HOME INTERESTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3275, 20 December 1916, Page 58

HOME INTERESTS.

CHEAP CHRISTMAS CAKE. For tins you will require Jib of flour, Jib of ground rice, Jib of castor sugar, Goz each of currants, .sultanas, and butter, Jib of mixed peel, one teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda, mixed with a little milk, half a pint of rnilk. Hub the butter into the flour, add the dry ingredients, and mix well. Put in the soda, and lastly the milk, which must be boiling. Bake at once in a well-greased tin for two and a-half hours. When baked this cake has the appearance of rich pound cuke. It is an excellent cake to send to the front, as it keeps moist a long time. ALMOND CHRISTMAS CAKE. Ingredients: Half a pound of butter; Jib of castor sugar, four eggs, lib of flour, Jib of sultanas, two large teaspoonfuls of baking powder, Jib of raisins (stoned and chopped), Jib of currants, almond icing, lib of almonds. Beat the butter and sugar to a cream with a wooden spoon. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well. Mix tiie baking powder with the flour and sift it in lightly. Clean the fruit and add it. Mix all lightly, and bake in a good oven for from one to two hours. Coat with almond paste. Blanch, halve, and brown the almonds in the oven, range them in overlapping circles, starting at the centre. ALMOND ICING. Take oqual quantities of ground sweet almonds and castor sugar, with sufficient eggs to make a stiff paste. Roll out the paste to the size and shape desired, brush on side to make it adhere, and press firmly upon the cake. CHOCOLATE ICING. Grate 2oz of cliocolate, and put it into a small pan with a tablespoonful of water and a few drops of vanilla essence. Stir until the chocolate is melted, and then add Jib of sieved icing sugar. Stir until the mixture is clear, and then spread it over the cake. The cake should, of course, be cold before icing it. ANOTHER ICING. The juice of one lemon or orange; enough icing sugar to make it the thickness of honey. Spread well over the cake when cold. CHRISTMAS PUDDING. Ingredients: Quarter of a pound of flonr, Jib of breadcrumbs, lib each of beef suet and white sugar, raisins, and currants, Jib of mixed peel, 2oz of sweet almonds, six eggs, brandy, lemon, and spices. Stone the raisins, clean and pick the currants, cut up the peel, blanch and cut up the almonds. Chop the suet very finely, afterwards rubbing it into the flour and adding the breadcrumbs, sugar, fruit, spices, and the juice and rind of half a lemon. Mix all together thoroughly, then make a hole in the centre, and pour in the bee ien eggs and the brandy. Stir till the ingredients are well _ moistened and mixed, adding a little milk if the mixture is too dry. Put the pudding into greased basins, cover them with greased paper, and steam for about 10 hours, taking care that the water never stops boiling, and renewing it from time to time.

BOILED TURKEY. A turkey is best dressed by the poulterer. If not, cut off the legs at the first joint, then draw the upper leg into the body, break or flatten the breastbone, fill the crop with forcemsat, and tie it up closely. Put the bird into hot water, and as soon as the water boils skim well, and allow it to simmer for about two hours, or according to- the size of the bird. Care should be taken to keep the water perfectly free from scum. The liquor may then be used for soup. Many cooks boil turnips with a turkey; they may bo sent to table in a well-made white sauce; celery sauce may be had if preferred. Boiled ham or tongue or bacon may bo served with boiled turkey. VERY DIGESTIBLE MINCEMEAT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN. Everybody knows that Christmas puddings must be well cocked and boiled for several hours. Yet mincemeat with such similar ingredients is really only cooked for a few minutes—in fact, only the time of the pastry colouring. Here is a most digestible recipe: One pound each of raisins, currants, apples, suet, and granulated sugar, Jib of mixed peel, 2oz sweet almonds, one. and a-half nutmeg (grated), two lemons (the rind grated), Jib marmalade, quarter of a pint cooking brandy. Chop all the suet and peel; fltonc and chop raisins, blanch almonds, and thoroughly clean the currants. Put all through a mincing machine, then mix all together, including the brandy. Let the mixture stand all night, then thoroughly mix again, put into jars not really full, and tie down. Steam for five or six hours. FROSTED FRUIT FOR CHRISTMAS. Beat the white of an egg with a teaspoonful of water. Have a sheet of paper with fine castor sugar lyin<r on the stove to get warm, but not to melt. Dip small bunches of grapes into the egg, then shake the sugar all over, and lay on a sieve near the fire to get dry. Any other fruit can be treated similarly. Those make pretty table sweets. ORANGEADE. Squeeze six oranges and three lemons well through a fine sieve into a jug, then rasp the rinds of two of each; pour over a pint of ho! svrup, then arid water tb liking. Pass the whole through a sieve. It is then ready for nr\e. This makes a delicious drink for Christmas, and the children will be very fond of it. PI NEAPPLE SHERBET. Take one pineapple (either fresh or preserved), two qua its of water, the juice of four lemons, ice and sugar to taste. Cut the pineapple into slices and chop it coarsely. Pour over it the cold water, add the lemon juice, sweeten to taste, and strain into a large jug. Just before serving add a few pieces of ice.