1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



491 



a handsome rim, and if berries or any other juicy 

 substance forms the filling, two layers. Place your 

 filling to meet this rim, wet the rim with cold wa- 

 ter and sprinkle flour upon it, (this should also be 

 done to the under crust before placing the rim) 

 then cover with the top crust, (laying it folded 

 across the centre and then opening it) flatten it 

 around the edge with the palms of your hands, 

 and trim it as the under crust was trimmed ; prick 

 it eight or ten times with a fork, or the syrup will 

 burst the edge of the crust — as there must be some 

 vent for the steam. 



Pastry looks much nicer if made in a cold room, 

 — the shortening must be kept cold till it is all used 

 if it is mixed in a warm room. Pies made of 

 cooked material, such as cranberry, gooseberry, 

 and stewed apple — mince-meat for pies, after it is 

 ready to bake, should be stewed — need an oven 

 nearly as hot as that for baking bread ; half an 

 hour, or forty minutes, will generally bake them ; 

 they are done when they slip easily in the plate. 

 Raw apples, rhubarb, peaches, cherries, and ber- 

 ries, require as much heat as for baking bread, and 

 from three-quarters' to an hour's time. Custard, 

 squash, pumpkin, and rice pies, should not be 

 filled till just as they are placed in the oven ; and 

 the material should then be hot, having been heated 

 to a scalding point by placing it In a tin pail or 

 kettle and this being set in the hot water of the 

 boiler over the fire. Stewed fruit pies look best if 

 cross-barred or covered with rings made of narrow 

 strips of pastry, instead of being covered closely. 

 Cream, either sweet or sour — the sour corrected 

 with saleratus — makes nice and healthful pastry. 

 Take the cream and stir in flour enough to handle 

 it easily, add a little salt, mould just to get it into 

 shape, and roll it out immediately for the pie — it is 

 very easily and quickly made. 



When you have cake to make, get all the ingre- 

 dients ready for use and place them close at hand. 

 The currants for fruit-cake should be washed in 

 warm water the day before. Rub them in the wa- 

 ter thoroughly, but lightly, and then pour it oflF; 

 give them two or three such washings, till the wa- 

 ter is clear. Drain them in a coarse cloth ; then 

 spread them on a dry cloth and rub them dry with 

 it ; at the same time pick out the bad ones. Then 

 set them by the fire, or in the sun, to dry thor- 

 oughly. Raisins, unless they are very fresh, should 

 also be washed in the same way. Chop them, or 

 cut them with sharp scissors, to stone them. Good 

 brown sugar is best for fruit cake or common cup 

 cake, but crushed white sugar should be used for 

 nice white cake, — the granulated, if pounded and 

 sifted, will answer. All sugar is better pounded 

 and then sifted, than if rolled. Fresh eggs are 

 needed for nice cake. All eggs before beating 

 should lie in cold water sometime — over night if 

 they can — they then make a finer froth. Use a 

 wire beater, or a clean, long cork stuck crosswise 

 of the tines of a fork. For nice cake the whites 

 and yolks must be beaten separately. Make a 



small hole at each end of the egg and either drain 

 the white through one, or by blowing at the other 

 end force it through ; be sure that not an atom of 

 the yolk passes with it, it would prevent its foam- 

 ing well. Beat the whites in a flat dish till you 

 can turn the dish any way without their spilling— 

 till they are light and white as snow. Keep up a 

 steady movement with the beater, and never leave 

 off for an instant ; if it returns to a liquid state 

 the foam will not rise well, and your cake will be 

 heavy ; by keeping your right elbow close to your 

 side, resting on the hip, the beating will not be 

 very tiresome. It can generally be accomplished 

 in twenty minutes. It is a good plan to have some 

 one beating the yolks at the same time. In sum- 

 mer go into the coldest place you can to beat eggs. 



To mix the cake ; add first the sugar to the ' 

 whites, slowly and carefully ; then the yolks, and 

 then the flour — for sponge cake. For other kinds, 

 beat the sugar and butter together till they seem 

 like cream, then add the whites ; next, the yolks ; 

 if cream of tartar is used sift it with the flour and 

 follow with this ; then the spice, or flavoring ex- 

 tract ; then the soda or saleratus, dissolved in th'> 

 milk or cream. Put it into well-buttcied pans. 

 For very nice cflke cut clean white papers and line 

 the pan with them, and set it immcdiLk;Iy into the 

 oven ; if fruit is used stir it in light' j, just below 

 the surface, at the last moment. 



Never use strong or rancid buCter or lard, for 

 cake. Onehalf lard is better tha J all butter. Use 

 a wooden spoon for mixing cake, and a wooden or 

 earthen dish. For cookies and sugar gingerbread, 

 rub the shortening iato the flour ; beat the eggs 

 and sugar together, then stir in the milk with the 

 saleratus, and then the shortened flour. In rolling 

 it out, shake flour on your hands and rub the 

 board and pin with them- -just enough to prevent 

 the dough from sticking, For making molassea 

 gingerbread: boil the molasses 'a few minutes, 

 then dissolve the lard in it, and when at blood heat 

 add the other ingredients, and stir in the flour. 

 Gingerbread and cookies need a quick heat, — will 

 bake in eight to twelve minutes, according to their 

 thickness. Light cake needs a good, steady heat, 

 about the same as for oread. Do not open the 

 oven door after the cake is set in, for ten minutes, 

 and then be sure that no cold draught can reach 

 the oven ; glance in carefully, and if the cake is 

 browning too much, cover it with a clean paper. 

 Don't open it again till you think the cake is done, 

 as the admission of cool air will make it "fall," 

 and cause a heavy streak through it. Cake in 

 pans one inch deep will be done in twenty minutes 

 — sponge cake in fifteen — if the oven is of the right 

 heat. Before removing it from the oven try it 

 with a broom-straw to see if it is done. When 

 done it should stand in the pans fifteen minutes, 

 then remove it carefully to flat dishes. If cak? 

 is to be frosted set it on a flat tin at this time. 



To make frosting : take the whites of five egg.» 

 beaten to a stifi" froth, put to it a pound of sugar, 

 flavor it with lemon or rose, and beat it steadily-- 



