ORANGE COCOANUT SALAD.
Peel and slice a dozen oranges, grate a cocoanut and slice a pineapple. Put alternate layers of each until the dish is full. Then pour over them sweetened wine. Served with small cakes.
When oranges are served whole, they should be peeled and prettily arranged in a fruit dish. A small knife is best for this purpose.
Break the skin from the stem into six or eight even parts, peel each section down half way, and tuck the point in next to the orange.
CRYSTALLIZED FRUIT.
Pick out the finest of any kind of fruit, leave on their stalks, beat the whites of three eggs to a stiff froth, lay the fruit in the beaten egg with the stalks upward, drain them and beat the part that drips off again; select them out, one by one and dip them into a cup of finely powdered sugar; cover a pan with a sheet of fine paper, place the fruit inside of it, and put it in an oven that is cooling; when the icing on the fruit becomes firm, pile them on a dish and set them in a cool place. For this purpose, oranges or lemons should be carefully pared, and all the white inner skin removed that is possible, to prevent bitterness; then cut either in thin horizontal slices if lemons, or in quarters if oranges. For cherries, strawberries, currants, etc., choose the largest and finest, leaving stems out. Peaches should be pared and cut in halves and sweet juicy pears may be treated in the same way, or look nicely when pared, leaving on the stems and iced. Pineapples should be cut in thin slices and these again divided into quarters.
PEACHES AND CREAM.
Pare and slice the peaches just before sending to table. Cover the gla.s.s dish containing them to exclude the air as much as possible, as they soon change color. Do not sugar them in the dish--they then become preserves, not fresh fruit. Pa.s.s the powdered sugar and cream with them.
SNOW PYRAMID.
Beat to a stiff foam the whites of half a dozen eggs, add a small teacupful of currant jelly and whip all together again. Fill half full of cream as many saucers as you have guests, dropping in the centre of each saucer a tablespoonful of the beaten eggs and jelly in the shape of a pyramid.
JELLY FRITTERS.
Make a batter of three eggs, a pint of milk and a pint bowl of wheat flour or more, beat it light; put a tablespoonful of lard or beef fat in a frying or omelet pan, add a saltspoonful of salt, making it boiling hot, put in the batter by the large spoonful, not too close; when one side is a delicate brown, turn the other; when done, take them on to a dish with a d"oyley over it; put a dessertspoonful of firm jelly or jam on each and serve. A very nice dessert.
STEWED APPLES. No. 1.
Take a dozen green tart apples, core and slice them, put into a saucepan with just enough water to cover them, cover the saucepan closely, and stew the apples until they are tender and clear; then take them out, put them into a deep dish and cover them; add to the juice in the saucepan a cupful of loaf sugar for every twelve apples, and boil it half an hour, adding to the syrup a pinch of mace and a dozen whole cloves just ten minutes before taking from the fire; pour scalding hot over the apples and set them in a cold place; eat ice cold with cream or boiled custard.
STEWED APPLES. No. 2.
Apples cooked in the following way look very pretty on a tea-table and are appreciated by the palate. Select firm round greenings, pare neatly and cut in halves; place in a shallow stewpan with sufficient boiling water to cover them and a cup of sugar to every six apples.
Each half should cook on the bottom of the pan and be removed from the others so as not to injure its shape. Stew slowly until the pieces are very tender; remove to a gla.s.s dish carefully, boil the syrup a half hour longer, pour it over the apples and eat cold. A few pieces of lemon boiled in the syrup add to the flavor.
BAKED PEARS.
Pare and core the pears without dividing; place them in a pan and fill up the orifice with brown sugar; add a little water and let them bake until perfectly tender. Nice with sweet cream or boiled custard.
STEWED PEARS.
Stewed pears with a thick syrup make a fine dessert dish accompanied with cake.
Peel and cut them in halves, leaving the stems on and scoop out the cores. Put them into a saucepan, placing them close together, with the stems uppermost. Pour over sufficient water, a cup of sugar, a few whole cloves and some sticks of cinnamon, a tablespoonful of lemon juice. Cover the stewpan closely, to stew gently till the fruit is done, which will depend on the quality of the fruit. Then take out the fruit carefully and arrange it on a dish for serving. Boil down the syrup until quite thick; strain it and allow it to cool enough to set it; then pour it over the fruit.
The juice could be colored by a few drops of liquid cochineal, or a few slices of beets, while boiling. A teaspoonful of brandy adds much to the flavor. Serve with cream or boiled custard.
BAKED QUINCES.
Take ripe quinces, pare and quarter them, cut out the seeds; then stew them in clear water until a straw will pierce them; put into a baking dish with half a cupful of loaf sugar to every eight quinces; pour over them the liquor in which they were boiled, cover closely and bake in the oven one hour; then take out the quinces and put them into a covered dish; return the syrup to the saucepan and boil twenty minutes; then pour over the quinces and set them away to cool.
GOOSEBERRY FOOL.
Stew a quart of ripe gooseberries in just enough water to cover them; when soft, rub them through a colander to remove the skins and seeds; while hot stir into them a tablespoonful of melted b.u.t.ter and a cupful of sugar. Beat the yolks of three eggs and add that; whip all together until light. Fill a large gla.s.s fruit dish and spread on the top the beaten whites mixed with three tablespoonfuls of sugar. Apples or any tart fruit is nice made in this manner.
MERINGUES OR KISSES.
A coffeecupful of fine white sugar, the whites of six eggs; whisk the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth and with a wooden spoon stir in _quickly_ the pounded sugar; and have some boards put in the oven thick enough to prevent the bottom of the meringues from acquiring too much color. Cut some strips of paper about two inches wide; place this paper on the board and drop a tablespoonful at a time of the mixture on the paper, taking care to let all the meringues be the same size.
In dropping it from the spoon, give the mixture the form of an egg and keep the meringues about two inches apart from each other on the paper. Strew over them some sifted sugar and bake in a moderate oven for half an hour. As soon as they begin to color, remove them from the oven; take each slip of paper by the two ends and turn it gently on the table and with a small spoon take out the soft part of each meringue. Spread some clean paper on the board, turn the meringues upside down and put them into the oven to harden and brown on the other side. When required for table, fill them with whipped cream, flavored with liquor or vanilla and sweeten with pounded sugar. Join two of the meringues together and pile them high in the dish. To vary their appearance, finely chopped almonds or currants may be strewn over them before the sugar is sprinkled over; and they may be garnished with any bright-colored preserve. Great expedition is necessary in making this sweet dish, as, if the meringues are not put into the oven as soon as the sugar and eggs are mixed, the former melts and the mixture would run on the paper instead of keeping its egg-shape. The sweeter the meringues are made the crisper will they be; but if there is not sufficient sugar mixed with them, they will most likely be tough. They are sometimes colored with cochineal; and if kept well-covered in a dry place, will remain good for a month or six weeks.
JELLY KISSES.
Kisses, to be served for dessert at a large dinner, with other suitable confectionery, may be varied in this way: Having made the kisses, heap them in the shape of half an egg, placed upon stiff letter paper lining the bottom of a thick baking pan; put them in a moderate oven until the outside is a little hardened; then take one off carefully, take out the soft inside with the handle of a spoon, and put it back with the mixture, to make more; then lay the sh.e.l.l down. Take another and prepare it likewise; fill the sh.e.l.ls with currant jelly or jam; join two together, cementing them with some of the mixture; so continue until you have enough. Make kisses, cocoanut drops, and such like, the day before they are wanted.
This recipe will make a fair-sized cake basket full. It adds much to their beauty when served up to tint half of them pale pink, then unite white and pink. Serve on a high gla.s.s dish.
COCOANUT MACAROONS.
Make a "kiss" mixture, add to it the white meat, grated, and finish as directed for KISSES.
ALMOND MACAROONS.
Half a pound of sweet almonds, a coffeecupful of white sugar, the whites of two eggs; blanch the almonds and pound them to a paste; add to them the sugar and the beaten whites of eggs; work the whole together with the back of a spoon, then roll the mixture in your hands in b.a.l.l.s about the size of a nutmeg, dust sugar over the top, lay them on a sheet of paper at least an inch apart. Bake in a cool oven a light brown.
CHOCOLATE MACAROONS.
Put three ounces of plain chocolate in a pan and melt on a slow fire; then work it to a thick paste with one pound of powdered sugar and the whites of three eggs; roll the mixture down to the thickness of about one-quarter of an inch; cut it in small, round pieces with a paste-cutter, either plain or scalloped; b.u.t.ter a pan slightly, and dust it with flour and sugar in equal quant.i.ties; place in it the pieces of paste or mixture, and bake in a hot but not too quick oven.
LEMON JELLY. No. 1.
Wash and prepare four calf"s feet, place them in four quarts of water, and let them simmer gently five hours. At the expiration of this time take them out and pour the liquid into a vessel to cool; there should be nearly a quart. When cold, remove every particle of fat, replace the jelly into the preserving-kettle, and add one pound of loaf sugar, the rind and juice of two lemons; when the sugar has dissolved, beat two eggs with their sh.e.l.ls in one gill of water, which pour into the kettle and boil five minutes, or until perfectly clear; then add one gill of Madeira wine and strain through a flannel bag into any form you like.
LEMON JELLY. No. 2.
To a package of gelatine add a pint of cold water, the juice of four lemons and the rind of one; let it stand one hour, then add one pint of boiling water, a pinch of cinnamon, three cups of sugar; let it all come to a boil; strain through a napkin into molds, set away to get cold. Nice poured over sliced bananas and oranges.