SOME OLD FAVOURITES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 March 1941, Page 8

SOME OLD FAVOURITES

TRY THESE RECIPES. For making cakes, eggs a week to a fortnight old are best, owing to the fact that a certain amount of the water from the white evaporates and the albumen is stronger and therefore will whip up and give more body than fresh eggs and so make your cake lighter. But when eggs are used for this purpose they should always be broken into a cup before adding to the mixture and tested for freshness by smelling. Never substitute milk for eggs if you are sending your cake overseas as it is more inclined to deteriorate.

Use only the best of dried fruit and make sure that it is quite clean and dry before adding to your cake. Never use almonds when sending a cake overseas, as they are inclined to deteriorate in a hot climate. If these are included in your recipes substitute a little extra fruit.

Rich Fruit Cake. -11 b butter Jib sugar -jib flour 6 eggs 11b raisins Jib currants 2oz candied peel 2oz cherries ,',lb sultanas 2 teaspoons mace 2 teaspoons cinnamon 1 grated nutmeg J wineglass sherry J wineglass brandy 1 tablespoon any dark jam (raspberry, currant, blackberry) Cream butter and sugar and spice, add yolks of eggs. Add white stiffly beaten alternately with flour and fruit. Add jam and wine. Place in a greased and lined tin, smooth well away from centre. Bake 21 to 3 hours. Use a square or oblong tin if you can obtain one. When cold, remove paper from cake and re-wrap in clean greaseproof paper and replace in tin and seal. The easiest way to wrap is as you would a pound of butter. The second recipe has a slightly different method and is not quite such an expensive cake to make. lOoz flour Boz butter Boz sugar 4 eggs J teaspoon baking powder 1 dessertspoon syrup or treacle 2 teaspoons mixed spice J teaspoon ground cloves J teaspoon ground ginger A little mixed essence IJlb mixed fruit Cream butter and sugar and spices and flavouring, add syrup, beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the sifted flour and the lightly-floured fruit. Bake 21- to 3 hours. To help to keep the cake and to improve the flavour when cold, make holes in it with a steel knitting needle. Pour over half wineglass brandy. Another old favourite not only at Christmas time, but all the year round, is a plum pudding. You probably have a tried recipe for this, or if you have not can obtain one from any cookery book. Short-bread, too, is an old favourite, which all the men delight to find in their parcels. After your shortbread is mixed, shape it into a cylindrical shape the size of a baking powder tin. Allow this to stand until firm and then cut it into slices. When baked these pack into the baking-powder tin with no waste space. This eliminates any risk of the shortbread arriving just a mass of crumbs. This is the recipe:— 4oz butter 2oz icing sugar Pinch of salt soz flour 2oz cornflour Cream butter and sugar and salt. Add dry ingredients and knead well in basin. Bake 20 to 30 minutes in a fairly slow oven. Another type of biscuit which travels well is the following:— Crunchies. Jib butter 21b milk 1 small dessertspoon syrup Jib brown sugar 1 breakfast cup flour 1 small teaspoon soda Cream butter and sugar, add syrup, then soda dissolved in warmed milk, and lastly flour. Put in teaspoonfuls on a cold oven tray. Bake 15 to 20 minutes. Great care should be taken in sending sweets overseas. Remember that sweets that melt or run are quite useless. Stuffed dates and prunes are always welcome and toffee or butterscotch is welcomed in any parcel. This is a reliable butterscotch recipe. Butterscotch. lib loaf sugar -J-lb butter -J pint milk Pinch of cream of tartar Place the sugar and milk in a saucepan and stir occasionally until the sugar is dissolved. Add cream of tartar and butter a small piece at a time and boil the mixture until a little dropped in cold water forms a moderately hard balk Pour into a buttered tin, and as soon as it is sufficiently firm, mark off into squares and when cold divide into sections. Wrap in waxed paper and pack into a tin and seal.