FOR AFTERNOON TEA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15748, 24 October 1914, Page 3 (Supplement)

FOR AFTERNOON TEA.

The biscuit jar is an all important household equipment. Whether you fill it with purchased dainties or with biscuits made in your own oven, the main point is to keep a good supply on hand. The American equivalent is the popular "cooky," tho making of ! which is a matter of pride with American' housewives. Some tried recipes for various tasty " cookies" aro here given.

A simple sugar cooky is made by creaming together one and a half cupfuls of sugar and a cupful of butter and drippings mixed. Then stir in two wellbt.iten eggs and five tablespoonfuls of sour milk in which has been dissolved a small tenspcontul of soda. Flavour with nutmeg or vanilla. Roll thin, and, when the cookies are cut out, sprinkle with sugar and top each with a raisin. Bake 111 a moderate oven.

There are countless recipes for making molasses cookies. "Molasses" is essentially American, but either treacle or golden syrup may be substituted. One recipe calls for a cupful each of brown sugar, molasses, and shortening; when these ingredients are well mixed, add a beaten egg, three teaspoonfuls of soda dissolved in nine tablespoonfuls of boiling water, two tablespoonfuls of ginger, and just enough flour to roll out very soft. To make chocolate cookies, mix a cupful each of brown and white sugar a cupful of grated chocolate, two teaspoonmis of vanilla, a beaten egg, two cup. fuls of flour, and a fcablespoonful of water. Let the dough stand for an hour, roll very thin and bake in a quick oven. On taking the cookies from the pan, slip them on paper to harden. If the cookies are cut with a square cutter they -will look well.

To make fruit cookies, cream two . thirds of a cupful of shortening and a cupful of salt and two beaten eggs. Now stir in two teaspoonfuls of cinnamon quarter of a teaspoonful of cloves and a pinch of nutmeg, half a cupful each of chopped raisins and currants, floured and tour tablespoonfuls of cold water in which lias been dissolved a teaspoonful of soda Add enough flour to make eoft dough, probably a quart will be necessary. Gingersnaps are good if made after this recipe: Cream a cupful of sugar and a cupful of shortening; stir in a cupful of molasses, two teaspoonfuls of cinnamon, two teaspoonfuls of ginger, a teaspoonful « salt a beaten egg, and two teaspoonfuls of soda dissolved in half a cupful of warm water in winter, or cold water in summer. Stir in enough flour to make the dough stiff. Roll thin and make quickly. See *** the cookv PaDS a ' well greased. A simple cooky, which may be flavcured with almond, and each cooky topped with half a blanched almond, f 8 tms: Take a cupful of butter and two n, J. V h<m / tv m two *t<* eggs three-quarters of a cupful of flour, one K,T M ,, 0f H in S owd <*. extract to flavour, and enough milk to make a dough that can be rolled. b 2of buZ- J^ nbto »—Eght ounces flour, 2oz ™ 3oz castor sugar, half-teaspoon-fid cream of tartar, half teaspoonful bakmg-soda, grated rind and juiced one lemon one egg, a little milk. Vb butter into flour and mix all dry ingredients together. Make into a dough "with beaten egg, lemon-juice, and a little milk. Knead lightly, divide into uieces, roll each piece into a small strip, twist it into a round, put on a greased tin, bake in moderate oven fifteen cr twenty minutes. Fruit Gingerbread —Warm one pound of golden syrup until liquid. In a tablespoonful of milk dissolve a teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda. Into four teacupfills (lib) of ordinary flour rub a lib of butter. Add a teacupful of halved and stoned raisins (about 4oz). a good halfteacupful of candied ginger "in small pieces (2oz or 3cz), a small :.-:-• poonful of ground ginger, and a half-teaspconful each of cinnamon and salt. Stir in the polden syrup, then the milk and soda. Should anv dry flour remain, more milk must be added, but the mixture should be really stiff. Bake in a greased shallow tin in a very moderate oven. _ Little Cocoanut Cakes Three ounces desiccated cocoanut, 3oz of castor sugar, a little milk, $lb of flour, 2oz of butter, one egg. Rub the butter into the flour. Then add half the quantity of cocoanut given. Separate some of the white from the egg, and put it aside. Then use the remaining yolk to make the mixture into" a rather stiff dough. Shape this into little balls with yo'ur hands, brush them over with the white of egg, and roll them into the remainder of the cocoanut. Then bake them in a moderate oven for about a quarter of an hour. The time of cooking varies according to the size you make ] the balls. Almond Biscuits—Beat ilb butter to ' a cream, with ilb castor sugar. Mix gradually ilb flour and 2oz almond crumbs, beat to a stiff paste, roll out, and cut into shapes, or with a tumbler to form round biscuits. Bake in a quick oven.. HOUSEHOLD HINTS. Milk will not turn sour if a teaspoonful of fine sale be added to every quart. To prevent mustard from drying in the mustard-pot, add a little salt when making it. J To make glassware clear and sparkling, add a little washing blue to the soapsuds '■ when washing. When using a sewing machine, if the thread breaks easily, soak spool and all in water for about two minutes. When preparing onions, turnips, and carrots for cooking, cut across the fibre, as this makes them more tender when cooked. After filling a lamp with paraffin, damp a cloth with vinegar and rub the reservoir till quite dry. This will prevent the lamp from sweating. When washing coloured or patterned materials in which the colours may run, one teaspoonful of blue-black ink added to the tub of water will set the colours once and for all. A cut lemon may be kept fresh for a long time by laying it on a piece of waxed paper, with tne cut side downwards, and folding the paper over it in such a way as to exclude the air. To soften hard water, into four gallons and a-ha'if of water stir one ounce of quicklime. Let it settle, and then pour off the clear solution, which will be enough to add to two barrels of hard water. An agreeable method of changing the atmosphere in an invalid's room is to pour some eau de Cologne into a soup plate, and with a lighted match set fire to it. The spirit will impart a delightfully refreshing odour to the air.