Domestic

New Zealand Tablet, 8 December 1910, Page 2033

Domestic

By MAUREEN

CHRISTMAS DAINTIES. Cold Brandy Sauce for Plum Pudding. Take lib loaf sugar, -Jib fresh- butter, 1 wineglass brandy. Pound and sift the sugar, then beat it with the butter to a high froth; then gradually add the glass of brandy. Economical Mincemeat. One pound raisins (stoned), lib currants, lib Demerara, sugar, Jib apples, lib suet (chopped), the rind and juice of two lemons. Put raisins and apples through a mincer, then mix ingredients thoroughly together. Recipe tested for fifty years. Apple Mince Meat. One pound of currants, lib of peeled and chopped apples, lib of suet chopped fine, 11b of moist sugar, lib of chopped and stoned raisins, juice of four oranges and two lemons, with the chopped peel of one lemon, one spoonful ea.ph of ground rupee and allspice, one wineglass of brandy. Mix all well together, and keep it closely covered in a cool place. Arrowroot Sauce for Christmas Puddings. One dessertspoonful of arrowroot, two of sifted sugar, one glass of white wine, the juice of half a lemon, half a, pint of water. Rub the arrowroot very smoothly in a tiny drop of water, add the wine, the sugar, and the lemon juice, then pour in gradually half a pint of hot water. Stir it very quickly over a clear fire until it boils. Strain and serve at once. This sauce may be flavored with anything preferred, and, if liked, may be dusted with nutmeg. Economical Christmas Cake. Take Jib of butter, lard, mixed peel, 1 Jib currants, lib of sugar, one nutmeg, half a teaspoonful of salt, ono penny packet of egg powder, one gill of best stout. Cream the butter, lard, egg powder, and stout together. Beat well, and then add the other ingredients, and sufficient flour to make a stiff batter. Bake three and a half hours to four hours in a slow oven. Using the stout makes the cako look a rich dark color. . Mincemeat. Take Jib of suet, Jib of raisins, Jib of sultanas, Jib of currants, Jib of apples. jib of sugar, 2oz candied peel, a lemon, and a gill of brandy. Chop the suet finely, stone and chop the raisins, wash well and pick the currants, rub and pick the sultanas, peel, core, and chop the apples, mince th.e candied peel; mix all the ingredients together with the sugar, juice, and grated rind of a lemon, and the brandy. Put into jars, and cover tightly. This should be made some days before required for use. Line patty pans with some good puff paste, put in the mincemeat, heaping it well in ,cover with paste, make a hole in the centre, bake for about twenty minutes in a hot oven.

Christmas Cake.

Half a pound of butter, Jib of castor sugar, Jib flour, 1 teaspoonful of baking powder, half a teaspoonful of salt, Jib sultanas, Jib of glace cherries, Jib of almonds, 2 lemons, Joz powdered cloves, spice, and cinnamon, mixed, one gill of brandy, 5 eggs. Line a cake tin with three thicknesses of greased paper. Next cream together the sugar and butter. Well whisk the eggs, and add them gradually to the sugar and butter, at the same time putting in the flour, salt,- and baking powder, previously sieved together. Stalk and clean the sultanas, halve the cherries, chop the peel, and skin and shred the almonds; mix all these on a plate together with the rind of the lemon and the spices. Then add them to the butter, etc. Mix well. Lastly, add the brandy gradually. Put the mixture into the prepared tin. Stand the tin on a baking sheet, which should have a thick layer of sand to keep the cake from burning underneath. Bake in a moderate oven for 2J hours.

Very Rich Christmas Cake.

One and a quarter pounds of fresh butter, the same quantity of flour, 10 eggs, 12oz of sugar, £oz of mixed spice, ilb of blanched almonds (sweet), IJlb currants, 6oz of mixed candied peel, jib of sultanas, a claret glassful of good brandy, and a quarter of a teacupful of orange flower water. Beat the butter to a cream, add the powdered sugar, the yolks of the eggs well beaten, then by degrees the flour, spice, candied peel cut in small pieces, the almonds, currants, and sultanas, then the orange flower water and brandy; beat for half an hour, then add the whites of the eggs, which must be whisked to a stiff froth; beat again for half an hour, pour into a buttered tin lined with several thicknesses of buttered paper, and bake for five hours. As soon as the outside of the cake is baked it is best to cover the top with two or three layers of paper. To try when the cake is baked enough, put a highly-polished knife into the centre, and if nothing adheres to it the cake is baked • enough. ■ . ■ ,