Chapter XXXI: Mary's Marriage (7)

Let all come to a boil. For the dumplings, sift together one cup of flour and two even teaspoons of baking powder. Add a pinch of salt. Mix into a soft dough or batter with about 3/4 cup of sweet milk or cream. Drop six or eight spoonfuls of this batter into the boiling syrup on top of apples. Cover closely and cook on top of range twenty minutes without uncovering. Serve hot. These dumplings should be light as puff balls. Peaches may be substituted for apples and are delicious.

CARAMEL CUSTARD (AS MARY PREPARED IT)

1 pint of milk. 2 eggs. 1/2 cup granulated sugar.

Melt 1/2 cup of sugar in an iron pan on stove and allow it to brown. Add a part of the hot milk, stirring constantly until brown sugar is dissolved. Add balance of the pint of hot milk. Stir all together, then stand aside to cool. When cold, add eggs and bake in oven in custard cups. Stand cups in hot water while baking.

AUNT SARAH'S BREAD PUDDING

Pour 1 quart of boiling milk over 1-1/2 pints of soft bread crumbs. Put the mixture into a buttered pudding dish with 1 teaspoonful salt. Cover closely with a plate and let stand about half an hour. At the end of that time beat into it three eggs, 1 teaspoonful lemon extract, and beat until perfectly smooth. Bake in a moderately hot oven three-quarters of an hour. Serve with the following sauce: 6 tablespoonfuls pulverized sugar, 2 tablespoonfuls butter, 1 tablespoonful lemon juice. Beat all together to a cream; when it is ready to serve. No sugar is needed in this pudding if this sweet sauce is used.

STEAMED BREAD PUDDING

Place 1 cup of fine dried bread crumbs in a bowl. Pour over the crumbs 2 cups of milk and allow to stand a short time. Beat together 2 eggs and scant 1/2 cup sugar, add 1 tablespoon of butter. Mix all the ingredients together thoroughly; then add 1/2 cup of chopped raisins, which have been seeded and floured. Pour the batter in the well-buttered top part of a double boiler over hot water. Steam about 2-1/2 to 3 hours. Serve hot with sauce used for cottage pudding, or serve with sugar and cream.

AN ECONOMICAL BREAD AND APPLE PUDDING

Into a well-buttered pudding dish put a layer of sliced sour apples. On the top of these a layer of stale bread crumbs with small bits of butter and sugar sprinkled over them, more sliced apples and bread crumbs, having the crumbs for the top layer. To about three apples use 1 cup of bread crumbs, 1/2 cup sugar, piece of butter size of walnut and bake in oven until apples are tender. Serve with cream.

CUP CUSTARDS

1 quart of sweet milk. 5 large eggs. 3 tablespoons sugar. Grated nutmeg or vanilla flavoring.

Scald milk. Beat whites of eggs separately. Add milk when cooled to the beaten yolks. Add sugar and flavoring. Stir in stiffly beaten whites of eggs, pour into custard cups, stand them in a dripping pan half filled with boiling water. Stand the pan in a moderate oven about twenty minutes, or until custard is "set." This quantity fills about eight small custard cups. The water surrounding the custard cups should not be allowed to boil, but the custard should cook slowly.

Grate nutmeg thickly over top of each custard before placing in the oven. Scalding the milk before using improves the custard.

FRAU SCHMIDT'S GRAHAM PUDDING

Sift into a bowl 1/4 cup of pastry flour and 1 teaspoonful of baking powder. Add 1 cup Graham flour, pinch of salt and 1/2 cup granulated sugar. Mix all thoroughly, then add 1/2 cup of finely chopped kidney suet. Add 1 cup of seedless raisins mixed with one extra tablespoonful of white flour. Mix into a batter with 1 cup of sweet milk, to which add yolk of one egg. Lastly, add the stiffly beaten white of egg. Flavor with either a little grated nutmeg or essence of vanilla.

Make a strong, unbleached muslin bag 7 by 12 inches. Pour the batter into the bag, which had been previously dipped in cold water, the inside of the bag sifted over with flour, and tie bag at top with a string, allowing room for the pudding to swell. Place the bag in the perforated compartment of a steamer, over boiling water, and boil continuously 1-1/2 hours, or longer, without removing lid of steamer oftener than absolutely necessary.

Serve Graham Pudding hot with sauce used for "cottage pudding," or serve simply with sugar and cream, or a sauce may be served composed of 1/2 cup of pulverized sugar, creamed with 1/4 cup of butter. Add 1 tablespoonful of lemon juice or flavor with vanilla. Stand sauce in a cool place a short time and serve cold on hot pudding.

SPONGE BREAD PUDDING

Place 1-3/4 cups of soft stale (either white or graham) bread crumbs in a pudding dish. Pour 2 cups of hot milk over the crumbs, cover with a plate and allow it to stand about thirty minutes, then add yolks of 2 eggs, 1/2 teaspoonful of salt, 1 tablespoonful of sugar and grated yellow rind of orange or lemon for flavoring. Beat the mixture until perfectly smooth, add the stiffly beaten whites of two eggs. Bake in a moderately hot oven. Serve hot with the following sauce:

SAUCE.

Three large tablespoonfuls of pulverized sugar and 1 tablespoonful of butter were beaten together until smooth and creamy, 1 teaspoonful of lemon juice was added. The sauce, when quite cold, was served with the warm pudding.

AUNT SARAH'S COTTAGE PUDDING

Cream together 1 cup of sugar, 2 tablespoonfuls of butter, 1 egg, white beaten separately, and added last, 1 cup of sweet milk, pinch of salt, 2 cups of flour, sifted with 2 heaping teaspoonfuls of Royal baking powder, 1/2 cup of dried currants, well floured. Add stiffly beaten white of egg. Bake in a small oblong bread pan.

SAUCE.

One cup of milk, 1/2 cup of water, 1 large teaspoonful of butter, a scant tablespoonful of flour moistened with a small quantity of water, before adding. Sweeten to taste, add 1/2 teaspoonful of grated nutmeg. Cook all together a few minutes, allow the mixture to partly cool, then stir in the yolk of one egg; stand on stove to heat, but not to cook. Serve hot over freshly baked, warm cottage pudding, cut in squares.

APPLE "STRUDEL"

Aunt Sarah pared and quartered six medium-sized tart apples, placed in the bottom of an agate pudding dish, poured over them one cup of hot water and 2 tablespoonfuls of sugar. She allowed this to stand on the range and cook while she mixed the following dough.

Into a bowl she sifted 1 pint of flour with 2 teaspoons baking powder, one teaspoonful of sugar, a little salt. Cut 1 tablespoonful of butter through the flour. Lightly mixed all together into a soft dough with about 3/4 cup sweet milk. Should she have a left-over yolk of egg, that was added to the milk. She rolled dough out lightly on the bread board, cut vents in the crust to allow steam to escape and spread it over the top of the dish containing the hot apples; placed in a hot oven to bake until light brown on top. Serve with sugar and cream.

Aunt Sarah called this "Apple Strudel," but the German recipe for "Apple Strudel," handed down by her Grandmother, was quite different. An ordinary noodle dough was made, placed on a clean cloth on the table and rolled as thin as tissue paper. Small bits of butter were scattered over this, covered with tart apples, thinly sliced, sprinkled with cinnamon, sugar and chopped raisins, rolled up and baked in the oven until brown on top, basting frequently with a thin syrup composed of sugar, butter and water.

"LEMON MERINGUE" PUDDING

1 pint of milk. 1/2 cup of sugar 1 cup bread crumbs. Juice and grated rind of one lemon. 2 eggs. 1/3 cup of butter.

3 tablespoonfuls of pulverized sugar used for top. Soak the bread crumbs in milk. Beat the butter and sugar together. Add yolks of eggs, soaked bread crumbs and grated lemon rind and about 3/4 of the juice of the lemon. Bake in a buttered pudding dish until firm, then cover the pudding with a meringue composed of the stiffly beaten whites of eggs, 3 tablespoonfuls of pulverized sugar and the remaining lemon juice. Place in oven to brown. Stand on ice; serve cold.

SUET PUDDING

1 cup suet, chopped fine. 1 cup sugar. 1 cup sweet milk. 2 eggs. 1 teaspoonful cinnamon. 1 cup raisins. 1 cup currants. 3 cups flour sifted with 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder.

Steam 2-1/2 hours, then place in oven two or three minutes. This quantity will partly fill three empty 1-pound baking powder cans; allowing room to swell. These puddings are equally as good as when freshly prepared if placed in a steamer a short time before serving until heated through.

SAUCE FOR SUET PUDDING.

One cup of pulverized sugar and 1 large tablespoonful of butter creamed together. One teaspoonful of vanilla. Add one whole egg or the yolks of two eggs, or the whites of two eggs, whichever you happen to have.

STEAMED FRUIT PUDDING

1 cup sweet milk. 1 cup chopped suet. 1 cup molasses. 1 cup raisins. 1 teaspoonful soda dissolved in a little water. 1 teaspoonful salt.

SAUCE FOR PUDDING.

A small quantity of cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and a _very little_ clove. Flour to make a batter a little thicker than that of ordinary cake. Steam about 3 hours. This pudding is also inexpensive and equally as good as the former recipe.

Beat 1 egg very light, add 1 cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoonful vanilla. Beat all together until creamy. Serve at once.

CORNMEAL PUDDING

Scald 1 quart of sweet milk. While hot stir in 3 tablespoonfuls of cornmeal, 3 tablespoonfuls of flour mixed smooth with a little cold milk. Add 1 tablespoonful of butter. Let cool. Then add to the mixture 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup molasses, 1 well-beaten egg, 1/2 teaspoonful of ginger, 1/2 teaspoonful cinnamon, 1/4 pint cold milk, a small pinch of soda and 1/2 cup of floured, seeded raisins. Bake 2 hours in a moderate oven. Serve with sugar and cream.

HUCKLEBERRY PUDDING

Two eggs and 1 small cup of granulated sugar creamed together. Four tablespoonfuls of cold water. Add 1 cup of sifted flour containing 1 teaspoonful of baking powder, and 1 cup of huckleberries, pitted cherries, or raisins and bake. Serve with milk or any sauce liked. This recipe was given Mary by a friend, who called it her emergency pudding, as it may be easily and quickly prepared from canned sour cherries from which liquid has been drained, or any tart fruit, when fresh fruit is not in season.

TAPIOCA CUSTARD

Four tablespoonfuls of pearl tapioca soaked in cold water over night. The next morning drain the tapioca, boil 1 quart of sweet milk, beat the yolks of 4 eggs light, stir them into the tapioca, adding 4 tablespoonfuls of sugar. Beat all together and gradually add the hot milk. Return to the fire and stir until it commences to boil. Take from the range and pour in a glass dish. Flavor with 1 teaspoonful of vanilla. Whip the whites of the eggs to a standing froth and stir into the cooling pudding When cold stand on ice until ready to serve. One-half cup of shredded cocoanut may be added if liked.

DELICIOUS BAKED PEACH PUDDING

For the dough place in a bowl 1 pint of flour sifted with 2 teaspoonfuls of Royal baking powder and a pinch of salt. Cut through this a scant 1/2 cup of butter. Mix this with sufficient sweet milk to make a soft dough. Roll out dough half an inch thick, cut in strips and in case whole, ripe, pared peaches, leaving top and bottom of the peach exposed. Or solid canned peaches may be used. Put two halves of peach together and place a strip of dough around the peach. Pinch dough well together, place in a bake dish. Prepare a syrup of 2 cups of sugar and 1 cup of water. Let come to a boil, pour around the dumplings and bake a half hour in a moderately hot oven. These are delicious. The recipe was given Mary by a friend who was an excellent cook. From this dough may also be baked excellent biscuits.

CARAMEL CUSTARD

Place 1 pint of milk on the range in a double boiler. Melt half a cup of sugar in an iron pan over the fire until a golden brown. When melted add four tablespoonfuls of boiling water. Allow mixture to cook one minute, then add it to the milk. Remove from the fire and add 1 teaspoonful of vanilla. When cool stir in 4 well-beaten eggs with 2 tablespoonfuls of sugar. Pour the mixture in a small pudding dish. Stand in a pan of boiling water, place in oven to bake until a jelly-like consistency. When cooled serve plain or with whipped cream.

"AUNT SARAH'S" RHUBARB PUDDING

Remove skin from stalks of rhubarb, wash and cut into half-inch pieces a sufficient quantity to half fill a medium-sized agate or earthenware pudding dish. Place in a stew-pan on range, cook slowly with a couple tablespoons of sugar and a very small amount of water. Sift together in a bowl 1 pint of flour, 1-1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and a pinch of salt. With a knife cut through the flour 2 tablespoonfuls of butter, moisten with one beaten egg and sufficient milk added to make a soft dough or batter. Drop tablespoons of this thick batter over top of dish containing hot stewed rhubarb. Place at once in a hot oven, bake quickly until crust is a light brown. Serve on individual dishes, placing over each a couple tablespoonfuls of the following sauce. The combined flavor of rhubarb and vanilla is delicious.

VANILLA SAUCE FOR RHUBARB PUDDING.

Beat 1 egg very light, add 1 cup of light brown sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla flavoring. Beat all together until foamy. Serve at once, cold, on the hot pudding.

RICE CUSTARD

Add 1 cup of cold boiled rice to 2 cups of sweet milk, mix together slowly. Add 1/4 cup sugar, the well-beaten yolks of 2 eggs, let all cook together a few minutes. Remove custard from the fire and pour over the stiffly-beaten whites of two eggs. Beat well with an egg-beater. Place in a glass dish and serve cold.

MARY'S CUP PUDDING (FROM STALE BREAD)

One quart of finely _crumbled stale bread_ (not dried crumbs). Fill buttered cups two-thirds full of crumbs and pour over the following custard, composed of one pint of milk and three eggs. Allow to stand a few minutes, then place the cups in a pan partly filled with hot water, place the pan in a moderately hot oven and bake thirty minutes. No sugar is required in this pudding if the following sweet sauce be served with it:

SAUCE FOR PUDDING.

Mix one tablespoonful of cornstarch with a half cup of sugar. Pour over one cup of boiling water, add one generous teaspoonful of butter. Cook all together until clear, take from the fire and add one well-beaten egg and one teaspoonful of vanilla. Serve hot.

"BUCKWHEAT MINUTE" PUDDING

Pour three cups of milk in a stew-pan, place on range and let come to a boil. Then stir slowly into the boiling milk 1-1/4 cups of buckwheat flour and 1/4 teaspoonful of salt. Keep stirring constantly until a thick mush. Serve at once with sugar and cream. I have never eaten this pudding anywhere except in "Bucks County." It is cheap, quickly and easily prepared and well liked by many country folk in Bucks County.

PEACH TAPIOCA

One cup of tapioca soaked in 1 quart of cold water several hours. Place in stew-pan, set on stove and cook until clear. Add sugar to taste and 1 pint can of peaches. Boil two or three minutes, remove from range and pour into the dish in which it is to be served. Stand aside to cool.

AUNT SARAH'S PLAIN BOILED PUDDING

One cup of beef suet chopped fine or run through a food-chopper, 1/2 cup sour milk, 1 egg, 1 teaspoonful soda, pinch of salt. 1/2 cup sugar, 1 teaspoonful cinnamon, 1 cup raisins, seeded and floured. Flour enough to make as stiff as ordinary cake batter. Boil or steam in a muslin bag three hours. This is a very inexpensive and good pudding. Dust a small quantity of flour over suet before chopping. Serve with the following sauce:

PUDDING SAUCE.

One large tablespoonful of butter, 1 teacup water, 1/2 teacup milk, scant tablespoonful of flour, grated nutmeg to flavor. Sweeten to taste, add a pinch of salt. Cook and let cool. Beat up yolk of egg, add to sauce, stand on back of stove to heat, not cook. Serve hot over the pudding.

APPLE TAPIOCA

Pour 1 pint of cold water over 1/2 cup tapioca. Allow to stand until the following morning, when cook until clean. Slice 6 tart apples. Place in bottom of pudding dish, strew sugar over, then pour over the tapioca; place over this a layer of thinly sliced apples over which dust sugar. Place in oven and bake until the apples are cooked. Serve with sugar and cream. Several thin slices of lemon added before baking impart a fine flavor.

STEAMED WALNUT PUDDING

Place in a bowl 1/2 cup butter and 1 cup of granulated sugar. Beat to a cream. Add yolks of 2 eggs and 1/2 cup of syrup molasses or maple syrup, in which had been dissolved 1 teaspoonful baking soda. Then add 1 cup sweet milk, alternately, with about 3-1/2 cups flour, 1/2 cup of walnut meats, run through food-chopper or crushed with rolling pin, 3/4 cup of seeded raisins, 1/2 teaspoonful ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoonful grated nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoonful ground cloves, a pinch of salt and the stiffly beaten whites of the two eggs.

The batter should be placed in two empty one-pound tin coffee cans, about two-thirds full, covered tightly with lid and placed in a pot of boiling water which should be kept boiling constantly for three hours; when steamed the pudding should almost fill the cans. If the cans were well buttered and flour sifted over, the pudding when steamed may be easily removed to a platter. Slice and serve hot with the following sauce:

Beat one cup of pulverized sugar to a cream with 2 heaping tablespoonfuls of butter. Add white of one egg (unbeaten). Beat all together until creamy. Add 3/4 of a teaspoonful of lemon extract and stand sauce in a cold place or on ice one hour before serving on slices of hot pudding. This is a delicious pudding.

"CORNMEAL SPONGE" PUDDING

Crumble cold corn muffins, or corn cake, a quantity sufficient to fill two cups. Soak in 1 quart of sweet milk three or four hours, then add 3 well-beaten eggs, 3 tablespoonfuls of sugar and a pinch of salt. Beat all well together. Place in a pan and bake 1 hour in a moderately hot oven. Serve hot with whipped cream and sugar or with a sauce made by beating to a cream a heaping tablespoonful of butter, 1 cup of granulated sugar, 1 egg and a very little vanilla flavoring.

MARY'S CORN STARCH PUDDING

1-1/2 quarts of milk. 5 eggs. 2 heaping tablespoonfuls of corn starch. 1 scant cup of sugar. 1 teaspoonful of vanilla.

Pour milk in a double boiler and place on range to cook. Moisten cornstarch with a little cold milk and add to remainder of the milk when boiling hot. Stir thoroughly, then beat yolk of eggs and sugar until light, stir in stiffly beaten whites and when all are mixed stir into the scalding milk. Let come to a boil again and add vanilla or almond flavoring. Pour into individual molds to cool. Serve cold with a spoonful of jelly or preserved strawberry with each serving.

APPLE JOHNNY CAKE (SERVED AS A PUDDING)

This is a good, cheap, wholesome pudding.

1 cup corn meal. 2 tablespoonfuls of sugar. 1 teaspoonful of soda. 1 tablespoonful of melted butter. 1/4 teaspoonful of salt. 2/3 cup flour. 1 cup sour milk.

Mix batter together as you would for cake, then add 4 pared, thinly sliced, tart apples to the batter. Stir all together. Bake in a quick oven in a bread pan and serve hot with cold cream and sugar. Raisins may be substituted for apples if preferred.

A GOOD AND CHEAP "TAPIOCA PUDDING"

Soak over night in cold water 3 even tablespoonfuls of pearl tapioca. In the morning add tapioca to one quart of milk, 3 tablespoonfuls of sugar, a pinch of salt. Grate nutmeg over top. Bake in a moderate oven about three hours, stirring occasionally.

"GOTTERSPEISE"

Partly fill an earthenware pudding dish with pieces of sponge cake or small cakes called "Lady Fingers;" cut up with them a few macaroons. Place one pint of wine over fire to heat, add to the wine the following mixture, composed of 1 spoonful of cornstarch mixed smooth with a little water, 3 yolks of eggs and 3 spoonfuls of sugar. Mix all together and stir until thickened. Pour the thickened mixture over the cake. When cooled cover with the stiffly-beaten whites of the 3 eggs, spread sliced almonds thickly over top and brown in oven a few minutes. Serve cold.

SPANISH CREAM

Half a box of Knox gelatine, 1 quart of milk, 4 eggs. Put gelatine in milk, let stand 1 hour to dissolve. Set over fire to boil, then add beaten yolks of eggs with 1 cup granulated sugar. Remove from fire while adding this. Stir well. Return to range and let boil. Stand aside to cool. Beat whites of eggs to a froth and beat into custard when cooled. Pour into a glass dish in which it is to be served. Stand in a cold place and serve with cream.

GRAHAM PUDDING

One cup of molasses, 1 egg, 1 cup sweet milk, 1/2 teaspoonful soda, 1 teaspoonful of salt, 1 tablespoonful brown sugar, 1 cup raisins, 2-1/2 cups Graham flour. Mix all ingredients together. Steam three hours.

"PENNSYLVANIA" PLUM PUDDING (FOR THANKSGIVING DAY)

One cup milk, 2 eggs, 1 cup molasses, 1/2 teaspoonful nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoonful salt, 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder, 1 cup bread crumbs, 1/2 cup corn meal, 1 cup chopped beef suet, 1/4 cup finely minced citron, 1 cup seeded raisins, 1/2 cup currants. Flour to make a stiff batter. Steam fully three hours, turn from the mold, strew chopped almonds over top. Serve pudding hot with sauce for which recipe is given.

Aunt Sarah invariably served this pudding on Thanksgiving Day, and all preferred it to old-fashioned "English Plum Pudding."

SAUCE FOR PUDDING.

Cream together 1 cup of pulverized sugar, scant 1/2 cup of butter, beat whites of 2 eggs in, one at a time, and one teaspoonful of lemon flavoring; stand on ice a short time before serving. Serve sauce very cold.

"SLICE" BREAD PUDDING

Line the sides of a pudding dish holding two quarts with seven slices of stale bread from which crust had been removed. Beat together 3 eggs, 3 tablespoonfuls of sugar and 3 cups of sweet milk (and add the juice and grated rind of one lemon, or half a grated nutmeg). Pour in the centre of pudding dish. With a spoon dip some of the custard over each slice of bread. Bake about 30 minutes and serve hot with the following sauce:

One cup of water, 1/2 cup milk, 1 teaspoonful butter, scant tablespoonful of flour mixed smooth with a little water before adding it. Sweeten to taste, add grated nutmeg or vanilla to flavor. Cook all together, then add the yolk of one egg. Place on stove a minute to heat. Add a pinch of salt. Serve hot over the pudding in individual dishes.

CEREALS--OATMEAL PORRIDGE

Oatmeal to be palatable and wholesome should be thoroughly cooked, that is, steamed over a hot fire two hours or longer. Use a double boiler of agateware. Place in the upper half of the boiler about 5 cups of water and stand directly over the hottest part of the range. When the water boils furiously, and is full of little bubbles (not before), stir into the boiling water about 2 cups of oatmeal (if porridge is liked rather thick), and about 1 teaspoonful of salt. (Tastes differ regarding the thickness of porridge.) Let stand directly on the front of the range, stirring only enough to prevent scorching, and cook ten minutes, then stand upper part of double boiler over the lower compartment, partly filled with boiling water; cover closely and let steam from two to three hours. In order to have the oatmeal ready to serve at early breakfast the following morning, put oatmeal on to cook about five o'clock in the evening, while preparing supper, and allow it to stand and steam over boiling water until the fire in the range is dampened off for the night. Allow the oatmeal to stand on range until the following morning, when draw the boiler to front part of range, and when breakfast is ready (after removing top crust formed by standing), turn the oatmeal out on a dish and serve with rich cream and sugar, and you will have a good, wholesome breakfast dish with the flakes distinct, and a nutty flavor. Serve fruit with it, if possible. A good rule for cooking oatmeal is in the proportion of 2-1/2 cups of water to 1 cup of oatmeal.

The cereals which come ready prepared are taking the place of the old-time standby with which mothers fed their growing boys. If you wish your boys to have muscle and brawn, feed them oats. To quote an old physician, "If horses thrive on oats, why not boys who resemble young colts?"

For example, look at the hardy young Scot who thrives and grows hearty and strong on his oatmeal "porritch." Chopped almonds, dates or figs may be added to oatmeal to make it more palatable. Use cup measuring 1/2 pint for measuring cereals as well as every other recipe calling for one cup in this book.

COOKED RICE

Boil 1 cup of whole, thoroughly cleansed, uncoated rice in 3 quarts of rapidly boiling water (salted) about 25 minutes, or until tender, which can be tested by pressing a couple of grains of rice between the fingers. Do not stir often while boiling. When the rice is tender turn on to a sieve and drain; then put in a dish and place in the oven, to dry off, with oven door open, when the grains should be whole, flaky, white and tempting, not the soggy, unappetizing mass one often sees. Serve rice with cream and sugar. Some prefer brown sugar and others like crushed maple sugar with it. Or rice may be eaten as a vegetable with salt and butter. Rice is inexpensive, nutritious and one of the most easily digested cereals, and if rightly cooked, an appetizing looking food. It is a wonder the economical housewife does not serve it oftener on her table in some of the numerous ways it may be prepared. As an ingredient of soup, as a vegetable, or a pudding, croquettes, etc., the wise housekeeper will cook double the amount of rice needed and stand half aside until the day following, when may be quickly prepared rice croquettes, cheese balls, etc. On the day following that on which rice has been served, any cold boiled rice remaining may be placed in a small bake dish with an equal quantity of milk, a little sugar and flavoring, baked a short time in oven and served with a cup of stewed, seeded raisins which have slowly steamed, covered with cold water, on the back of the range, until soft and plump.

CORN MEAL MUSH

Place on the range a cook-pot containing 9 cups of boiling water (good measure). Sift in slowly 2 cups of yellow granulated corn meal, stirring constantly while adding the meal, until the mixture is smooth and free from lumps. Add 1-1/4 level teaspoonfuls of salt and 1/4 teaspoonful of sugar, and cook a short time, stirring constantly, then stand where the mush will simmer, or cook slowly for four or five hours.

Serve hot, as a porridge, adding 1/2 teaspoonful of butter to each individual bowl of hot mush and serve with it cold milk or cream. Should a portion of the mush remain after the meal, turn it at once, while still hot, in an oblong pan several inches in depth, stand until quite cold. Cut in half-inch slices, sift flour over each slice and fry a golden brown in a couple tablespoonfuls of sweet drippings and butter. Or dip slices of mush in egg and bread crumbs and fry brown in the same manner. Some there are who like maple syrup or molasses served with fried mush.

This proportion of corn meal and water will make porridge of the proper consistency and it will be just right to be sliced for frying when cold. Long, slow cooking makes corn meal much more wholesome and palatable, and prevents the raw taste of cornmeal noticeable in mush cooked too quickly. The small quantity of sugar added is not noticed, but improves the flavor of the mush.

MACARONI

In early spring, when the family tire of winter foods and it is still too early for vegetables from the home garden, and the high price of early forced vegetables in the city markets prevent the housewife, of limited means from purchasing, then the resourceful, economical housewife serves macaroni and rice in various ways and makes appetizing dishes of the fruits she canned and preserved for Winter use, combined with tapioca and gelatine. Milk and eggs tide her over the most difficult time of the year for young, inexperienced cooks. When the prices of early vegetables soar beyond the reach of her purse, then she should buy sparingly of them and of meat, and occasionally serve, instead, a dish of macaroni and cheese, or rice and cheese, and invest the money thus saved in fruit; dried fruits, if fresh fruits are not obtainable.

Macaroni is such a nutritious food that it should be used frequently by the young housewife as a substitute for meat on the bill of fare. Also occasionally serve a dish of baked beans or a dish composed of eggs, or milk combined with eggs, instead of the more expensive meat dish, all equally useful as muscle-builders, and cheaper than meat. The wise housewife will learn which foods furnish heat for the body and those which produce fat and energy, and those which are muscle-builders, and endeavor to serve well-balanced meals of the foods belonging to the three classes and thus with fruit and vegetables she will make wise provision for her family.

BAKED MACARONI AND CHEESE

Put 2 cups or 1/2 pound of macaroni (either the long sticks broken in pieces or the "elbow" macaroni, as preferred) in a kettle holding several quarts of rapidly boiling, salted water, and cook about 25 minutes, or until tender. Drain in a colander and allow cold water to run over it for several seconds. This prevents the macaroni sticking together. Place the macaroni in a buttered baking dish and pour over a hot "cream sauce" composed of 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of water, 2 tablespoonfuls of flour, 2 even tablespoonfuls of butter and a pinch of salt. (Too much salt is apt to curdle the milk.) Spread over the top of macaroni about 3 tablespoonfuls of grated cheese, or, if preferred, sprinkle over the top 3 tablespoonfuls of well-seasoned dried bread crumbs and small bits of butter. Stand the bake-dish containing the macaroni in a hot oven ten or fifteen minutes, until lightly browned on top. Serve hot in the dish in which it was baked. Stewed tomatoes are a nice accompaniment to this dish. Double the quantity of macaroni may be cooked at one time and a part of it kept on ice; the following day serve in tomato sauce, thus utilizing any left-over tomatoes.

The macaroni may be cooked while the housewife is using the range, early in the morning. Drain the macaroni in a colander and stand aside in a cool place. It may be quickly prepared for six o'clock dinner by pouring over a hot cream sauce and grated cheese and quickly browning in the oven.

Or the macaroni, when cooked tender in salt water, may be quickly served by pouring over it a hot cream sauce, before the macaroni has become cold. Serve at once.

Housewives should be particular when buying macaroni to get a brand made from good flour.

CAKES--CAKE-MAKING

Sift flour and baking powder together several times before adding to cake batter. Aunt Sarah usually sifted flour and baking powder together four times for cakes. Flour should always be sifted before using. Baking powder should be sifted through the flour dry. Salaratus (or baking soda) should, usually, be dissolved before using in a teaspoonful of hot water, unless stated otherwise. Cream of tartar should be sifted with the flour. Flour should be added gradually and batter stirred as little as possible afterwards, unless directions are given to the contrary. Much beating after flour has been added is apt to make cake tough. Cake will be lighter if baked slowly at first After it has raised increase heat slowly so it will brown nicely on top. The batter, if heated slowly, will rise evenly. This does not mean a cool oven. To prevent cakes sticking to pans, grease pans well with lard, and sift a little flour lightly over pan. Use baking powder with sweet milk. Saleratus is always used with sour milk. Use 1 teaspoonful of saleratus to 1 pint of sour milk. Cream of tartar and saleratus combined may be used with sweet milk instead of baking powder. One heaping teaspoonful of Royal baking powder is equivalent to 1 teaspoonful of cream of tartar and 1/2 teaspoonful of saleratus combined. Either baking powder or a combination of saleratus and cream of tartar may be used in a cake in which sweet milk is used. Usually take 1-1/2 to 2 scant teaspoonfuls of baking powder to two cups of flour. Saleratus should be used alone with sour milk. Put baking molasses in a stew-pan over fire and allow it to just come to boil; cool before using it. It will not sour as quickly in warm weather, and the cake baked from it will have a better flavor. The cup used in measuring ingredients for cakes holds exactly one-half pint. All cakes are improved by the addition of a pinch of salt. When lard is used instead of butter, beat to a cream and salt well. In mixing cakes, beat butter and sugar together until light and creamy, then add the beaten yolks of eggs, unless stated otherwise as for angel cake, etc., then the flavoring, then mix in the flour and liquid alternately. The baking powder, flour and salt should have been sifted together three or four times before being added. Lastly, fold in lightly the stiffly beaten whites of eggs. Fruit well dredged with flour should be added last, if used. Cool the oven if too hot for baking cakes by placing a pan containing cold water in the top rack of oven. Sponge cake particularly is improved by doing this, as it makes the cake moist. Stir sponge cake as little as possible after adding flour, as too much stirring then will make cake tough. Sift flour several times before using for sponge cake, as this causes the flour to become lighter. Layer cake, and most small cakes, require a quick oven. The oven door should not be opened for 12 minutes after cake has been placed in oven. Rich cakes, loaf cakes and fruit cakes must bake long and slowly. The richer the cake, the slower the heat required in baking. To test the oven, if the hand can bear the heat of the oven 20 or 25 seconds, the oven then is the right temperature. After placing a loaf cake in oven do not open the oven door for 20 minutes. If oven be not hot enough, the cake will rise, then fall and be heavy. Angel cake, sunshine cake and sponge cake require a moderate oven.

Raisins and dried currants should be washed and dried before using in cake. All fruit should be dredged with flour before being added to cake. Citron may be quickly and easily prepared by cutting on a slaw cutter or it may be grated before being added to cake. When a recipe calls for butter the size of an egg it means two tablespoonfuls. A tablespoonful of butter, melted, means the butter should be measured first, then melted. Aunt Sarah frequently used a mixture of butter and lard in her cakes for economy's sake, and a lesser quantity may be used, as the shortening quality of lard is greater than that of butter. When substituting lard for butter, she always beat the lard to a cream before using it and salt it well. If raisins and currants are placed in oven of range a few minutes to become warmed before being added to cake, then rolled in flour, they will not sink to bottom of cake when baked.

FRAU SCHMIDT'S LEMON CAKE

1-1/2 cups sugar. 1/2 cup butter and lard. 3 small eggs or 2 large ones. 1/2 cup sweet milk. 2 cups flour. 1/2 teaspoonful saleratus. 1 teaspoonful cream of tartar. Grated yellow rind and juice of half a lemon.

Beat sugar and butter to a cream and add the yolks of eggs. Add the milk, then the flour and cream of tartar and saleratus; and the flavoring. Lastly, the stiffly-beaten whites of eggs.

This makes one loaf cake. The original of this recipe was a very old one which Frau Schmidt had used many years. Every ingredient in the old recipe was doubled, except the eggs, when five were used. Mary thought this cake fine and from the recipe, when she used half the quantity of everything, she baked a fine loaf cake, and from the original recipe was made one good sized loaf and one layer cake. Thinly sliced citron added to this cake is a great improvement.

FINE "KRUM KUCHEN"

One cup sugar, 1/2 cup butter and lard, mixed; 2 cups flour and 2 teaspoonfuls of baking powder, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup sweet milk.

Crumb together with the hands the sugar, butter, flour and baking powder sifted together. Take out 1/2 cup of these crumbs to be scattered over top of cake. To the remainder add the yolks of the eggs, well beaten, and the sweet milk, and lastly the stiffly beaten whites of eggs. Put the mixture in a well-greased pan (a deep custard pie tin will answer), scatter the half cup of crumbs reserved over top of cake and bake about 3/4 of an hour in a rather quick oven. When cake is baked, sprinkle over 1 teaspoonful of melted butter and dust top with cinnamon.

AUNT SARAH'S "QUICK DUTCH CAKES"

She creamed together 1 cup of sugar, 1 tablespoonful of lard, 1 tablespoonful of butter and added 1-1/2 cups of luke-warm milk. Add 3 cups flour (good measure), sifted with three scant teaspoonfuls of baking powder. Add a half cup of raisins, seeded and cut in several pieces, if liked, but the cakes are very good without. Spread in two pans and sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top and press about five small dabs of butter on top of each cake. Put in oven and bake at once. These are a very good substitute for "raised Dutch cakes," and are much more quickly and easily-made and, as no eggs are used, are quite cheap and very good.

A RELIABLE LAYER CAKE

1-1/4 cups granulated sugar. 3 eggs. 1/2 cup butter and lard mixed. (Use all butter if preferred.) 1/2 cup sweet milk. 2 cups flour sifted with 2 teaspoonfuls Royal baking powder.

Cream together sugar and shortening. Add yolks of eggs, beating well, as each ingredient is added. Then add milk and flour alternately, and lastly the stiffly beaten white of eggs. Stir all together. Bake in two square layer pans, and put together with chocolate or white icing. Or ice the cakes when cold and cut in squares.

BOILED ICING

Boil together 1 cup of granulated sugar and 5 tablespoonfuls boiling water ten or twelve minutes, or until a small quantity dropped from spoon spins a thread. Stir this into the stiffly-beaten white of one egg until thick and creamy. Flavor with lemon, almond or vanilla flavoring and spread on cake. Dip knife in hot water occasionally when spreading icing on cake.

A delicious icing is composed of almonds blanched and pounded to a paste. Add a few drops of essence of bitter almonds. Dust the top of the cake lightly with flour, spread on the almond paste and when nearly dry cover with ordinary icing. Dry almonds before pounding them in mortar, and use a small quantity of rose water. A few drops only should be used of essence of bitter almonds to flavor icing or cake. A pinch of baking powder added to sugar when making boiled icing causes the icing to become more creamy, or add a pinch of cream of tartar when making boiled icing. Or, when a cake iced with "boiled icing" has become cold, spread on top of icing unsweetened, melted chocolate. This is a delicious "cream chocolate icing."

A DELICIOUS "SPICE LAYER CAKE"

2 cups light brown sugar. 1 cup chopped raisins. 2 eggs. 1 cup sour milk. 1/2 cup butter. 2 cups flour. 1 teaspoonful each of soda, cloves, cinnamon, allspice and a little grated nutmeg.

Cream sugar and butter together, add yolks of eggs, then the sour milk in which the soda has been dissolved, flour and spices, and lastly stir in the stiffly beaten white of eggs. Bake in two-layer pans.

ICING

Two cups sugar, 3/4 cup of milk or cream, 2 tablespoonfuls of butter. Boil until it forms a soft ball when a small quantity is dropped in water, and flavor with vanilla. Beat until cold and spread between layers of cake. Also on top and sides.

AN INEXPENSIVE COCOA CAKE

This is a decidedly good cake and no eggs are required. Cream together 1 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup butter. Add 1 cup of sour milk, 1-3/4 cups flour, then sift over 1-1/2 tablespoonfuls of cocoa. Add 1 level teaspoonful saleratus, dissolved in a little of the sour milk, and 1 teaspoonful vanilla. Bake in a small loaf. Use the following icing:

1/4 cup of grated chocolate, 3/4 cup milk, 1/2 cup sugar, boiled together until thick, and spread on cake.

AUNT SARAH'S WALNUT GINGERBREAD

1/2 cup of New Orleans molasses. 1 cup of light brown sugar. 1/2 cup of shortening (composed of butter, lard and sweet drippings). 1/2 teaspoonful of ginger, cinnamon and cloves each. 2 teaspoonfuls of baking soda (saleratus), sifted with 3-1/2 cups flour. 1 cup boiling water. 2 eggs.

Beat to a cream the sugar and shortening in a bowl; add molasses, then pour over all one cup of boiling water. Beat well. Add flour, soda and spices, all sifted together. Beat into this the two unbeaten eggs (one at a time), then add about 3/4 of a cup of coarsely chopped _black walnut_ meats or the same quantity of well-floured raisins may be substituted for the walnut meats.

The cakes may be baked in muffin pans. In that case fill pans about two-thirds full. The above quantity makes eighteen. They can also be baked in a pan as a loaf cake. This cake is excellent, and will keep fresh several days. These cakes taste similar to those sold in an Atlantic City bake-shop which have gained a reputation for their excellence.

AUNT SARAH'S "GERMAN CRUMB CAKES" BAKED IN CRUSTS

3 cups flour. 2-1/2 heaping teaspoonfuls baking powder. 2 cups sugar (soft A or light brown). 1/2 cup lard and butter mixed. 2 eggs. 1 cup sweet milk. Pinch of salt. Flavoring--vanilla or grated orange rind.

Line three small pie tins with pie crust. Sift together into a bowl the flour and baking powder and add light brown or A sugar, and the butter, lard and salt. Rub this all together with the hands until well mixed and crumbly. Take out 1 cupful of these crumbs and stand aside. Add to the rest of the mixture the yolks of eggs, whites being beaten separately and added last. Add slowly 1 cup of sweet milk. Mix it in gradually until the mixture is creamed, then add a small quantity of grated orange peel, lemon or vanilla flavoring. Lastly, stir in the stiffly beaten whites of eggs. Pour the mixture into each one of the three unbaked crusts, then sprinkle the cup of crumbs thickly over the tops. Bake in a moderate oven. These are very good, cheap cakes for breakfast or lunch.

"SOUR CREAM" MOLASSES CAKE

1/2 cup molasses. 1 cup sugar. 1/2 cup thick sour cream. 1/2 cup sour milk. 1/2 cup finely chopped peanuts. 1 egg. 1 teaspoonful soda dissolved in little hot water. 2-3/4 cups flour. 1 cup seeded raisins.

Mix together like ordinary cake. Bake in a fruit cake pan in a slow oven about forty minutes. This excellent cake requires no shortening, as cream is used.

ECONOMY CAKE

1 egg. 1 cup sweet milk. 1 cup granulated sugar. 2 cups flour. 1/4 cup butter. 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder.

Cream together sugar and yolk of egg, then beat into this mixture the butter and add the milk. Then stir the flour, a small quantity at a time, into the mixture, keeping it smooth and free from lumps. Add the stiffly beaten white of egg. Use any flavoring or spice preferred. Bake in a quick oven.

This is not simply a very cheap cake, but a decidedly good one, and made from inexpensive materials. Follow the recipe exactly or the cake may be too light and too crumbly if too much baking powder is used, or heavy if too much butter is used. By varying the flavor and baking in different forms it is as good as a number of more expensive recipes. It makes three layers of any kind of layer cake, or bake in Gem pans.

GINGER CAKE

1/2 cup brown sugar. 1 egg. 1/2 cup lard. 2 large cups flour. 1/2 cup New Orleans molasses. 1 tablespoonful of ginger. 1 teaspoonful soda dissolved in half cup lukewarm water.

Beat sugar and lard to a cream, then beat in the yolk of egg, molasses and flour and soda dissolved in water. Lastly, add the stiffly-beaten white of egg. Bake 45 minutes in hot oven.

A VERY ECONOMICAL GERMAN CLOVE CAKE

Place in a stew-pan the following ingredients:

1 cup brown sugar. 1 cup cold water. 2 cups seeded raisins. 1/3 cup sweet lard, or a mixture of lard and butter. 1/4 grated nutmeg. 2 teaspoonfuls cinnamon. 1/2 teaspoonful ground cloves. Pinch of salt.

Boil all together three minutes. When cold add I teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a little hot water. Add about 1-3/4 cups flour sifted with 1/2 teaspoonful of baking powder. Bake in a loaf in a moderately hot oven about thirty minutes. This cake is both good and economical, as no butter, eggs or milk are used in its composition. The recipe for making this excellent, cheap cake was bought by Aunt Sarah at a "Cake and Pie" sale. She was given permission to pass it on.

ICING.

1 small cup pulverized sugar. 2 tablespoonfuls of cocoa.

Mix smooth with a very little boiling water. Spread over cake.

CAKE ICING FOR VARIOUS CAKES

Cook together 2 cups of granulated sugar, 1-1/4 cups of water a little less than 12 minutes. Just before it reaches the soft ball stage, beat in quickly 25 marshmallows; when dissolved and a thick, creamy mass, spread between layers and on top of cake.

This is a delicious creamy icing when made according to directions. If sugar and water be cooked one minute too long, the icing becomes sugary instead of creamy. One-half the above quantity will ice the top of a cake nicely.

MARY'S RECIPE FOR "HOT MILK" SPONGE CAKE

For this cake was used:

2 cups granulated sugar. 4 eggs. 2-1/8 cups flour. 1-1/2 teaspoonfuls of baking powder. 1 cup boiling hot milk.

Separate the eggs, place yolks in a bowl, add the sugar and beat until creamy.

Add the stiffly beaten whites of eggs alternately with the sifted flour and baking powder; lastly add the cup of boiling hot milk; should the milk not be rich, add one teaspoon of butter to the hot milk. The cake batter should be thin as griddle cake batter, pour into a tube pan and place at once in a _very moderate_ oven; in about 15 minutes increase the heat and in about 25 minutes more the cake, risen to the top of pan, should have commenced to brown on top.

Bake from 15 to 20 minutes more in a moderately hot oven with steady heat; when baked the top of the cake should be a light fawn color and texture of cake light and fine grained.

Mary was told by her Aunt that any sponge cake was improved by the addition of a teaspoon of butter, causing the sponge cake to resemble pound cake in texture.

CHEAP "MOLASSES GINGER BREAD"

1 cup New Orleans molasses. 1 cup sugar. 1/2 cup shortening (lard and butter mixed). 1 cup hot water. 1 large teaspoonful soda dissolved in the one cup of hot water. 1 teaspoonful of ginger. 1/2 teaspoonful of cinnamon. 1 quart of flour.

Stir sugar and shortening together. Add molasses, beat all thoroughly, then add hot water and flour. Stir hard. Bake in two layer pans in quick oven about 30 minutes. Use cake while fresh.

AUNT SARAH'S EXTRA FINE LARGE SPONGE CAKE

2 cups granulated sugar. 2-1/4 cups of flour. 3/4 cup of boiling water. 4 large eggs. 2 even teaspoonfuls baking powder. 1 teaspoonful lemon juice.

Put whites of eggs in a large mixing bowl and beat very stiff. Add sugar (sifted 3 times), then add the well-beaten yolks, flour (sifted 3 times with baking powder), add lemon juice. Lastly, add the hot water. Bake about 50 minutes in a tube pan in a moderately hot oven with a steady heat. Stand a pan of hot water in the upper rack of oven if the oven is quite hot. It improves the cake and causes it to be more moist. This is an excellent sponge cake and easily made, although the ingredients are put together the opposite way cakes are usually mixed, with the exception of angel cake. When this cake was taken from oven, powdered sugar was sifted thickly over the top. Use cup holding 1/2 pint, as in all other cake recipes.

ANGEL CAKE--AUNT SARAH'S RECIPE

Mary was taught by her Aunt, when preparing a dish calling for yolks of eggs only, to place the white of eggs not used in a glass jar which she stood in a cold place or on ice. When she had saved one even cupful she baked an angel cake over the following recipe:

One heaping cup of pulverized sugar (all the cup will hold), was sifted 8 times. One cup of a mixture of pastry flour and corn starch (equal parts) was also sifted 8 times. The whole was then sifted together 4 times. The one cupful of white of eggs was beaten very stiff. When about half beaten, sprinkle over the partly-beaten eggs one scant teaspoonful of cream of tartar, then finish beating the whites of eggs. Flavor with almond or vanilla. Then carefully sift into the stiffly beaten whites of eggs sugar, flour and corn starch. Fold into the whites of eggs rather than stir. Aunt Sarah always baked this cake in a small, oblong bread pan. This cake should be baked in a _very_ moderate oven, one in which the hand might be held without inconvenience while counting one hundred; the oven should be just hot enough for one to know there was fire in the range. Do not open the oven door for 15 minutes, then increase the heat a little; if not too hot, open the oven door a moment to cool and bake slowly for about 55 minutes.

AUNT SARAH'S GOOD AND CHEAP "COUNTRY FRUIT CAKE"

1 cup butter and lard, mixed. 4 eggs. 1 cup New Orleans molasses. 1 cup sour milk. 1 pound dried currants. 1/4 pound thinly sliced citron. 2 teaspoonfuls baking soda. 4 cups flour. 2 pounds raisins, seeded.

A little grated nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon and a very small quantity of cloves.

Bake in one large fruit cake pan or in two good sized pans about 1-3/4 hours. This cake should not be kept as long a time as a more expensive fruit cake, but may be kept several weeks. This was Aunt Sarah's best recipe for an excellent, inexpensive fruit cake.

A "SPONGE CUSTARD" CAKE

4 eggs. 2 cups granulated sugar. 3 cups flour. 1 teaspoonful baking soda. 1 cup cold water. Juice of 1 lemon. 2 teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar and pinch of salt.