My best 250 recipes

The attractive candies manufactured by the first-class confectioners may be daintily made by the ordinary housewife, but it requires inventiveness, patience and much experience to make them perfect. Do not attempt too great variety at first: select a few that do not call for the touch and skill of a professional. To be successful, first learn to boil the sugar to the correct point. Dn a damp day patience will be required. Before beginning select three or four new small saucepans, holding from a pint to a quart, several measuring-cups, and six small cups for melting fondant (ordinary stoneware coffee-cups will answer the purpose), two or three candytongs, half a dozen candy-dippers, three small wooden paddles, six-inch spatula, a teller knife, a dish-mop, a half-inch paste-brush, a small twenty-five-cent alcohol stove, and, if possible, a marble slab. Use granulated sugar for the fondant. Make the fondant one day and the candies the 146 My Best 250 Recipes next. Fondant will form the basis of two-thirds of the French candies and the coverings of nuts, fruits, etc. THE WAY TO MAKE AND USE FONDANT Put one pound of sugar into a granite saucepan, add half a pint of water, and stir over the fire with a wooden paddle until the sugar is dissolved, not an instant longer. With a sponge or piece of soft cheesecloth wipe the crystals from the side of the saucepan; if they are allowed to fall in the syrup they will cause granulation. The syrup must boil without stirring or without motion until it will form a soft ball when dropped into ice-water. As soon as this stage has been reached pour the syrup on a very lightly-greased marble slab, or a large meat-platter. Watch the syrup carefully; when it is cool enough to bear your finger begin to stir rapidly and constantly with a wooden paddle until a thick, white, creamy mass is formed. Dust a board with confectioners' sugar ; take the mass in your hands and knead it as you would bread; it will soon become soft and smooth. Put this into a bowl ; cover at once with a piece of wet cheesecloth. Do not make more than one pound at a time. CREAMED FRUITS Creamed fruits are made by dipping the fruits in melted fondant. Add a little water. My Best 250 Recipes 147 drop by drop, until the fondant is sufficiently thin to cover the fruit. Always melt it in a small pan standing in a pan of hot water. Stir the fondant constantly while it is melting. Oranges, candied cherries, white grapes and nuts make very nice confections when neatly dipped. ENGLISH WALNUT CREAMS Work half a pound of fondant until creamy, and add, a little at a time, a teaspoon ful of vanilla extract. Have ready English walnuts shelled and divided in halves ; take a piece of the fondant the size of a marble, roll in the hand, place it between two halves of the walnuts, press together and stand them aside to harden. Creamed dates are simply dates with the stones removed and the spaces filled with flavored fondant. PEPPERMINT DROPS Boil one pound of sugar and half a pint of water for five minutes; after they begin to boil, add three drops of good oil of peppermint, or a teaspoonful of strong essence of peppermint ; take the mixture from the fire, stir rapidly until it begins to have a whitish appearance, then pour it quickly into tiny greased or oiled patty-pan moulds. The drops will be ready to serve as soon as they are hard. 148 My Best 250 Recipes The mixture must be stirred sufficiently long to look white as it goes into the pans. CHOCOLATE CARAMELS