CAKES FOR CHRISTMAS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 15, 15 December 1937, Page 29

CAKES FOR CHRISTMAS.

HOW TO PREPARE THEM. APPROPRIATE RECIPES. Christmas comes but once a year! How long the twelve months between the visits of Santa Claus seem to'us when we are children! And how short they seem to us as the years go on. All at once we realise that there is just, a short time in which to make our preparations for gifts and lor holiday foods. Fortunately, some of our Christmas food specialties can be made to do double duty. No gifts are more appreciated than samples of our own handiwork in the kitchen. A loaf of fruit cake, large or small; a box ot cookies made by that special recipe; a box of hand-made fondants; a Christmas pudding; pies in gaily-col-oured containers —all would bo evidences of heartfelt Christmas wishes. Fruit cakes arc not difficult to mix to-day, when we can buy seeded raisins, sliced citron, orange or lemon peel, as well as nuts already shelled. The mixture which holds the fruit together may he light or dark, according to taste. Here are some appropriate recipes : BROWNIES.

1 egg, i cup melted butter, 1 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons water, 3 ounces chocolate, J cup of flour, £ teaspoon salt, £ teaspoon baking powder, 1 cup finely chopped nuts. Beat egg slightly and stir in melted butter. Stir in sugar and add water. Beat half a minute, then add melted chocolate. Mix flour, salt and baking powder with nuts and add to mixture. Bake in a greased cake pan for 25 to 30 minutes in a moderate oven. Remove from oven, cool slightly and cut into squares. HERMITS. £ cup butter, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 egg, £ cup sour milk, 2£ cups flour, £ teaspoon baking soda, £ teaspoon salt, £ teaspoon cinnamon, J teaspoon cloves i teaspoon nutmeg £ cup chopped nuts, £ cup chopped raisins. Cream butter and sugar together. Add beaten egg and milk; then flour sifted with soda, salt and spices and mixed with nuts and raisins. Roll thin. Cut in round or fancy shapes, and bake in a moderate oven for about ten minutes. When cool, frost and sprinkle at once with sliced nuts. CHRISTMAS FRUIT CAKE. lib flour, Jib sugar,. Jib butter, 21b currants, l£lb. sultanas, £lb. candied peel, 6oz. sweet almonds, 6oz. preserved crystallised cherries, £ teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 dessertspoon mixed spice, 8 eggs, £ teaspoon salt, some lemon juice. Cream sugar and butter. Beat in each egg separately, sieving in flour after each one. Stir in dry ingredients, lemon juice,' and a little milk if not of.the right consistency. Bake in a moderate oven for 3 to 4 hours.