DOMESTIC

New Zealand Tablet, 7 October 1920, Page 41

DOMESTIC

——■ —<*—■— (By MadkeeU.)

Tartlets. These may be made when odd pieces of puff-paste are left over. Roll the paste a little thicker than' for ordinary pies. Cut out with a small round cutter first dipped in hot water to make the edges smooth. Bake in small tart pans pricking holes in the paste With a fork before placing in the oven. Bake from 15 to 20 minutes. Let the pastry cool a little ; then drop a spoonful of preserve on each tart. By this, both the color and flavor of the jam are preserved which would be lost if it were baked with the paste. Small Tea Cakes. Two teacupsful of flour, teacupful of ground rice, 1 teacupful moist sugar, 2oz butter, 2 eggs, 2oz lard or dripping, lemon to taste. Method ; Melt the butter and lard, beat well, and add the mixture to the flour and rice; then put in the eggs and sugar, well beating them together with a wooden spoon, and using a little milk if necessary to give the proper consistency, then bake in small cakes on a fin in a quick oven. Compote of Dates with Rice. Boiled tapioca or pearl barley can be served with this instead of rice. Required : One pound of dates, half a pint of water, two tablespoonfuls of any sweet syrup, the juice and grated rind of half a lemon. Wash and stone two dates. 5 Put them in a stewing jar with the water, syrup, and rind and juice of the lemon. Cover the jar, and simmer on the stove till the fruit is soft. It may take, an hour. Serve hot or cold with plainly-boiled rice. Eking Out the Sugar Ration. It will probably be a long time before we shall obtain as much sugar as we should like, and this is a real hardship, especially for those who have to cater for young children : so it may interest you to hear (says a writer in an exchange) how an English lady managed to make her allowance go as far as possible during wartime. Sugar syrup for tea: “I used sugar syrup for sweetening tea, coffee, etc., then there was not any chance of any being wasted by being left in the bottom of a cup. Gently dissolve half a pound of sugar in half a pint of water over the fire, then bring it to the boil, take it oft' the fire, and, when it is cold, pour it into a bottle. Add one or two teaspoonfuls of

this to the tea instead of sugar,and you can also use it for sweetening'the, children’s milk or cocoa. “Golden Syrup, Treacle, or Honey.—l used golden syrup, treacle, honey (this is most valuable), maple syrup, or glucose (also sold as corn syrup) for sweetening cakes, puddings, stewed fruit, etc., instead of sugar. It may be that in your district small tins of golden syrup are unprocurable. In that case 1 see if you cannot get syrup or treacle, sold by the pint or pound, to be taken away in your own tin or jar. “Or if 71b tins of syrup are on sale get one or two friends to go shares with you if it is more than you feel justified in buying. One can often buy big tins of syrup when small ones are not to be had. ’ Honey should be reserved for eating with bread, boiled rice, and so forth, on account of its food value and exceeding wholesomeness. Maple syrup is in some places sold as ■ tree honey,’ and though some is good, other kinds have a strong flavor, with a slight medicinal taste, and should be used sparingly. . Glucose can be used in cooking just like syrup, but it may be more difficult to get nowadays. Note: When using a liquid sweetener, such as syrup, one should add to the mixture rather less milk or other fluid than usual, or it may be too soft.” Household Hints. When cleaning knives mix -a pinch of . carbonate of soda with the bathbrick. This will make them polish quickly and easily. In cold weather an egg will often crack when put into boiling water. To avoid this dip the egg first into cold water, then lower very carefully into the boiling water with a large spoon.