The household (of the Detroit free press)

Bake pies in a moderate oven, having the most heat at the bottom, or the lower crust will be clammy and raw. Remove fruit pies immediately from the tins, or the crust will become wet and ruin the pie. A superior paste for mince pies or tarts is made by rubbing into a quart of the best flour one-third of a pound of sweet lard. Chop it in with a broad knife ; wet up with ice-water ; roll out very thin and cover with dabs of butter, also of the best ; fold into a tight roll ; flatten with a few strokes of the rolling-pin, and roll out into a sheet as thin as the first ; baste again with the butter ; roll up and out into a third sheet hardly thicker than drawing paper ; a third time dot with butter and fold up closely. Having used as much butter for this purpose as you have lard, set aside your roll for an hour on ice, or in a very cold place ; then roll out, line your pie-plates with the paste, fill with mince meat, put strips across them in squares or triangles, and bake in a steady but not dull heat. Sweetened tart paste is very nice for tartlets, and is much used for the delicate tarts, as lemon or orange. For these, use one pound each of loaf sugar, flour and butter; mix thoroughly, then beat well with the rolling-pin (without rolling), for half an hour, folding it up and beating it out again ; then roll out the pieces in any shape you wish for the tarts. In rolling the crust use the rolling-pin as lightly as possible, and take care that the pressure is even. For fruit tarts the crust is baked with the fruit in them, but for jelly the crusts are baked first and then filled with the jelly. APPLE PIE. Take two good-sized apples, stew them and sweeten ; grate in the rind of one lemon, and stir together with the yolk of one egg. Put a paste in the bottom only, and bake till done. Then take the white of the egg and beat it up with sugar ; put on top and put back in oven a few minutes. APPLE CUSTARD PIE. Scald the milk and let it cool. Grate some sweet apples. Take twothirds of a cup of powdered sugar, four well-beaten eggs, one cup of milk, one-fourth of a nutmeg. Line an earthen pie-dish with a rich crust and let it bake. Then fill with the custard and let it bake for half an hour. To be eaten cold. APPLE POT PIE. Take good cooking apples, pare and core, slice, but not too thin ; take a deep dish, place a cup in the middle, place the apples in layers, with sugar and a few cloves, until your dish is full ; pour in a little water ; cover with puff paste rolled to medium thickness. GREEN APPLE PIE. Pare, quarter, core and stew nice tart apples in water enough to prevent them from burning. When tender, sweeten very sweet with white sugar ; fill the pie plate, which has been lined and edged with puff paste; grate in a little nutmeg, cover and bake forty-five minutes. When the paste is rolled one-quarter of an inch thick the pies should be baked one hour. BOILED CIDER PIE. Take four tablespoonfuls of boiled cider, three tablespoonfuls each of sugar and water, two tablespoonfuls of flour and one egg ; beat all together. Bake in a deep plate and with upper and under crusts. BLACKBERRY PIE.