Cream the butter and sugar together, and add the eggs,
well beaten without separating; then add the flour. Melt
the chocolate by cutting it up into small bits and putting
it in a little dish over the steam of the tea-kettle. Put this
in next, and, last, the nuts. Lay a greased paper on the
bottom of a shallow pan, and pour the cake in, in a thin
layer. Bake twenty-five minutes; mark off into squares
while warm, and cut before removing from the pan. These
should be as thick as cookies when done.
** Don't you want me to help you make them,
Brownie f" Mildred asked, as she read the re-
THE DAT BEFOEE CHEISTMAS 23
oeipt over. **You see, I could beat the eggs for
you, and you know how hard it is for you not
to tip the bowl over when you beat them ! * *
**Well,'' Brownie said slowly, **I might let
you do just that one thing, Mildred, but Mother
said I was to make these cakes all alone. ' '
*'But let me help just a tiny little bit,*' Mil-
dred coaxed ; * * they do sound so interesting 1 ' '
So in the end the two made the cakes together,
all delicious, and just the thing for company.
While they were still fresh from the oven, in
came a pretty grown-up neighbor, whom all the
Blairs, big and little, loved very much, because
she always was ready for a good time with them.
**Fee-fy-fo-fum!'' she exclaimed, wrinkling
up her little nose. **I smell something good to
eat!''
*'0h, dear Miss Betty," Brownie cried, *4t is
Christmas cooking I Come and see it."
So Miss Betty saw all the lovely little holly
cakes, and the tartlets, and the macaroons, and
the Brownies, and ate little crumbs off wherever
she could find one. Then she said, **I want to
cook too I May I, Norah f ' '
**Sure you may," said Norah, who thought
Miss Betty was the nicest young lady in the
world.
24
THE FUN OF COOKINa
Then Miss Betty wrote out this receipt, and
pinned it up, and everybody helped her make
GINGERBREAD MEN
2 cxLpB of molasses.
1 eup of equal parts of butter and lard, mixed.
1 level tablespoonful of ginger.
1 teaspoonful of soda.
Flour to mix very stiff✪ Gingerbread Men.
Melt the butter, add the molasses and ginger, then the
soda, dissolved in a teaspoonful of boiling water; stir in
flour till the dough is so stiff you ca^ot stir it with a
spoon; take it out on the floured board, and roll a little at
a time, and with a knife cut out a man; press currants in
for eyes and for buttons on his coat. Bake in a floured
pan.
** These are going to
be Santa Clauses," said
Miss Betty. **Jack, if
you will cut me some tiny
cedar twigs, we will stick
them in the right hands
— one in each. ' ' So Jack
whittled down the ends
of some little twigs till
they were very sharp,
and while the men were
warm and soft, they put a twig in the right hand
of each, and they were as funny as could be.
**Now, Jack, I Ve something lovely for you
Gingerbread man
THE DAT BEFORE CHRISTMAS 25
to makel'^ said Miss Betty. **I came over on
purpose to tell you about if
"Boys don't cook!*' said Jack, loftily.
**Boys would be perfectly wild to make
these,'* laughed Miss Betty, *'if only they knew
how; but of course if you don't care to — "
**What are they?"
"Christmas elves, and the cunningest things
you ever saw. ' ' She opened a box and showed
them a dear, droll little figure, brown and fat.
It made the children laugh to look at him.
"We will make one for each person at the
Christmas dinner, and stand them at the plates
with cards in the hands, to show where every-
body is to sit. Now, Jack, do you want to try?' '
Jack instantly was hard at work.
CHRISTMAS ELVES
Page 4 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1915. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Cream the butter and sugar together, and add the eggs, well beaten without separating; then add the flour. Melt the chocolate by cutting it up into small bits and putting it in a little dish over the steam of the tea-kettle. Put this in next, and, last, the nuts. Lay a greased paper on the bottom of a shallow pan, and pour the cake in, in a thin layer. Bake twenty-five minutes; mark off into squares while warm, and cut before removing from the pan. These should be as thick as cookies when done.
** Don't you want me to help you make them, Brownie f" Mildred asked, as she read the re-
THE DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS 23
receipt over. **You see, I could beat the eggs for you, and you know how hard it is for you not to tip the bowl over when you beat them ! * *
**Well,'' Brownie said slowly, **I might let you do just that one thing, Mildred, but Mother said I was to make these cakes all alone. ' '
*'But let me help just a tiny little bit,*' Mildred coaxed ; * * they do sound so interesting 1 ' '
So in the end the two made the cakes together, all delicious, and just the thing for company.
While they were still fresh from the oven, in came a pretty grown-up neighbor, whom all the Blairs, big and little, loved very much, because she always was ready for a good time with them.
**Fee-fy-fo-fum!'' she exclaimed, wrinkling up her little nose. **I smell something good to eat!''
*'0h, dear Miss Betty," Brownie cried, *4t is Christmas cooking I Come and see it."
So Miss Betty saw all the lovely little holly cakes, and the tartlets, and the macaroons, and the Brownies, and ate little crumbs off wherever she could find one. Then she said, **I want to cook too I May I, Norah f ' '
**Sure you may," said Norah, who thought Miss Betty was the nicest young lady in the world.
Then Miss Betty wrote out this receipt, and pinned it up, and everybody helped her make
GINGERBREAD MEN
2 cxLpB of molasses.
1 eup of equal parts of butter and lard, mixed.
1 level tablespoonful of ginger.
1 teaspoonful of soda.
Flour to mix very stiff.
Melt the butter, add the molasses and ginger, then the soda, dissolved in a teaspoonful of boiling water; stir in flour till the dough is so stiff you ca^ot stir it with a spoon; take it out on the floured board, and roll a little at a time, and with a knife cut out a man; press currants in for eyes and for buttons on his coat. Bake in a floured pan.
** These are going to
be Santa Clauses," said
Miss Betty. **Jack, if
you will cut me some tiny
cedar twigs, we will stick
them in the right hands
— one in each. ' ' So Jack
whittled down the ends
of some little twigs till
they were very sharp,
and while the men were
warm and soft, they put a twig in the right hand
of each, and they were as funny as could be.
**Now, Jack, I Ve something lovely for you
Gingerbread man
THE DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS
to makel'^ said Miss Betty. **I came over on purpose to tell you about if
"Boys don't cook!*' said Jack, loftily.
**Boys would be perfectly wild to make these,'* laughed Miss Betty, *'if only they knew how; but of course if you don't care to — "
**What are they?"
"Christmas elves, and the cunningest things you ever saw. ' ' She opened a box and showed them a dear, droll little figure, brown and fat. It made the children laugh to look at him.
"We will make one for each person at the Christmas dinner, and stand them at the plates with cards in the hands, to show where everybody is to sit. Now, Jack, do you want to try?' '
Jack instantly was hard at work.
CHRISTMAS ELVES
Records on this page
Gingerbread Men