Food and health

Courtesy of the Department of Foods and Cookery, Teachers College, Columbia University. Fig. 59. — Marjorie Allen made a loaf of cake for supper one Saturday. meals ; and the best time for a piece of candy, even, is at the end of a meal. Cake is a soft food, too ; so we swallow it easily without chewing. For this latter reason, cookies, which are drier, are more wholesome than cake. Moreover, if we depend on cake, we may take less of more useful foods like bread and butter, vegetables and fruit, eggs and milk. IjO Must we give up cake ? No, indeed ; but we should be temperate in using it. We think of the word '* temperance "' in connection with alcohol, but it can be applied to eating, just as well. Miss James gave very little time to cake making in her cooking lessons, because the Pleasant Valley girls, who could cook little else, already knew how to make cake. Most families have good rules of their own for cake, cake filling, gingerbread, and cookies. Miss James advised the girls to learn to make one cake mixture and to use it with different flavorings and fillings. They laughed at first when Miss James spoke of one-egg cake, and were sure that it would not be good, but they found it very light and well flavored. Miss James explained that when eggs bring a good price it is sensible to use as few as possible in cake. Here are a few of her rules : A table of three recipes for one and two egg cake. fFhat and how much. Butter Sugar Egg Flour Baking powder . . Moisture .... Molasses . . . . Vanilla Chocolate .... Ginger Allspice 4 tb. f c. Stb. I c. 2 C. 2 C. 2 t. 2 t. ^c. ^t. it. or - 2tb. 4 tb. 2 C. 1 1. I t. Mixed spices for a cake. Cloves and allspice J teaspoonful each Mace and nutmeg i teaspoonful each Cinnamon 3 teaspoonfuls Remarks. This is the table that Miss James showed the class how to use in their notebooks. You have made quick breads. Can you not think out the way of mixing cake ? Remember about creaming (rubbing soft) the butter and sugar. See Lesson 20. Cookies. fFhat and how much. Butter I cup Sugar 1} cups Eggs 2 Milk 3 tablespoonfuls Flour about 3 cups Baking powder i teaspoonful Salt i\ teaspoonfuls How to make. The flavoring may be two teaspoonfuls of vanilla^ or lemon essence, one or two tablespoonfuls of ground spice, or caraway seeds. For baking use a floured iron sheet or flat pan. Temperature 400° F., or even more. The baking requires from ij to 20 minutes, depending on the thickness of the cooky. Method of mixing. Sift all the flour, and stir the salt and baking powder with one cup of the flour. Cream the butter, and beat in the sugar. Beat the whites and yolks of the eggs together, and add to the creamed butter and sugar. Add the flour and milk alternately ; that is, a quarter or third of the flour, then a portion of the milk, and so on. First stir ; then beat vigorously. Shaping the cookies. Turn the dough out upon the floured board, gently roll it out to a quarter of an inch, cut and place cookies in a floured pan ; or, cut off a small piece, roll it in the flour, and pat it down to a round. This last way may seem to take longer; but it is easier, and there is no board to clean afterward. ' A plainer cooky is made with \ cup butter and \ cup water or milk, with somewhat more flour. Remarks. These are a good sweet for children to take for the school lunch and to serve at entertainments.