Cooking and castle-building

morning add a handful of flour, and beat them soundly. When again light, work well with the hand, adding three ounces of butter and flour very gradually. The excellence of these buns consists mainly in their being soft and elastic or spongy. When the dough is stiff enough to cling together and work away from the sides of the bowl, sufiicient flour has been added. Work ten or fifteen minutes longer, cover closely, and leave to rise. When very light, mould into small round cakes, and place in a pan, not allowing the cakes to touch each other. Let them rise in the pan till light ; then bake in a moderate oven. Is that right. Cousin Kate ? " "You have omitted flavoring and citron," I said. " So I have," answered Alice ; "I forgot to mention that at the time of adding the butter, lemon or other flavoring may be used according to taste ; and that a slice of citron, placed in each bun at the time of forming, gives them a nice flavor, and causes a delightful surprise to the uninitiated eater. By the way, how will this do for doughnuts ? Put into a pan three pints of sifted flour. Make a well in the centre, into which put a half pound of sugar, a gill of buttermilk or thick sour milk, two eggs, two ounces of butter, a teaspoonful of soda, and flavoring to taste. With the hand mix these ingredients well together, work- ing in the flour gradually, until the dough is very smooth. It must not, however, be made stiff. Roll upon the moulding-board half an inch thick, cut in form, and fry in boiling lard. When cool, dust the doughnuts with pulverized sugar. Doughnuts made according to this recipe are the nicest I ever ate." " The next time you make buns, Alice, when the dough is ready to shape, roll it on the moulding-board, cut into doughnuts and fry in boiling lard; and you will, I think, decidedly give them the preference over those made according to your recipe." " When the flavoring is omitted, and the doughnuts are dusted with pulverized sugar and cinnamon, they suit my taste much better," said Emeline. "And Kate," she added, "a good doughnut isn't a bad thing with a cup of coffee for breakfast." "A doughnut and a cup of coffee," I answered, "may be well enough for breakfast, sometimes. But, in my opinion, a nice roll, or a slice of good bread, with sweet, rich butter, far outranks doughnuts or cake as an accompaniment of coffee." "Cousin Kate," said Alice, "my one accomplishment in the culinary art, before I came under your instruction, was the making of delicate cake. I think I was mistress of that. Won't you put my recipe in your book ? I use the largest sized stone-china coffee-cup for measure ; and to one cup of butter, add three cups of granulated sugar, work to a cream with the hand. Then use a wooden spoon and stir in, a little of each at a time, alternating, one and one-third cups of sweet milk, and four cups of flour in which three teaspoonfuls baking powder have been mixed. Beat well, the more the better. Lastly, add the whites of ten eggs, creamed; that is, beaten to the consistency of cream and not stiffly. Stir in the eggs very carefully, and bake at once."