The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887) Part 93

Halve the peaches and take out the stones; pare. Have ready some powdered white sugar on a plate or dish. Roll the peaches in it several times, until they will not take up any more. Place them singly on a plate, with the cup or hollow side up, that the juices may not run out. Lay them in the sun. The next morning roll them again. As soon as the juice seems set in the peaches, turn the other side to the sun. When they are thoroughly dry, pack them in gla.s.s jars, or, what is still nicer, fig-drums. They make an excellent sweetmeat just as they are; or, if wanted for table use, put over the fire in porcelain, with a very little water, and stew a few minutes.

PEACH LEATHER.

Stew as many peaches as you choose, allowing a quarter of a pound of sugar to one of fruit; mash it up smooth as it cooks, and when it is dry enough to spread in a thin sheet on a board greased with b.u.t.ter, set it out in the sun to dry; when dry it can be rolled up like leather, wrapped up in a cloth, and will keep perfectly from season to season. School-children regard it as a delightful addition to their lunch of biscuit or cold bread. Apple and quince leather are made in the same fashion, only a little flavoring or spice is added to them.

COCOANUT CARAMELS.

Two cupfuls of grated cocoanut, one cupful of sugar, two tablespoonfuls of flour, the whites of three eggs, beaten stiff. Soak the cocoanut, if desiccated, in milk enough to cover it; then beat the whites of the eggs, add gradually the sugar, cocoanut and flour; with your fingers make, by rolling the mixture, into cone shapes. Place them on b.u.t.tered sheets of tin covered with b.u.t.tered letter paper and bake in a moderate heat about fifteen or twenty minutes. They should cool before removing from the tins.

DRIED PRESERVES.

Any of the fruits that have been preserved in syrup may be converted into dry preserves, by first draining them from the syrup and then drying them slowly on the stove, strewing them thickly with powdered sugar. They should be turned every few hours, sifting over them more sugar.

CANDIES WITHOUT COOKING.

Very many candies made by confectioners are made without boiling, which makes them very desirable, and they are equal to the best "French Creams." The secret lies in the sugar used, which is the x.x.x powdered or confectioners' sugar. Ordinary powdered sugar, when rubbed between the thumb and finger has a decided grain, but the confectioners' sugar is fine as flour. The candies made after this process are better the day after.

FRENCH VANILLA CREAM.

Break into a bowl the whites of one or more eggs, as the quant.i.ty you wish to make will require; add to it an equal quant.i.ty of cold water, then stir in x.x.x powdered or confectioners' sugar until you have it stiff enough to mold into shape with the fingers. Flavor with vanilla to taste. After it is formed in b.a.l.l.s, cubes or lozenge shapes, lay them upon plates or waxed paper and set them aside to dry. This cream can be worked in candies similar to the French cooked cream.

CHOCOLATE CREAM DROPS.

These are made or molded into cone-shape forms with the fingers, from the uncooked "French Cream," similar to that which is cooked. After forming into these little b.a.l.l.s or cones, lay them on oiled paper until the next day, to harden, or make them in the morning and leave them until afternoon. Then melt some chocolate (the best confectioners') in a basin set in another basin of boiling water; when melted, and the creams are hard enough to handle, take one at a time on a fork and drop into the melted chocolate, roll it until well covered, then slip from the fork upon oiled or waxed paper, and set them aside to harden.

FRUIT AND NUT CREAMS.

Raisins seeded, currants, figs and citron, chopped fine, and mixed with the uncooked "French Cream," while soft, before the sugar is all mixed in, makes a delicious variety. Nuts also may be mixed with this cream, stirring into it chopped almonds, hickory nuts, b.u.t.ternuts, or English walnuts, then forming them into b.a.l.l.s, bars or squares.

Several kinds of nuts may be mixed together.

ORANGE DROPS.

Grate the rind of one orange and squeeze the juice, taking care to reject the seeds; add to this a pinch of tartaric acid; then stir in confectioners' sugar until it is stiff enough to form into b.a.l.l.s the size of a small marble. This is delicious candy.

The same process for lemon drops, using lemons in place of orange.

Color a faint yellow.

COCOANUT CREAMS.

Make the uncooked cream as in the foregoing recipe. Take the cream while soft, add fresh grated cocoanut to taste; add sufficient confectioners' sugar to mold into b.a.l.l.s and then roll the b.a.l.l.s in the fresh grated cocoanut. These may be colored pink with a few drops of cochineal syrup, also brown by adding a few spoonfuls of grated chocolate; then rolling them in grated cocoanut; the three colors are very pretty together. The coconut cream may be made into a flat cake and cut into squares or strips.

With this uncooked cream, all the recipes given for the cooked "French Cream," may be used: English walnut creams, variegated creams, etc.

COFFEE, TEA, BEVERAGES.

Boiling water is a very important desideratum in the making of a cup of good coffee or tea, but the average housewife is very apt to overlook this fact. Do not boil the water more than three or four minutes; longer boiling ruins the water for coffee or tea making, as most of its natural properties escape by evaporation, leaving a very insipid liquid composed mostly of lime and iron, that would ruin the best coffee, and give the tea a dark, dead look, which ought to be the reverse.

Water left in the tea-kettle over night _must never be used for preparing the breakfast coffee_; no matter how excellent your coffee or tea may be, it will be ruined by the addition of water that has been boiled more than once.

THE HEALING PROPERTIES OF TEA AND COFFEE.

The medical properties of these two beverages are considerable. Tea is used advantageously in inflammatory diseases and as a cure for the headache. Coffee is supposed to act as a preventative of gravel and gout, and to its influence is ascribed the rarity of those diseases in Prance and Turkey. Both tea and coffee powerfully counteract the effects of opium and intoxicating liquors: though, when taken in excess, and without nourishing food, they themselves produce, temporarily at least, some of the more disagreeable consequences incident to the use of ardent spirits. In general, however, none but persons possessing great mobility of the nervous system, or enfeebled or effeminate const.i.tutions, are injuriously affected by the moderate use of tea and coffee in connection with food.

COFFEE.

One full coffeecupful of ground coffee, stirred with one egg and part of the sh.e.l.l, adding a half cupful of _cold_ water. Put it into the coffee boiler, and pour on to it a quart of boiling water; as it rises and begins to boil, stir it down with a silver spoon or fork.

Boil hard for ten or twelve minutes. Remove from the fire and pour out a cupful of coffee, then pour back into the coffeepot. Place it on the back of the stove or range where it will keep hot (and not boil); it will settle in about five minutes. Send to the table _hot_. Serve with good cream and lump sugar. Three-quarters of a pound of Java and a quarter of a pound of Mocha make the best mixture of coffee.

VIENNA COFFEE.

Equal parts of Mocha and Java coffee; allow one heaping tablespoonful of coffee to each person and two extra to make good strength. Mix one egg with grounds; pour on coffee half as much boiling water as will be needed; let it froth, then stir down grounds, and let boil five minutes; then let it stand where it will keep hot, but not boil, for five or ten minutes, and add rest of water. To one pint of cream add the white of an egg, well beaten; this is to be put in cups with sugar, and hot coffee added.

FILTERED OR DRIP COFFEE.

For each person allow a large tablespoonful of finely ground coffee, and to every tablespoonful allow a cupful of boiling water; the coffee to be one part Mocha to two of Java.

Have a small iron ring made to fit the top of the coffeepot inside, and to this ring sew a small muslin bag (the muslin for the purpose must not be too thin). Fit the bag into the pot, pour some boiling water in it, and, when the pot is well warmed, put the ground coffee into the bag; pour over as much boiling water as is required, close the lid, and, when all the water has filtered through, remove the bag, and send the coffee to table. Making it in this manner prevents the necessity of pouring the coffee from one vessel to another, which cools and spoils it. The water should be poured on the coffee gradually so that the infusion may be stronger; and the bag must be well made that none of the grounds may escape through the seams and so make the coffee thick and muddy.

Patented coffeepots on this principle can be purchased at most house-furnishing stores.

ICED COFFEE.

Make more coffee than usual at breakfast time and stronger. When cold put on ice. Serve with cracked ice in each tumbler.

SUBSt.i.tUTE FOR CREAM IN COFFEE.

Beat the white of an egg, put to it a small lump of b.u.t.ter and pour the coffee into it gradually, stirring it so that it will not curdle.

It is difficult to distinguish this from fresh cream.