Chapter IX: Front Matter (9)

Cut ripe pears in half, without peeling or removing the stems. Pack in layers in a stoneware or glass jar. Strew a little sugar over each layer. Put a small cupful of water in the bottom of the jar to prevent burning; fit on a close cover, and set in a moderate oven. Bake three hours, and let the jar stand unopened in the oven all night.

APPLES AND JELLY. +

Fill a baking-dish with pippins, or other tender juicy apples, pared and cored, but not sliced. Make a syrup of one cup of water, and half as much sugar; stir until the sugar is dissolved, and pour over the apples. Cover closely, and bake slowly until tender. Draw from the oven, and let the apples cool without uncovering. Pour off the syrup, and fill the hollowed centres with some bright fruit jelly.

Boil down the syrup fast, until quite thick, and, just before sending the apples to table, stir into it some rich cream sweetened very abundantly. Pass with the apples.

BOILED CHESTNUTS.

Put into warm (not hot) water, slightly salted, bring to a boil, and cook fast fifteen minutes. Turn off the water through a cullender; stir a good piece of butter into the hot chestnuts, tossing them over and over until they are glossy and dry.

Serve upon a hot napkin in a deep dish.

WALNUTS AND HICKORY NUTS.

Crack and pick from the shells; sprinkle salt lightly over them, and serve mixed in the same dish.

Black walnuts are much more wholesome when eaten with salt. Indeed, they are not wholesome at all without it.

MELONS.

Wipe watermelons clean when they are taken from the ice. They should lie on, or in ice, for at least four hours before they are eaten. Carve at table by slicing off each end, then cutting the middle in sharp, long points, letting the knife go half way through the melon at every stroke. Pull the halves apart, and you will have a dentated crown.

Wash nutmeg and muskmelons; wipe dry; cut in two, scrape out the seeds, and put a lump of ice in each half.

Eat with sugar, or with mixed pepper and salt.

CAKES OF ALL KINDS.

NELLIE’S CUP CAKE. +

5 cups of flour.

5 eggs, whites and yolks separated—the latter strained.

1 cup of butter, }

3 cups of sugar, } well creamed together.

1 cup of sweet milk.

1 teaspoonful soda, dissolved in hot water.

2 teaspoonfuls of cream tartar, sifted with flour.

1 teaspoonful of vanilla.

If prepared flour be used in this or any other cake, there is no need of soda and cream of tartar.

Hecker’s flour I have found invaluable in cake-making. Indeed, I have never achieved anything short of triumphant success when I have used it.

CAROLINA CAKE (WITHOUT EGGS.) +

1 coffee-cup of sugar—powdered.

2 large table-spoonfuls butter, rubbed into the sugar.

1½ cups of flour.

½ cup sweet cream.

½ teaspoonful of soda.

Bake quickly in small tins, and eat while fresh and warm.

WHITE CAKE. +

1 cup of butter, }

2 cups of sugar, } rubbed to a light cream.

1 cup of sweet milk.

6 eggs, the whites only—beaten stiff.

½ teaspoonful of soda, dissolved in boiling water.

1 teaspoonful of cream tartar, sifted with flour.

4 cups of flour, or enough for tolerably thick batter.

Juice of 1 lemon, and half the grated peel.

CHOCOLATE CAKE. +

2 cups of sugar.

4 table-spoonfuls butter, rubbed in with the sugar.

4 eggs, whites and yolks beaten separately.

1 cup sweet milk.

3 heaping cups of flour.

1 teaspoonful of cream tartar, sifted into flour.

½ teaspoonful soda, melted in hot water.

Bake in jelly cake tins.

_Filling._

Whites of two eggs, beaten to a froth.

1 cup of powdered sugar.

¼ pound grated chocolate, wet in 1 table-spoonful cream.

1 teaspoonful vanilla.

Beat the sugar into the whipped whites; then the chocolate. Whisk all together hard for three minutes before adding the vanilla. Let the cake get quite cold before you spread it. Reserve a little of the mixture for the top, and beat more sugar into this to form a firm icing.

APPLE CAKE. +

2 cups powdered sugar.

3 cups of flour.

½ cup corn-starch, wet up with a little milk.

½ cup of butter, rubbed to light cream with sugar.

½ cup sweet milk.

1 teaspoonful cream of tartar, sifted with flour.

½ teaspoonful soda, dissolved in hot water.

6 eggs, the whites only, whipped very stiff.

Add the milk to the creamed butter and sugar; the soda-water, corn-starch, then the flour and whites alternately. Bake in jelly cake tins.

_Filling._

3 tart, well-flavored apples, grated.

1 egg, beaten light.

1 cup of sugar.

1 lemon, grated peel and juice.

Beat sugar and egg up with the lemon. Pare the apples and grate them directly into this mixture, letting an assistant stir it the while. The color will be better preserved by this method. Put into a farina-kettle, with boiling water in the outer vessel, and stir until it comes to a boil. Let it cool before putting it between the cakes.

It is best eaten fresh.

ORANGE CAKE.

3 table-spoonfuls butter.

2 cups of sugar.

Yolks of 5 eggs, whites of three, beaten separately—the yolks strained through a sieve after they are whipped.

1 cup of cold water.

3 full cups of flour—enough for good batter.

1 large orange, the juice, and half the grated peel.

½ teaspoonful soda, dissolved in hot water.

1 teaspoonful cream of tartar, sifted in flour.

Cream the butter and sugar; add the eggs; heat in the orange, the water, soda, and stir in the flour quickly.

Bake in jelly cake tins.

_Filling._

Whites of two eggs, whisked stiff.

1 cup powdered sugar.

Juice, and half the peel of an orange.

Whip very light, and spread between the cakes when cold.

Reserve a little, and whip more sugar into it for frosting on top layer.

CHARLOTTE POLONAISE CAKE. (_Very fine._) +

2 cups powdered sugar.

½ cup of butter.

4 eggs, whites and yolks beaten separately.

1 small cup of cream, or rich milk.

3 cups of prepared flour.

Bake as for jelly cake.

_Filling._

6 eggs, whipped very light.

2 table-spoonfuls flour.

3 cups of cream—scalding hot.

6 table-spoonfuls grated chocolate.

6 table-spoonfuls powdered sugar.

½ pound sweet almonds, blanched and pounded.

¼ pound chopped citron.

¼ pound apricots, peaches, or other crystallized fruit.

½ pound macaroons.

Beat the yolks of the eggs very light. Stir into the cream the flour which has been previously wet with a little cold milk.

Add very carefully the beaten yolks, and keep the mixture at a slow boil, stirring all the time, for five minutes. Take from the fire and divide the custard into three equal portions. Put the grated chocolate, with the macaroons, finely crumbled (or pounded), with one table-spoonful of sugar, into one pan of the mixture, stirring and beating well. Boil five minutes, stirring constantly; take from the fire, whip with your egg-beater five minutes more, and set aside to cool.

Pound the blanched almonds—a few at a time—in a Wedgewood mortar, adding, now and then, a few drops of rose-water. Chop the citron very fine and mix with the almonds, adding three table-spoonfuls of sugar. Stir into the second portion of custard; heat to a slow boil; take it off and set by to cool.

Chop the crystallized fruit very small, and put with the third cupful of custard. Heat to a boil; pour out and let it cool.

Season the chocolate custard with vanilla; the almond and citron with bitter almond. The fruit will require no other flavoring. When quite cold, lay out four cakes made according to receipt given here, or bake at the same time a white cake in jelly-cake tins, and alternate with that. This will give you two good loaves. Put the chocolate filling between the first and second cakes; next, the almond and citron; the fruit custard next to the top. There will be enough for both loaves.

Ice the tops with lemon icing, made of the whites of the eggs whisked very stiff with powdered sugar, and flavored with lemon-juice.

Lest the reader should, at a casual glance through this receipt, be appalled at the length and the number of ingredients, let me say that I have made the “polonaise” frequently at the cost of little more time and trouble than is required for an ordinary cream or chocolate cake. I would rather make three such, than one loaf of rich fruit-cake.

A CHARLOTTE CACHÉE CAKE.

1 thick loaf of sponge, or other plain cake.

2 kinds of jelly—tart and sweet.

Whisked whites of 5 eggs.

1 heaping cup powdered sugar—or enough to make stiff icing.

Juice of 1 lemon whipped into the icing.

Cut the cake horizontally into five or six slices of uniform width. Spread each slice with jelly—first the tart, then the sweet, and fit them into their former places. Ice thickly all over, so as to leave no sign of the slices; set in a slow oven for a few minutes to harden; then, in a sunny window.

This is an easy way of making a showy cake out of a plain one.

FANNY’S CAKE. +

1 pound powdered sugar.

1 pound flour—Hecker’s “prepared.”

¼ pound butter rubbed to a cream with the sugar.

8 eggs, whites and yolks beaten separately.

1 coffee-cupful sweet almonds—blanched.

Extract of bitter almond and rose-water.

Blanch the almonds in boiling water. Strip off the skins and spread them upon a dry cloth until perfectly cold and crisp. Pound in a Wedgewood mortar, adding rose-water as you go on, and, at the last, half a teaspoonful bitter almond extract.

Stir the creamed butter and sugar and yolks together until _very_ light; add to this the flour, handful by handful; then the almond paste, alternately with the whites. Beat vigorously up from the bottom, two or three minutes.

Bake in small tins, well buttered. When cold, turn them out and cover tops and sides with—

_Almond Icing._

Whites of 3 eggs, whisked to a standing froth.

¾ pound of powdered sugar.

½ pound of sweet almonds blanched and pounded to a paste. When beaten fine and smooth, work gradually into the icing. Flavor with lemon-juice and rose-water.

This frosting is delicious. Dry in the open air when this is practicable.

MOTHER’S CUP CAKE.

1 cup of butter, }

2 cups of sugar, } creamed together.

3 cups of flour.

4 eggs beaten light—the yolks strained.

1 cup sweet milk—a small one.

1 teaspoonful of soda, dissolved in hot water.

2 teaspoonfuls cream of tartar sifted into the flour.

Nutmeg and vanilla flavoring.

Bake in a loaf, or as jelly-cake.

RAISIN CAKE.

1 pound powdered sugar.

1 pound flour.

½ pound butter rubbed to light cream with sugar.

1 cup sweet milk.

5 eggs, whites and yolks whipped separately, and the latter strained.

1 pound raisins, stoned, cut in half, dredged with flour, and put into the cake just before it goes into the oven.

1 teaspoonful mixed cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg.

½ teaspoonful of soda dissolved in hot water.

1 teaspoonful cream of tartar, sifted in the flour.

Beat very hard after it is mixed, and bake in small loaves, in a steady oven.

NEAPOLITAN CAKE. + (_Yellow, pink, white and brown._)

_Yellow._

2 cups powdered sugar.

1 cup butter stirred to light cream with sugar.

5 eggs—beaten well, yolks and whites separately.

½ cupful sweet milk.

3 cups prepared flour.

A little nutmeg.

_Pink and White._

1 pound sugar—powdered.

1 pound prepared flour.

½ pound butter creamed with sugar.

10 eggs—the whites only—whisked stiff.

Divide this batter into two equal portions. Leave one white, and color the other with a very little prepared cochineal. Use it cautiously, as a few drops too much will ruin the color.

_Brown._

3 eggs beaten light.

1 cup powdered sugar.

¼ cup of butter creamed with sugar.

2 table-spoonfuls cream.

1 _heaping_ cup prepared flour.

2 table-spoonfuls vanilla chocolate grated and rubbed smooth in the cream, before it is beaten into the cake.

Bake all in jelly-cake tins. The above quantity should make one dozen cakes—three of each color. Of course, half as much will suffice for an ordinary family baking. But it is convenient to prepare it wholesale in this manner for a large supper, for a charity bazaar entertainment, or a church “sociable.”

_Filling._

1st. 2 cups sweet milk.

2 table-spoonfuls corn-starch, wet with milk.

2 eggs.

2 small cups powdered sugar.

Heat the milk, stir in the sugar and corn-starch; boil five minutes and put in the eggs. Stir steadily until quite thick. Divide this custard into two parts. Stir into one 2 table-spoonfuls of chocolate (grated) and a teaspoonful of vanilla; into the other bitter almond.

2d. Whites of three eggs, whisked stiff.

1 cup of powdered sugar—heaping.

Juice, and half the grated peel of 1 lemon.

Whip up well. Lay the brown cake as the foundation of the pile; spread with the yellow custard. Put the pink, coated with chocolate, next, and the white frosting between the third and fourth cakes—_i.e._ the white and yellow. You can vary the order as your fancy dictates. Cover the top with powdered sugar, or ice it.

This cake looks very handsome cut into slices and mixed with plain, in baskets or salvers. You can hardly do better than to undertake it, if you have promised a liberal contribution to any of the objects above named.

ORLEANS CAKE.

1 liberal pound best flour, dried and sifted.

1 pound powdered sugar.

¾ pound butter, rubbed to a cream with the sugar.

6 eggs beaten light, and the yolks strained.

1 cup cream.

1 glass best brandy.

1 teaspoonful mixed mace and cinnamon.

1 teaspoonful soda, dissolved in hot water.

2 teaspoonfuls cream of tartar sifted with flour.

Add the strained yolks to the creamed butter and sugar; to this, the cream and soda—then, in alternate supplies, the whites and flour; finally, spice and brandy. Beat up hard for three minutes, and bake in two square loaves. The oven should not be too quick, but steady. Cover with paper if the cake shows signs of crustiness on the top before it has risen to the proper height. It should bake one hour.

Cover with lemon frosting when it is cool.

It is a good cake, and keeps well.

MORRIS CAKE. +

2 cups powdered sugar.

1 cup butter, creamed with the sugar.

4 cups flour.

5 eggs beaten light, the yolks strained.

1 rather large cup _sour_ cream, or loppered milk.

½ grated nutmeg.

1 teaspoonful vanilla.

1 teaspoonful of soda, dissolved in hot water.

Stir beaten yolks, butter, and sugar together, and beat _very_ light. Put in nutmeg and vanilla, the sour cream, half the flour, the soda-water, and the rest of the flour. Beat with steady strokes five minutes, bringing up batter from the bottom of the bowl at every sweep of the wooden spoon. In this way you drive the air into the cells of the egg-batter, instead of _out_ of them. This is a knack in the cake-maker’s art that is too little understood and practised.

Remember, then, that the _motion should always be upward, and the spoon always come up full_.

Bake in two loaves, or several smaller ones. The oven should not be too quick.

MONT BLANC CAKE. +

2 even cups of powdered sugar.

¾ cup butter, creamed with sugar.

Whites of 5 eggs, very stiff.

1 cup of milk.

3 cups of flour, or enough for good batter.

1 teaspoonful soda, dissolved in hot water.

2 teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar, sifted in flour.

Vanilla flavoring.

Bake in jelly-cake tins.

_Filling._

Whites of three eggs, whisked stiff.

1 heaping cup powdered sugar.

1 cocoanut, pared and grated.

Mix all lightly together, taking care not to bruise the cocoanut, and when the cakes are perfectly cold, spread between, and upon them.

CREAM ROSE CAKE. (_Very pretty._) +

Whites of 10 eggs, beaten to standing froth.

1 cup butter, creamed with sugar.

3 cups powdered sugar.

1 small cup of sweet cream.

_Nearly_ 5 cups prepared flour.

Vanilla flavoring, and liquid cochineal.

Stir the cream (into which it is safe to put a pinch of soda) into the butter and sugar. Beat five minutes with “the Dover,” until the mixture is like whipped cream. Flavor with vanilla, and put in by turns the whites and the flour. Color a fine pink with cochineal. Bake in four jelly-cake tins. When cold, spread with,

_Filling._

1½ cocoanuts, pared and grated.

Whites of 4 eggs, whisked stiff.

1½ cups powdered sugar.

2 teaspoonfuls best rose-water.

Instead of cochineal, you can use strawberry or currant juice in their season, making allowance for the thinning of your batter, by adding a little more flour. Cochineal is much better, however, since it takes but a few drops to color the whole cake. Any druggist will prepare it for you as he does for the confectioners, as a liquid. Or, he will powder it, and you can add to a pinch of the grayish crimson-dust a _very_ little water; strain it, and stir in, drop by drop, until you get the right tint. It is without taste or odor, and is perfectly harmless.

Heap the cake after it is filled, with the white mixture, beating more sugar into that portion intended for the frosting.

SULTANA CAKE.

4 cups flour.

1 cup of butter.

3 cups powdered sugar.

8 eggs, beaten light. Strain the yolks.

1 cup cream, or rich milk.

1 pound sultana (seedless) raisins, dredged thickly.

1 teaspoonful soda, dissolved in hot water.

2 smaller teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar.

½ grated nutmeg, and ½ teaspoonful of cinnamon.

Cream the butter and sugar. Sift the cream of tartar with the flour. Dredge the raisins with flour when you have picked them over with great care, washed and dried them.

Mix the beaten yolks with the creamed butter and sugar; then, the spice and brandy. Beat three minutes, and stir in the cream or milk lightly with the soda-water. Put in, first a handful of one, then a spoonful of the other, the flour and whipped whites. At last, beat in the fruit.

Bake in two large loaves, or four smaller ones. My own preference is for small loaves of cake. They are safer in baking, and can be cut more economically, especially where the family is not large. It is better to cut up the whole of a small cake for one meal, than to halve or quarter a large one, since the outer slices must be dry at the next cutting, and are wasted, to say nothing of the effect of the air upon the whole of the exposed interior.

The Sultana must be baked slowly and carefully, and like all fruit-cakes, longer than a plain one. Ice thickly. It will keep very well.

MY LADY’S CAKE. +

2 cups powdered sugar.

½ cup butter, creamed with the sugar.

Whites of 5 eggs, whisked stiff.

1 cup of milk.

3 full cups of prepared flour.

Flavor with vanilla.

Bake in jelly-cake tins.

_Filling._

1 cup sweet cream, whipped stiff.

3 table-spoonfuls powdered sugar.

½ cup grated cocoanut, stirred in lightly at the last.

1 teaspoonful rose-water.

A very delicate and delicious cake, but must be eaten very soon after it is made, since the cream will be sour or stale after twenty-four hours. It is best on the day in which it is made.

COCOANUT AND ALMOND CAKE. +

2½ cups powdered sugar.

1 cup of butter.

4 full cups prepared flour.

Whites of 7 eggs, whisked stiff.

1 small cup of milk, with a mere pinch of soda.

1 grated cocoanut.

½ teaspoonful nutmeg.

Juice and half the grated peel of 1 lemon.

Cream butter and sugar; stir in lemon and nutmeg. Mix well, add the milk, the whites and flour alternately. Lastly, stir in the grated cocoanut swiftly and lightly.

Bake in four jelly-cake tins.

_Filling._

1 pound sweet almonds.

Whites of 4 eggs, whisked stiff.

1 heaping cup powdered sugar.

2 teaspoonfuls rose-water.

Blanch the almonds. Let them get cold and dry. Then pound in a Wedgewood mortar, adding rose-water, as you go on. Save about two dozen to shred for the top. Stir the paste into the icing after it is made; spread between the cooled cakes. Make that for the top a trifle thicker, and lay it on heavily. When it has stiffened somewhat, stick the shred almonds closely over it. Set in the oven to harden, but do not let it scorch.

You will like this cake.

COCOANUT SPONGE CAKE.

5 eggs, whites and yolks separated.

1 cup powdered sugar.

1 _full_ cup prepared flour.

Juice and half the grated peel of 1 lemon.

A little salt.

½ grated nutmeg.

1 cocoanut, pared and grated.

Stir together sugar, and the whipped and strained yolks. To this put the lemon, salt and nutmeg. Beat in the flour and whites by turns, then the grated cocoanut.

Bake in square, shallow tins, or in one large card. It should be done in half an hour, for the oven must be quick, yet steady.

It is best eaten fresh.

RICHER COCOANUT CAKE. +

1 pound powdered sugar.

1 pound flour, dried and sifted.

½ pound butter, rubbed to cream with sugar.

1 cup of fresh milk.

1 lemon, the juice and half the grated peel.

5 eggs, yolks and whites beaten separately.

1 grated cocoanut.

1 teaspoonful soda, dissolved in hot water.

2 smaller teaspoonfuls cream of tartar, sifted in the flour.

Bake in two square, shallow pans.

Ice, when cold, with lemon icing.

COFFEE CAKE.

5 cups flour, dried and sifted.

1 cup of butter.

2 cups of sugar.

1 cup of molasses.

1 cup made black coffee—the very best quality.

½ pound raisins, seeded and minced.

½ pound currants, washed and dried.

¼ pound citron, chopped fine.

3 eggs, beaten very light.

½ teaspoonful cinnamon.

½ teaspoonful mace.

¼ teaspoonful cloves.

1 teaspoonful—a full one—of _saleratus_.

Cream the butter and sugar, warm the molasses slightly, and beat these, with the spices, hard, five minutes, until the mixture is very light. Next, put in the yolks, the coffee, and when these are well mixed, the flour, in turn with the whipped whites. Next, the saleratus, dissolved in hot water, and the fruit, all mixed together and dredged well with flour. Beat up very thoroughly, and bake in two loaves, or in small round tins.

The flavor of this cake is peculiar, but to most palates very pleasant. Wrap in a thick cloth as soon as it is cold enough to put away without danger of “sweating,” and shut within your cake box, as it soon loses the aroma of the coffee if exposed to the air.

MOLASSES FRUIT CAKE.

1½ pound flour.

1 pound powdered sugar.

1 cup of molasses.

1 cup sour cream.

5 eggs, beaten very light.

1 pound of raisins, seeded and cut into thirds.

1 teaspoonful cinnamon and cloves.

½ grated nutmeg.

½ teaspoonful ginger.

¾ pound butter.

1 full teaspoonful soda, dissolved in hot water.

Cream butter and sugar; warm the molasses slightly and beat into this with spices and cream. Add the yolks of the eggs, stir in the flour and the whites alternately, the soda-water, then the fruit, well dredged with flour. Beat all together vigorously for at least three minutes before putting into well-buttered tins to be baked.

It will require long and careful baking, the molasses rendering it liable to burn.

UNITY CAKE. +

1 egg.

1 cup of powdered sugar.

1 cup of cream (with a pinch of soda stirred in).

1 pint of prepared flour.

1 table-spoonful butter.

1 saltspoonful nutmeg.

1 teaspoonful vanilla.

Rub the butter and sugar together; add the beaten egg, the cream and nutmeg. Whip all for five minutes with the “Dover,” stir in the vanilla, and then very lightly, the flour.

Bake at once.

It is a nice cake if eaten while fresh.

BROWN CAKE.

4 cups flour.

1 cup butter.

1 cup molasses.

1 cup best brown sugar.

6 eggs, beaten very light.

1 table-spoonful ginger.

1 table-spoonful mixed cloves and cinnamon.

1 pound sultana raisins, washed, picked over and dried.

1 teaspoonful soda, dissolved in hot water.

Warm the molasses, butter and sugar slightly, and whip with an egg-beater to a cream. Beat in the yolks, the spices, the whites, flour, soda-water, and lastly the fruit, dredged with flour.

Beat hard for two or three minutes, and bake in two loaves or in small round tins.

The oven must be moderate and steady.

MYRTLE’S CAKE. +

5 eggs, beaten light, and the yolks strained.

3 cups of powdered sugar.

1 cup of butter creamed with the sugar.

1 cup sweet milk.

4 cups of prepared flour.

Juice of 1 lemon and half the grated peel.

A little nutmeg.

Bake in two loaves. It is a very good cup cake, safe and easy. Cover with lemon frosting.

RISEN SEED CAKE.

1 pound of flour.

½ pound of butter.

¾ pound powdered sugar.

½ cup good yeast.

4 table-spoonfuls cream.

Nutmeg.

A pinch of soda, dissolved in hot water.

2 table-spoonfuls carraway seed.

¼ pound of citron shred very small.

Mix flour, cream, half the butter (melted) and the yeast together; work up very well and set to rise for six hours. When very light, work in the rest of the butter rubbed to a cream with the sugar, the soda-water, and when these ingredients are thoroughly incorporated, the seed and citron. Let it rise three-quarters of an hour longer—until it almost fills the pans—and bake steadily half an hour if you have put it in small pans, an hour, if it is in large loaves. This is a German cake.

CITRON CAKE.

6 eggs, beaten light and the yolks strained.

2 cups of sugar.

¾ cup of butter.

2½ cups prepared flour, or enough to make pound-cake batter. With some brands you may need 3 cups.

½ pound citron cut in thin shreds.

Juice of an orange and 1 teaspoonful grated peel.

Cream butter and sugar; add the yolks, the whites and flour by turns, the orange, and lastly, the citron, dredged with flour. Beat all up hard, and bake in two loaves.

RICH ALMOND CAKE. +

4 cups prepared flour.

2 cups powdered sugar.

1 cup of butter.

10 eggs, whipped light, the yolks strained.

½ pound sweet almonds, blanched and pounded.

1 table-spoonful orange-flower water.

Nutmeg.

Beat butter and sugar ten minutes until they are like whipped cream; add the strained yolks, the whites and flour alternately with one another, then the almond paste in which the orange-flower water has been mixed as it was pounded, and the nutmeg. Beat well and bake as “snow balls,” in small round, rather deep pans, with straight sides. They will require some time to bake. Cover with almond icing.

A CHARLOTTE À LA PARISIENNE. +

1 large stale sponge-cake.

1 cup rich sweet custard.

1 cup sweet cream, whipped.

2 table-spoonfuls rose-water.

½ grated cocoanut.

½ pound sweet almonds, blanched and pounded.

Whites of 4 eggs, whipped stiff.

3 table-spoonfuls powdered sugar.

Cut the cake in horizontal slices the whole breadth of the loaf. They should be about half an inch thick. Divide the whipped eggs into two portions; into one stir the cocoanut with half the sugar; into the other the almond paste with the rest of the sugar. Spread the slices with these mixtures,—half with the cocoanut, half with almond, and replace them in their original form, laying aside the top-crust for a lid. Press all the sliced cake firmly together, that the slices may not slip, and with a sharp knife cut a deep cup out of the centre down to the bottom slice, which must be left entire. Take out the rounds you have cut, leaving walls an inch thick, and soak the part removed in a bowl with the custard. Rub it to a smooth batter, and whip it into the frothed cream. The rose-water in the almond paste will flavor it sufficiently. When it is a stiff rich cream, fill the cavity of the cake with it, put on the lid, and ice with the following:

Whites of 3 eggs.

1 heaping cup of powdered sugar.

Juice of 1 lemon.

Beat stiff and cover the sides and top of the cake. Set in a very cold place until needed.

This is a delicious and elegant Charlotte.

JEANIE’S FRUIT CAKE.

6 eggs.

1 cup of butter.

2½ cups of powdered sugar.

5 cups of flour.

2 cups of sour cream.

½ pound raisins, seeded and chopped.

¼ pound citron, shred finely.

1 heaping teaspoonful of soda.

1 teaspoonful mixed nutmeg and cinnamon.

Cream butter and sugar, beat in the yolks; the cream and spices, whip together for a minute, stir in the flour and whites, the soda, dissolved in hot water, and, very quickly, the fruit dredged with flour. Stir up hard and bake immediately.

This will make two good-sized loaves.

POMPTON CAKE. +

2 cups powdered sugar.

3 cups prepared flour.

1 cup rich, sweet cream.

A little salt.

3 eggs whipped very light.

Vanilla and nutmeg flavoring.

Beat the eggs very light—the whites until they will stand alone, the yolks until they are thick and smooth. Put yolks and sugar together; whip up well; add the cream, the flour, whites and flavoring, stirring briskly and lightly; fill your “snow-ball” pans or cups and bake at once, in a quick oven.

This cake may be made of sour cream, if a teaspoonful of soda be added. In this case, the prepared flour must not be used.

MAY’S CAKE.

3 cups flour, full ones.

3 eggs.

½ cup of milk.

2 cups of sugar.

½ cup of butter.

½ cup of cream.

½ teaspoonful soda dissolved in hot water.

1 teaspoonful cream of tartar, sifted in flour.

Nutmeg, and a pinch of grated lemon-peel.

Bake in one loaf.

FRED’S FAVORITE. +

3 eggs—whites and yolks beaten separately.

1 cup of sugar.

2 cups of flour.

½ cup rich milk—cream is better.

½ teaspoonful soda, dissolved in hot water.

1 teaspoonful cream of tartar sifted in flour.

Extract of bitter almond.

Bake in jelly-cake tins and when cold, spread with the following.

_Filling._

Whites of 4 eggs, whipped stiff.

Heaping cup of powdered sugar.

2 table-spoonfuls crab-apple jelly, beaten into the _méringue_ after it is stiff.

Reserve enough of the frosting before you add the jelly, to cover the top.

CORN-STARCH CUP CAKE.

5 eggs.

1 cup of butter.

2 cups of sugar.

1 cup sweet milk.

1 cup corn-starch.

2 cups prepared flour.

Vanilla flavoring.

Bake at once in small loaves, and eat while fresh. All corn-starch cakes become dry and insipid after twenty-four hours.

“ONE, TWO, THREE” CUP CAKE. +

1 cup powdered sugar.

2 cups prepared flour.

3 eggs well beaten.

1 table-spoonful butter.

½ cup milk.

A little vanilla.

Bake in jelly-cake tins, and spread with _méringue_ or jelly.

SNOW-DRIFT CAKE.

2 cups powdered sugar.

1 heaping cup prepared flour.

10 eggs—the whites only, whipped stiff.

Juice of 1 lemon and half the grated peel.

A little salt.

Whip the eggs stiff, beat in the sugar, lemon, salt, and finally the flour. Stir in very lightly and quickly and bake at once in two loaves, or in square cards.

It is a beautiful and delicious cake when fresh. It is very nice, baked as jelly-cake and spread with this:

_Filling._

Whites of 3 eggs.

1 heaping cup of powdered sugar.

Juice of 1 orange and half the peel.

Juice of ½ lemon.

Whip to a good _méringue_ and put between the layers, adding more sugar for the frosting on the top.

NEWARK CAKE.

1 cup of butter.

2 cups of sugar.

4 even cups prepared flour.

1 cup of good milk.

6 eggs, beaten very light.

Nutmeg and bitter almond flavoring.

If you have not the prepared flour, put in a teaspoonful of soda and two of cream of tartar.

WINE CAKE.

3½ cupfuls prepared flour.

½ cup of butter.

4 eggs—beaten light.

½ cupful cream (with a pinch of soda in it).

½ glass sherry wine.

Nutmeg.

2 full cups of powdered sugar.

Cream butter and sugar; beat in the yolks and wine until very light, add the cream; beat two minutes and stir in very quickly, the whites and flour.

Bake in one loaf.

FRUIT AND NUT CAKE. +

4 cups of flour.

2 cups of sugar.

1 cup of butter.

6 eggs—whites and yolks separated.

1 cup cold water.

1 coffee cupful of hickory-nut kernels, free from shells and very sweet and dry.

½ pound raisins, seeded, chopped and dredged with flour.

1 teaspoonful of soda dissolved in hot water.

2 teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar, sifted in the flour.

1 teaspoonful mixed nutmeg and cinnamon.

Rub butter and sugar together to a smooth cream; put in the yolks, then the water, spice, soda; next the whites and flour. The fruit and nuts, stirred together and dredged, should go in last. Mix thoroughly and bake in two loaves.

UNITY GINGERBREAD. +

1 cup of butter.

1 cup sugar.

1 cup molasses—the very best.

1 cup “loppered” milk or buttermilk.

1 quart flour.

1 table-spoonful ginger.

1 teaspoonful mixed cloves and mace.

1 teaspoonful cinnamon.

1 cup raisins, seeded and cut in two.

1 half-pound eggs—beaten light.

1 heaping teaspoonful of soda dissolved in hot water.

Put butter, molasses and sugar together; warm slightly and whip with an egg-beater, until light and creamy. Add the eggs, milk, spices; flour, soda-water. Beat hard for a minute, then put in the fruit, well dredged with flour. Bake in two loaves, or cards. For the sake of “preserving the unities” “1 half pound of eggs” is introduced into this _unique_ receipt. It is safe, however, if you do not care to take the trouble of weighing them, to allow four (or five, if they are small,) to the half-pound.

RICHMOND GINGERBREAD. +

1 cup of sugar.

1 cup of molasses.

1 cup of butter.

1 cup of sweet milk.

4 cups of flour.

4 eggs.

1 table-spoonful mixed ginger and mace.

1 teaspoonful soda—a small one—dissolved in the milk.

Beat sugar, molasses, butter and spice together to a cream; add the whipped yolks, the milk, and, very quickly, the whites and flour.

Bake in one loaf, or in cups.

EGGLESS GINGERBREAD. +

1 cup of sugar.

1 cup of best molasses.

½ cup of butter.

1 cup of sour cream.

1 table-spoonful ginger.

1 teaspoonful cinnamon.

1 heaping teaspoonful of soda, dissolved in hot water.

Nearly 4 cups of flour.

Mix, and bake quickly, adding the soda-water last, and beating hard for two minutes after it goes in.

SUGAR GINGERBREAD. +

1 cup butter.

2 cups of sugar.

4 eggs, beaten very light.

1 cup of sour _cream_.

4½ cups of flour.

Juice of 1 lemon, and half the grated peel.

1 teaspoonful of cinnamon.

½ grated nutmeg.

1 table-spoonful ginger.

1 teaspoonful of soda, dissolved in hot water.

Bake in two loaves. It is very nice, and will keep several days if wrapped in a thick cloth.

HALF-CUP GINGERBREAD.

½ cup of sugar.

½ cup of butter.

½ cup of best molasses.

½ cup of sour milk.

½ pound of eggs.

½ pound of flour, _or_ enough for good batter.

½ coffee-cup of raisins, seeded and halved.

½ table-spoonful ginger.

½ teaspoonful cinnamon.

½ _dessert_-spoonful soda, dissolved in hot water.

Cream butter, sugar, molasses and spices. Beat thoroughly before adding yolks and milk. Put in flour and whites alternately, then the soda-water. Mix well, and stir in the fruit dredged with flour.

Bake in one card or loaf.

CURRANT CAKE. +

1 cup of butter.

2 cups of powdered sugar, creamed with butter.

½ cup of sweet milk.

4 eggs.

3 cups of prepared flour.

½ grated nutmeg.

½ pound currants, washed, dried and dredged.

Put the fruit in last. Bake in cups or small pans. They are very nice for luncheon or tea—very convenient for Sabbath-school suppers and picnics.

COCOANUT CAKES. (_Small._)

1 grated cocoanut.

1 cup powdered sugar.

3 eggs—the whites only, whipped stiff.

1 table-spoonful corn-starch, wet in the milk of the cocoanut.

Rose-water flavoring.

Whip the sugar into the stiffened whites; then the corn-starch, the cocoanut and rose-water last. Beat up well, and drop by the spoonful upon buttered paper.

Bake half an hour.

ROSE DROP CAKES. (_Cocoanut._)

Mix as directed in last receipt, coloring the _méringue_ before you put in the cocoanut, with liquid cochineal. Add cautiously until you get the right tint.

VARIEGATED CAKES.

1 cup of powdered sugar.

½ cup of butter, creamed with the sugar.

½ cup of milk.

4 eggs—the whites only, whipped light.

2½ cups of prepared flour.

Bitter-almond flavoring.

Spinach-juice and cochineal.

Cream butter and sugar, add the milk, flavoring the whites and flour. Divide the batter into three parts. Bruise and pound a few leaves of spinach in a thin muslin bag, until you can express the juice. Put a few drops of this into one portion of the batter, color another with cochineal, leaving the third white. Put a little of each into small round pans or cups, giving a slight stir to each color as you add the next. This will vein the cakes prettily. Put the white between the pink and green, that the tints may show better.

If you can get pistachio-nuts to pound up for the green, the cakes will be much nicer.

Ice on sides and top.

SNOW-DROPS.

1 cup of butter.

2 cups of sugar.

Whites of 5 eggs.

1 small cup of milk.

3 full cups of prepared flour.

Flavor with vanilla and nutmeg.

Bake in small, round tins. Those in the shape of fluted shells are very pretty.

RICH DROP CAKES.

1 pound of flour.

1 pound of powdered sugar.

¾ pound of butter.

½ pound of currants, washed and dried.

4 eggs, beaten very light.

Juice of 1 lemon, and half the grated peel.

½ teaspoonful of soda, wet up with hot water.

Dredge the currants, and put them in last of all. Drop the mixture by the spoonful, upon buttered paper, taking care that they are not so close together as to touch in baking.

KELLOGG COOKIES.

1 cup of butter.

2 cups powdered sugar, creamed with the butter.

3 table-spoonfuls sour _cream_.

4 eggs, beaten very light.

5 cups of flour.

1 teaspoonful—an even one—of soda.

1 teaspoonful of nutmeg.

A handful of currants, washed and dried.

Mix all except the fruit, into a dough just stiff enough to roll out. The sheet should be about a quarter of an inch thick. Cut round, and bake quickly. When about half done open the oven-door; strew a few currants upon each cookey, and close the door again immediately, lest the cakes should get chilled.

BERTIE’S COOKIES. +

1 large cup of sugar.

½ cup of butter.

1 cup sweet milk.

3 eggs, beaten light.

4 cups prepared flour, or enough to enable you to roll out the dough.

Nutmeg and cinnamon.

Cream butter, spice and sugar; add the yolks, then the milk; whites and flour alternately; roll into a thin sheet with as few strokes as possible; cut into fancy shapes with tin-cutters, and bake quickly.

SEED COOKIES.

1 cup of butter.

2½ cups powdered sugar.

4 eggs.

4 cups of flour, or enough for soft dough.

2 ounces carraway-seeds, scattered through the flour while dry.

Rub butter and sugar to a cream; add the yolks, and mix up well. Put in flour and whites in turns; roll out thin and cut into round cakes.

MONTROSE COOKIES. +

1 pound of flour.

½ pound of butter.

½ pound of powdered sugar.

1 teaspoonful mixed spices—cinnamon, nutmeg, and mace, and a few raisins.

3 eggs, well beaten.

Juice of 1 lemon, and half the grated peel.

Roll out rather thin, and cut into round or oval cakes. Sprinkle a little white sugar over the top; lay a whole raisin in the centre of each, and bake quickly until crisp.

AUNT MOLLY’S COOKIES.

1 cup of butter.

2 cups powdered sugar.

4 eggs.

4 cups of prepared flour, or enough for soft dough.

2 table-spoonfuls of cream.

Nutmeg and mace.

Roll into a thin sheet, and cut into small cakes. Bake in a quick oven until crisp and of a delicate brown. Brush them over while hot with a soft bit of rag dipped in sugar and water, pretty thick.

LEMON MACAROONS.

1 pound of powdered sugar.

4 eggs, whipped very light and long.

Juice of 3 lemons, and peel of one.

1 heaping cup of prepared flour.

½ teaspoonful nutmeg.

Butter your hands lightly; take up small lumps of the mixture; make into balls about as large as a walnut, and lay them upon a sheet of buttered paper—more than two inches apart. Bake in a brisk oven.

LEMON COOKIES.

1 pound of flour, or enough for stiff dough.

¼ pound of butter.

1 pound of powdered sugar.

Juice of 2 lemons, grated peel of one.

3 eggs, whipped very light.

Stir butter, sugar, lemon-juice and peel to a light cream. Beat at least five minutes before adding the yolks of the eggs. Whip them in thoroughly, put in the whites, lastly the flour. Roll out about an eighth of an inch in thickness, and cut into round cakes. Bake quickly.

Keep in a dry place in a tin box, but do not wrap them up, as they are apt to become soft.

CARRAWAY COOKIES. +

½ pound of butter, }
½ pound of sugar, } rubbed to a cream.

3 eggs, beaten long and light.

1 ounce carraway seeds, sifted through the flour.

Flour to roll out pretty stiff.

Roll into a thin sheet; cut out with a cake-cutter; prick with a sharp fork, and bake in a moderate oven.

SMALL ALMOND CAKES.

1 pound of powdered sugar.

6 eggs, beaten very light.

½ pound of almonds, blanched and pounded.

½ pound of prepared flour.

Rose-water, mixed with the almond-paste.

Whip up the whites of the eggs to a _méringue_ with half the sugar; stir in the almond-paste. Beat the yolks ten minutes with the remainder of the sugar. Mix all together, and add the flour lightly and rapidly.

Bake in well-buttered _paté_-pans, or other small tins, very quickly. Turn out as soon as done upon a baking-pan, bottom uppermost, that these may dry out.

CREAM CAKES. + (_Pretty and good._)

Some good puff-paste.

Whites of 2 eggs, ½ cup sweet jelly.

1 cup of cream, whipped to a froth.

3 table-spoonfuls powdered sugar.

Vanilla, or other flavoring.

Roll out the paste as for pies; cut into squares five inches across. Have ready greased muffin-rings three inches in diameter; lay one in the centre of each square; turn up the four corners upon it, so as to make a cup of the paste, and bake in a quick oven. When _almost_ done, open the oven-door, pull out the muffin-rings with care, brush the paste cups inside and out with beaten white of egg; sift powdered sugar over them, and brown. This operation must be performed quickly and dexterously, that the paste may not cool. Let them get cold after they are taken from the oven, line with the jelly and fill with the whipped cream sweetened and flavored.

CUSTARD CAKES. +

Some good puff-paste.

Some balls of white, clean tissue-paper.

3 or 4 table-spoonfuls powdered sugar.

2 eggs.

2 cups—more or less, of rich custard.

Roll out the paste _very_ thin; spread it thickly with beaten yolk of egg, and strew powdered sugar over this. Fold up tightly; flatten with the rolling-pin, and roll out as for a pie-crust. Line paté-pans well greased with this; put a ball of soft paper within each to keep up the top crust; put this on, lightly buttering the inner edge, and bake quickly until nicely browned. When almost cold, turn out of the tins, lift the top crusts, take out the papers and cover the tops with icing made of the whites of the eggs and powdered sugar. Sift more sugar over this, and set in the oven a minute or two to harden. Just before sending them to table fill with custard; replace the frosted covers, and serve.

They are very good. It is well to thicken the custard with a little corn-starch.

QUEEN CAKES. +

1 cup of butter.

2 cups of sugar.

3½ cups of flour.

½ cup of cream.

4 eggs.

½ pound of currants.

¼ pound sweet almonds, blanched and pounded.

½ teaspoonful soda, dissolved in hot water.

1 teaspoonful of cream of tartar, sifted in flour.

Rose-water, worked into almond-paste.

Beat butter and sugar to a cream, add the yolks and almond-paste. Whip all together for five minutes before putting in the cream, the soda-water, whites and flour alternately; finally the fruit dredged with flour. Stir thoroughly, and bake in small tins well buttered.

They should be done in from twenty to thirty minutes. Ice them with lemon frosting on the tops only.

SMALL CITRON CAKES.

6 eggs.

½ pound of butter.

½ pound sugar, creamed with the butter.

¾ pound of prepared flour.

1 glass best brandy.

¼ pound citron, shred fine.

Nutmeg to taste.

Beat the creamed butter and sugar up with the yolks; add the brandy, and whip _hard_ five minutes; then the flour, whites, and the citron shred fine and dredged with flour. Bake in small tins very quickly. They keep well.

SEED WAFERS.

½ pound of sugar.

¼ pound of butter, creamed with the sugar.

4 eggs, beaten very light.

Enough flour for soft dough.

1 ounce carraway-seeds, mixed with the dry flour.

Mix well; roll into a _very_ thin paste. Cut into round cakes, brush each over with the white of an egg, sift powdered sugar upon it, and bake in a brisk oven about ten minutes, or until crisp. Do not take them from the baking-tins until nearly cold, as they are apt to break while hot.

GINGER COOKIES. +

1 cup of butter.

2 cups of sugar, creamed with the butter.

¼ cup of milk, with a pinch of soda in it.

2 eggs.

1 table-spoonful ginger.

½ grated nutmeg.

½ teaspoonful of cinnamon.

Flour for stiff dough.

Roll very thin; cut into round cakes, and bake quickly until crisp.

They will keep a long time.

GINGER SNAPS. (_Large quantity._)

1 pound of butter.

2 pounds of flour.

1½ pounds of sugar.

6 eggs, beaten very light.

1 great spoonful of ginger.

1 teaspoonful mixed cloves and cinnamon.

Roll as thin as wafer-dough. Cut into small, round cakes, and bake crisp. Let them get cool before putting them away, or they may soften.

FRIED JUMBLES.

2 eggs.

1 cup of sugar, }

4 table-spoonfuls of butter, } rubbed to a cream.

1 cup of milk.

1 teaspoonful of soda.

2 teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar.

4 cups of flour, or enough for soft dough.

Season to taste with nutmeg.

Roll into a sheet nearly an inch thick. Cut into shapes, and fry in boiling lard, as you would crullers. Drain off every drop of fat; sift powdered sugar over the cakes while hot, and eat fresh.

GENUINE SCOTCH SHORT BREAD. (_Very fine._)

2 pounds flour.

1 pound best butter.

Scant ½ pound of sugar.

Wash all particles of salt from the butter. Rub this and the sugar together to a cream, as for loaf cake. The flour should be dry and slightly warm. Mix this into the creamed butter and sugar gently and gradually with the hand, until all the ingredients are thoroughly incorporated. The longer it is kneaded the better it will be. Lay it on a pasteboard, and press into sheets nearly half an inch thick with the hand, as rolling has a tendency to toughen it. Cut into such shapes as you may desire—into oblong, or square cards; prick or stamp a pattern on top (I have seen the Scotch thistle pricked upon it) and bake in a moderate oven until it is crisp, and of a fine yellow brown.

It delights me to be able to make public this receipt, for the excellent housewife and friend, from whom I have procured it, is a native of the “land o’ cakes,” and, as I can testify from repeated and satisfactory proofs thereof, makes the most delicious “short bread” that was ever eaten in this country—quite another thing from the rank, unctuous compound vended under that name by professional bakers and confectioners.

TEA.

THE evening meal, call it by whatever name we may, is apt to be the most social one of the three which are the rule in this land. The pressure of the business allotted to the hours of daylight is over. The memory and the conversation of each one who comes to the feast, are richer by the history of another day. It is sometimes hard to “make talk” for the breakfast table. The talk of the six o’clock P.M. dinner, or supper, or tea, makes itself. I frankly own that, however much may be said in favor, on hygienic grounds, of early meals for the nursery, the mid-day dinner for adults has always worn for me a grim, and certainly an unpoetical aspect. The “nooning” should, for the worker with muscles, nerves, or brains, be a light repast and easily digested, followed by real physical rest. He is weary when he comes to it; he eats in haste, his mind intent upon the afternoon’s work, and he may not tarry when it is dispatched, having already “lost” an hour in discussing (or bolting) soup, salad, fish, meat and dessert. The weight of undigested food seems, during the succeeding hours of business or study, to shift its position and clog and heat the brain.

“I will not preach to roast-beef and plum-pudding!” said America’s greatest preacher, in refusing to hold a Sabbath afternoon service.

People quoted the _bon mot_ approvingly. Few had common sense enough to apply it to week-day occupations. If men and women would rest, after an early dinner on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, as long and absolutely as they do on Sabbath afternoons, there would be less money made, perhaps, but fewer stomachs destroyed, and fewer intellects overstrained.

This, however, as Paul candidly remarks touching certain of his deliverances—“I say of mine own judgment.” And, after all, I should be the sorriest of the sorry to see the tea-table swept out of American households. While I write, there come stealing back to me recollections that tempt me to draw my pen through some lines I have just set down. Late dinners and late suppers used to be the fashion, seldom altered—in Southern homes. In summer, the latter were always eaten by artificial light. In winter, lamps were brought in with the dessert, at dinner-time. I was almost grown before I was introduced to what the valued correspondent who gave us the text for the first “Familiar Talk” in this volume calls, “a real old New England tea-table.” During one delicious vacation I learned, and reveled in knowing, what this meant. Black tea with cream, (I have never relished it without, since that idyllic summer) rounds of brown bread, light, sweet, and fresh; hot short-cake in piles that were very high when we sat down, and very low when we arose; a big glass bowl of raspberries and currants that were growing in the garden under the back windows an hour before; a basket of frosted cake; a plate of pink ham, balanced by one of shaved, _not_ chipped beef—and _sage cheese!_ I had never eaten it before. I have never tasted it anywhere else than in that wide, cool tea-room, the level sun-rays flickering through the grape-vines shading the west side of the house, and through the open casements opposite, a view of Boston bay—all purple and rose and gold, dotted with hundreds of white sails. This was what we had, when, in that Old New England farm-house, Polly, the faithful—who had startled me, for a time, by saying, “proper glad,” and “sweet pretty;” who “hadn’t ought” to do this, and “should admire” to do that—Polly, whom nobody thought of calling a servant, but was a “help” in every conceivable sense of the word—had “put the kettle on and we all had tea!”

I do not like to think it possible that in that beloved homestead they may have kept up with the times so far as to have dinner at six o’clock, and tea—never!

It is a pleasant practice, in many families, where the late dinner is convenient, and, for many reasons, preferred during the rest of the week, to have a “comfortable tea” on Sabbath evening. The servants are thus released the earlier for their evening’s devotions or recreations; the housewife has an opportunity of indulging the father, who is seldom at home at luncheon-time, with dainty wonders of her skill that are not _en règle_ at dinner, and the children have a taste of old-fashioned home-life, the memory of which will be carried by them as long and fondly into their after-lives as I have borne the taste and fragrance of Cousin Melissa’s sage cheese. We do not say “Cousin,” nowadays in polite society, nor christen our children Melissa. You will find elsewhere in this book that I have directed you, as preliminary to frosting fruit for dessert—peaches, apricots and nectarines—first to rub off the down (which makes the softness of the blush) with a rough cloth.