VEGETABLES.
Whileno claim is made that all vegetables are improved through paper bag cookery, experiments prove that quite a number can be successfully cooked by the paper bag process. Vegetables of strong flavor as a rule are best cooked in a large quantity of water and are not recommended for paper bag cookery; only the more delicate vegetables that need to have their flavors conserved. Dried peas, lentils and beans are excellent cooked in paper bags but require a longer preliminary soaking than is usual with other methods of cooking.
Asparagus.—Trim and scrape as for boiling; wash very clean. Tie in bundles and put into a buttered bag with a little salt and a quarter cupful of water. Seal and cook from thirty-five to forty minutes in a hot oven.
Asparagus With Cheese.—Boil two bunches of asparagus twelve minutes in salted water. Drain, but save the water. Put the asparagus in a buttered bag or in one of the oval wooden dishes, scattering grated Swiss or Parmesan cheese between the layers. Turn over all a cup of the water in which the asparagus was boiled, sprinkle the top of the scallop with a little cheese and a few buttered bread crumbs. Seal the bag and cook fifteen minutes in a moderate oven.
Lima Beans.—Add to a quart of shelled Lima beans three tablespoonfuls of butter or vegetable oil, a quarterpound of diced bacon or ham, a little minced parsley or other seasoning herbs, and a teaspoonful of flour. Put in a greased bag with a cupful of water, seal and cook an hour in a moderate oven.
String Beans, Oriental Style.—String the beans, cut in two lengthwise, then break in inch pieces. To every pint of beans, which should be young and tender, allow one cupful boiling water, two tablespoonfuls vegetable oil, one small onion sliced, and a half cupful tomato. Salt and pepper to taste. Put all in greased paper bag and cook forty-five minutes. A wooden cookery dish can be employed to advantage.
Boston Baked Bean Cakes.—These are made of left-over baked beans. Heat with a little water to moisten, rub through a colander, season with salt, pepper and mustard. Put a tablespoonful of pork drippings or butter in a frying pan, and cook in it, when hot, a tablespoonful of minced onion, taking care not to let it blacken. Add to the beans, make into cakes and lay in well-greased bag. Cook twenty minutes and serve with tomato sauce.
Bean Croquettes.—Soak one pint white pea beans or the little brown Mexican frijoles over night in cold water. In the morning cook until soft in water to which a saltspoonful of soda has been added, changing the water after it first comes to a boil. Rub through a colander, then add to the pulp one cup grated bread crumbs, one tablespoonful minced parsley, two tablespoonfuls melted butter, two eggs well beaten, one small onion grated and salt and pepper to season. Mix thoroughly, shape into cylinders, dip in beaten egg, then in cracker dust and put in buttered bag. Seal and cook ten minutes in hot oven.
German Cabbage.—Take two small hard heads of red cabbage and cut in slices half an inch thick, discarding the hard stalk and veins. Put onto a greased wooden cookery bowl two rounding tablespoonfuls of melted butter or vegetable oil, then add the cabbage, sprinkle with a level teaspoonful of salt, three tablespoonfuls of vinegar and one onion chopped fine. Put in bag, seal, and put in oven. Bake one hour with only one burner on after the first ten minutes.
Cabbage Hot Slaw.—Chop a small hard head of cabbage fine and salt it lightly. Let stand half an hour then put in wooden bowl with two tablespoonfuls of butter. Put in bag, seal, and cook slowly in the oven for twenty minutes. No water is necessary, as the salt will draw out the juices of the cabbage so it will have moisture enough. At the end of twenty minutes take up with a hot dish, add a teaspoonful of flour that has been stirred in a little cold water, then cooked until thick with a half cupful of cream. Lastly, add one tablespoonful of pure vinegar and serve at once.
Carrots.—Wash and scrape a half dozen tender carrots. Slice thin and season with salt, pepper and a good tablespoonful of butter. Add a half cupful good stock, put in a well-greased bag, seal and cook thirty-five minutes.
Carrot Saute.—Scrape and cook young carrots in boiling salted water until tender. Cut in halves lengthwise, roll in fine cracker crumbs, then in egg and cracker again, and put in well-greased bag. Bake fifteen minutes, sprinkle with fine chopped parsley and serve very hot.
Stuffed Eggplant.—Select purple fruit and of small size. Halve them, sprinkle them with salt, turn them cut side down on a fine sieve, put a heavy plate on them and let them drain for an hour. Wipe dry, take from each a tablespoonful of the center, chop it fine and for each tablespoonful allow the same amount of bread crumbs, a teaspoonful of chopped onions, olives and vegetable oil, with a little salt and a dusting of paprika. Mound this dressing on each half, arrange the halves in a buttered bag, pour in water to the depth of an inch, add a generous piece of butter, salt and pepper, and place the bag in a hot oven; twenty minutes should be sufficiently long to cook the eggplant thoroughly.
Lentil Cutlets.—Soak one cupful dried lentils all night with a cupful dried lima beans. In the morning drain, add two quarts of water, a stalk of celery and half an onion sliced. Cook until soft, remove the seasonings and rub through a puree sieve. Add one cupful stale bread crumbs, one beaten egg, the juice of a half lemon and seasonings to taste. Melt a heaping tablespoonful of butter in a small saucepan, add to it a tablespoonful flour and pour on, when blended, a third of a cup of milk. Let the mixture cook until thick and smooth, then add to the lentil mixture and set aside to cool. Shape into small cutlets, dip in beaten egg, then in fine cracker crumb, put in a well-buttered bag and bake twenty minutes. Serve with a tomato sauce.
Mushrooms.—Choose fine fat mushrooms, cut the stem close, peel and wipe delicately with a damp cloth. Sprinkle lightly with salt and lay in a well-greased bag together with a big tablespoonful of butter rolled in flour and a half cupful of rich cream. Seal and cook twelve minutes in a hot oven.
Baked Onions.—Parboil for fifteen minutes Bermuda or Spanish onions, chill in cold water, then if very large cut in halves, otherwise, cut a little wedge out of the hearts and fill the cavity with butter or vegetable oil. Put in the well-greased bag, adding a little water and more butter or oil, seal and cook twenty minutes.
Stuffed Baked Onions.—The next time you have a roast leg of lamb or mutton, try baked onions prepared in this way as an accompaniment: Take large onions, preferably Spanish or Bermudas, peel, cut a slice from the top of each, and with a small spoon scoop out about half the pulp. Put this in a dish, mix with it an equal quantity of bread crumbs, well flavored with chopped parsley, sweet marjoram, salt and pepper. Moisten the whole lightly with cream and a little melted butter; mix well, fill the onion cavities with the stuffing, crown with a slice of bacon for a cover, put in a bag and bake one hour in a moderate oven.
Onions With Cheese.—Skin large Spanish onions and boil until quite soft. Press through a sieve and put into a well-buttered wooden baking dish. Season with salt, pepper and plenty of butter, add a little stock or milk, grate a little cheese over them, put in bag and bake to a golden brown.
Parsnips.—Scrape and parboil some parsnips. Cut in two lengthwise. Season with pepper and salt, roll in melted butter, dripping or olive oil. Flour again and place in a well-greased paper bag. Seal up and bake in a hot oven on a wire rack for half an hour. They should be a golden brown.
Green Peas.—Shell the peas, put into a well-buttered bag with a little salt to season, a little sprig of green mint and a half cupful of water. Seal and cook twenty-fiveminutes. Slit open the bag, pour its contents into a hot dish, season well with butter and serve.
Stuffed Peppers.—In preparing peppers for stuffing, select those of uniform size, wash and plunge in boiling water for about ten minutes; then drop into cold water to keep them green; cut off the stem ends and scoop out the seeds and inside of the peppers; fill with any of the following stuffings or a combination of your own devising.
Stuffing No. 1. Wash half a cup of rice; cover with boiling water and cook rapidly for ten minutes; then turn into a sieve to drain. Peel three large tomatoes, removing the seeds and cutting the pulp in small pieces. When fresh tomatoes are out of season, their equivalent in canned may be used. Mix the rice and tomatoes together; add two tablespoonfuls of olive oil or melted butter and season with salt. Fill the drained peppers with the mixture, sprinkling a few buttered crumbs over the top and replace the covers. Oil the peppers on the outside, and set in a buttered bag. Turn enough stock into the bag to come half way up the sides of the peppers (if you have no stock use hot water in which a tablespoonful of kitchen bouquet has been dissolved and several slices of onion and carrot added), and bake in a moderate oven three-quarters of an hour. Rice that has been left over from dinner may be used, leaving the tomatoes out and seasoning with chopped celery, parsley, salt and pepper. When done, dish on a hot platter and pour a rich brown sauce over them, scattering a little minced parsley over the top. A wooden cookery dish is advised here.
Stuffing No. 2. For eight good sized peppers take a pint of chopped meat, veal or chicken, or veal mixed with sausage, a cupful of soft bread crumbs and a cup of stock, gravy or water in which a spoonful of beef extract has been dissolved. Season with an even teaspoonful eachof salt and pepper and half teaspoonful each summer savory, thyme and sage. Mix well, fill the peppers, sprinkle fine buttered bread crumbs over them at the end where the stuffing is exposed, put in a buttered bag and bake until well browned. This will take about a quarter of an hour. Serve with chicken or roast beef, and with or without a sauce.
Peppers With Creamed Fish.—Parboil the peppers ten minutes, then fill with creamed fish of any kind, which may be seasoned with a tablespoonful of sherry. Then sprinkle with a layer of fine crumbs, dot with butter, bag, and brown lightly in a quick oven. Creamed carrots, cauliflower, sprouts, and many other vegetables may be baked in the pepper cups and served either as a vegetable or an entree. Filled with potatoes au gratin and browned they are a delicious accompaniment for chops and steaks.
Baked Irish Potatoes.—Scrub thoroughly and rinse as many good sized potatoes as will be required. Make a few slits in them but do not peel. Place in the paper bag with a tablespoonful of water, close tightly and cook from thirty-five to fifty minutes, according to size.
Baked Potatoes Without Their Coats or Jackets.—Select as many potatoes of the same size as desired. Peel and let them stand in salted, cold water for ten minutes. Then drain without drying and place in a greased bag,—bacon fat is good for these potatoes—and cook in a hot oven, without disturbing, for forty-five minutes if small, one hour, if large. They will have a crisp, brown coat, every part of which can be eaten.
Potatoes en Surprise.—Choose potatoes of smooth shape, not too large and of even size. Scrape out fromthe top of each a space large enough to hold the yolk of an egg. Salt and pepper the nest, drop in a tiny bit of butter, then the egg yolk, follow with a thin slice of bacon just large enough to cover the egg and set in greased paper bag. If necessary to keep them upright cut a thin slice from the bottom of each potato, add a spoonful of cold water, seal, set in a hot oven and cook for thirty minutes.
Potatoes Farci.—A new and very delicious way of serving stuffed potatoes is as follows: Wash large potatoes and bake in bag until nearly done; take from the oven and nearly cut off one end, leaving the skin for a hinge and a bit of potato for a lid. Pull out the undone heart with a fork and in its place lay shavings of smoked bacon, peppered and tightly rolled after having been laid for an instant on a hot frying pan; close the potato and set in the oven to finish cooking.
Sauer Kraut.—Put enough to serve six people in one of the largest size wood cookery dishes, salt and season to taste, add a half cupful of water, put in bag, seal, and bake one hour in moderate oven.
Waldorf Sauer Kraut.—Soak the sauer kraut in cold water until just palatably salt. Put into greased paper bag on a wooden cookery dish with a little bacon, pickled pork or sausage, add a half cupful of hot water and cook about twenty minutes. Drain, put in a hot dish with or without the meat as desired and serve. When boiled sauer kraut is cold it may be chopped and reheated in a buttered bag with butter, gravy or a white sauce.
Sweet Potatoes and Bacon.—Peel boiled sweet potatoes, fasten a slice of bacon around each, using a wooden tooth pick to hold in place. Put in buttered bag with a spoonful of water, and bake ten minutes.
Sweet Potato Straws.—Cut potatoes in slices lengthwise, peel, then cut into straws. Dip in bacon fat or melted butter, put in buttered bag, seal, and cook fifteen minutes. Take out on soft paper to absorb any grease, dust lightly with salt and serve.
Sweet Potato en Brochette.—Peel and cut in half inch, uniform slices. Put on skewers in groups of four, place in boiling water and parboil ten minutes. Drain, brush over with vegetable oil, sprinkle with brown sugar, put in greased bag and bake twenty minutes in moderate oven.
Spinach.—Pick over carefully, thoroughly wash, then put into a bag, leaving the vegetable quite damp. Add a little salt, seal and cook thirty minutes. Before lifting the bag from the oven slide a pan under it, and prick the bottom of the bag so the water will drain out. Dish, adding butter to season and serve.
Summer Squash in Butter.—Cut into narrow strips and season with salt and pepper. Put into well-greased bag, add a generous lump of butter and cook about half an hour.
Stuffed Summer Squash.—Boil in lightly salted water until tender. Cut off the top and scoop out the inside. Mix well with seasoned and buttered crumbs, chopped onion and grated cheese. Fill the shell, sprinkle the top with buttered crumbs, put in bag and bake until brown.
Stuffed Tomatoes With Cream.—Mix together three-quarters of a cupful of cold-chopped chicken or veal, three tablespoonfuls of soft bread crumbs, a tablespoonful of melted butter, one teaspoonful of chopped parsley, half a teaspoonful of salt and quarter teaspoonfulof paprika. Wash and wipe six medium-sized tomatoes, take a small piece from the stem end, carefully remove a portion of the pulp, and fill the hole with the stuffing; place in a buttered bag and cook for thirty minutes in a moderate oven. Remove to a hot platter, whip three tablespoonfuls of rich cream, add to it two tablespoonfuls of melted butter, and pour a small portion over each tomato.
Turnips.—Peel and slice your turnips and put them in a well-greased bag with a light seasoning of salt, a lump of butter barely dusted with flour, and enough thin stock to half cover them. Seal and cook in a moderate oven for an hour more or less according to the tenderness of the vegetable. Empty into a hot dish and if not rich enough add more butter, and dust with black pepper and salt.
Turnip Balls.—Peel fine grained turnips, then cut into balls, using a vegetable scoop. Put into a well-greased bag with a light seasoning of salt, a little sugar, a dusting of pepper, a tablespoonful of butter or vegetable oil and a quarter cupful of hot water, seal, and cook half an hour until tender, but not brown. Take up, add a half cupful hot cream sauce, stir lightly in it, sprinkle with minced parsley and serve very hot.
Stuffed Vine Leaves or Dolmas.—Choose tender vine leaves and scald them, after which roll a little of the following stuffing in each leaf, making it round and firm so that the stuffing will not come out when the balls are boiled. Chop three onions, put a teacupful of good salad oil in a stewing-pan, and, when it is boiling hot, throw in the chopped onion. As soon as this begins to cook, add a small cupful of Carolina rice, some chopped parsley and mint, salt and pepper and a tablespoonful of currantsand mix well on the fire till the rice begins to brown. Then take a vine leaf in your left hand and wrong side upward and put a little of this prepared rice into it. Put some of the coarse vine leaves at the bottom of the paper bag and arrange each little ball beside its neighbor, packing them rather tightly. When this is done, put in sufficient water just to cover the dolmas, add a little oil, seal the bag and bake till the rice is soft and the water is all absorbed. This is a very delicate and characteristic dish, but will be a failure if the vine leaves are not tender or the oil is rancid. Serve with lemon.
WARM BREADS, BISCUITS, MUFFINS, ETC.
Baking Powder Bread.—Sifttogether, five times over, four quarts of flour, six rounded teaspoonfuls baking powder and four level teaspoonfuls salt. Have the oven quite hot. Add to the sifted flour enough milk and water in nearly equal proportions, to make a moist, not wet, dough, stiff enough to handle, then divide into four portions, mould lightly into shape and put into brick shaped pans. Brush over the tops with milk, put into bags and bake an hour.
Bannocks.—Sift together one pint of corn meal, one tablespoonful of sugar and a teaspoonful of salt. Pour over the mixture enough milk or milk and water to moisten. Let stand until cool, then add three well-beaten eggs, spread half an inch thick in well-greased bag. Seal and bake in hot oven. Cut into squares, split and serve hot and well-buttered.
Baking Powder Biscuits.—Sift together three times over one quart of flour, two rounded teaspoonfuls baking powder, and a teaspoonful of salt. Rub in with the tips of the fingers one rounding tablespoonful vegetable shortening or butter, and when the flour feels mealy, add slowly a cup and a half of milk or milk and water mixed. Mix lightly with little handling, turn out on board, roll into a sheet half an inch in thickness, stamp out withsmall round cutter and lay in greased bag. Brush the top of each biscuit with milk. Seal and bake twenty minutes in a very hot oven.
Egg Biscuits.—To make these delicious biscuits, beat one egg until light, then mix with it two-thirds of a cupful of milk. Add to one pint of flour a heaping teaspoonful baking powder and one-half teaspoonful salt, and sift. Blend with the mixture one tablespoonful of butter and two tablespoonfuls of sugar. Add the egg mixture, make into a dough and knead lightly. Roll into a sheet a quarter of an inch thick, stamp out with a round cutter, brush over the top of each biscuit with cream, prick with a fork, bag, and bake in a hot oven.
Maple Biscuits.—Make a very rich baking powder biscuit dough and roll out to half the thickness of biscuits, cut out with a small cutter, sprinkle grated maple sugar over the tops of half of them, moisten the under sides of the others and lay them on top of the sugared ones, pressing them on well. Lay close together in a bag, brush over with milk or melted butter, seal and bake in a quick oven.
Nut Biscuits.—Sift together two cupfuls flour, one-half teaspoonful of salt, and a teaspoonful and a half of baking powder.
Rub in one heaping tablespoonful of butter or vegetable shortening, and add one cupful of nuts, pecans, hickory or English walnuts chopped and a tablespoonful of sugar. Mix to a soft dough with milk or milk and water, mould with the hands into small balls, place in a greased bag, brush each biscuit over with milk or melted butter, put a pinch of chopped nuts on each, seal and bake in a hot oven.
Raisin Biscuits.—These are excellent for home luncheon or the children's school or picnic lunch. Sift together one quart of flour, a half teaspoonful of salt and two heaping teaspoonfuls of baking powder. Work into the sifted flour a cupful of shortening, then add a cupful each seedless raisins and milk. Mix well and roll out on the molding board. Cut in small round biscuits, bag, and bake in a quick oven.
Hot Cross Buns.—Sift together one quart of pastry flour, three teaspoonfuls of baking powder and a teaspoonful of salt. Rub into the flour a piece of butter the size of an egg. Mix together a cupful each of milk and water and add one cupful of sugar. Stir into the flour, add two beaten eggs, and mix soft. Cut into small biscuits, make the cross on the top of each, bag, and bake in a very hot oven. Sift powdered sugar over them as soon as taken from the bag. A half cupful chopped raisins or currants may be added to the dough if desired.
Warmed Over Breads.—It is a trick worth knowing that cold biscuit, rolls, gems and the like can be brushed over with water, put in a greased paper bag, sealed and set in the oven for eight minutes to emerge as fresh as though just newly baked.
CAKES.
Cakesbaked in paper bags will be as brown as if baked without the bag and will retain their moisture infinitely better; therefore plain loaf cakes and all fruit cakes are greatly improved by the paper bag cooking. While drop cakes, oatmeal cookies and the like can be baked directly on the bottom of the bag, better results as far as form is concerned, will come from using very thin tin moulds or baking sheets or paper souffle cases. Before putting a cake in the oven, particularly if it be a fruit cake, it will be found advisable to set on the bottom of the oven, a shallow pan with a little water in it. Put in the bag, close the oven door and leave ten minutes with the gas on, then reduce the heat at least one-half. Bag cooking prevents cake crusting over and thereby permits it to rise to its full height. It also saves from burning. Midway in the baking the position of cakes can be changed, those on the grid itself set low on the broiler and vice versa so all will cook evenly. To test whether the cake is done or no, make a hole in the bag top and thrust in a clean straw or thin knife blade. If it comes out dry with no stickiness, the cake is done.
Cheese Cakes.—These are a modern adaptation of the old "flawns," a favorite Eastertide cake. As formerly made, there was a tedious separation of curds and whey; but the housewife of today eliminates that by takinga Neufchatel or cream cheese as the foundation. This is crumbled fine and added to the other ingredients, allowing to each Neufchatel cheese, one small cupful of sugar, the grated rind and half the juice of one lemon, a half cupful each sifted cracker crumbs and currants, one tablespoonful melted butter, half a nutmeg grated, half a cupful of cream or rich milk, a saltspoonful of salt and four eggs. Crumble the cheese and crackers together, beat the eggs and add, together with sugar, salt and spices. Next add the butter and cream and lastly the currants, lemon juice and rind. Mix thoroughly and fill patty tins lined with puff paste. Ornament the top with currants and slender strips of citron, put in buttered bag. Seal and bake in a quick oven.
Cinnamon Cake.—Cream one-quarter cup of butter and one cup of sugar, add one-half cup of milk, one well beaten egg, one and three-quarters cups of flour sifted twice with three even teaspoons of baking powder, and pour in a shallow pan to make a sheet rather than a loaf. Just before setting the cake into the oven sprinkle cinnamon and granulated sugar over the top. Put into a bag. Seal and bake twenty minutes. Serve fresh and cut in squares.
English Fairy Cakes.—Sift together six ounces of flour and a half teaspoonful of baking powder. Grate a lemon rind and add to the sifted flour together with three ounces chopped candied cherries. Beat to a cream four ounces of butter and four of sugar, then add three eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly. Add the flour and cherry mixture and stir lightly. Have ready some buttered patty-tins, half fill with the batter, bag, and bake in a moderate oven twenty minutes.
Fruit Cookies.—One cupful and one-half of sugar, either white or brown, one cupful of butter and lard or vegetable shortening, (half and half is good) three tablespoonfuls of molasses, the same amount of hot water, three eggs, one cupful of raisins, one teaspoonful each of soda (dissolved in hot water), ginger and cinnamon, a light sprinkling of cloves, and flour to make very stiff. Half a cupful or more of chopped nut meats makes a nice addition, but is not necessary.
Cream the sugar and shortening, as for cake, then add eggs well beaten, molasses and water, spices and soda, then flour, and lastly fruit. When the batter will take up no more flour, lift it up by teaspoonfuls, pat it flat and in shape in the baking pan, which must be well-buttered, put in bag, and bake in fairly hot oven, being careful not to scorch.
This will be found much easier than rolling the dough on a board, and will make about forty cookies.
Mrs. Godfrey's Soft Gingerbread.—In a symposium on gingerbreads held one Summer afternoon at Sunapee Inn, New Hampshire, this was given as an example of a most delicate inexpensive cake. Add to one cupful molasses, one cupful softened butter or lard, filling up the cup in which it is measured with boiling water. Add two even teaspoonfuls soda, a small teaspoonful of ginger, a pinch of salt, one beaten egg, and two heaping cupfuls sifted flour. Beat lightly (not too much lest it make the ginger bread light colored), put in bag and bake in a moderate oven.
Good Friday Cake.—This is a simple tea cake, not very sweet, and is served hot or cold as preferred. To make it, beat to a cream a scant cupful of butter and a quarter cupful of sugar. Add a teaspoonful of thegrated yellow rind of lemon, a half teaspoonful of lemon juice, a pound of flour and enough water to make a stiff paste. Divide the dough into two equal parts and roll into large, round cakes about the size of an ordinary pie tin. Mark the edges with a "jigger" into some fancy design, or simply pinch with the fingers. Cut each cake into quarters, brush over with the white of an egg, lay a strip of candied lemon peel on each, sprinkle with granulated sugar put in bag, and bake.
German Honey Cakes.—These are fine for luncheon or the kaffee klatch. Put into a saucepan two cupfuls strained honey and one cupful sugar. Warm, add a cupful of butter and a half tablespoonful soda dissolved in a little warm water. Add a half cupful caraway seed and flour to roll. Roll into a rather thick sheet, mark into squares, put in bag, and bake. When done cut in small cakes.
Pecan Kisses.—Into the whites of six eggs put fourteen little more than level tablespoonfuls white sugar and beat long and thoroughly until stiff enough to stand alone. Have ready a small cup pecan kernels having them in as perfect halves as possible. Beat in lightly, drop in greased baking sheet, put in bag. Seal and bake in a moderate oven.
Mrs. Kelder's Loaf Cake.—Beat to a cream one and one-half cupfuls sugar and one-half cupful of butter. Add the yolks of three eggs beaten until light and thin. Add two and one-half cupfuls flour measured after sifting with two heaping teaspoonfuls of baking powder. Lastly fold in the stiffly whipped whites of three eggs and flavor to taste. Put in light tin, set in paper bag. Seal and bake thirty-five minutes.
Hickory Nut Macaroons.—To one whole egg beaten light, add one cup sugar and beat well. Add two tablespoonfuls flour and one cup nut meats and lastly fold in the stiffly whipped whites of three eggs. Drop by spoonfuls into a well-greased bag and bake in a moderate oven ten or twelve minutes.
Walnut Macaroons.—One and one-half cupfuls of sugar, one-third cup of butter, three eggs, three cups of flour, one teaspoonful of soda, dissolved in water, one teaspoonful of cloves, one teaspoonful of cinnamon, one cup of English walnut meats, one cup of chopped dates. Do not roll the mixture as in ordinary cookies, but drop into a greased bag with a spoon. Seal and bake slowly for thirty minutes.
Maple Sugar Cake.—Add to one cup maple syrup one beaten egg, a pinch of salt, one cup of thick, sour cream, into which has been stirred a teaspoonful (scant) of soda, a teaspoonful of ginger and flour to make a thin batter. Bake in a bag and cut in squares.
Molasses Coffee Cake.—Then right here let me give you a recipe for a fruit cake or gingerbread with fruit as you may elect to call it. Cream together one cupful of sugar and three-fourths cup of butter. Add one cupful black molasses, one cupful strong coffee with a teaspoonful of soda dissolved in it, four beaten eggs, one teaspoonful each cinnamon and nutmeg, three-fourths teaspoonful cloves, one half pound shredded citron and three cupfuls sifted flour. Do not beat longer than necessary. Put in tin, then in bag, and bake in a slow oven.
Nut Cake.—To make a light, delicious cake, cream together one cup of sugar and five tablespoons of meltedbutter. Into this beat two well beaten eggs, a pinch of salt and a cup of milk. Stir into this two heaping cupfuls of flour, sifted with two heaping teaspoonfuls of baking powder. After this is well beaten, stir in three-quarters of a cup of chopped walnuts. Bake in square cake tin in bag. Ice when cold with plain pulverized sugar icing. Cut in squares, placing a piece of walnut meat on each square.
Oatmeal Cakes.—Beat to a cream three-fourths cupful vegetable shortening or butter and a cupful and a half of brown sugar. Dissolve one teaspoonful of soda in one cupful of boiling water and add to butter and sugar mixture. Mix together two cupfuls of dry oatmeal, two cupfuls of flour and a half teaspoonful of salt and add to the other ingredients. Flavor to taste. Lastly add two well beaten eggs and drop from spoon into greased bag or flat tin and place in bag. Seal and bake in moderate oven about fifteen minutes.
German Peach Cake.—Make a rich baking powder biscuit dough and roll out in sheets to fit a long biscuit pan. It should not be more than a half-inch thick. Brush the top with butter and cover with slices of peach arranged in symmetrical overlapping rows, or half peaches with the rounded side up. Sprinkle generously with sugar, cover with another tin to prevent the fruit from becoming mushy or hardened, put in bag and bake about half an hour in a hot oven. This is a good substitute for peach pie.
Pork Cake.—This is an old New England dish that has been relegated to the background these many years, but is lately coming to the fore. A gray haired New York physician, dining at my house the other night, declared that his old Connecticut aunt's pork cake was oneof the dearest remembered gustatorial delights of his boyhood.
To make it chop one pound of fat pork fine. Pour over it a pint of boiling water, then stir in three cupfuls brown sugar, one pound of seeded raisins, eight cupfuls of flour and two rounding teaspoonfuls of soda dissolved in a little water. Add a teaspoonful of cinnamon, a half teaspoonful cloves and nutmeg, mix thoroughly and bake in a slow oven like fruit cake. If preferred, two beaten eggs may be added in which case less flour will be required.
Potato Chocolate Cake.—To two cupfuls of sugar and two-thirds cup butter beaten to a cream, add yolks of four eggs beaten until lemon colored and light and a half cupful of sweet milk. Next add a teaspoonful of soda dissolved in two tablespoonfuls of hot water, one cup mashed potato, two cups of flour, and four squares of chocolate melted, one cup chopped walnuts, a teaspoonful of vanilla. Lastly fold in the stiffly beaten whites of four eggs. This may be baked either in a large loaf or in layers in a paper bag.
Potato Caramel Cake.—Beat to a cream two-thirds cup of butter and two cups of sugar, add the yolks of four eggs beaten until light and mix with a half cup of sweet milk and one cup mashed potato. Add two squares of bitter chocolate melted, one-half teaspoonful nutmeg, and two cups flour sifted with two teaspoonfuls baking powder. Fold in whites of four eggs beaten stiff, a cupful of nut meats, preferably English walnuts, chopped. Bake slowly for about an hour in a gingerbread tin in paper bag, making the cake an inch and a half or two inches thick; or else in layer tins together with white icing. This will make four layers.
Auburn Pound Cake.—Beat to a cream three-fourths pounds of butter and one pound fine granulated sugar. Add the yolks of nine eggs beaten light and one pound flour measured after sifting and then sifted again with a teaspoonful and a half of baking powder. Fold in the stiffly whipped whites and flavor with vanilla, almond or the grated rind and juice of a lemon or a wine glass of sherry. Pour into well-buttered thin tin mould and seal in bags. Bake an hour and a quarter or an hour and a half in a moderate oven.
Raisin Nut Cakes.—For raisin nut cakes for afternoon tea, beat six eggs lightly, beating the whites and with an even teaspoon of soda, one teaspoon of sugar creamed with a cupful of butter, a cupful and a half of milk and three cupfuls and a half of flour. Add a cupful of chopped walnuts, two pounds of chopped raisins, a wineglass of brandy, two teaspoonfuls of baking powder and spice to taste. Make into small cakes, put on tin in bag and bake in a moderate oven.
Sour Cream Cake.—Beat together one cup of powdered sugar and one cup of sour cream, add two eggs beaten light, one and one-half cups of flour sifted twice with an even teaspoon of soda twice, one teaspoon of vanilla and one cup of seeded and cut raisins rolled lightly in flour. Beat to make the batter creamy and bake at once in a rather shallow pan sealed in a paper bag.
FRUITS.
Baked Apples.—Wash, but do not peel; cut out specks and bruises, core, fill the bottom of the core-space with a bit of butter, over which pile sugar and add a dusting of cinnamon. A clove stuck in the side may take the place of the cinnamon. Seal inside a well-greased bag and bake eighteen to twenty minutes in a fairly hot oven. Serve hot with sugar and cream or a hard sauce.
Baked Apple Dumplings.—Make a regular shortcake crust, using one pint of flour, two teaspoonfuls baking powder and a saltspoonful of salt, sifted together three times, one-quarter cup butter rubbed in with the tips of the fingers, and one egg beaten and mixed with three-quarters cup milk. Roll out and cut in five-inch squares. Have ready three large apples, peeled, cored and halved and lay each piece on a square of the paste. Fold the pastry over each apple like a blanket, lapping the four corners at the top and pressing them down firmly. Turn the dumplings upside down in a well-buttered bag, dot with bits of butter and sprinkle with sugar. Set the bag in a quick oven and bake to a russet brown. This will take about half an hour. Serve with any sweet sauce, or rich, sweet cream.
Cold Baked Apples With Rum.—Peel, core and bake the apples in a buttered bag, with a teaspoonful of sugar to each apple. Put in the serving dish, and whilestill very hot pour over each a dessertspoonful of rum. Let cool and serve with cake or crisped water biscuit.
Cinnamon Apples.—Peel, core and quarter six good cooking apples, preferably greenings. Melt a tablespoonful of butter in a warm bowl and stir the apples in it until coated with the butter. Mix a teaspoonful of ground cinnamon with a half cup of granulated sugar, and stir into the apples. Have a paper bag thoroughly buttered and put the apples in it. Rinse out the bowl with a cup of hot water, add it to the apples, seal carefully, place on a broiler which rests on a pie plate and bake in a hot oven fifteen minutes. Half a pint of whipped cream over the apples when served is an addition, but they are delicious, cooked in this way, without it.
Apples Stuffed With Figs.—Steam tender as many figs as you desire, chop into dice and roll each piece in powdered sugar seasoned with cinnamon. Core large, tart apples and fill the cavities with the figs. Bag and bake in a hot oven, adding a little hot water. When tender, remove carefully to the serving dish and pour over them a syrup made by boiling a half cup of sugar with an equal quantity of water. Flavor to taste and pour over the apples. Serve cold with whipped or plain cream.
Baked Apples and Nuts.—For a half dozen large apples a good three-fourths cup of nut meats, butternuts, black walnuts or hickory nuts—will be required. Chop the meats fine and add a half cup of sugar. Core the apples and fill the centres with the nuts and sugar. Put in a rather deep pan, with a cupful of boiling water added, bag and bake. When tender remove carefully, place in a pretty dish, pour the juice over the apples, and crown with whipped cream or a meringue made from the whites of two eggs.
Raisin Apples.—A simple dessert enjoyed by the children consists of apples, cored and each cavity filled with sugar, nutmeg, a bit of butter and two or three raisins. Add one cupful of hot water, put in bag and bake in a slow oven. This may be varied occasionally by placing a meringue on the top of each apple when done, and cooking in a slow oven for seven minutes longer. Serve cold.
Baked Apple Sauce.—Peel and core firm apples of good flavor. Stick three cloves in each and put bits of mace and cinnamon in the core spaces. Put them in a well-buttered bag with two heaping cupfuls of sugar and a half cupful of water. Cook thirty minutes. Have the oven very hot at first, but slack heat after seven minutes. Lemon juice instead of water makes a richer flavored sauce. In that case add a half cupful more sugar at the outset.
Baked Bananas.—Peel and remove coarse threads, cut the pulp in halves lengthwise, dust with sugar and sprinkle with lemon juice, put in buttered bag and bake fifteen minutes, or roll the bananas in hot marmalade, then bake.
Stuffed Dates.—Select large, fine fruit, wash quickly and remove the pit. Put into the cavity a bit of crystallized ginger or citron, a nut or little candied peel, roll in confectioner's sugar and lay in lightly buttered bag left open at one end. Put in coolish oven to harden.
Baked Gooseberries.—Put into a greased bag a pint of "topped and tailed" gooseberries, add a cupful each sugar and water, seal and cook twenty minutes.
Baked Peaches.—Pour boiling water over the fruit, then rub off the skins and place in buttered bag withoutremoving the pits. Add a teaspoonful of water for each peach, seal and bake about twenty minutes in a hot oven. When done, sweeten to taste and set aside to chill before using. Serve with sweet cream.
Baked Pears.—Select ripe, fine-flavored fruit, snip out the blossom end and stick in a clove. If the skin is thin, do not peel, but if tough, remove, put in buttered bag with a little water, seal and cook from fifteen to thirty minutes according to the quality of the fruit.
Baked Plums.—Put in buttered bag with a little water and cook twenty or twenty-five minutes. Sweeten to taste when done.
Baked Quinces.—Wash, core and peel, fill the centers with sugar and put in greased bag with two tablespoonfuls of water allowed for each quince. Seal and bake slowly for an hour, until the quince is tender but not mushy. Serve with the quince syrup and a spoonful of whipped cream on top of each quince.
Baked Raisins.—Remove stems, clean well, put in a colander and wash thoroughly. Put in buttered bag with a cupful of water for each cupful of raisins. Seal and cook slowly for half an hour. A mixture of dried apricots, prunes and cherries is nice with the raisins, but these fruits need long soaking in cold water before adding to the raisins and cooking.
Chestnut Patties.—Beat together, until smooth, one egg and one cupful of pulverized sugar. Add one cupful of chestnut meats that have been put through a nut grinder, five tablespoonfuls of flour and one teaspoonful of baking powder. Beat lightly, then drop by spoonfuls on buttered tins. Dust with pulverized sugar and cinnamon. Put in bag and bake in a quick oven.
PASTRY.
Usetin or agate pie plates for paper bag cookery. Line with a delicate crust, and prick the bottom with a fork. Turn in whatever filling you elect to have, and put on top crust or the latticed bars. Cut a cross in the center of a solid crust and turn back the points or prick with a fork. Any pie can be baked in a paper bag with advantage. Cook two pies at once, shifting midway in the cooking from the upper to the lower shelves and vice versa. Have the oven hot when the pies go in, but reduce the heat as soon as the bag corners turn brown. Average pies require about half an hour for the baking.
Plain Pie Crust.—For each pie allow a heaping cupful of pastry flour and sift into a cold bowl with a half teaspoonful of salt and a saltspoonful of baking powder. Have ready a quarter cupful of butter that has been washed in cold water, then chilled on the ice. Work into the sifted flour a quarter cupful of lard or vegetable shortening, using the tips of the fingers or a case knife. As soon as the flour begins to feel like coarse meal, moisten to a dough with cold water. Add a little at a time, handling the crust as lightly as possible. It will take about a quarter of a cupful of water to a heaping cupful of flour. Toss on a smooth board, dredged lightly with flour, pat and roll a quarter of an inch in thickness, keeping the sheet of paste a little wider than it is long. Now place the chilledbutter on the center of the lower half of the paste and cover by folding the upper part of the sheet over it. Press the edges together so as to inclose as much air as possible. Fold the right side of the paste over the inclosed butter and the left side under. Turn the paste half way around, pat into shape and roll out lightly having the sheet of paste longer than it is wide, and lifting often to prevent its sticking to the board. Dredge slightly with flour when necessary. Fold again so as to make three layers, divide in halves, pat and roll out the one intended for the lower crust having it a little larger than the pie plate, to allow for shrinkage. Fold back the rolled out crust and readjust in the pie tin letting it come well up over the edge, then pressing back. Turn in the filling then roll out the upper crust. When this reaches the required size, fold over and perforate the center, piercing with a fork or using a knife to make any pattern desired, and place in position over the pie.
Apple Pie.—Peel and slice thin, tart, well flavored apples. Put in crust, sprinkle with sugar, dust with cinnamon or nutmeg, cover with latticed or full crust, put in bag, and bake half an hour in a steady oven.
A New Apple Pie.—Peel and core about eight or ten apples or as many as are wanted. Make a rich pastry dough and cut in strips about two inches wide. Wind a strip around each apple, but do not cover it. Fill the center of each apple with butter, sugar and water. Sprinkle with nutmeg, put in bag, then in the oven and bake. Serve with or without cream.
Deep Apple Pie With Cream Cheese.—Bake a nice apple pie about three-quarters of an hour before dinner. Have a small cream cheese pressed through a ricer and mixed with a cup of whipped cream and a littlesalt. Press through a pastry tube or tin funnel on top of the pie in a pattern, and serve warm for dessert. The cheese and cream combination may also be used on a two crust apple pie.
Cranberry Pie.—Line a rather deep pie plate with a plain crust. Put on a border of richer paste, fill with cranberries cooked according to directions for stewed cranberries, and put strips of crust over the top, making squares or diamonds as preferred. Put in bag and bake.
Cranberry and Raisin Pie.—Allow to each pie a cup and a half cranberries and a half cup of raisins. The latter should be seeded and the berries washed and cut in two. Mix with them a cup of sugar, a tablespoon of flour, and a teaspoonful of butter. Fill a pie plate lined with crust, heaping up slightly in the middle. Cover with an upper crust, bag, and bake in a hot oven.
Lemon Pie.—Beat the yolks of three eggs lightly, add one cup of sugar slowly and then the juice and grated yellow rind of one lemon. Beat hard and stir in two even tablespoons of flour made smooth in one cup of milk. Turn into a paste lined plate and bake about half an hour in a paper bag. Cool partly and cover with the whites of three eggs beaten stiff with six even tablespoons of powdered sugar. Pile roughly and set in a very cool oven to become firm.
Mince Pie.—A simple rule for making mince meat by measure, calls for a pint bowl of well cooked beef chopped to the finest mince and measured after chopping, two bowls of tart apples chopped into coarse bits and a half bowl chopped suet. Add to this a pound of seeded raisins, also chopped, a pound of currants, a quarter of a pound of citron cut in thin slices, a tablespoonful eachof powdered cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Use enough sweet cider to make moist, then add a bowl of sugar and an even teaspoonful salt. Scald well and put away in a stone jar. When you make the pies add a few whole raisins, chopped nut meats or any jelly you have on hand.
When mince pie is to be reheated for dinner and served hot, grated cheese may be sprinkled over the top just before setting it in the oven to heat.
Mock Mince Pie.—To four quarts green tomatoes, chopped fine, allow three pounds brown sugar, the juice of two lemons and their yellow rind, grated, a tablespoonful each cinnamon, allspice and salt, half a teaspoonful cloves and a tablespoonful of grated nutmeg. Put into a porcelain lined kettle and simmer gently until reduced one half in bulk. Now add two pounds and one-half seeded raisins, or part raisins and part currants or chopped prunes and a cup of boiled cider. Then cook an hour or two longer until thick. Bake as any mince pie.
Pecan Pie With One Crust.—One cup of sugar, three eggs, one cup of sweet cream, one cup of pecans well mashed. Beat very light, pour into two pie pans that are lined with good rich paste, put in bag and bake.
Real Old Fashioned Pumpkin Pie.—If you are fortunate enough to get a genuine old fashioned field pumpkin, you may be thankful. If forbidden that privilege, the canned pumpkin or the dried pumpkin flour, or again a Hubbard squash or a big yellow one, may be so manipulated as to deceive even a connoisseur on pumpkin pies, into thinking he has the very kind that "Mother used to make," and giving thanks accordingly. If the field pumpkin is yours, wash, cut up without peeling, scrape out all the wooly fiber, then put over the fire onthe back of the stove. Add just a little water to keep it from sticking on the bottom, cover closely and steam gently for six or eight hours. At the end of this time the pumpkin pulp should be thoroughly cooked in its own juices. Take up, cool a little, then pull off the skin with a sharp knife. Press through a sieve and let it stand overnight in a press so as to remove the superfluous liquid, which should be saved to use in making Boston brown bread. When ready to bake, measure the pulp and to every five cupfuls allow one teaspoonful of salt, half a grated nutmeg, a tablespoonful of mace, two teaspoonfuls of ginger and a large cupful of sugar. Beat four eggs and stir into the pumpkin pulp, together with four cupfuls of sweet milk and a half cupful cream. Beat well and taste to see if it is sweet enough. Turn into plates lined with good pastry, bag, and bake three-quarters of an hour until a golden brown and firm in the center. Serve with good American cheese. Some old-fashioned cooks like their pumpkin pies flavored with a little rose water.
In making pies of the canned pumpkin, observe the same proportions. If the pumpkin flour is used, spread on a tin and brown before adding the milk.
The English fashion of baking pumpkin as well as mince pies in individual shells, is preferred by many who do not feel the compelling force of tradition. A new wrinkle for the woman who holds to her pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, but wishes to present it in very modern guise is to serve it with cottage cheese balls and strained honey. The combination of flavors is certainly a most happy one. The cheese balls are piled in a pretty dish and the honey served from a glass bowl.
Individual English Apple Tart.—Peel and core tart apples, put into a large saucepan, cover with boilingwater, stew gently until the apples are tender but unbroken. Sweeten to taste. Line the edges of a deep pie tin with crust, then fill the center of the dish with apples, dropping into the center of each a spoonful of orange marmalade. Cover the top of the dish with strips of pastry arranged lattice fashion, bag, and bake quickly until brown. Serve hot.
Colonial Pumpkin Tartlets.—To one quart of cooked and sifted pumpkin add one tablespoonful each of butter and flour, six well beaten eggs, a cupful of sugar, a quarter teaspoonful each of mace and nutmeg, four teaspoonfuls of ginger and one gill of milk. Bake in patty-pans lined with rich flaky crust, set in paper bag. Remove from pans before serving. A touch of novelty is given by topping each tartlet with a generous portion of maple syrup or strained honey.
Apple and Cheese Turnovers.—Make a crust, using six heaping tablespoonfuls of flour, three tablespoonfuls lard and butter, half and half, a saltspoonful of salt and just enough water to roll out. Mark out into squares of about four inches. Have ready some nice tart apples sliced fine, and also cheese sliced very thin. Fill each one with apples, sprinkle sugar and cinnamon over the apple, put a tiny piece of butter on top, then turn up the edges of the crust, overlapping the upper side about two inches. Place in a buttered bag, and having wet the edges of the crust with milk, bake to a nice brown. Remove from the oven, raise up the upper crust, put in the cheese, re-cover, turn a tin over the turnovers and stand in the oven again for ten minutes, leaving the oven door open. This softens the cheese. Eat while warm. Caraway seeds may be used in place of cinnamon if desired.The turnovers may be eaten plain with cream or with a liquid sauce as preferred.
Apricot or Plum Jam Turnovers.—Make a good crust and roll out twice. Mark a square and spread thickly with jam. Fold over two sides first and pinch together, then fold over the other two sides in the same way. Brush over with milk and sprinkle with brown sugar. Put into well-greased bag and bake thirty minutes.
Mince Turnovers.—Make the original round of paste about four inches across. Put a tablespoonful of mince meat upon it, fold over very neatly and pinch the edges together. Flatten and cook inside a buttered bag.