CAREFUL CHRISTMAS COOKERY

New Zealand Listener, Volume 7, Issue 182, 18 December 1942, Page 15

CAREFUL CHRISTMAS COOKERY

UR Christmas Cooking will be extra interesting this year-a test of our ingenuity, for we shall pride ourselves on making as good a show as usual with less material, and at less cost! Here are some suggestions which Links of the Daisy Chain have sent in for economical Christmas Cooking, using less sugar and fewer eggs. Wholemeal Christmas Cake Here as a reasonable cake, using only 4 eggs, 60z. sugar and no golden syrup: Half a pound of butter, 60z. light brown sugar, 4 eggs, 100z. wholemeal flour, 14 teaspoon baking powder, % teaspoon baking soda, good pinch cayenne pepper, ¥2 teaspoon each salt and grated nutmeg, 4% teaspoon each almond, rum and vanilla flavourings, 121b. each raisins, sultanas and currants, %4lb. each lemon peel and dates, 20z. each walnuts and preserved ginger, a few cherries, 3o0z. almonds, grated rind 12 lemon, 1 tablespoon marmalade, 1 tablespoon black currant jam, which must be home-made. Mix all the fruits and nuts together, add the jam. Cream the butter and sugar, add the flavourings, beat well. Add the eggs one by one, beating vigorously between each addition. If mixture curdles, add a little of the flour, which has been sifted several times with the other dry ingredients. Now sift in the rest of the flour mixture, add all the other ingredients, and again mix well.

Have a tin lined with greaseproof paper, three parts fill with the mixture. Bake in a moderate oven 2-242 hours, depending on depth of tin. Custard Cake (2 eggs) Less fruit may be used if liked-it is a lovely rich mixture. Half a pound of butter, 42Ilb. brown sugar, 1lb. 2oz. flour, 2 small level teaspoons baking powder, 1lb. raisins, 1lb. currants, 1lb, sultanas, lb. mixed peel, 20z. cherries if liked, 1 teaspoon mixed spice, almond, lemon and other essences to taste- about % teaspoon each, 2 eggs and %4 pint milk, Rub the butter into the flour, sift in the dry ingredients, add the sugar and the fruit, Boil milk, pour on the beaten eggs to make a custard, then pour over the other ingredients. Mix well. Cook about 3 hours, and keep a week before cutting. Eggless Christmas Cake One pound of flour, %41b. sugar, 141b. butter, 1lb. dates, 2oz. walnuts, 2 teaspoons cocoa, 2 teaspoons vinegar, 2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda, dissolved in

1 breakfast cup of milk. Cream the butter and sugar. Add a little milk, then cocoa, vinegar, and the rest of the milk and soda. Then add fruit and flour, Put in a meat tin and bake one hour in a slow oven. It is really nicer cooked in an ordinary round tin, about two hours. Ship’s Cake (1 egg) This was given in The Listener for November 23, uses only one egg, and is a really popular cake for Christmas,