DOMESTIC

New Zealand Tablet, 28 July 1921, Page 41

DOMESTIC

(By Maureen.)

Coconut Macaroons

Two lbs. castor sugar. 1 lb. fine desiccated coconut. i pint whites of eggs. Mix all together in a copper stewpan, then stand it over the fire, and stir continually until the heat of the mixture will just allow the finger to be borne in it. Lay out with a tablespoon on to wafer paper, making 4J dozen macaroons from the quantity given above. Let them stand for about half an hour, then bake in a moderate heat.

Why Chocolate Icing Loses Its Gloss.

If a chocolate icing is beaten too much before spreading, the gloss will be lost. It should be spread while it is yet a little "runny," so that it flows of itself to a great extent over the surface of the cake. Sometimes if a knifeblade, dipped into hot water, is used to smooth the icing, it will restore the gloss. , '

Glossy Boiled Icing.

Boil together two cups of sugar and one cup of water until, when a spoonful of the mixture is dropped into cold water, it will form a soft ball. Pour this syrup in a thin stream on the stiff-beaten whites of either one or two eggs, beating all the while. Continue beating until frosting is thick enough to spread, but not thick enough for pastrytube work.

Gala Cake.

Cream one-half a cup of butter; add one cup of granulated sugar. Beat two eggs and two yolks until light; into the eggs beat one-half cup of sugar. Beat the egg-mixture into the butter-mixture, and when thoroughly blended add one cup of milk, alternately, with three cups of flour sifted with four teaspoonfuls of •baking powder and one-half a teaspoonful of salt. Mix thoroughly and turn into a single cake pan, buttered and papered, and bake thirty minutes. When cool, spread with gala frostings.

(Jala Frosting.

Dissolve four tablespoonfuls of molasses,' two cups of granulated sugar, in one-half cup of boiling water. Cook to the soft-ball stage, then pour in. a fine stream on to the whites of two eggs, beaten dry. Return the frosting to the saucepan, set it over boiling water and beat constantly, keeping the frosting moving from the bottom and sides of the pan until the mixture thickens perceptibly, then spread over the surface of the cake. Do -not try to make the frosting smooth, but leave it somewhat rough.

To Make Biscuits.

Ginger Biscuits. Four ounces each of flour, oatmeal, butter and sugar, half a teaspoonful of baking powder, a dessertspoonful of milk, one egg, and powdered ginger to

taste. Work it all up to a nice paste, roll out, stamp it out in rounds with a plain cutter, and bake twenty minutes in a pretty sharp oven. These- make delicious biscuits. Brighton Biscuits.—Take lilb. good moist sugar, roll fine, mix with 2slb. flour, and sift through a flour sieve; rub in 2oz. butter; make a hole in the middle and strew in a few caraway seeds; pour in each half a pint of honey, water, and milk, mix with dough, but do not work too much; roll out in thin sheets, cut into biscuits, and put 2in. apart on buttered tin; wash with milk, bake steadily. Arrowroot Biscuits.—lngredients: |lb. of butter, six eggs, of flour, 6oz. arrowroot, \\h. pounded loaf sugar. Beat the butter to a cream, whisk the eggs to a strong froth, add to them the butter; stir the flour in gradually, and beat the mixture well; break down any lumps which may be in the arrowroot; mix with the sugar, and add to the other ingredients; mix all thoroughly together; butter a baking-tin, and drop the dough upon it in pieces the size of a shilling. Bake the biscuits for about twenty minutes in a fairly hot oven. Keep all biscuits in air-tight tins.

Why Bread Cracks at the Sides During Baking.

Sometimes bread cracks at the sides because the oven is too hot, but more often because too much flour was used in the mixing. The experienced housekeeper learns to knead her bread with as little flour as possible, using no more than two cups and one-half (level) to one cup of water. Begin by kneading very lightly, gently manipulating the dough with the tips of the fingers until the gluten has taken up the moisture, then the pressure may be increased by degrees. This skilful '.'handling" of the wet mass of dough until it becomes smooth and elastic is gained after a little experience, but the point to avoid is the use of too much flour, and the point to strive for is to see just how little flour you can use so as to knead bread that will not stick to the board.