Royal baker and pastry cook

FRITTERS are served as a vegetable or a sweet, for a lunch, dinner, or supper, according to the ingredients used in making them. Whether sweet or plain, the foundation batter is much the same, and, with some additions, the first receipt given in this chapter can be used for many kinds of fritters. By the use of Royal Baking Powder a fine fritter batter may be stirred up in a moment, and a meal which it may be thought necessary to extend, perhaps because of unexpected guests, can be embellished by the addition of a delicate and tasty dish. A fritter batter which is to be used as a medium for whole or sliced fruit should be quite thin, as it is to serve as a cover for the fruit. When chopped fruits or vegetables are stirred in, or the batter is to be used plain, it should be thick enough to retain its shape when dropped by spoonfuls into the fryingkettle. The fat should be deep enough to cover the fritters, and it should be smoking hot when used. Each fritter will at first sink to the bottom of the kettle ; then, as the heat starts the baking powder into action and the dough begins to swell, it will rise to the sur¬ face, and should be gently turned, the turning to be repeated until the fritter is finely colored. Most fritters are done within five minutes, the time needed to cook them being deter¬ mined by one which should be cooked as a tester. The very word “waffles" brings to our minds a host of pleasant recollections. The only drawback, in the old days, was that they must be started so long before they were ready for the irons, for home-made yeast took time to raise the batter to the requisite degree of lightness. Now, by the use of Royal Bak¬ ing Powder, they can be prepared in five min¬ utes. They are better than of old, too, for there is no yeasty taste to them; they are light, tender, and toothsome, and, what is most important, entirely digestible and wholesome. Plain Fritter Batter. — 1 cup flour, Y tea¬ spoon Royal Baking Powder, Y teaspoon salt, 2 eggs, 1 cup milk. Sift dry ingredients to¬ gether; add beaten eggs and milk; beat till smooth. Fruit Fritters. — Any kind of fruit may be made into fritters, as directed for apple fritters. Whole canned fruits, drained from syrup, may also be used. Apples and other fruits may also be prepared, coarsely chopped, stirred into a plain fritter batter, and dropped by small spoonfuls into smoking hot fat, finishing as already directed. Banana Fritters. — Peel bananas, cut in lengthwise slices. Let them steep an hour with sugar and lemon juice, dip in fritter bat¬ ter, and fry as directed for apple fritters. Apple Fritters. — 4 large sound apples, peeled, cored, and cut each into 4 slices, )4 gill wine, 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 teaspoon extract nutmeg. Place slices of apples in bowl with sugar, wine, and extract; cover with plate; set aside to steep two hours, then dip each slice in plain fritter batter, fry to light brown in plenty of lard made hot for the purpose; serve with sugar. Com Fritters. — To 1 pint scraped com add 34 cup milk, 34 cup flour, 1 tablespoon melted butter, 2 beaten eggs, 1 teaspoon salt, 34 tea¬ spoon pepper, 1 teaspoon Royal Baking Pow¬ der. Beat well, and fry in small spoonfuls as directed.