The complete cook book

Apple charlotte is a very dainty way to serve apples. Pare and cook six apples until tender; strain through a colander and sweeten a little. Dissolve one-half box of gelatine in a half -pint of water and add to the hot apples ; stir well, and add a teaspoonful of sherry. Set the bowl in a pan of cracked ice and stir until it begins to thicken. Whip a pint of cream and add to the apple slowly. Mould into cups and serve with boiled custard. ORANGE CREAM. One-third box phosphate gelatine, and one cupful of cold water; soak for one hour, or until dissolved. Then add one cupful of strained orange juice, one teaspoonful of orange extract and sweeten to taste. Beat this all well together and add the stiff-beaten whites of three eggs, two tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar, one and 252 The Complete Cook Book. one-quarter cups of cream, whipped stiff, and three tablespoonfuls more of sugar. Pour into a pretty glass bowl and set on ice until Hrm. SPANISH CREAM. One-third box of gelatine; cover with cold water and ; let it soak half an hour; then add one-quarter eup of milk and set in a pan of hot water over the fire until thoroughly dissolved. Now take one pint of cream (which must be set in salt and ice some time before using) and whip it up very stiff. Sift into the whipped cream three-quarters cup of powdered sugar; then add one tablespoonf ul of vanilla and one-quarter cup of sherry. Strain the dissolved gelatine into the cream. Stir gently from the bottom and sides of the bowl until it begins to thicken ; then pour into a mould lined with lady-fingers and set away in .the ice box. BAKED SWEET APPLES. Select nice sweet apples, wipe them well, fill a dish nearly to the top with the apples, first quartering and coring them, but do not pare them. Set the vessel into a kettle of water or steamer, and steam until nearly soft ; then place the vessel containing the apples in oven, covering same with plate. Let them bake until the juice is nearly absorbed; take out and serve with milk, cream, or whipped cream. APPLES WITH RICE. Core and peel neatly six sound, fine Newtown apples. Put into a saucepan with a gill of water and two ounces of sugar. Place it on a hot stove, put the lid on, and let cook for ten minutes. Meanwhile boil four ounces of rice in a pint and a half of milk, with half a saltspoonful of salt. Flavor it with six drops of orange flower water, and let cook for twelve minutes. Place the cooked apples in a square tin pan, pour the boiled rice over them, and put into a moderate oven for ten minutes. Then have a hot dessert dish ready, and with a tinned cake turner dress them carefully on the dish, The Complete Cook Book. 253 decorating the sides with the rice. Should a pyramidal shape be desired, place three apples in the center, two on top of these, and the last one above them all, then fill up the empty space around them with the rice, and serve with half a pint of vanilla syrup in a separate sauce bowl. The sauce is made thus : Put two pounds of granulated sugar into a saucepan with one quart of cold water, and set it on the hot stove. Stir well for two minutes; add two vanilla beans split in halves, and boil for ten minutes longer. Remove from the fire; strain through a sieve into another vessel, and use when required. This syrup, when cold, may be poured into bottles, and if corked tightly and put away in a cool place, will keep in good condition for a month at BAKED BANANAS. Strip off one-third of the skin of each banana and with a spoon loosen the remainder of the skin around the fruit. Arrange in a baking pan with the stripped side uppermost. On each banana place a piece of butter the size of a walnut cut in small bits, and sprinkle with one teaspoonful of water for each banana, and bake about twenty minutes. BAKED BANANAS.