The Fun of Cooking.
by Caroline French Benton.
CHAPTER I
THE DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS
The Blairs were a particularly nice family. That is what the neighbors always said of them, and, to tell the truth, the Blairs believed it.
That is, the father and mother thought the children were particularly nice, and the children thought their father and mother and each other particularly nice; and so, of course, they all must have been very nice indeed.
Sat.u.r.days and Sundays and vacation days were all holidays to them, and they did such interesting things, and laughed so much as they did them, that everybody said, "What good times those Blairs do have!"
Jack and Mildred Blair were named after their father and mother, and Brownie, whose real name was Katharine, was named for her grandmother; so to avoid getting everybody mixed, the children were called the Junior Blairs by everybody.
Now it happened that there were ever so many uncles and aunts and cousins who were Blairs, too, but most of them lived a long way off, and they were very seldom able to get together for a family party; but this winter, ten of them were coming to spend Christmas with the real Blairs, and, as five of them were between fourteen and twelve, the ages of Mildred and Jack, and some more about nine, like Brownie, they were all planning to have the very nicest sort of a time, and everybody was as excited as could be.
Christmas was only two days away, when, suddenly, it began to snow. And how it snowed! The flakes came down steadily hour after hour, and soon the sidewalks were covered, and the steps were buried, and the piles of snow almost covered the gate. Everybody said that all the trains were delayed; and it was not long before the little Blairs began to whisper, "Whatever shall we do if they can"t get here in time for Christmas?"
Mother Blair guessed what the trouble was, and said cheerfully that, of course, the snow would stop falling before long, and the trains would be on time in the morning.
"And a beautiful white Christmas is the loveliest thing in the world,"
she added. But the children looked out of the window and were afraid, deep down in their hearts, that something dreadful might happen.
"If we only had something nice to do right now," groaned Jack, "so we could forget the snow. But we can"t trim the tree till everybody comes to help, and the presents are all tied up, and there isn"t anything Christmasy to do that _I_ can think of."
"Why not cook?" suggested Mother Blair, "There are lots of things to make--Christmas things, you know."
Mildred began to brighten up. "If we could cook things all alone, I"d like that," she said.
"Boys don"t cook," Jack said scornfully, still looking out of the window.
"Boys make pop-corn, though," laughed his mother. "And then suppose you make that up into nice b.a.l.l.s, and have them all ready when the cousins come. And, Mildred, I think Norah would give you and Brownie one corner of the kitchen, and let you cook all by yourselves."
So Jack took the corn-popper and went down to the furnace, and when he opened the door, he found a great bed of red coals waiting for him; and Mildred and Brownie put on their big gingham ap.r.o.ns and went out into the kitchen.
[Ill.u.s.tration: The Christmas cakes]
Underneath the large table was a smaller one; this Mother Blair pulled out and pushed across the room to an empty place. Then she wrote out very plainly a little receipt, and under this she explained exactly how to put things together; this she pinned on the wall over the table.
"There!" she said. "Now you can go right to work." This was what was on the paper:
CHRISTMAS CAKES
1/4 cup of b.u.t.ter.
1/2 cup of sugar.
1/4 cup of milk.
1 egg.
1 cup of flour.
1 teaspoonful of baking-powder.
1/2 teaspoonful of vanilla.
Put the b.u.t.ter and sugar in a bowl, and rub them together till smooth and creamy. Beat the egg without separating it, and put that in next; beat all together, then add the milk, a little at a time. Put a rounded spoonful of baking-powder in the flour and stir it well, and add that slowly, mixing as you do it; and, last, put in the vanilla. Grease some little scalloped tins, and fill them half full; bake till brown.
Mildred rubbed the b.u.t.ter and sugar while Brownie beat the egg; they took turns putting in the other things, and, last, Norah set the tins in the oven for them. Then the two girls rushed into the sitting-room and said, "That"s all done, Mother Blair! Now something else to cook, please!"
"But don"t forget to watch your cakes," said Mother Blair, as she handed them a second receipt. "Open the oven door every little while just enough to peek in at them; if you forget them, they will surely burn."
The second receipt was for
OATMEAL MACAROONS
3 cups of rolled oats.
2-1/2 teaspoonfuls of baking-powder.
1/2 teaspoonful of salt.
3 level tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter.
1 cup of sugar.
3 eggs, beaten separately.
1 teaspoonful of vanilla.
Put the b.u.t.ter and sugar in a bowl and cream them; beat the yolks of the eggs, put them in, and beat again; mix the oatmeal with the baking-powder and salt, and add this next, a little at a time; then put in the vanilla, and, last, the stiff whites of the eggs.
Have ready a shallow pan, greased, and drop the batter on this in tiny bits, no larger than the end of your thumb, and two inches apart. Bake in an oven that is not very hot. When they are brown on the edges, they are done; remove them from the pan while they are still warm.
While Mildred was mixing these, Brownie took a last peep into the oven, and found the cakes were baked. Norah helped her take them out, and she herself took them from the pans and put them on a platter to cool. Then it was not long before the first panful of macaroons was done, too, and these came out all crisp and delicious.
Just as they were finishing them, their mother came out into the kitchen. "Oh, how lovely!" she exclaimed, "I never, never saw anything so good as those macaroons. Perfectly delicious!"
"But see the scalloped cakes, Mother," said Brownie. "Aren"t they lovely, too?"
"Lovely? Of course they are. And I"ve such a bright idea about those cakes, too!"
"Oh, what?" cried both the girls together, because Mother Blair"s bright ideas were always particularly nice, just like herself.
"I"ve been looking over the boxes of Christmas candy, and I find we have lots of candied cherries. And, Norah, you had some of the citron left from the plum-pudding, hadn"t you?"
Norah said she had a large piece put away.
"Well, then, suppose we cut the citron into thin slices, and cut those up into little bits of green leaves, and cut some of the cherries into tiny bits to look like berries; then we will ice the little cakes and around each one, right on top, we will make a green holly wreath with holly berries in it. Won"t those be pretty?"
"Oh, Mother, let me, let me!" Brownie begged.
"Very well, you make the leaves and berries, while Mildred ices the cakes," said Mother Blair.
So while Mildred mixed the icing, Brownie took some small scissors and cut up the citron and the cherries. At first her scissors bothered her by getting sticky, but Norah showed her how to dip them in water often and wipe them dry, and after she tried that way, she had no trouble.
Mildred"s rule for icing was this:
ICING