The fun of cooking

Take six large potatoes, wash and scrub them well, and bake them for about forty minutes in a hot oven, or till they are done. Take one potato at a time, hold it in a towel, and cut it in two, lengthwise. Scoop out the inside with a spoon into a hot bowL When all six are ready, add % teaspoonful of salt and 1 teaspoonful of butter, beating and mashing well till they are light; then fill the potato shells, heaping them full; arrange in a shallow pan, and set it in the oven; bake about ten minutes, or till they are brown. As soon as Brownie was busy with the potatoes, Mildred said she would make the cocoa, because that could stand and wait while other things cooked. Her mother told her to get the SUPPER IN THE WOODS 33 double boiler, put some hot water in the outside, and set it on the stove. Then she gave her this receipt : COCOA 6 teaspoonfuls of cocoa. 1^ cups of boiling water. 1% cups of boiling milk. 1 tablespoonful of powdered sugar. 1 small pinch of salt. Always measure spoonfuls just a little rounded. Put the powdered cocoa into the double boiler and pour on it the boiling water, a little at first, stirring it until it melts; add the boiling milk, and cook two minutes, stirring all the time; add the sugar, stir a moment longer; add the salt and take from the fire. If not to be used at once, stand the double boiler on the back of the stove till wanted. *^But, Mother, we will need a great many more cups of cocoa than this,'' Mildred exclaimed, as she read the rule over. ** Those boys will drink at least two apiece, and the girls may, too ; they will all be just starving ! ' ' * * Of course, ' ' said Mother Blair. * * But what do you go to school for, if not to learn multiplication? How many times over must you make the rule?" Mildred thought two whole minutes, and then said she thought about five times would do ; so she very carefully measured everything five times over. **I never thought arithmetic was any good before, ^ * she said soberly. * * But now I see it is to cook by. ' ' **Yes, I find it useful myself,'^ her mother said, with a smile. **Now, Mildred, we might make the biscuits, I think ; those will not be hurt by standing any more than the cocoa will. But this rule I think you will have to multiply by three. ' ' BAKING-POWDER BISCUITS 1 pint of sifted flour. ^ teaspoonful of salt. 4 teaspoonfuls of baking-powder. % cup of milk. 1 tablespoonful of batter. Put the salt and baking-powder in the flour and rub the butter into these with a spoon; little by little add the milk, mixing all the time; lift the dough out on the floured board, dust it over with flour, and flour the rolling-pin; roll out lightly, just once, till it is an inch tiiick. Flour your hands and make it into little balls as quickly as you can; put a very little flour on the bottom of a shallow pan, and put the biscuits in it, dose together. Bake in a hot oven about twenty minutes, or till tiiey are brown. These were great fun to make, and when the very last panful was done, Mildred tucked all the little brown biscuits up in a big fresh towel, and put them in a pan in the warming oven to keep hot till they were needed. At that very -5— SUPPER IN THE WOODS 35 minute, they heard sleigh-bells, and everybody rushed to throw open the door and let the party in. Such shouting and laughing and talking you never heard in all your life ! All the boys and girls had been out to the House in the Woods often before, and they were so glad to come again, they hardly knew what to do. While they were taking off their wraps, Jack slipped out into the kitchen and demanded the frying-pan. * ' See, ' ' he said proudly, opening a box, **here are the cheese dreams, all ready to cook ! Are n 't they fine I ' ^