Royal baker and pastry cook

Iced Fruits for Desserts. — Any desirable fruit may be easily iced by dipping first in the beaten white of an egg, then in sugar finely pulverized, and again in egg, and so on until you have the icing of the desired thickness. For this purpose oranges or lemons should be carefully pared, and all the white inner skin removed that is possible, to prevent bitterness; then cut either in thin horizontal slices if lemons, or in quarters if oranges. For cherries, strawberries, currants, etc., choose the largest and finest, leaving stems out. Peaches should be pared and cut in halves, and sweet, juicy pears may be treated in the same way, or look nice when pared, leaving on the stems, and iced. Pineapples should be cut in thin slices, and these again divided into quarters. Floating Island. — 1 quart milk, 4 eggs, yolks and whites beaten separately, 4 tablespoons sugar, 2 teaspoons extract vanilla or bitter almonds, )4 cup currant jelly. Heat milk to scalding, but not boiling. Beat the yolks; stir into them the sugar, and pour up¬ on them gradually, mixing well, a cup of the hot milk. Put into saucepan and boil until it begins to thicken. When cool, flavor and pour into a glass dish. Heap upon top meringue of whites whipped until you can cut it, into which you have beaten the jelly, a tea¬ spoon at a time; or drop whipped whites by tablespoon on top of custard and put small piece of jelly in center of each “island.” Prune Puff. — Whip the whites of 3 or 4 eggs to a stiff froth, add slowly M cup of powdered sugar, beating all the time. Add 1 cup of cooked prunes, stoned, chopped and beaten until very light. Put into pudding-dish and bake about ten minutes. Serve with soft custard made from yolks of eggs. Other soft fruits may be used in the same way and the puffs may be served hot without sauce or with whipped cream. Never buy baking powder unless the label shows the powder is made from Cream of Tartar. Frozen Desserts HOW TO FREEZE. — Pound ice to bits size of hickory nut. Use salt in lumps Yi size of a pea. Allow 1 part salt to 3 parts ice. Mix together in pail. In bottom of freezer put 1-inch layer of mixture, and pack. Arrange and fasten can in freezer. Fill up space between with the mixture, packing hard. Turn can occasionally to make sure it will run freely. When ice is within 1 inch of top of can open and fill can, replace and fasten top. Turn slowly at first. Increase speed, adding more ice and salt as mixture sinks. When cream is very firm open can, draw out dasher, work cream down in can with wooden spoon, cover top with paper, then with can cover, add more ice and salt, heaping it over top of can. Cover with heavy blanket, set away in cold place for 2 hours. All mixtures for ice cream expand while freezing, so the can should never be more than % full or cream will be coarse grained. Water ices should be frozen without rapid motion. Junket tablets are sometimes used to thicken milk for milk sherbets, Y to 1 tablet dis¬ solved in each quart of milk. If milk is ice cold any fruit juice may be added without milk curdling the sherbet.