans with them and baked them. She often filled them with raw rice while they baked, to keep them in shape, saving the rice when they were done. She filled the shells with jelly, and used the tarts for lunch.

CANDY

Margaret did not wait till she reached the recipes for candy at the back of her book before she began to make it. She made it all the way along, whenever another little girl came to spend the afternoon, or it was such a rainy day that she could not go out. Nearly always she made molasses candy, because it was such fun to pull it, and she used the same rule her mother used when she was a little girl.

Molasses Candy

2 cups New Orleans molasses. 1 cup white sugar. 1 tablespoonful butter. 1 tablespoonful vinegar. 1 small teaspoonful soda.

Boil hard twenty minutes, stirring all the time, and cool in shallow pans. If you double the rule you must boil the candy five minutes longer.

The best thing about this candy is that it does not stick to the fingers, if you let it get quite cool before touching it, and pull it in small quantities. Do not put any butter on your fingers, but work fast.

Maple Wax

Boil two cups of maple syrup till it hardens when dropped in cold water. Fill a large pan with fresh snow, pack well; keep the kettle on the back of the stove, where the syrup will be just warm, but will not cook, and fill a small pitcher with it, and pour on the snow, a little at a time. Take it off in small pieces with a fork. If there is no snow, use a cake of ice.

Peanut Brittle

Make the molasses candy given above, and stir in a large cup of shelled peanuts just before taking it from the fire. Put in shallow, buttered pans.

Peppermint Drops

1 cup sugar. 2 tablespoonfuls of water. 3 teaspoonfuls of peppermint essence.

Boil the sugar and water till when you drop a little in water it will make a firm ball in your fingers. Then take it off the fire and stir in the peppermint, and carefully drop four drops, one exactly on top of another, on a buttered platter. Do not put these too near together.

Pop-corn Balls

Make half the rule for molasses candy. Pop a milk-can full of corn, and pour in a little candy while it is hot; take up all that sticks together and roll in a ball; then pour in more, and so on.

Maple Fudge

3 cups brown sugar. 2 cups maple syrup. 1 cup of milk. 1/2 cup of water. Butter the size of an egg. 1 cup English walnut meats, or hickory-nuts.

Boil the sugar and maple syrup till you can make it into a very soft ball when you drop it in water; only half as hard as you boil molasses candy. Then put in the milk, water, and butter, and boil till when you try in water it makes quite a firm ball in your fingers. Put in the nuts and take off the fire at once, and stir till it begins to sugar. Spread it quickly on buttered pans, and when partly cool mark in squares with a knife.

Chocolate Fudge

1 cup of milk. 1 cup of sugar. 1 pinch of soda. 3 squares Baker's chocolate. Butter the size of an egg.

Put the soda in the milk and scrape the chocolate. Mix all together until when you drop a little in water it will make a ball in your fingers. Take off the fire then, and beat until it is a stiff paste, and then spread on a buttered platter. Sometimes Margaret added a cup of chopped nuts to this rule, putting them in just before she took the fudge off the fire.

Cream Walnuts

2 cups of light brown sugar. Two-thirds cup of boiling water. 1 small saltspoonful of cream of tartar. 1 cup chopped walnuts.

Boil till the syrup makes a thread, then cool till it begins to thicken, and stir in the walnuts and drop on buttered paper.

Cream Made from Confectioners' Sugar

Take the white of one egg, and measure just as much cold water; mix the two well, and stir stiff with confectioners' sugar; add a little flavoring, vanilla, or almond, or pistache, and, for some candies, color with a tiny speck of fruit paste. This is the beginning of all sorts of cream candy.

Candy Potatoes

Make the plain white candy just given, and to it add a tablespoonful of cocoanut, and flavor with vanilla. Make into little balls, rather long then round, and with a fork put eyes in them like potato eyes. Roll in cinnamon. These candies are very quickly made, and are excellent for little girls' parties.

Chocolate Creams

Make the cream candy into balls, melt three squares of Baker's chocolate; put a ball on a little skewer or a fork, and dip into the chocolate and lay on buttered paper.

Nut Candy

Chop a cup of almonds and mix with the cream candy; make into bars, and when cold cut in slices.

Walnut Creams

Press two walnut halves on small balls of cream candy, one on either side.

Creamed Dates

Wash, wipe, and open the dates; remove the stones and put a small ball of cream candy into each one.

Butter Scotch

3 tablespoonfuls sugar. 3 tablespoonfuls of molasses. 2 tablespoonfuls of water. 1 tablespoonful of butter. 1 saltspoonful of soda.

Boil all together without stirring till it hardens in water; then put in a small teaspoonful of vanilla and pour at once on a buttered platter. When hard break up into squares.

Pinoche

1 cup light brown sugar. 1 cup cream. 1 cup walnuts, chopped fine. Butter the size of a walnut. 1 teaspoonful vanilla.

Cook the sugar and cream till it makes a ball in water; then put in the butter, vanilla, and nuts, and beat till creamy and spread on a platter.

Betty's Orange Candy

Betty was Margaret's particular friend, so this was her favorite rule:

2 cups sugar. Juice of one orange.

Boil till it hardens in water, and then pull it.

Creamed Dates, Figs, and Cherries

Make the plain cream candy, as before; wash the dates well, open at one side, and take out the stones and press in a ball of the candy; leave the side open. You can sprinkle with granulated sugar if you choose.

Cut figs in small pieces, and roll each piece in the cream candy till it is hidden.

For the cherries, color the cream candy light pink and make into little balls. On top of each press a candied cherry.

Dates with Nuts

Wash and wipe the dates dry, and take out the stones. Put half an English walnut in each and press the edges together; roll in granulated sugar. Small figs may be prepared in the same way.

MARGARET'S SCHOOL LUNCHEONS

As Margaret had to take her luncheon to school with her sometimes, she had to learn how to make a good many kinds of sandwiches, because she soon grew tired of one or two sorts.

Cut the bread very thin and spread lightly with butter, and after they are done trim off the crusts neatly, not taking off all the crust, but making the two pieces even. For plain meat sandwiches, chop the meat very fine, sprinkle with salt, and spread on the bread; if it is too dry, put in a very little cream as you chop the meat.

Egg Sandwiches

Make a very little French dressing,--about a teaspoonful of oil, a sprinkling of salt, and four drops of lemon juice, or vinegar. Chop a hard-boiled egg very fine, mix with the dressing, and spread.

Lettuce Sandwiches

Spread the bread, lay on a lettuce-leaf and cover with French dressing, or with mayonnaise. These sandwiches are about the best for school, as they do not get dry.

Celery Sandwiches

Chop the celery fine, mix with a French or mayonnaise dressing, and spread.

Olive Sandwiches

Chop six olives fine, mix with a tiny bit of mayonnaise and spread.

Chicken and Celery Sandwiches

Mix chopped celery and chopped chicken, as much of one as the other, wet with French or mayonnaise dressing and spread.

Nut Sandwiches

Chop the nuts fine and add just enough cream to moisten; sprinkle with salt and spread.

Sardine Sandwiches

Scrape off all the skin from the sardines, and take out the bones and drain them by laying them on brown paper; mash them with a fork, and sprinkle with lemon juice, and spread.

Tomato and Cheese Sandwiches

Slice a small, firm tomato very thin indeed, and take out all the seeds and soft pulp, leaving only the firm part; put one slice on the bread, and one thin shaving of cheese over it, and then put on bread. A slice of tomato with a spreading of mayonnaise makes a nice sandwich.

Cream Cheese and Nut Sandwiches

Spread thin Boston brown bread with just a scraping of butter, then spread with cream cheese and cover with nuts; this is a delicious sandwich.

Sweet Sandwiches

All jams and jellies make good sandwiches, and fresh dates, chopped figs, and preserved ginger are also nice.

Some of Margaret's School Luncheons

1. Two Boston brown bread, cream cheese, and nut sandwiches, and two white bread and jam; a little round cake; a pear.

2. Two chopped ham sandwiches, two with whole wheat bread and peanut-butter; a piece of gingerbread; a peach.

3. Two whole wheat-bread and chopped egg sandwiches with French dressing; two crackers spread with jam; three thin slices of cold meat, salted; a cup custard; an apple.

4. Two whole wheat sandwiches spread with chopped celery and French dressing, two of white bread and sardines; three gingersnaps; three figs.

5. Three sandwiches of white bread filled with cooked oysters, chopped fine, one of whole wheat with orange marmalade; a few pieces of celery, salted, a spice cake; a handful of nuts.

6. Four sandwiches, two of minced chicken moistened with cream, two of whole wheat and chopped olives; a little jar of apple-sauce; gingerbread.

7. Two date sandwiches, two of chopped cold meat; sugar cookies; three olives; an orange.

8. Two fig sandwiches, two whole wheat with chopped celery and French dressing; a devilled egg; a little scalloped cake; an apple.

9. Three lettuce sandwiches, one with brown sugar and butter; three tiny sweet pickles; ginger cookies; fresh plums.

THE END.

INDEX

BEVERAGES

Chocolate Cocoa Coffee Coffee, French Lemonade Lemonade with Grape-juice Tea Tea, Iced

BREAD

Baking Powder Biscuit Barneys Cornbread, Grandmother's Cornbread, Perfect Flannel Cakes Griddle-cakes Griddle-cakes, Sweet Corn Milk Toast Muffins, Cooking-school Popovers Toast Waffles

CAKE

Almond Strips Domino Doughnuts Eleanor's Filling for Layer Cake: Caramel Fig Maple Marshmallow Nut and Raisin Orange Frosting: Caramel Chocolate Plain Fruit, Easy Gingerbread Gingerbread, Soft Ginger Cookies Grandmother's Little Feather Cake Grandmother's Sugar Cookies Layer Margaret's Own Oatmeal Macaroons Peanut Wafers Sponge Tea-party Velvet

CANDY

Betty's Orange Butter Scotch Candy Potatoes Chocolate Creams Chocolate Fudge Creamed Dates Creamed Dates, Figs and Cherries Cream Walnuts Cream Made from Confectioners' Sugar Dates with Nuts Maple Fudge Maple Wax Molasses Nut Peanut Brittle Peppermint Drops Pinoche Pop-corn Balls Walnut Creams

CEREALS

Corn-meal Mush Corn-meal Mush, Fried Farina Croquettes Hominy Rice, Boiled Rice Croquettes Rice, Fried

CHEESE

Fondu Scalloped Welsh Rarebit, Easy

DESSERTS

Bread Pudding Brown Betty Cabinet Pudding Charlotte Russe, Easy Coffee Jelly Cornstarch Pudding, Plain Cornstarch Pudding, Chocolate Cornstarch Pudding, Cocoanut Cottage Pudding Custard, Baked Custard and Cake Custard, Cocoanut Floating Island Fruit Jelly Ice-creams and Ices: Packing the Freezer Chocolate Ice-cream Coffee Ice-cream French Ice-cream Peach Ice-cream Plain Ice-cream Strawberry Ice-cream Lemon Ice Orange Ice Peach Surprise Raspberry Ice Strawberry Ice Vanilla Parfait, the Easiest of All Junket Lemon Jelly Lemon Pudding Orange Jelly Orange Pudding Peach Shortcake Prune Jelly Prune Whips Rice Pudding with Raisins Snow Pudding Strawberry Shortcake Strawberry Shortcake Made with Cake Tapioca Pudding Pudding Sauces: Foamy Grandmother's Hard Lemon Orange Maple, Delicious Quick White Velvet Cream

EGGS

Baked in Little Dishes Beds, Eggs in Bird's Nests Boiled Eggs, Soft Bacon, Eggs with Cheese, Eggs with Creamed Eggs Creamed in Baking Dishes Creamed on Toast Devilled Double Cream with Eggs Ham and Eggs, Moulded Omelette Omelette with Mushrooms Omelette with Mushrooms and Olives Omelette, Spanish Poached Eggs Poached Eggs with Potted Ham Scalloped Scrambled Scrambled with Parsley Scrambled with Chicken Scrambled with Tomato

FISH

Codfish Balls Crab Meat in Shells Creamed Codfish Creamed Fish Creamed Lobster Creamed Salmon Mackerel, Salt Oysters, Creamed Oysters, Panned Oyster Pigs in Blankets Oysters, Scalloped Sardines, Broiled Scalloped Lobster or Salmon Smelts, Fried

MEATS

Bacon, Broiled Chicken or Turkey, Creamed Chicken Hash Chicken, Pressed Chops, Broiled Chops, Panned Cold Corned Beef Hash Dried Beef, Frizzled Liver and Bacon Liver and Bacon on Skewers Shepherd's Pie Sliced with Gravy Soufflé Steak, Broiled Steak with Bananas Veal Cutlet Veal Loaf

PIES

Apple Pie or Tart, Deep Cranberry General Rule Lemon Orange Peach Peach Pie, French Pumpkin Tarts

POTATOES

Cakes Creamed Hashed Brown Mashed Saratoga Stuffed Sweet Potatoes Creamed Fried Scalloped

SALADS

Cabbage Cabbage in Green Peppers Cauliflower Celery Celery and Apple Chicken Egg Fish Lobster Orange or Grapefruit Pineapple Potato String Bean Tomato and Lettuce Tomato, Stuffed Salad Dressings: French Mayonnaise

SANDWICHES

Celery Cream Cheese and Nut Chicken and Celery Egg Lettuce Nut Olive Sardine Sweet Tomato and Cheese

Sauce: Cream or White School Luncheons

SOUPS

Cream Soup, General Rule Cream of Almonds Cream of Clams Cream of Corn Cream of Green Peas Cream of Lima Beans Cream of Oysters Cream of Potato Cream of Spinach Cream of Tomato (Tomato Bisque) Meat Soups Bouillon, Creamed Extract, Made from Chicken or Turkey Made with Cooked Meat Pea, Split Plain Meat Tomato Vegetable, Clear

VEGETABLES

Asparagus Beans, Lima Beans, String Beets Beets, Stuffed Cabbage, Creamed Corn Corn, Canned Macaroni Onions Peas Tomatoes, Baked Tomatoes, Stewed