MID-SEASON SWEET COURSE.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 408, 15 April 1937, Page 3

MID-SEASON SWEET COURSE.

Smart Finishing Touches To Simple Dishes. Simple sweets with a basis of fruit, cereal, and dairy produce suit the modern taste, but because they are so plain they must be attractively served. With a small but well-thought-out assortment of flavourings and decorations, it is possible to produce quickly and inexpensively elaborate and professional-looking dishes. A useful selection is: Pink colouring, green colouring, lemon flavouring, coffee flavouring, angelica, almonds, crystallised cherries, and rose petals. * * * Rice is an excellent basis for a fairly substantial cold sweet and combines well with fruit juices. A wellflavoured mould can be made with a breakfastcupful of sweetened orange and lemon juice (in the proportion of one lemon to two oranges), half a cupful Of rice, and two leaves of gelatine. Boil the rice until it is soft and then strain; dissolve the gelatine in a little of the hot rice water, add the fruit juice, and pour the mixture over the rice. Allow to cool and set and decorate with green-tinted whipped cream and crystallised cherries. * * * A lighter sweet, suitable for a dinner party, is a cold coffee souffle. For this half a cupful of sweetened, strong black coffee, or its equivalent in essence, is heated in a double boiler, with an equal amount of milk, two leaves of gelatine, and a few drops of vanilla. Add to this the yolks of two eggs and, when the mixture thickens, the well-beaten whites. Pour into a mould and serve cold, garnished with blanched almonds and whipped cream. * * * When the variety of fresh fruit is limited canned pineapple is a welcome addition to the menu, particularly as it retains its valuable vitamin properties when it is preserved. Made into fritters, it can scarcely be distinguished from the fresh fruit. The slices should be drained, dusted with sifted breadcrumbs, and dipped into a batter made with a cupful each of flour and milk, one egg, and a little sugar. Fry them in deep fat and sift sugar over them when they are dished. Serve with the syrup from the pineapple boiled with a cupful of sugar until it thickens. * * * Apples are still one of the staple fruits of the season, but they are apt to look less appetising after they are cooked than in their natural state. This method, however, enhances their appearance. Peel and core a sufficient number of "smallish” apples and cook them whole in a syrup. When they are tender, arrange in a dish, pour the liquid round them, and leave to cool. Before serving decorate by tinting one side of each with a drop of red colouring and fill the hollows in the centre with whipped . cream topped wath a piece of angelica to represent the stalk. * * * For a distinguished orange salad, peel the fruit and remove the pith, then slice very thinly. Drain the juice which runs out, add to it half a teaspoonful of rum and pour it over the slices. A little sugar may be required. Many kinds of jellies, mousses, and, in fact, most cold sweets which have no strong flavour of their own can be improved by a little rum, discreetly introduced. * * * Prunes can be served in a variety of ways besides plain stewing. Here are some which will make a delightful change. Line a buttered piedish with pieces of stale bread and butter, then fill up the dish with layers of soaked, stoned, and cooked prunes, and thinly-sliced apples. Sprinkle with ordinary sugar and the juice of a lemon. Cover with fine breadcrumbs and a little shredded snot. Sprinkle with grated nutmeg, dot with butter, then bake in a moderate oven for three-quarters of an hour. Serve with custard. * * * When the children pout at the idea of plain rice, give them this instead: Prunes and rice are excellent for growing chiidreg. Ingredients:. Jib

prunes, 2oz. rice, 2oz. butter, 2oz. sugar, the yolk of an egg, 3oz. flour. Wash, soak, and simmer the prunes, and cook until pulpy, then rub through a sieve. Cream together the butter and the sugar, add the egg yolk and 3oz. flour, then stir in the prune pulp. Pour into a buttered basin, cover with greased paper, and steam for one hour. Turn out and sprinkle with plainly boiled rice and castor sugar. * * * Other good partners for prunes are apricots. Ingredients: 2 eggs, 4oz. each sugar, flour, and butter, IJoz. breadcrumbs, 3oz. dried apricots, 6 prunes, and the grated rind of halt a lemon, and the juice. Cream the butter and the sugar well, stir in the beaten eggs, flour, lemon rind, juice, breadcrumbs, and lastly the previously soaked apricots and prunes, cut up. Pour into a buttered basin and steam for two hours. Serve with a sauce made with the water in which the prunes and apricots have beeh soaked. * « * Light and nourishing, the following is a good dish for an Invalid. Soak and sook Jib washed prunes in a jar, with a piece of lemon rind, in a slow oven. When they are tender, remove the stones and skins, then mash. Meanwhile cook Jib apples, thinly sliced, with a little sugar and water until tender, then mash and blend with the prunes. Add the yolks of two eggs, and sufficient milk to make a well-blended mixture. Sweeten to taste. Return to the casserole, add the stiffly whisked egg whites, a little castor sugar with a few drops of lemon juice, and the kernels from the prunes. Bake in a slow oven for half an hour. * * * Here is a favourite with a new flavour: Mix together 3oz. each breadcrumbs, flour, and shreded suet. Add 4oz. sugar, a pinch of salt, and a teaspoonful of baking powder, stir in 3oz. chopped figs, 2oz. soaked and chopped apricots, and two beaten eggs. Add a little milk and blend thoroughly. Pour into a greased basin and steam for two hours. Turn out and serve with custard. * * * Figs cooked in this way will be found delicious: Wash and soak Jib figs overnight in J pint water, then put them into a stone jar with the rind of a lemon and the juice. Add two tablesponfuls of of sugar, tie the top over with parchment paper, then cook, either in a pan of boiling water or in a slow I oven, until the figs are quite tender. I Serve hot with custard, or cold With I cream, .