The Fun of Cooking Part 22

"Now for the potatoes; what kind do you think you would like?"

"I can make nice ones, chopped and fried," said Brownie proudly.

"I don't believe we had better give those small children anything fried, dear; I'm pretty sure their mothers would not like that. What would you think of the potato puff Norah makes out of left-over mashed potato?"

"Just the thing. I wouldn't have to boil the potatoes and peel them and mash them. Left-overs are always _so_ convenient!"

"Then we must be sure to have mashed potato for dinner the night before the party, or there won't be any left over," said Mrs. Blair, laughing.

"Now, write down this receipt; only remember I am making it small for you; for the family you must take two cups or more of potato, and one egg."

POTATO PUFF

1 cup of mashed potato.

1/4 teaspoonful salt.

1/4 cup of milk.

1/2 of a beaten egg.

1 teaspoonful of b.u.t.ter.

Mix the potato with the milk and salt and heat it, beating it well. Then stir in the b.u.t.ter after warming it till soft, and last the egg. Put in a small dish and bake in a hot oven till brown.

"I think it would be nice to bake this in one of the small brown earthenware dishes, Brownie; they always look well on the table, and a tin or agate pan wouldn't do at all; you know you must serve it right in the pan you bake it in."

"Isn't it funny, you have one-half an egg in the potato and one-half in the rice patties, Mother. Do you do that on purpose?"

"No, it just happened to be so, but it's an economical thing, Brownie, because eggs are so high now-a-days that one has to remember to use them carefully. The sandwiches come next. What kind do you think would be best?"

"Not cheese, Mother; dolls and children don't eat cheese; I know _that_! And not nut; nor ham; nor hard-boiled egg. I can't think of any kind that would do."

"White bread and brown bread put together, just with plain b.u.t.ter, you know; I think those would be lovely for children."

"So they would; I can make those. And we can cut them out in little, little circles."

"I think you could use an egg cup and press it down hard; that would make little circles."

"Just the thing. Now comes the cocoa, and I can make that all alone; may we use the little after dinner coffee cups to drink it out of? We'll be very careful."

"Well, if you'll be _very_ careful indeed," Mother Blair said, hesitating.

"Oh, yes, we'll be just awfully careful. And what about jelly?"

"You can have a gla.s.s of jelly out of the closet made over for you in this way:"

MADE-OVER JELLY

A gla.s.s of currant jelly warmed in a saucepan till it melts.

1 teaspoonful of granulated gelatine.

1/2 cup of cold water.

2 tablespoonfuls of boiling water.

Put the gelatine into the cold water, stir it well and let it stand for ten minutes; then stir again and add the boiling water and the hot jelly; stir till it is smooth and strain through a coa.r.s.e bag into two or more small gla.s.ses. Put on ice till firm.

"While the jelly is melting you get the rest of the things ready and then it takes only a moment to put them all together. Norah always has a bag because she washes out and puts away those that the table salt comes in. When you have used it don't forget to wash it out for her, will you, dear?"

"No, Mother. Mildred and I never forget to wash up and put things away ever since she said we couldn't come into the kitchen at all unless we always did that. Do you remember how cross she was?"

"I don't wonder, Brownie. Some day when you have a kitchen of your own you will be cross, too, if little girls come in and use your pots and pans and leave them all sticky and messy."

"Of course I will. It makes me feel real cross now just to think of it.

I guess we'd better plan the dessert before I get worse."

"Perhaps we had," laughed Mother Blair. "Those children must have something very simple, indeed, and I really can't think of anything better for them than cornstarch pudding."

"Well," said Brownie doubtfully, "that certainly won't hurt them."

"I know you don't like it very well, and grown people don't care for it either, but it is good for children, and if you learn to make it for them you can easily change the rule a little bit and make it in half a dozen different ways which grown-ups do like. I'll give you two or three rules for your book and you can try them all. Here is the first, for your party:"

PLAIN CORNSTARCH PUDDING

2/3 cup of scalded milk; put in the double boiler.

1-1/2 tablespoonfuls of cornstarch.

1/2 tablespoonful of sugar.

1 pinch of salt.

2 tablespoonfuls of cold milk.

1 egg.

1/4 teaspoonful vanilla.

While the milk is heating till it scalds (that is, till the top wrinkles, but it does not quite boil), mix the cornstarch, sugar and salt in the cold milk and then pour slowly into the scalded milk, stirring well all the time till it grows thick; put on the cover and let it cook eight minutes. Beat the egg without separating it and stir this in and cook one minute; take it off the stove, add the vanilla, pour it into a mold and let it get firm; serve with cream.

"You see that isn't bad at all; but to make it ever so much better try this:"

CHOCOLATE CORNSTARCH PUDDING

Melt a square of unsweetened chocolate by putting it into a saucer over the steam of the tea-kettle; stir this in just before adding the egg. Pour into a pretty mold on ice; turn it out and heap whipped cream around it.

ALMOND CORNSTARCH PUDDING

Use almond flavoring instead of vanilla, and when you take the pudding off the fire, stir in a cup of chopped almonds. Serve with whipped cream.

"That last one sounds, oh, so good, Mother. Can't I make that for Sunday dinner?"

"Yes, indeed you can, and Father will love it, I know. Now, Brownie, let me tell you just one thing more about the dessert for the party; put the pudding into egg cups, and fill them just half full; then you see when you turn them out they will be lovely little molds, one for each child; and you can have the cream in the small silver pitcher to pa.s.s with them."

"What a nice party it will be," sighed Brownie. "I'm so glad Helen is only five, because if she were older we couldn't have these cunning, cunning things."

The party really was lovely. The little table had six low seats around it, a hem-st.i.tched lunch cloth over it and a small vase of flowers in the center. The little girls, each with her best doll in her lap, sat around it, too impressed to talk. First they had rice patties filled with hot creamed chicken on little plates, and spoonfuls of brown potato puff; with these the little round sandwiches were pa.s.sed, brown on one side and white on the other, and tiny cups of cocoa, and helpings from the little gla.s.s of jelly which Brownie had turned out in a pretty red mold on a little bit of a gla.s.s dish. After they had eaten all they possibly could of these things Norah came in with some more small plates and each one had a little mold of delicious cold pudding, with cream to put on it and two small star-shaped cookies to eat with it. Oh, it was all so good! And the best thing about it was that Brownie really made every single thing they had all by herself, except the cookies. Mildred had made those the day before for her. "I'm so sorry I'm too big to come to the party," she said, "but at least I can make doll-cookies."

"'Doll and little-girl cookies,' you mean," corrected Brownie.