Cookery for little girls

For baked macaroni with tomato, have the little cook put in her baking dish first a layer of the cooked and rinsed macaroni, then a layer of tomatoes, either fresh or canned, but well seasoned, then another layer of macaroni, then one of tomatoes, and on the top sprinkle rolled bread crumbs. Scatter tiny lumps of butter all around, season again, and bake a light brown in a quick oven MACARONI PIE But if she finds that she has a small quantity of cold meat on hand, beef, veal or chicken, she can put one layer of that through the middle of the macaroni, and she will have a surprise for her family — delicious, too. This is quite nice for wash-day dinner when it can be served with baked potatoes, at little cost of time or trouble. RICE AND MACARONI In a series of cooking lessons of this kind, it is manifestly impossible to include directions for preparing all kinds of food, but I have outlined the work with the idea of teaching the children a great variety of dishes, believing that their success with these will stimulate them to try by themselves recipes found elsewhere. CHAPTER X Baking Cake and Bread The child who has been assisted in preparing the various dishes given in our previous cooking lessons, and who has learned to follow directions, will now be eager to undertake different kinds of baking. The mother should impress on the little student that the first essential to success is correct measurements, and the second, careful mixing. For cake baking a graduated tin cup, marked in quarters and thirds, is almost a necessity, as different people's ideas vary so as to what constitutes a quarter or a third. If the cup is at hand, however, and is used in taking all the measurements, there can be no mistake. And a cupful means a level cupful, not heaping; a teaspoonful a level spoonful, not a rounded one, unless so specified. BAKING PREPARATIONS Before beginning the work, the child should read over her recipe and lay out all ingredients needed. She should have the mixing bowl on the table with the mixing spoon, the teaspoon and tablespoon for measurements, and the measuring cup. The cake pan, wiped off, warmed and greased lightly with lard, is next set aside, ready for use. Then the fire must be in good condition. If a gas stove is used it will take only a few moments to heat the oven properly, but if wood or coal is the fuel, the mother must show the child how to prepare the fire, so as to have the oven the right temperature and on time. The old way of having it as hot as one can stand the hand while counting twenty, is a fair test. As small cakes bake more evenly and quickly for the inexperienced cook, it is a good idea to let the child put her cake dough in muffin tins. A mixture that might fall and seem a failure if put in a loaf and not properly baked, will often come up very nicely in gem pans ; and, besides, the small cakes appeal more to the childish fancy. A nice one-egg cake is made as follows : TEA CAKES One-third of a cup of butter, one cup of sugar, one egg, one cup of milk, two cups of sifted flour, two level teaspoonfuls of baking powder, half a Icing the Cake teaspoonful of vanilla, and half a cup of currants. DIRECTIONS FOR MIXING