Luncheons

Peel and core good-flavored, tart apples. Put a small piece of butter in each one and sprinkle them with sugar so they will brown well. Put them in a pan with a little water and bake until tender, then remove and put on each one two drops of almond extract. Add a little sugar to the water in the pan and cook it down to a thick syrup, then strain it slowly over the apples to glaze them ; or stick three cloves into each apple before baking them, and omit the almond extract ; or fill the centers with the sugar, lemon peel, and stick cinnamon before baking, or with blanched almonds and raisins after baking. 142 LUNCHEONS COMPOTE OF FIGS Put a pound of pulled figs in a bowl and cover them with water. Let them soak for several hours, or until they are softened and expanded, then press each one into natural shape and pile them on a dish. Take the water in which they were soaked, add enough sugar to sweeten it, and a thick slice of lemon. Boil it until it is a good syrup, then pour it over the figs. I;et the figs cool before serving. Or to each cupful of fig water add a cupful of sugar and boil it to the crack, then pour it slowly over the figs. This will give them a coating of sugar. Serve with whipped cream flavored with kirseh. The figs, being very sweet, are improved by using a flavor- ing which is sharp like lemon or kirseh. If lemon is used, pour the juice over the figs, as it will curdle the cream if mixed with it. COMPOTE OF APRICOTS Prepare dried apricots the same as directed for compote of pears. Place half a blanched almond in the center of each piece to imitate a pit. COMPOTE OF PEARS Soak dried California pears in water overnight, or for several hours until they swell to natural shape. Arrange them symmetrically on a dish, or around a form of rice, as in illustration. To the water in which the pears were soaked add enough sugar to make it sweet, and boil it down to a syrup, then add a teaspoonful of lemon juice. Pour the hot syrup over the fruit. Serve cold. dMLm, '■■=' -^ ^l^^-^i NO. 119. COMPOTE OF FIGS. 9t T KO. 120. COJIPUTE OF APRICOTS. NO. 121. COMPOTE OF PE.IRS. NO. 122. B.VNANAS AND CKEA:1I. No. 123. EEEAD AND JAM TARTLETS HOT DESSERTS — COLD DESSERTS — PIES —TARTS 143 BANANAS AND CREAM Cut bananas into slices one quarter of an inch thick. Ar- range them in a pile in the center of the dish and place around them spoonfuls of whipped cream. The cream may be flavored with sherry or vanilla, but use no sugar, as the fruit is sweet enough without it. STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM ]\Iix enough sugar with cream to sweeten it thoroughly, and then whip it until it is stiff and dry. A half pint of cream is enough for a quart of berries. AYhen ready to serve, mix the berries in the cream and serve them piled on a flat dish. PEACHES AND CREAM Cut peeled peaches into slices and put them in the ice- box. Add as much sugar to a half pint of cream as Avill be needed to sweeten the peaches. AVhip the cream to a stiff froth. At the moment of serving, mix together lightly the peaches and cream ; or an hour or more before serving, mix the cream and fruit, put it in a covered mold, and pack in ice and salt. Use but little salt, for the object is to make the peaches very cold, but not to freeze them. BREAD AND JAM TARTLETS Cut very light bread into slices one quarter of an inch thick. Stamp these pieces into rounds with a biscuit-cutter. Put them in a saute-pan with a little butter, and brown them on both sides. When they are cool, spread them with any kind of jam or preserved fruit, and just before serving ornament them with thick cream pressed through a pastry- bag and star tube. 144 LUNCHEONS PINE CONES