Cookery for every household

Notes. — The fondant may be put into a paper cornet with a very small opening at the end, and piped into the impressions in the starch, if this is found easier. The starch should be sieved and dried after use. Rubber mats with fancy-shaped impressions may be used instead of the starch tray, but these are more expensive, although the shapes are generally very pretty. Two different colours of fondant may be moulded together. 2862. To Crystallise Fondants Special crystallising trays are required for this. Place the fondants on the trays, and cover with another tray to prevent their floating in the syrup. Giver the fondants with crystallising syrup, and lay a piece of muslin that has been wrung out of Crystallising Tray cold water over the top. The syrup must not be used hot, or it will soften the fondants. Leave the fondants in the syrup from 8 to 10 hours, or if a thick coating is required they may be left even longer. Then drain off the syrup, and put the sweets on clean trays to dry. They should then be covered with bright crystals, and will keep better than when left without this coating. 2863. Uncooked Fondant 1 lb. icing sugar. I A squeeze of lemon juice. 1 white of egg. | A little water. Sieve the icing sugar, add to it the white of egg and lemon juice, and then enough sugar to form into one lump. Knead with the hand until smooth, and then use as required. This fondant may be coloured and flavoured and used for chocolate centres. 2864. Cerises Degulsges Brandy cherries. Coating fondant. Cerises deguisees are brandy cherries, well drained, coated with fondant, and then served in little paper cases. They make a very pretty dessert sweet, and they are not difficult to prepare. Choose cherries that have a little piece of stalk attached to them. Drain them from their liquid about an hour before they are to be coated, place them on a piece of muslin on the top of a sieve, and let them dry exposed to the air. Then prepare some coating fondant as directed on page 598, flavour it with kirsch, or any other flavouring preferred, and either keep it white, or make it a very pale pink with carmine. Or, a pretty eflect can be made by covering half the number of cherries with white fondant, and the other half with pink. The cherries must be very dry before attempting to coat them, otherwise the fondant will run off, so, if necessary, wipe them gently with the musliD. Then dip them one at a time into the prepared fondant, holding them by the stalk. Coat well, and place them on a tin lined with grease-proof Cerises Deguisees the boiling until the “ soft ball ” stage is reached, or 240° on the thermometer. Now remove the saucepan from the fire, and stir the syrup with a wooden spoon or spatula, until it begins to turn white. Then stir in the cocoanut a nd pour into an oiled tin. Leave until cold, and cut in bars. Note. — The cocoanut ice may be made in two colours if wished. Pour about two-thirds of the white mixture into the tin, and colour the remaining part pink, with a few drops of carmine or cochineal. Keep the latter warm by standing the saucepan in boiling water, and in a few minutes’ time, when the white ice has set, pour the pink on the top. A cheaper cocoanut ice may be made by using brown moist sugar instead of the loaf.