The hearthstone; or, Life at home

Chocolate Kisses. — Three heaping tablespoonfuls of grated chocolate, one pound of granulated sugar, the whites of four eggs ; beat the eggs to a froth, not too stiff; add the sugar and chocolate, and stir well together; flavor with thirty drops of vanilla; drop on buttered paper with a teaspoon ; bake in a moderate oven for ten minutes. Caramel Candy. — Three pounds of sugar, half-pound of butter, one pint of cream, one pound of Baker's chocolate grated ; boil the cream, sugar and butter together, and stir in the chocolate last. To tell when it is done, drop a little in cold water, and if it does not spread, but hardens quickly, take it off the fire ; pour out thin over dishes greased with butter ; the candy to be cut out in small pieces. Taffy Candy. — One cup of sugar, one-half cup of molasses, onefourth cup of butter, and a tablespoonful of water. Boil all together until it will snap when dropped in cold water. Chocolate Caramels. — Take of grated chocolate, milk, molasses and sugar each one cupful, and a piece of butter the size of an egg. boil until it will harden when dropped into cold water; add vanilla; put in buttered pan, and before it cools mark off in square blocks. Currant Jelly (i). — Put the currants in a stone pot, and stand them in a kettle of hot water over the fire. As the juice makes, pour it out; put the juice in a kettle, boil and skim it, then put in the sugar (one pound of sugar to a pint of juice), stirring it all the while. As soon as it is dissolved it is done. Currant Jelly (2). — It should always be made during the first week in July, Pick the stems from the currants and put them in a kettle and heat them, mashing so as to express the juice ; then squeeze them through a huckaback towel. Add one pound of loaf-sugar to every pint of juice. Put it in a porcelain-lined kettle, and boil it thirty minutes after it begins to boil. Orange Jelly. — One pint of water, one and a half to two ounces of isinglass, half a pound of loaf-sugar, one Seville orange, one lemon, about nine China oranges. Put the water into a saucepan, with the isinglass, sugar and the rind of one orange, and the same of half a lemon, and stir these over the fire until the isinglass is dissolved, and remove the scum ; then add to this the juice of the Seville orange, the juice of the lemon, and sufficient juice of China oranges to make in all one pint ; from eight to ten oranges will yield the desired quantity. Stir all together over the fire until it is just on the point of boiling; skim well ; then strain the jelly through a fine sieve or jellybag, and, when nearly cold, put it into a mould previously wetted, and, when quite set, turn it out on a dish and garnish it to taste. To insure this jelly being clear, the orange and lemon-juice should be well strained and the isinglass clarified before they are added to the other ingredients, and, to heighten the color, a few drops of prepared cochineal may be added.