For the comfort of the family

A delicious cocoanut candy is made by melting one tablespoon of butter in a saucepan ; to this add two cups of sugar and one-third cup of creamy milk. Boil until soft-ball stage is reached; remove from range and beat until creamy; add one teaspoon of vanilla (or one tablespoon of orange juice to which has been added a suspicion of the grated rind) , and two-thirds cup of shredded cocoanut. Turn into buttered pan and cool. When our next-door neighbor returns from school she brings new recipes with which the Youngest Member promptly experiments upon the family. The last time it was chocolate caramels. Put two and a half tablespoons of butter in a saucepan and when melted add two cups of brown sugar, two tablespoons of molasses, and one-half cup of creamy milk Bring to boiling point and add four squares of unsweetened chocolate, stirring mixture constantly until chocolate is melted. Let boil till it forms a firm baU when tested in cold water. Add one teaspoon of vanilla, turn into buttered tin, cool and mark in squares. We clamored for chocolate peppermints. The Youngest Member was adamant. "Too much work to make fondant," he declared. One day, however, he gleefully produced some delectable chocolate peppermints made from the following rule: Mix confectioners' sugar with water until stiff enough to mold. Flavor with a few drops of oil of peppermint, mold into shapes and lay on paraffine paper in a cool place to harden. When cold, dip peppermints in melted unsweetened chocolate (or the new kind which comes sweetened and flavored), and again place on paraffine paper to dry. This same mixture of confectioners' sugar and water, flavored with vanilla, makes a delicious filling when placed between two halves of English walnuts, or when covering an almond, or used as a filling for dates. •X, '■■•<■ . CONFECTIONS— CONCLUSION 117 Here is a recipe for very delicious plain peppermints. Boil one-half pint of granulated sugar and three tablespoons of boiling water hard for three minutes. Drop six drops of oil of peppermint on four heaping tablespoons of confectioners' sugar; mix rapidly with hot sirup and drop quickly on to marble (almost every one has some marble relic of the dismal, melancholy black walnut era ) . This same mixture may be flavored with oil of wintergreen and colored a delicate pink with vegetable coloring ; in fact, it may be used as the foundation of mints in an infinite variety of flavor and color. We have dates stuffed with candied ginger, cream cheese, or nuts which have first been rolled in confectioners' sugar which has been mixed to a stiff paste with cream; after the date is filled it is rolled in granulated sugar. Then we have nuts in all varieties from the Jumbo peanut down to the filbert, all of which are made tempting by being placed in a pan containing a little olive oil or butter, then lightly salted, and delicately browned in the oven. As the back-log parts and falls, sending a shower of sparks up chimney, the Judge, roused from dreams of victory over the bulldog next door, patters upstairs to bed; chairs are put into place; papers picked up; slouchy pillows plumped into shape; "Good Night 1" is said and the lamps extinguished, and one more happy day of our successful co-operative home-making experiment slips silently into the Past.