Six little cooks

"First and foremost, cold boiled ham and cold tongue; those are the solids; then biscuit, jam puffs, chocolate, and, if you choose to make them, lemon jelly and soft custard." " Of course we will I " ._ " Berries are so common everywhere, that I think the little girls would like the jelly better. We can have a handsome dish of oranges for the center of the table, so as not to be quite without fruit. Then of course, there must be several kinds of cake for the tea-table. We might have small sponge-cakes, crisp cookies, cocoanut drops and jumbles. How would you like to try some macaroons ? r " Splendid! We should like it ever so much! But we haven't any recipes for them." " I've brought over my book on purpose, and you may write them down before we begin." No. 159 — CRISP COOKIES. One pound sugar, one of flour, one half-pound butter, half a nutmeg, or any other spice, five eggs. No. 160 — MACAROONS. The whites of three eggs beaten to a stiff froth, half a pound of powdered sugar, half a pound desiccated cocoanut, half a pint rolled and sifted crackers, one teaspoonful extract of bitter almond; drop them on buttered paper in a dripping-pan, and bake light brown. No. 161 — SMALL SPONGE CAKES. One teacup powdered sugar, one of flour, three eggs, half a teaspoonful cream tartar, a quarter of a teaspoonful soda. " How can we ever measure a quarter of a teaspoonful, Aunt Jane?" " Measure your half one of cream tartar and divide it into two little piles ; then make a pile of soda of the size of one of these. That isn't hard to do." "And what will be the name of the birthday cake, Aunt Jane?' "What I made for Amy's last birth-day was Dover cake, and I don't think there's anything nicer for the purpose. You have it in your receipt-books, number 34. To that we add a pound of raisins, a pound of currants, a quarter of a pound of citron, a glass of brandy and some spice, and that makes a fruit-cake of it. This recipe makes a very large loaf, which of course must be iced, so it will present quite an imposing appearance. Usually we bake it in two loaves, but to-day it must go into a four quart tin pan." Mrs. King didn't have to tell the girls a word about putting the cake together that day, they had done it so often before. She watched them with great pleasure as one set about beating the whites of eggs, another the yolks, and the third creamed the butter and afterwards beat up the sugar with it, then added the yolks of eggs, afterward the milk and soda, and finally the whites of eggs and flour alternately, a little of each at a time. The soda she directed them to mix in a very little vinegar, as that has a peculiar effect in producing lightness, especially in certain kinds of rich cake. There was only one thing Aunt Jane had to remind them of, and that was that they must save out some of the flour to rub the fruit in. If she hadn't done that, I do believe they would have put it all in, and then had to add more and so make the cake plainer, for it would never have done to put in the fruit without dredging.