"SOUR CREAM" MOLASSES CAKE

1/2 cup molasses. 1 cup sugar. 1/2 cup thick sour cream. 1/2 cup sour milk. 1/2 cup finely chopped peanuts. 1 egg. 1 teaspoonful soda dissolved in little hot water. 2-3/4 cups flour. 1 cup seeded raisins.

Mix together like ordinary cake. Bake in a fruit cake pan in a slow oven about forty minutes. This excellent cake requires no shortening, as cream is used.

ECONOMY CAKE

1 egg. 1 cup sweet milk. 1 cup granulated sugar. 2 cups flour. 1/4 cup butter. 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder.

Cream together sugar and yolk of egg, then beat into this mixture the butter and add the milk. Then stir the flour, a small quantity at a time, into the mixture, keeping it smooth and free from lumps. Add the stiffly beaten white of egg. Use any flavoring or spice preferred. Bake in a quick oven.

This is not simply a very cheap cake, but a decidedly good one, and made from inexpensive materials. Follow the recipe exactly or the cake may be too light and too crumbly if too much baking powder is used, or heavy if too much butter is used. By varying the flavor and baking in different forms it is as good as a number of more expensive recipes. It makes three layers of any kind of layer cake, or bake in Gem pans.

GINGER CAKE

1/2 cup brown sugar. 1 egg. 1/2 cup lard. 2 large cups flour. 1/2 cup New Orleans molasses. 1 tablespoonfnl of ginger. 1 teaspoonful soda dissolved in half cup lukewarm water.

Beat sugar and lard to a cream, then beat in the yolk of egg, molasses and flour and soda dissolved in water. Lastly, add the stiffly-beaten white of egg. Bake 45 minutes in hot oven.

A VERY ECONOMICAL GERMAN CLOVE CAKE

Place in a stew-pan the following ingredients:

1 cup brown sugar. 1 cup cold water. 2 cups seeded raisins. 1/3 cup sweet lard, or a mixture of lard and butter. 1/4 grated nutmeg. 2 teaspoonfuls cinnamon. 1/2 teaspoonful ground cloves. Pinch of salt.

Boil all together three minutes. When cold add I teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a little hot water. Add about 1-3/4 cups flour sifted with 1/2 teaspoonful of baking powder. Bake in a loaf in a moderately hot oven about thirty minutes. This cake is both good and economical, as no butter, eggs or milk are used in its composition. The recipe for making this excellent, cheap cake was bought by Aunt Sarah at a "Cake and Pie" sale. She was given permission to pass it on.

ICING.

1 small cup pulverized sugar. 2 tablespoonfuls of cocoa.

Mix smooth with a very little boiling water. Spread over cake.

CAKE ICING FOR VARIOUS CAKES

Cook together 2 cups of granulated sugar, 1-1/4 cups of water a little less than 12 minutes. Just before it reaches the soft ball stage, beat in quickly 25 marshmallows; when dissolved and a thick, creamy mass, spread between layers and on top of cake.

This is a delicious creamy icing when made according to directions. If sugar and water be cooked one minute too long, the icing becomes sugary instead of creamy. One-half the above quantity will ice the top of a cake nicely.

MARY'S RECIPE FOR "HOT MILK" SPONGE CAKE

For this cake was used:

2 cups granulated sugar. 4 eggs. 2-1/8 cups flour. 1-1/2 teaspoonfuls of baking powder. 1 cup boiling hot milk.

Separate the eggs, place yolks in a bowl, add the sugar and beat until creamy.

Add the stiffly beaten whites of eggs alternately with the sifted flour and baking powder; lastly add the cup of boiling hot milk; should the milk not be rich, add one teaspoon of butter to the hot milk. The cake batter should be thin as griddle cake batter, pour into a tube pan and place at once in a very moderate oven; in about 15 minutes increase the heat and in about 25 minutes more the cake, risen to the top of pan, should have commenced to brown on top.

Bake from 15 to 20 minutes more in a moderately hot oven with steady heat; when baked the top of the cake should be a light fawn color and texture of cake light and fine grained.

Mary was told by her Aunt that any sponge cake was improved by the addition of a teaspoon of butter, causing the sponge cake to resemble pound cake in texture.

CHEAP "MOLASSES GINGER BREAD"

1 cup New Orleans molasses. 1 cup sugar. 1/2 cup shortening (lard and butter mixed). 1 cup hot water. 1 large teaspoonful soda dissolved in the one cup of hot water. 1 teaspoonful of ginger. 1/2 teaspoonful of cinnamon. 1 quart of flour.

Stir sugar and shortening together. Add molasses, beat all thoroughly, then add hot water and flour. Stir hard. Bake in two layer pans in quick oven about 30 minutes. Use cake while fresh.

AUNT SARAH'S EXTRA FINE LARGE SPONGE CAKE

2 cups granulated sugar. 2-1/4 cups of flour. 3/4 cup of boiling water. 4 large eggs. 2 even teaspoonfuls baking powder. 1 teaspoonful lemon juice.

Put whites of eggs in a large mixing bowl and beat very stiff. Add sugar (sifted 3 times), then add the well-beaten yolks, flour (sifted 3 times with baking powder), add lemon juice. Lastly, add the hot water. Bake about 50 minutes in a tube pan in a moderately hot oven with a steady heat. Stand a pan of hot water in the upper rack of oven if the oven is quite hot. It improves the cake and causes it to be more moist. This is an excellent sponge cake and easily made, although the ingredients are put together the opposite way cakes are usually mixed, with the exception of angel cake. When this cake was taken from oven, powdered sugar was sifted thickly over the top. Use cup holding 1/2 pint, as in all other cake recipes.

ANGEL CAKE—AUNT SARAH'S RECIPE

Mary was taught by her Aunt, when preparing a dish calling for yolks of eggs only, to place the white of eggs not used in a glass jar which she stood in a cold place or on ice. When she had saved one even cupful she baked an angel cake over the following recipe:

One heaping cup of pulverized sugar (all the cup will hold), was sifted 8 times. One cup of a mixture of pastry flour and corn starch (equal parts) was also sifted 8 times. The whole was then sifted together 4 times. The one cupful of white of eggs was beaten very stiff. When about half beaten, sprinkle over the partly-beaten eggs one scant teaspoonful of cream of tartar, then finish beating the whites of eggs. Flavor with almond or vanilla. Then carefully sift into the stiffly beaten whites of eggs sugar, flour and corn starch. Fold into the whites of eggs rather than stir. Aunt Sarah always baked this cake in a small, oblong bread pan. This cake should be baked in a very moderate oven, one in which the hand might be held without inconvenience while counting one hundred; the oven should be just hot enough for one to know there was fire in the range. Do not open the oven door for 15 minutes, then increase the heat a little; if not too hot, open the oven door a moment to cool and bake slowly for about 55 minutes.

AUNT SARAH'S GOOD AND CHEAP "COUNTRY FRUIT CAKE"

1 cup butter and lard, mixed. 4 eggs. 1 cup New Orleans molasses. 1 cup sour milk. 1 pound dried currants. 1/4 pound thinly sliced citron. 2 teaspoonfuls baking soda. 4 cups flour. 2 pounds raisins, seeded.

A little grated nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon and a very small quantity of cloves.

Bake in one large fruit cake pan or in two good sized pans about 1-3/4 hours. This cake should not be kept as long a time as a more expensive fruit cake, but may be kept several weeks. This was Aunt Sarah's best recipe for an excellent, inexpensive fruit cake.

A "SPONGE CUSTARD" CAKE

4 eggs. 2 cups granulated sugar. 3 cups flour. 1 teaspoonful baking soda. 1 cup cold water. Juice of 1 lemon. 2 teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar and pinch of salt.

Beat eggs well, then sift in sugar and half of flour in which cream of tartar has been mixed. Dissolve the soda in a little water and add also the lemon juice and lastly add the balance of flour. Bake in layer cake pans two inches deep.

CUSTARD

Boil 1 pint of sweet milk and add to it, stirring constantly, the following mixture: Two tablespoonfuls corn starch, mixed with a little water before boiling, 1 cup of sugar and 1 well-beaten egg. Allow all to cook a few minutes in a double boiler about 15 minutes. Split the sponge cakes when baked and put custard between when cooled.

GRANDMOTHER'S EXCELLENT "OLD RECIPE" FOR MARBLE CAKE

LIGHT PART.

1-3/4 cups granulated sugar. 1 scant cup butter or a mixture of butter and lard. Whites of 6 eggs. 1 cup milk. 3 scant cups flour sifted with 2 teaspoons of baking powder. Flavor with essence of lemon.

DARK PART.

Yolks of 4 eggs. 1/2 cup of a mixture of butter and lard. 3/4 cup milk (scant measure). 1/2 cup brown sugar. 1 tablespoon of molasses. 2 tablespoons of cinnamon. 1 tablespoon of cloves.

One cup or a little more flour sifted with one teaspoon of baking powder. Place spoonfuls of the dark and light batter alternately in a cake pan until all has been used.

Bake in a moderately hot oven from 45 to 50 minutes.

From this recipe may be made two good sized cakes.

I should advise using one-half the quantity for both dark and light part of cake called for in recipe, which would make one good sized cake. Should this whole recipe be used, the cake baked from it would be of the size of a very large fruit cake.

MARY'S MOLASSES CAKES

She creamed together 1 cup of light brown sugar and 2 tablespoonfuls of butter. Then added 1 cup of New Orleans molasses. The molasses had been allowed to come to a boil, then cooled.

She sifted into the mixture 4 cups of flour alternately with 1 cup of sweet milk in which 2 even teaspoonfuls of soda had been dissolved. She beat all well together, then added yolk of one large egg, and lastly the stiffly beaten white of the egg. Beat the mixture again and bake in 2 square layer cake pans in a hot oven about 25 minutes. This is an excellent cake if directions are closely followed.

CHOCOLATE ICING FOR MOLASSES CAKE.

Boil 1 scant half cup water with 1 cup sugar until it spins a thread, or forms a soft, firm ball in cold water. Pour slowly over the stiffly beaten white of egg, beating while it is being poured. Melt 2 squares or 2 ounces of unsweetened chocolate by standing the bowl containing it in hot water. Add 1 teaspoonful hot water to chocolate. Stir the egg and sugar mixture slowly into the melted chocolate. Beat until stiff enough to spread on cake.

HICKORY NUT CAKE

1-1/2 cups sugar. 1/2 cup butter. 3/4 cup milk. Whites of 4 eggs. 1 cup hickory nut meats, chopped. 2 cups flour sifted with 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder.

Mix together as ordinary cake. Bake in a loaf.

"LIGHT BROWN" SUGAR CAKE

Three cupfuls of light brown sugar, 1/2 cup of sweet lard and yolk of one egg creamed together until light. Then add 1-1/2 cups sour milk alternately with 4 cups of flour and 1-1/2 teaspoonfuls of cinnamon; 1-1/2 teaspoonfuls of ginger, 1/2 teaspoonful of cloves and half of a grated nutmeg, 1 tablespoonful of thinly shaved or grated citron is an improvement to cake, but may be omitted. Beat all together, then add 1 teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a small quantity of the sour milk. Lastly, add the stiffly beaten white of one egg and one cup seeded raisins dredged with a little flour. Put the cake batter in a large, well-greased fruit cake pan, lined with paper which had been greased and a trifle of flour sifted over, and bake in an oven with a steady heat about one hour and fifteen minutes. This is a very good, inexpensive cake and will keep moist some time if kept in a tin cake box. The fruit might be omitted, but it improves the cake.

"ANGEL FOOD" LAYER CAKE

1 cup and 2 tablespoonfuls granulated sugar. 1-12 cups flour. 1 cup and 2 tablespoonfuls scalded milk. 3 teaspoonfuls baking powder. Pinch of salt. Whites of 2 eggs.

Place milk in top part of double boiler and heat to boiling point. Sift dry ingredients together four times and then pour in the hot milk and stir well together. Lastly, add the stiffly beaten whites of eggs. Fold them in lightly, but do not beat. The batter will be quite thin. Do not grease the tins. No flavoring is used. Bake in two square layer tins, put together with any icing preferred. Bake in a moderate oven. This is a good, economical cake to bake when yolks of eggs have been used for other purposes.

MARY'S CHOCOLATE CAKE

One-half cup of brown sugar, 1/2 cup of sweet milk and 1/2 cup of grated, unsweetened chocolate. Boil all together until thick as cream; allow it to cool.

Mix 1/2 cup of butter with 1/2 cup of brown sugar. Add two beaten eggs, 2/3 of a cup of sweet milk and vanilla flavoring to taste. Beat this into the boiled mixture and add 2 cups of flour sifted with 2 teaspoonfuls of baking powder. Bake in three layers and put together with chocolate icing, or cocoa filling.

COCOA FILLING.

1-1/2 cups pulverized sugar. 1 tablespoonful butter, melted. 2-1/2 tablespoonfuls cocoa.

Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix to a smooth paste with cold coffee. Flavor with vanilla and spread on cake. Tins cocoa filling should not be boiled.

A CHEAP ORANGE CAKE

2 eggs. 1-1/2 cupfuls sugar. 1 large tablespoonful butter. 1 cup milk. 2 cups flour sifted with 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder. Juice and grated yellow rind of half an orange.

Bake in moderate oven in loaf or layers. If a loaf cake, ice top and sides with the following icing:

1-1/2 cupfuls pulverized sugar, 1 tablespoonful warm water and grated rind and juice of half an orange. Mix all together to a cream and spread over cake.

FRAU SCHMIDT'S MOLASSES CAKE

1 pint of New Orleans molasses. 3/4 cup butter and lard, mixed. 4 eggs. 1 cup sour milk 2 good teaspoonfuls soda. 4 cups flour. Grated rind of 1 orange.

Bake in a long dripping pan, cut out in square pieces, or it may be baked in a large pan used for fruit cake. It will fill two medium sized cake pans.

APPLE SAUCE CAKE

1/4 cup butter (generous measure). 1 cup light brown sugar. 1 cup apple sauce (not sweetened). 1 level teaspoonful soda. 2 cups flour. 1 teaspoonful cinnamon. 1/2 teaspoonful cloves. 1 small nutmeg, grated. Pinch of salt. 1 cup raisins.

Cream together butter, sugar and spices. Add apple sauce and flour. (Dissolve the soda in apple sauce.) Add a cup of seeded raisins or raisins and currants, if preferred. This recipe may be doubled when it makes a very good, cheap fruit cake, as no eggs are required, and it both looks and tastes like a dark fruit cake.

ICING.

One cup pulverized sugar, piece of butter size of a walnut. Moisten with a little water and spread on cake.

"SCHWARZ" CAKE

This delicious black chocolate or "Schwarz" cake, as Aunt Sarah called it, was made from the following recipe:

1-1/2 cups of sugar. 1/2 cup butter. 1/2 cup sweet milk. 1 even teaspoon of soda (saleratus). 3 eggs. 1 teaspoonful of vanilla. 2 cups flour. 1-1/2 teaspoon of Royal baking powder.

Before mixing all the above ingredients place in a stewpan on the range 1/2 cup of grated chocolate and 1/2 cup sweet milk; allow them to come to a boil, then stand this mixture aside to cool and add to the cake mixture later.

Cream together sugar and butter, add yolk of eggs; soda dissolved in the milk, then add flour and baking powder sifted together alternately with the stiffly beaten white of eggs. Then beat in last the chocolate and milk mixture which has cooled. Bake in layer cake pans.

Use the following chocolate filling:

1/2 cup sugar. 1/2 cup milk. Yolk of one egg. 1/2 teaspoon of corn starch (good measure). 1/4 cake of Baker's unsweetened chocolate.

Boil all together until quite thick and spread between layers of cake.

APPLE CREAM CAKE

2 cups Sugar. 2 tablespoonfuls butter. 1 cup sweet milk. 3 cups flour. 3 eggs. 2 teaspoonfuls Royal baking powder.

Add the stiffly beaten whites of eggs last and bake in two layers. Flavor with lemon or vanilla.

APPLE CREAM FILLING FOR CAKE.

Beat white of 1 egg very stiff. Add 1 cup of granulated sugar and beat well. Quickly grate one raw apple into the egg and sugar, add the juice of 1/4 lemon and beat 20 minutes, when it will be light and foamy. This icing is soft and creamy. Coarsely chopped nut meats may be added if liked. Cake must be eaten with a fork, but is delicious.

A "HALF POUND" CAKE

Cream together 1/2 pound of sugar and 1/2 pound of butter. Beat into this the eggs separately, until five eggs have been used. Add flour and 1 small teaspoonful of baking powder. Bake in a moderate oven about 55 minutes; 1/2 pound of flour is used in this cake. This cake is extra fine.

A DELICIOUS ICING (NOT CHEAP).

Stir to a cream a half cup butter, 1-1/2 cups pulverized sugar, 1 tablespoonful milk and 1 teaspoonful vanilla. It is then ready to use for icing a cake.

COCOANUT LAYER CAKE

2 cups sugar. 1/2 cup butter and lard, mixed. 3 eggs (yolks only). 1 cup milk. 3 cups flour, sifted several times with the 2 teaspoonfuls cream of tartar and 1 teaspoonful soda (saleratus).

Mix like an ordinary cake.

THE FILLING.

To the stiffly beaten whites of 3 eggs add 1 cup of pulverized sugar. Spread this on each one of the layers of the cake and on top. Strew a half of a grated cocoanut over. To the other half of grated cocoanut add 4 tablespoonfuls of pulverized sugar and strew over top of the cake.

GOLD LAYER CAKE

Yolks of 6 eggs. 1/2 cup butter. 1 large cup granulated sugar. 1/2 cup sweet milk. 2-1/2 cups flour. 2 heaping teaspoonfuls baking powder.

Cream sugar and butter, add yolks. Beat well, then add milk and flour. Stir all together and bake in square pans in a hot oven.

SUNSHINE SPONGE CAKE

1 cup granulated sugar. Whites of 7 small fresh eggs and 5 yolks. 2/3 cup of flour, or scant cup of flour. 1/3 teaspoonful cream of tartar and a pinch of salt.

Beat the yolks of eggs thoroughly, then beat the whites about half; add cream of tartar and beat until very stiff. Stir in sugar sifted lightly through your flour sifter. Then add beaten yolks, stir thoroughly, sift the flour five times. The last time sift into the batter, stirring only enough to incorporate the flour. Bake in a tube pan from 40 to 50 minutes in a very moderate oven. This is a particularly fine cake, but a little difficult to get just right. Place cake in a cool oven; when cake has risen turn on heat. This cake should be baked same as an angel cake.

AN INEXPENSIVE DARK "CHOCOLATE LAYER CAKE"

1 cup sugar. 1/2 cup butter. 2 eggs. 1/2 cup sweet milk. 2 cups flour sifted with 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder. 1/2 cup chocolate.

Grate the chocolate, mix with 1/4 cup of milk and yolk of 1 egg, sweeten to taste; cook the chocolate; when cooled add to the above mixture. Bake in three layer tins. Put white boiled icing between the layers. The boiled icing recipe will be found on another page.

ANGEL CAKE

11 eggs (whites only). 1-1/2 cups granulated sugar (sifted 3 times). 1 cup flour (sifted 5 times). 1 teaspoonful cream of tartar. 1 teaspoonful vanilla.

Place white of eggs in a large bowl and beat about half as stiff as you wish them to be when finished beating. Add cream of tartar, sprinkle it over the beaten whites of eggs lightly, and then beat until very stiff. Sift in sugar, then flour very lightly. Fold into the batter, rather than stir, with quick, even strokes with spoon. Put quickly in tube pan, bake in moderate oven from 35 to 50 minutes. Do not open oven door for first 15 minutes after cake has been placed in oven.

If cake browns before it rises to top of pan open oven door two minutes; when cake has risen to top of pan finish baking quickly. The moment cake shrinks back to level of pan remove from oven. This is an old, reliable recipe given Mary by her Aunt, who had baked cake from it for years.

MARY'S CHOCOLATE LOAF (MADE WITH SOUR MILK)

2 cups brown sugar. 3/4 cup lard and butter, mixed. 2 eggs. 1/2 cup Baker's chocolate, melted. 1/2 cup sour milk. 1/2 cup warm water. 1 teaspoonful vanilla. Pinch of salt. 1 teaspoonful saleratus. 3 cups flour.

Dissolve the saleratus in a little vinegar or warm water. Mix as an ordinary loaf cake.

INEXPENSIVE SUNSHINE CAKE

5 eggs. 1 cup granulated sugar. 1 cup sifted flour.

Beat whites of eggs very stiff and stir in thoroughly, then fold the flour, stirring only just enough to mix it in. If stirred too much, the cake will be tough. Bake in a tube pan. This is a delicious cake if carefully made according to directions. No butter or baking powder is used. Bake in a very moderate oven at first, gradually adding more heat until cake is baked.

MARY'S RECIPE FOR ORANGE CAKE

Grate outside rind of 1 orange into a bowl; 1-1/2 cups sugar and 1/2 cup butter and lard, mixed. Cream all together. Add yolks of three eggs, 1 cup of sweet milk, 2-1/2 cups flour, sifted with 2-1/4 teaspoonfuls of baking powder. Lastly, add the stiffly beaten whites of the eggs. Bake in two layers.

FILLING FOR ORANGE CAKE.

Grated rind and juice of half an orange, half the white of one egg, beaten stiff. Add pulverized sugar until stiff enough to spread between cakes and on top. (About two cups of sugar were used.)

ROLL JELLY CAKE

1 cup granulated sugar. 1-1/4 cups flour. 4 egg yolks. Pinch of salt. 1/2 cup boiling water. 1 large teaspoonful baking powder.

The yolks of eggs left from making "Pennsylvania Dutch Kisses" may be used for this cake by the addition of an extra yolk of egg. Beat the yolks quite light, then add the sugar and beat until light and frothy. Add the flour sifted with the baking powder and salt. Lastly, add the half cup of boiling water. Bake in a rather quick oven from 25 to 30 minutes in two square layer cake pans. Cover cakes first ten minutes until they have risen. When baked turn cakes out of pans on to a cloth. Take one at a time from the oven, spread as quickly as possible with a tart jelly, either currant or grape, and roll as quickly as possible, as when the cakes become cool they cannot be rolled without breaking. Roll up in a cloth and when cool and ready to serve slice from end of roll. These cakes are very nice when one is successful, but a little difficult to get just right.

AUNT SARAH'S CINNAMON CAKE

1 cup sugar. 2 cups flour. 1 egg. 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder Piece of butter the size of egg. Pinch of salt. 1 cup milk. A little grated nutmeg.

Beat the butter to a cream and gradually add the sugar. Then add the unbeaten egg and beat all together thoroughly. Add milk and flour and beat hard for five minutes. Add baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Pour into two small greased pie-tins and before putting in oven sprinkle sugar and cinnamon over top. This is an excellent breakfast cake, easily and quickly made.

"GELB KUCHEN"

Mary's Aunt taught her to make this exceptionally fine cake, yellow as gold, in texture resembling an "angel cake," from the following ingredients: The whites of 6 eggs, yolks of 3 eggs, 3/4 cup of fine, granulated sugar, 1/2 cup of high-grade flour, 1/2 teaspoonful of cream of tartar (good measure), a few drops of almond extract or 1/2 teaspoonful of vanilla.

Mix ingredients together in the following manner: Sift sugar and flour separately 3 times. Beat yolks of eggs until light, add sugar to yolks of eggs and beat to a cream. The whites of eggs were placed in a separate bowl and when partly beaten the cream of tartar was sifted over and the whites of eggs were then beaten until dry and frothy. The stiffly beaten whites of eggs were then added alternately with the flour to the yolks and sugar. Carefully fold in, do not beat. Add flavoring, pour batter in a small, narrow bread tin, previously brushed with lard, over which flour had been dusted. The cake when baked may be readily removed from the tin after it has cooled.

Bake cake in a very moderate oven about 60 minutes. After cake has been in oven 15 or 20 minutes increase heat of oven. An extra fine, large cake may be baked from this recipe if double the quantity of ingredients are used.

DEVIL'S FOOD CAKE

2 cups brown sugar. 1/2 cup butter and lard, mixed. 2 eggs. 1/2 cup boiling water. 2 ounces Baker's chocolate. 2 cups flour. 1 teaspoonful soda. 1/2 cup sour cream or milk.

Cream butter and sugar and add yolks of eggs; then sour milk into which the soda has been dissolved. Add hot water, then the eggs. Bake in layers or loaf. Ice with boiled chocolate icing. If a little of the sour milk is saved until last, the soda dissolved in that, and then added to the cake batter, it will give a brick red appearance. This is an excellent cake.

A CHEAP COCOANUT LAYER CAKE

Cream together 1 cup sugar, 1/4 cup butter, 1 egg (white of egg beaten separately), add 3/4 cup milk, 2 cups flour sifted with 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder. The stiffly beaten white of egg added last. Bake in two layers. For the filling, to put between layers, beat the white of one egg to a stiff, dry froth; add one tablespoonful of sugar, mix together, spread between layers of cake and on top and over this strew freshly grated cocoanut Grate cocoanut intended for cake the day before using. After it has been grated toss up lightly with a fork and stand in a cool place to dry out before using.

LADY BALTIMORE CAKE

1 cup butter. 2 cups sugar. 3-1/2 cups flour. 1 cup sweet milk. Whites of 6 eggs. 2 level teaspoonfuls baking powder sifted with the flour. 1 teaspoonful rosewater.

Mix in the usual way and bake in three layers.

ICING FOR CAKE.

Dissolve 3 cups of sugar in a cup of boiling water. Cook until it spins a thread, about ten or twelve minutes. Take from fire and pour over three stiffly beaten whites of eggs, then add a cup of nut meats (blanched and chopped almonds). One cup of chopped raisins may also be added if liked. Stir until thick and creamy. Allow cake to get cold before icing.

One-half this recipe for icing will be sufficient for an ordinary cake.

AN INEXPENSIVE "WHITE FRUIT CAKE"

3 cups sugar. 3 eggs. 1 lb. seeded raisins. 1 cup milk. 1 cup butter. 1 lb. currants. 1 lb. chopped almonds. Flavor with almond extract. 4 cups flour sifted with 2 teaspoonfuls of Royal baking powder. 1/2 lb. figs. 1/4 lb. citron.

Beat to a cream sugar, butter and yolks of eggs. Then add milk and flour alternately and fruit and almonds. Lastly, add stiffly beaten whites of eggs. Flour fruit before adding. Chop figs. Cut citron fine or shave it thin. This is a cheaper recipe than the one for a "Christmas fruit cake," but this is a very good cake.

A GOOD AND CHEAP "WHITE CAKE"

2 cups sugar. 1/2 cup butter and lard, mixed. 1 cup milk. Add a few drops of almond flavoring. 3 cups flour. 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder. Whites of five eggs.

Cream together the butter and sugar, add flour sifted with baking powder alternately with the stiffly beaten whites of eggs. The five yolks of eggs left from baking white cake may be used when making salad dressing. Use five yolks instead of three whole eggs, as called for in recipe for salad dressing.

CHOCOLATE ICING (VERY GOOD)

One-quarter cup grated, unsweetened chocolate, 1/4 cup milk, half a cup sugar. Boil all together until thick and creamy. This quantity will be sufficient to ice the top of one ordinary cake. Spread icing on cake before icing cools. When this icing is used for layer cake, double the recipe.

TIP-TOP CAKE

1 lb. granulated sugar. 1 cup butter. 1 cup milk. 4 eggs. 1 lb. chopped raisins. (Citron may be used instead of raisins.) 1/2 a nutmeg, grated. 5 scant cups of flour. 5 teaspoonfuls baking powder.

Mix together same as ordinary cake and bake in a loaf. This Aunt Sarah considered one of her finest cake recipes. She had used it for years in her family. The friend who gave this recipe to Aunt Sarah said: "A couple of tablespoonfuls of brandy will improve the cake."

ORANGE CAKE

Grate the yellow outside rind of 1 orange into a bowl. Add 1-1/2 cups sugar and 3/4 cups butter and beat to a cream. Then add yolks of 3 eggs. Then stir in 1 cup milk, 2-1/2 cups flour with 2 heaping teaspoonfuls baking powder. Lastly, add the stiffly beaten whites of 3 eggs. Bake in three layers.

FILLING.

Use the white of one egg, the grated rind and juice of large orange and enough pulverized sugar to stiffen. Spread between layers.

CHEAP SPONGE CAKE

1-1/4 cups granulated sugar. 4 eggs. 1-1/2 cups flour. 4 tablespoonfuls boiling water. 1-1/4 teaspoonfuls baking powder. Pinch of salt; flavor to suit taste.

Cream yolks and sugar thoroughly, then add the stiffly beaten whites of eggs, then flour, then boiling water. Bake in a tube pan about 40 minutes. This is a very easily made cake, which seldom fails and was bought with a set of "Van Dusen cake pans," which Aunt Sarah said: "She'd used for many years and found invaluable."

CARAMEL CAKE AND ICING

1-1/2 cups pulverized sugar, 1 cup of butter, 2 cups flour, 1/2 cup of corn starch, 2 teaspoons of baking powder sifted through flour and corn starch, 1 cup of milk, the whites of 4 eggs. Mix like ordinary cake. Bake as a loaf cake. Ice top the following: 1 cup of light brown sugar, 1/4 cup milk, 1/2 tablespoonful of butter, 1/4 teaspoonful of vanilla. Cook all together until a soft ball is formed when dropped in water. Beat until creamy and spread on top of cake.

A WHITE CAKE

Sift together, three times, the following:

1 cup of flour. 1 cup of sugar (granulated). 3 even teaspoonfuls of baking powder.

Scald one cup of milk and pour hot over the above mixture. Beat well.

Fold into the mixture, carefully, the stiffly beaten whites of 2 eggs. Flavor with a few drops of almond extract. Bake in a moderate oven, exactly as you would bake an angel cake.

This is a delicious, light, flaky cake, if directions are closely followed, but a little difficult to get just right.

"DUTCH" CURRANT CAKE (NO YEAST USED)

4 eggs. 2 cups sugar. 1 cup butter. 1 cup milk. 1/2 teaspoonful baking soda. 1 teaspoonful cream of tartar. 1 teaspoonful cinnamon. 1/4 teaspoonful grated nutmeg. 1 cup dried currants. 4 to 4-1/2 cups flour.

Make about as stiff as ordinary cake mixture. The butter, sugar and yolks of eggs were creamed together. Cinnamon and nutmeg were added. Milk and flour added alternately, stirring flour in lightly; sift cream of tartar in with the flour. Add the baking soda dissolved in a very little water, then add the well-floured currants, and lastly add the stiffly beaten whites of eggs. Bake in a large cake pan, generally used for fruit cake or bake two medium-sized cakes. Bake slowly in a moderately hot oven. These cakes keep well, as do most German cakes.

AN "OLD RECIPE" FOR COFFEE CAKE

5 cups flour. 1 cup sugar. 1 cup raisins. 1 cup of liquid coffee. 1 cup lard. 1 cup molasses. 1 tablespoonful saleratus. Spices to taste.

Mix like any ordinary cake. This is a very old recipe of Aunt Sarah's mother. The cup used may have been a little larger than the one holding a half pint, used for measuring ingredients in all other cake recipes.

A CHEAP BROWN SUGAR CAKE

1 cup brown sugar. I tablespoonful lard. 1 cup cold water. Pinch of salt. 2 cups raisins. 1/2 teaspoonful cloves. 1 teaspoonful cinnamon.

Boil all together three minutes, cool, then add 1 teaspoonful of soda and 1/2 teaspoonful of baking powder sifted with 2 cups of flour.

FRAU SCHMIDT'S "GERMAN CHRISTMAS CAKE"

Cream together in a bowl half a pound of pulverized sugar and half a pound of butter; then add yolks of five eggs, 1 grated lemon rind, 1 pint of milk, 1-1/2 pounds of flour sifted with 4 teaspoonfuls of baking powder, 2 teaspoonfuls of vanilla extract. Bake at once in a moderately hot oven. Mary baked an ordinary-sized cake by using one-half of this recipe. The cake was fine grained, similar to a pound cake, although not quite as rich, and she added a couple tablespoonfuls of thinly shaved citron to the batter before baking. This is a particularly fine cake.

"AUNT SARAH'S" SHELLBARK LAYER CAKE

1-1/2 cups sugar. 1/2 cup butter. 3/4 cup water. 3 eggs. 1-1/2 teaspoonfuls baking powder. Flour to stiffen.

Save out white of one egg for icing. Bake cake in three layers. Chop 1 cup of hickory nut meats and add to the last layer of cake before putting in pan to bake. Use the cake containing nut meats for the middle layer of cake. Put layers together with white boiled icing.

IMPERIAL CAKE (BAKED FOR MARY'S WEDDING)

1 pound sugar. 1 pound butter. 3/4 pound flour. 1 pound raisins, seeded. 1 pound almonds. 1/2 pound thinly shaved citron. 1 lemon. 1 nutmeg. 12 eggs.

Mix ingredients as for pound cake. A fine cake, but expensive.

A LIGHT FRUIT CAKE (FOR CHRISTMAS)

1 pound butter, scant measure. 1 pound pulverized sugar. 1 pound flour (full pound). 10 eggs. 1 pound English walnut kernels. 1 pound raisins. 3/4 lb. citron, candied orange and lemon peel. 1 cup brandy. 1 teaspoonful baking powder.

Bake 2-1/2 to 3 hours. This is an excellent cake.

ENGLISH CAKE (SIMILAR TO A WHITE FRUIT CAKE)

5 eggs. The weight of 5 eggs in sugar. The weight of 4 eggs in flour. 1 cup raisins. 1 cup currants. The weight of 3 eggs in butter. 1/2 teaspoonful baking powder. 2 tablespoonfuls of brandy. 1/2 cup finely shaved citron. 1/2 cup English walnut or shellbark meats. Small quantity of candied orange and lemon peel.

This recipe was given Mary by an English friend, an excellent cook and cake-baker, who vouches for its excellence.

GRANDMOTHER'S FRUIT CAKE (BAKED FOR MARY'S WEDDING)

1 pound butter. 1 pound sugar. 1 pound flour. 2 pounds raisins. 2 pounds currants. Spices of all kinds. 1/4 pound thinly sliced citron. 8 eggs. 1 tablespoonful molasses. 1 cup sour milk. 1 teaspoonful soda.

Mix together in ordinary manner. Cream butter and sugar, add yolks of eggs, sour milk and soda; add flour alternately with stiffly beaten whites of eggs. Lastly, the well-floured fruit. Bake two hours in a moderate oven. This quantity makes one very large cake, or two medium sized ones, and will keep one year. Line inside of pan with well-greased heavy paper to prevent bottom of cake baking too hard.

Aunt Sarah never cut this cake until one month from time it was baked, as it improves with age and may be kept one year.

AN OLD RECIPE FOR POUND CAKE

Cream together 3/4 pound butter and 1 pound sugar and yolks of 10 eggs. Then add 10 whites of eggs well beaten alternately with 1 pound of sifted flour.

Bake in a moderate oven with a steady heat. The bottom of pan should be lined with well-greased paper.

"BUCKS COUNTY" MOLASSES CAKES (BAKED IN PASTRY)

Place in a bowl 1 cup of New Orleans molasses and 3/4 of a cup of sweet milk. Add 1 teaspoonful of baking soda. (For this cake Aunt Sarah was always particular to use the Cow-brand soda), dissolved in a very little hot water. Aunt Sarah always used B.T. Babbitt's saleratus for other purposes.

Stir all ingredients together well, then add gradually three even cups of flour, no more, and beat hard. The cake mixture should not be very thick. Pour into three medium-sized pie-tins lined with pastry and bake in a moderately hot oven. These are good, cheap breakfast cakes, neither eggs nor shortening being used.

BROD TORTE (BREAD TART)

Six yolks of eggs and 1 cup sugar, creamed together. Beat about 15 minutes. Add 1 teaspoonful allspice, 1 teaspoonful cloves, 1 cup Baker's chocolate, which had been grated, melted and cooled; 1 cup stale rye bread crumbs, crushed fine with rolling-pin. Lastly, add the stiffly beaten whites of 6 eggs, a pinch of salt and 1/2 teaspoonful of baking powder sifted over the batter. Put into a small cake pan and bake half an hour in a moderate oven. When eggs are cheap and plentiful this is an economical cake, as no flour is used. It is a delicious cake and resembles an ordinary chocolate cake.

A DELICIOUS CHOCOLATE CAKE

1/2 cake of Baker's unsweetened chocolate (grated). 1 cup granulated sugar. 1/2 cup milk. 1 teaspoonful vanilla. 1/2 cup butter. 1-1/2 to 2 cups flour. 2 eggs. 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder.

Boil together chocolate, sugar and milk. Add butter and when cool add yolk of eggs; then the flour, flavoring and stiffly beaten whites of 2 eggs. Beat all thoroughly and bake in a loaf or layers.

CHOCOLATE ICING

Boil together 5 tablespoonfuls grated chocolate, 3/4 cup granulated sugar, 2 tablespoonfuls milk, 1 egg.

When the mixture begins to thicken and look creamy, spread on cake. If baked in layers, ice on top and between the two layers.

A WHITE COCOANUT CAKE

Cream together 3/4 cup butter and 2 cups sugar. Add whites of 5 eggs, 1 cup milk, 1 teaspoonful cream of tartar, 1/2 teaspoonful soda sifted with 3 cups flour and 1 grated cocoanut. Bake in a loaf. This is an excellent old recipe of Aunt Sarah's.

A POTATO CAKE (NO YEAST REQUIRED)

Cream together:

1 cup of sugar. 1/2 cup lard and butter, mixed. Yolk of 2 eggs. 1/2 cup pulverized cocoa. 1/2 cup of creamed mashed potatoes, cold. A little ground cinnamon and grated nutmeg. A few drops of essence of vanilla. 1/4 cup of sweet milk. 1/2 cup finely chopped nut meats.

One teaspoonful of baking powder sifted with one cup of flour added to the batter alternately with the stiffly beaten whites of eggs. Bake in two layers, in a moderately hot oven. Ice top and put layers together with white icing. This is a delicious, if rather unusual cake.

A CITRON CAKE

1/2 cup butter. 1 cup sugar. 4 eggs. 2 tablespoonfuls water. 1/4 pound of thinly shaved citron. 1-1/2 cups flour. 1-1/4 teaspoonfuls baking powder. Several drops of almond flavoring.

Bake in a loaf in a moderate oven about 45 minutes after mixing ingredients together as for any ordinary cake. This is a very good cake.

AUNT AMANDA'S SPICE "KUCHEN"

1 cup butter. 2 cups granulated sugar. 1 cup of a mixture of sour milk and cream. 4 eggs. 1 teaspoonful soda. 1/2 teaspoonful cloves. 1 teaspoonful cinnamon. 1/2 teaspoonful nutmeg. 1 teaspoonful vanilla extract. 2 tablespoonfuls cocoa. 3 cups flour.

Mix all like any ordinary cake. From one-half this recipe was baked an ordinary sized loaf cake.

A GOOD, CHEAP CHOCOLATE CAKE

One cup of flour, 1 teaspoonful of baking powder and 1 cup of granulated sugar were sifted together. Two eggs were broken into a cup, also 1 large tablespoonful of melted butter. Fill up the cup with sweet milk, beat all ingredients well together. Flavor with vanilla and add 2 extra tablespoonfuls of flour to the mixture. Bake in two layer cake pans.

Place the following mixture between the two layers: 1/2 cup of grated chocolate, 1/2 cup sugar and 1/4 cup of liquid coffee. Cook together a short time until the consistency of thick cream, then spread between layers.

AN ICE CREAM CAKE

Two cups of pulverized sugar, 1 cup of butter, 1 cup sweet milk, whites of 8 eggs, 1 teaspoonful soda, 2 teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar, 3 cups of flour. From same proportions of everything, only using the 8 yolks instead of whites of eggs, may be made a yellow cake, thus having two good sized layer cakes with alternate layers of white and yellow. Put cakes together with white icing. This was an old recipe of Aunt Sarah's mother, used when cream of tartar and soda took the place of baking powder.

SMALL SPONGE CAKES

For these small cakes take 6 eggs, 1 cup of sugar and 3/4 cup of flour and 1/2 teaspoonful of baking powder, a pinch of salt, flavor with lemon. Beat yolks of eggs separately, then add sugar and beat to a cream, then add the stiffly beaten whites of eggs alternately with the sifted flour and baking powder; add a pinch of salt and flavoring. Bake in small muffin tins in a very moderate oven.

SMALL CAKES AND COOKIES—"AUNT SARAH'S" LITTLE LEMON CAKES

2 cups granulated sugar. 3 eggs (not separated, but added one at a time to the sugar and shortening which had been creamed together). 1 scant cup butter and lard, mixed. 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder. Pinch of salt 1 tablespoonful sweet milk. Grated rind of 2 lemons and juice of one.

Stiffen the dough with about 3-1/2 cups flour and use about 1 extra cup of flour to dredge the bake-board when rolling out dough and for sifting over the greased baking sheets so the cakes will come off readily. Roll dough very thin and cut in any desired shape. From this recipe may be made 100 small cakes. The baking sheet (for which I gave measurements in bread recipe) holds 20 of these small round cakes. Do all young housewives know that if dough for small cakes be mixed the day before baking and stood in a cool place, the cakes can be cut out more easily and the dough may be rolled thinner, and as less flour may then be used, the cakes will be richer?

Aunt Sarah always cut these cakes with a small round or heart-shaped cutter and when all were on the baking sheet she either placed a half of an English walnut meat in the centre of each cake or cut out the centre of each small cake with the top of a pepper box lid before baking them.

OATMEAL CRISPS

2-1/2 cups rolled oats (oatmeal). 1 tablespoonful melted butter. 3/4 cup sugar. 1 teaspoonful baking powder. 2 large eggs. Pinch of salt.

Beat eggs, add salt and sugar, mix baking powder with oats and stir all together. Drop from a teaspoon on to flat pan or sheet iron, not too close together, as they spread. Flatten very thin with a knife dipped in cold water and bake in a moderate oven a light brown. These cakes are fine and easily made. Did you not know differently, you would imagine these cakes to be macaroons made from nuts, which they greatly resemble.

AUNT SARAH'S GINGER SNAPS

1 cup molasses, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup of a mixture of lard and butter, 1 egg, 1 teaspoonful of ginger, 1 teaspoonful of cinnamon, 1/2 a grated nutmeg, 1 teaspoonful of soda dissolved in 1 teaspoonful of vinegar. About 3 cups of flour should be added.

Dough should be stiff enough to roll out very thin, and the cakes may be rolled thinner than would be possible otherwise, should the cake-dough stand aside over night, or on ice for several hours, until thoroughly chilled. Cut cakes small with an ordinary cake cutter and bake in a quick oven. These are excellent and will remain crisp some time if kept in a warm, dry place.

GERMAN "LEBKUCHEN"

This is a recipe for good, old-fashioned "German Christmas cakes," from which Aunt Sarah's mother always baked. She used:

1 pound dark brown sugar. 3 whole eggs and yolks of 3 more. 1/4 pound citron finely shaved on a "slaw-cutter." 1/2 pound English walnut meats (chopped fine). 1 quart flour sifted with 2 teaspoonfuls of baking powder.

Mix well together. Do not roll thin like ginger snaps, but about a half inch thick. Cut out about size of a large coffee cup. Bake in a moderate oven and when cold ice the cakes with the following icing:

ICING FOR GERMAN LEBKUCHEN.

Boil 2 cups of sugar and 1/2 cup of water seven minutes. Pour over the stiffly beaten whites of three eggs; ice the cakes. Place cakes in a tin box when icing has become cold and these will keep quite a long time. I have eaten high-priced, imported Lebkuchen no better than those made from this recipe.

GRANDMOTHER'S MOLASSES CAKES

One quart of New Orleans molasses, 3 eggs, butter size of an egg. Place all together in a stew-pan on range, allow it to come to boil, stirring constantly, and when cool stir in one tablespoonful of saleratus dissolved in a very little vinegar, and about 3 pounds of flour. Do not have cake dough too stiff. Dough should stand until the following day. Roll out at least 1/2 inch thick. Cut cakes as large around as an ordinary coffee cup or cut with a knife into small, oblong pieces, a little larger than half a common soda cracker. Bake in a moderate oven. Should too much flour be used, cakes will be hard and dry instead of soft and spongy. This very old and excellent recipe had belonged to the grandmother of Sarah Landis. Cakes similar to the ones baked from this recipe, also those baked from recipe for "honey cakes," were sold in large sheets marked off in oblong sections, seventy years ago, and at that time no "vendue," or public sale, in certain localities throughout Bucks County, was thought complete unless in sound of the auctioneer's voice, on a temporary stand, these cakes were displayed on the day of "the sale," and were eagerly bought by the crowd which attended such gatherings.

ANGEL CAKES (BAKED IN GEM PANS)

The whites of four eggs should be beaten very stiff and when partly beaten sprinkle over 1/2 teaspoonful of cream of tartan Finish beating egg whites and sift in slowly 1/2 cup of fine granulated sugar, then sift 1/2 cup of flour (good measure). Flavor with a few drops of almond flavoring. Bake in small Gem pans, placing a tablespoonful of butter in each. Sift pulverized sugar over tops of cakes. Bake 20 minutes in a very moderate oven. The recipe for these dainty little cakes was given Mary by a friend who, knowing her liking for angel cake, said these were similar in taste.

"ALMOND BROD"

Three-fourths cup sugar, 3 eggs, 2-1/2 tablespoonfuls olive oil 2 cups flour, 1/2 teaspoonfuls baking powder, 1/2 cup sweet almonds, pinch of salt. A couple of drops of almond extract.

In a bowl place 3/4 cup of granulated sugar. Add 3 well-beaten eggs, 2 cups of flour sifted with 1-1/2 teaspoonfuls of baking powder and a pinch of salt. Mix all well together. Add 1 cup whole (blanched) almonds and 2-1/2 tablespoonfuls of good olive oil.

Knead the dough thoroughly. Do not have dough too stiff. Divide the dough into four equal parts, roll each portion of dough on a well-floured bake board into long, narrow rolls. Place the four rolls on a baking sheet over which flour had been previously sifted. Place the rolls a short distance apart and bake in a quick oven about twenty minutes or until light brown on top. On removing the baking sheet from the oven cut rolls at once, while the almonds are still warm, into two-inch pieces. From this recipe was made thirty pieces of almond bread. The olive oil, used as shortening, is not tasted when baked. These are a very good little cake, and not bread, as their name would lead one to suppose.

"GROSSMUTTER'S" HONEY CAKES

One quart of boiled honey (if possible procure the honey used by bakers, as it is much cheaper and superior for this purpose than the clear, strained honey sold for table use). Add to the warm honey two generous tablespoonfuls of butter, yolks of four eggs, two ounces of salaratus (baking soda), dissolved in a very small quantity of vinegar, just enough to moisten the salaratus. Add just enough flour to enable one to stir well with a spoon. Work the dough a half hour and allow it to stand until the following day, when cut cakes from the dough which had been rolled out on the bake-board one-half inch thick. The dough should be only just stiff enough to roll out, as should the dough be too soft the cakes will become hard and crisp, instead of light and spongy, and if too great a quantity of flour is added the cakes will not be good. As the thickening qualities of flour differ, the exact amount required cannot be given. When about to cut out cakes, the bake-board should be well-floured. Cut the cakes the size of the top of a large coffee-cup, or roll out in one-half inch thick on a well-floured baking sheet and mark in small, oblong sections with a knife, they may then be easily broken apart when baked. These cakes should he baked in a moderately hot oven and not a hot oven.

These are the real, old-time honey cakes as made by Aunt Sarah's grandmother on a "Bucks County" farm, and Mary's Aunt informed her she still remembered in her earlier days having bought these cakes at "Bucks County" sales or "vendues," as they were then designated.

LEMON WAFERS OR DROP CAKES

2 eggs. 1/2 pound butter. 1/2 pound sugar. 1/2 pound flour. Pinch of salt. Flavor with lemon essence.

Mix the same as other small cakes. Drop spoonfuls quite a distance apart on the cold pan or tin on which they are to be baked as the dough spreads. These are very thin, delicious wafers when baked.

FRAU SCHMIDT'S SUGAR COOKIES

1 cup lard and butter, mixed. 2 cups granulated sugar, and 2 eggs, all creamed together; then add 1 teaspoon soda (mix with a little sour milk). Flavor with vanilla.

Beat all well together. Add flour enough that they may be rolled out, no more. Flour bake-board well; cut dough with cake cutter into small round cakes and bake in a rather quick oven. This recipe will make a large number of cakes if dough be rolled thin as a wafer. Frau Schmidt was able to keep these cakes some time—under lock and key. If cake dough be mixed one day and allowed to stand over night, cakes may be rolled out much more easily and cut thinner.

ALMOND MACAROONS (AS PREPARED BY MARY)

Three eggs (whites only), 3/4 pound of pulverized sugar, 1/2 pound of almond paste (which may be bought ready prepared). Beat eggs very stiff, add other ingredients. Drop teaspoonfuls on a baking sheet and bake in a moderate oven 15 or 20 minutes. Macaroons prepared from this recipe are delicious and resemble those sold by confectioners.

"HONIG KUCHEN" (HONEY CAKES)

Two pounds of flour, 1/2 pound of butter, 2/3 pound of almonds, 2 pounds of honey in liquid form, the grated yellow rind of one lemon, 1/2 teaspoonful of cloves, 1/2 teaspoonful of cinnamon, 1 ounce of hartshorn, dissolved in a small quantity of water. Boil together honey and butter, remove from fire, and when mixture has cooled add the hartshorn, coarsely chopped almonds and flour. Allow this mixture to stand several days, roll out 1/3 inch thick. Cut in small round cakes, place a whole almond in centre of each cake. Bake a light brown in a moderate oven.

FRAU SCHMIDT'S MOLASSES SNAPS

Two cups of New Orleans molasses, 1 cup of lard, 1 tablespoonful of ginger, 1 teaspoonful of cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoonful of cloves, 1/2 a grated nutmeg, 1 tablespoonful of saleratus dissolved in a small quantity of hot water. Add enough flour to form a very stiff dough. Stand dough aside until the following day, when roll out very thin on a well-floured bake-board. Cut with a small round cake cutter and bake in a hot oven. These are good, cheap small cakes.

HICKORY NUT CAKES

One cup of hickory nut meals, 1 cup of pulverized sugar, 1 egg, a pinch of salt, 2 teaspoons of flour. Mix all ingredients together. Drop small pieces on a sheet-iron and bake.

"LEBKUCHEN" (AS THE PROFESSOR'S WIFE MADE THEM)

Two pounds of sugar, 8 large eggs, 3/4 pound of almonds (shelled), 1/4 pound of citron, 1/4 of a pound each of candied orange and lemon peel, the grated yellow rind of one lemon, 4 teaspoonfuls of cinnamon, 1 teaspoonful allspice, about 2 pounds flour. Separate the eggs. Cream the yolks of eggs and sugar well together. Then add the almonds (which have been blanched by pouring boiling water over them, when the skins may be readily removed), the citron and lemon peel chopped fine. Then add 1 level teaspoonful of different spices. Then add the stiffly beaten whites of eggs, alternately, with the sifted flour. The recipe called for two pounds of flour, but "Frau" Schmidt said; "She was never able to use the whole amount, so she added just enough flour to prevent the mixture spreading when dropped on the baking sheet by tablespoonfuls."

FRUIT JUMBLES

Two cups sugar, 3 eggs (beaten separately), 1 cup butter, 1 cup milk, 3-1/2 cups flour, 3 teaspoonfuls baking powder, 1/4 of nutmeg, grated, 1 cup currants. Mix all together and bake in a broad, shallow pan. This is similar to Spanish Bun. When cake is cooled, but not cold, cut in two-inch squares or diamonds before removing from the pan in which the cake was baked.

BROWN "PFEFFERNUSSEN"

For these German cakes Frau Schmidt used the following: 3 pounds of flour, 2 pounds of sugar syrup, 1/8 teaspoonful of black pepper, 1/4 pound of lard, 1/4 teaspoon of cardamom powder, 1/4 pound of butter, 1/2 teaspoonful of cloves, 1/2 pound of brown sugar and 2 eggs.

Use as much "Hirschhorn Salz" as can be placed on the point of a knife ("Hirschhorn Salz" translated is carbonate of ammonia and is used for baking purposes). Allow the syrup to heat on the range. Skim off the top. When syrup has cooled mix all ingredients together and stand aside for one week or longer, when form the dough into small balls size of a hickory nut. Place on greased pans and bake half hour in a slow oven.

SMALL OATMEAL CAKES

Cream together 1-1/2 cups of light brown sugar, 1/2 cup of lard and butter, mixed, and the yolk of one egg. Add 1/2 cup of hot water and 3/4 teaspoonful of saleratus (baking soda) dissolved in a little boiling water; add 2-1/2 cups of oatmeal the stiffly beaten white of egg and 2-1/2 cups of white flour. Mix all together. Dredge the bake board with flour, roll thin. Cut out with a small round cake cutter. Sift a little flour over the well-greased baking sheets, on which place cakes and bake in a moderately hot oven.

FRAU SCHMIDT'S RECIPE FOR "GERMAN" ALMOND SLICES

1/2 pound sugar, 1/2 pound butter. 1/2 pound of seeded raisins (chopped). 1/2 pound blanched and chopped almonds. 1 teaspoonful cinnamon, 1 teaspoonful of allspice. Grated rind and juice of 1 lemon. 2 cakes German sweet chocolate, grated. 3 whole eggs and 2 extra whites of eggs. 2 teaspoons baking powder, 3 cups flour. 1 tablespoon vanilla, 2 tablespoons of brandy.

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs, one at a time. Then add all the ingredients. Mix with flour. Flour bake board and take a handful of dough and roll with the hands in shape of a sausage roll. This quantity of dough makes eight rolls. Place on greased baking sheets a short distance apart, so they will not touch when being baked. Bake them in a warm, not hot, oven. Take from the oven when baked and cut while still warm into small slices across the roll. Slices should be about three-quarters of an inch wide. Cover the three sides with the following icing:

Beat together until smooth and creamy 1 cupful of sweet cream, adding enough confectioners' sugar to make it spread.

You may expedite the work by preparing raisins and almonds the day before.

The Professor's wife always served these almond cakes with coffee when she gave a "kaffee klatch" to her country friends.

"JULY ANN'S" GINGER SNAPS

Two cups of molasses (New Orleans), 1 cup of light brown sugar, 1 egg, 1 tablespoonful of soda, 2 tablespoonfuls of vinegar, 1 tablespoonful of ginger and about 5-1/2 cups of flour.

Place molasses and sugar in a sauce-pan on the range, cook together until sugar is dissolved, no longer.

Mix the soda and vinegar and when foamy add to the sugar and molasses with a portion of the required amount of flour; then add the egg and the flour remaining. Turn dough out on a well-floured bake-beard, roll out into a thin sheet and cut out small cakes with a tin cutter. Bake in a moderately hot oven.

No shortening of any kind was used in these cakes. One hundred cakes were baked from the above ingredients.

COCOANUT COOKIES

Three cups of sugar, 1 cup of butter, 2 eggs, 1 cup of sweet milk, 1 cup of grated cocoanut, 2 teaspoonfuls of baking powder. Mix all together, sift flour with baking powder, add flour to form a dough just stiff enough to roll out, no more. Cut with a small tin cake cutter into round cakes and bake.

CHOCOLATE COOKIES

Two cups of white sugar, 1 cup of grated, unsweetened chocolate, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup of butter, 2 teaspoonfuls of baking powder. Flavor with vanilla. Mix together sugar, butter and eggs, add melted chocolate and flour to stiffen, just enough flour being used to allow of their being cut with a cake cutter. The baking powder should have been sifted with a small amount of flour before adding.

SMALL "BELSNICKEL" CHRISTMAS CAKES

2 cups "A" sugar. Pinch of salt. 1 cup melted butter. 1 teaspoonful baking soda. 4 eggs. About 3 cups of flour.

Mix in just enough flour so the cake dough may be rolled out quite thin on a floured board, using as little flour as possible. Cut out small cakes and bake lightly in a moderately hot oven.

The butter, when melted, should fill one cup; pour it over the two cups of sugar in a bowl and beat until smooth and creamy; add the eggs, beating one at a time into the mixture. Sift the teaspoonful of baking soda several times through the flour before adding to the cake mixture. Stand this dough in a cold place one hour at least before cutting out cakes. No flavoring is used. Sift granulated sugar thickly over cakes before placing them in oven to bake.

From these ingredients were made over one hundred cakes. One-half this recipe might be used for a small family. The cakes keep well in a dry, cool place.

This old recipe of Aunt Sarah's mother derived its name "Belsnickel" from the fact that the Belsnickels, who invariably visited the houses of "Bucks County" farmers on Christmas Eve, were always treated to some of these delicious little Christmas cakes.

"PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH" KISSES

One cup of pulverized sugar, whites of 3 eggs, 1 heaping cup of nut meats (Mary used hickory nut meats), a pinch of salt. To the very stiffly beaten whites of eggs add sugar, salt and lastly the nut meats. Drop teaspoonfuls of this batter on a greased, floured baking tin. Bake in a moderate oven.

LITTLE CRUMB CAKES

For these small cakes Aunt Sarah creamed together 1/2 cup of granulated sugar, 1/4 cup butter. One quite large egg was used. The egg yolk was added to the creamed sugar and butter and thoroughly beaten, then scant 1/2 cup of milk was added, and one heaping cup of fine dried bread crumbs sifted with 3/4 teaspoonful of baking powder and 1/4 cup of finely chopped or rolled black walnut meats. Lastly, add the stiffly beaten white of egg. Flavor with grated nutmeg. Bake in small muffin pans in a moderate oven. This makes nine small cakes. No flour is used in these cakes, but, instead of flour, bread crumbs are used.

DELICIOUS VANILLA WAFERS (AS MARY MADE THEM)

1/4 pound of butter. 1/4 pound of flour. 1/4 pound of sugar. 2 eggs.

Cream together butter and sugar, add yolks of eggs, beat well, then add stiffly beaten whites of eggs and flour alternately.

Flavor with essence of vanilla, drop from spoon on to cold iron pan, not too close together, as the cakes will spread. Bake quickly in a hot oven until outer edge of cakes have browned.

MACAROONS (AS AUNT SARAH MADE THEM)

One-half pound of almonds, blanched and chopped fine, 1/2 pound of pulverized sugar, whites of 4 eggs. Place sugar and almonds in a pan on the range, until colored a light yellow-brown. Beat whites of eggs very stiff, mix all ingredients together, then drop with a spoon on tins waxed with bees' wax, and bake in a quick oven.

"SPRINGERLES" (GERMAN CHRISTMAS CAKES)

4 eggs. 1 pound sifted pulverized sugar 2 quarts flour, sifted twice. 2 small teaspoonfuls baking powder.

Beat whites and yolks of eggs separately, mix with sugar and beat well. Add flour until you have a smooth dough. Roll out pieces of dough, which should be half an inch thick. Press the dough on a floured form or mold, lift the mold, cut out the cakes thus designed and let lie until next day on a floured bread board. The next day grease pans well, sprinkle anise seed over the pans in which the cakes are to be baked; lay in cakes an inch apart and bake in a moderate oven to a straw color. The form used usually makes six impressions or cakes 1-1/2 inches square, leaving the impression of a small figure or flower on surface when dough is pressed on form.

OATMEAL COOKIES

1 cup sugar. 1 cup butter and lard, mixed (scant measure). 1 cup chopped nut meats. 1 cup chopped raisins. 2 eggs, beaten separately, whites added last. 1 teaspoonful baking soda dissolved in 4 tablespoonfuls sour milk. 1 teaspoonful vanilla. Little grated nutmeg. 2 cups oatmeal (uncooked). 2 cups white flour.

Drop with tablespoon on well-greased baking sheet over which has been sifted a little flour. Bake in rather quick oven. This recipe makes 65 small cakes.

PEANUT BISCUITS

Sift together 2 cups flour and 3 teaspoonfuls baking powder. Add 1 egg, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup peanuts and pecan nut meats, mixed (run through food-chopper), 1/2 cup sweet milk, 1/2 teaspoonful salt. Beat sugar and yolk of egg together add milk, stiffly beaten white of egg, chopped nut meats and flour, alternately. Add salt. Place a large spoonful in each of 12 well-greased Gem pans. Allow to stand in pans about 25 minutes. Bake half an hour.

PLAIN COOKIES

1/2 cup butter. 4 tablespoonfuls milk. 1 cup sugar. 1/2 teaspoonful grated nutmeg. 2 eggs. 1/2 cup chopped walnut meats. 3 cups flour. 3 teaspoonfuls baking powder.

Cream butter and sugar, add milk slowly, add well-beaten eggs. Beat well, add flour and baking powder, sifted together. Roll thin. Cut with a small cake cutter any desired.

WALNUT ROCKS

Cream together 1-1/2 cups of sugar, 1/2 cup of butter, a small teaspoonful of salt. Dissolve 1 teaspoonful of soda in 4 tablespoonfuls of warm water, two eggs. Sift 3 cups of flour, add 1 teaspoonful of ginger, 1 teaspoonful of cloves, 1/2 teaspoonful of grated nutmeg, 1 pound of English walnuts, 1 pound of seeded raisins. Drop by teaspoon on a cold sheet iron and bake in a moderate oven. These are excellent.

CINNAMON WAFERS (AS MADE BY AUNT SARAH)

10 eggs 3/4 pound sugar. 3/4 pound butter. 1 pound flour.

Mix like ordinary cake. Divide this into three parts. Flavor one part with vanilla, 1 with chocolate and the other with cinnamon. These latter will be darker than the first. Place a piece of dough as large as a small marble in a small hot, well-greased waffle or wafer iron. Press two sides of iron together, which flattens out cake, and hold by a long handle over fire, turning it over occasionally until cakes are baked. The cake, when baked, is a delicious, thin, rich wafer, about the size of half a common soda cracker. I have never eaten these Christmas cakes at any place excepting at Aunt Sarah's. The wafer iron she possessed was brought by her Grandmother from Germany. The waffle or wafer irons might be obtained in this country.

ZIMMET WAFFLES (AS MADE BY FRAU SCHMIDT)

1/2 pound butter. 1/2 ounce cinnamon. 1/2 pound sugar. 3 eggs. Flour.

Work together and form into small balls. Place in hot buttered wafer irons, hold over fire and bake. This is an old German recipe which Frau Schmidt's grandmother used.

"BRAUNE LEBKUCHEN"

2 pounds sugar syrup. 1/4 pound granulated sugar. 1/4 pound butter. 1/4 pound coarsely chopped almonds. Grate yellow part of one lemon rind. 1/4 ounce cinnamon. 1/4 ounce cloves. 1 drachm of powdered cardamom. 1 ounce of hartshorn, dissolved in a little milk.

Place syrup in stew-pan on range to heat, add butter, almonds, spices, etc.

Remove from range, stir in flour gradually. Use about 10 cups of flour. When cool add the dissolved hartshorn. Allow the cake dough to stand in a warm place eight to ten days before baking.

Then place a portion of the cake dough on a greased baking sheet which has been sprinkled lightly with flour, roll cake dough out on the sheet about 1/3 inch in thickness; place in a very moderate oven. When well dried out and nicely browned on top cut the sheets into small squares, the size of ordinary soda crackers.

This is a very old recipe given Mary by Frau Schmidt.

PEANUT COOKIES

One pint of roasted peanuts, measured, after being shelled. Rub off the brown skin, run through a food-chopper. Cream together 2 tablespoonfuls of butter, 1 cup of sugar. Add 3 eggs, 2 tablespoonfuls of milk, 1/4 teaspoonful of salt and the chopped peanuts. Add flour to make a soft dough. Roll out on a floured board, cut with a small cake cutter and bake in a moderate oven. This recipe was given Mary by a friend living in Allentown.

PIES—FLAKY PIE CRUST

Have all the materials cold when making pastry. Handle as little as possible. Place in a bowl 3-1/2 cups flour, 3/4 teaspoonful salt and 1 cup good, sweet lard. Cut through with a knife into quite small pieces and mix into a dough with a little less than a half cup of cold water. Use only enough water to make dough hold together. This should be done with a knife or tips of the fingers. The water should be poured on the flour and lard carefully, a small quantity at a time, and never twice at the same place. Be careful that the dough is not too moist. Press the dough with the hands into a lump, but do not knead. Take enough of the dough for one pie on the bake board, roll lightly, always in one direction, line greased pie tins and fill crust. If fruit pies, moisten the edge of the lower crust, cover with top crust, which has been rolled quite thin. A knife scraped across the top crust several times before placing over pie causes the crust to have a rough, flaky, rich-looking surface when baked. Cut small vents in top crust to allow steam to escape. Pinch the edges of fruit pies well together to prevent syrup oozing out. If you wish light, flaky pie crust, bake in a hot oven. If a sheet of paper placed in oven turns a delicate brown, then the oven is right for pies. The best of pastry will be a failure if dried slowly in a cool oven.

When baking a crust for a tart to be filled after crust has been baked, always prick the crust with a fork before putting in oven to bake. This prevents the crust forming little blisters.

Aunt Sarah always used for her pies four even cups of flour, 1/4 teaspoonful baking powder and one even cup of sweet, rich, home-made lard, a pinch of salt with just enough cold water to form a dough, and said her pies were rich enough for any one. They certainly were rich and flaky, without being greasy, and she said, less shortening was necessary when baking powder was used. To cause her pies to have a golden brown color she brushed tops of pies with a mixture of egg and milk or milk and placed immediately in a hot oven.

Mary noticed her Aunt frequently put small dabs of lard or butter on the dough used for top crust of pies before rolling crust the desired size when she wished them particularly rich.

Aunt Sarah always used pastry flour for cake and pie. A smooth flour which showed the impression of the fingers when held tightly in the hand (the more expensive "bread flour") feels like fine sand or granulated sugar, and is a stronger flour and considered better for bread or raised cakes in which yeast is used, better results being obtained by its use alone or combined with a cheaper flour when baking bread.

AUNT SARAH'S LEMON PIE

This is a good, old-fashioned recipe for lemon pie, baked with two crusts, and not expensive. Grate the yellow outside rind from one lemon, use juice and pulp, but not the white part of rind; mix with 2 small cups of sugar, then add 1 cup of water and 1 cup of milk, and 1 large tablespoonful of corn starch, moistened with a little of the one cup of water. The yolks of 2 eggs were added. Mix all ingredients and add the stiffly beaten whites of eggs. This quantity will fill three small pastry crusts. The mixture will measure nearly one quart. Pour into the three crusts, moisten edges of pies, place top crusts on each pie. Pinch edges of crust together and bake in hot oven.

THE PROFESSOR'S WIFE'S SUPERIOR PASTRY

For superior pastry use 1-1/2 cups flour, 1 cup lard, 1/2 teaspoonful salt and about 1/4 cup of cold water, or three scant tablespoonfuls. Put 1 cup of flour on the bake board, sprinkle salt over, chop 1/4 cup of sweet lard through the flour with a knife, until the pieces are about the size of a cherry. Moisten with about 1/4 cup of ice cold water. Cut through the flour and lard with a knife, moistening a little of the mixture at a time, until you have a soft dough, easily handled. Roll out lightly the size of a tea plate. Take 1/3 of the lard remaining, put small dabs at different places on the dough (do not spread the lard over), then sprinkle over 1/3 of the remaining half cup of flour and roll the dough into a long, narrow roll, folding the opposite ends in the centre of the roll. Roll out lightly (one way), then add lard and flour; roll and repeat the process until flour and lard have all been used. The pastry may be set aside in a cold place a short time before using. If particularly fine pastry is required, the dough might be rolled out once more, using small dabs of butter instead of lard, same quantity as was used of lard for one layer, then dredged thickly with flour and rolled over and over, and then ends folded together, when it should be ready to use. When wanted to line pie-tins, cut pieces off one end of the roll of dough and roll out lightly. The layers should show plainly when cut, and the pastry should puff nicely in baking, and be very rich, crisp and flaky. When preparing crusts for custards, lemon meringues and pies having only one crust, cut narrow strips of pastry about half an inch wide, place around the upper edge or rim of crust and press the lower edge of the strip against the crust; make small cuts with a knife about 1/3 inch apart, all around the edge of this extra crust, to cause it to look flaky when baked. This makes a rich pie crust.

A very good crust may be made by taking the same proportions as used for superior pastry, placing 1-1/2 to 2 cups flour on the bake board, add salt, cut 1/2 cup lard through the flour, moistening with water. Roll out crust and line pie-tins or small patty pans for tarts. This pastry is not quite as fine and smooth as the other, but requires less time and trouble to make.

The Professor's wife taught Mary to make this pastry, but Mary never could learn from her the knack of making a dainty, crimped, rolled-over edge to her pies, which she made easily with a deft twist of her thumb and forefinger.

MARY'S LEMON MERINGUE (MADE WITH MILK)

Line two large pie-tins with pie crust, prick with a fork before placing crusts in oven to bake. When baked stand aside to cool while you prepare the following filling: The juice and grated rind of 1 lemon, 1 pint sweet milk, 1 cup sugar, yolks of three eggs, 3 tablespoonfuls flour, butter size of a walnut. Cream together sugar, flour, yolks of eggs, then add lemon, mix well then add to the scalded milk on the range and cook until thick. Let cool, but do not allow to become quite cold, spread on the two crusts, which have been baked. When quite cold add 3 tablespoonfuls of sugar to the stiffly beaten whites of the three eggs, spread on top of pies, sift 1 tablespoonful pulverized sugar on top of meringue and set in a quick oven until fawn color. Serve cold.

When mixing pie dough, should you have mixed more than needed at one time, line agate pie-tins with crust (never stand away in tin). They may be kept several days in a cool place and used later for crumb cakes or custards. Or a crust might be baked and used later for lemon meringues, etc.

APPLE TART

Line pie-tins with rich pie crust, sift over each 1 tablespoonful flour and 2 tablespoonfuls sugar. Place on the crust enough good, tart baking apples, which have been pared, cored, halved and placed (flat surface down) on the crust. Put bits of butter over the top and between the apples, about 1 large tablespoonful altogether, and sprinkle about 2 tablespoonfuls of sugar over, add about 1 tablespoonful of cold water when pies are ready to place in oven. These pies should be baked in a very hot oven. When apples are soft take pies from oven and serve one pie, hot; stand the other one aside until quite cold.

To the stiffly beaten white of one egg add one tablespoonful sugar. Stir together and place a spoonful on the top of each half of apple and place in oven until meringue has browned and serve pie cold. Peach tarts may be made in a similar manner, omitting the meringue and substituting peaches for apples.

RAISIN OR "ROSINA" PIE

"Rosina" pie, as Aunt Sarah called it, was composed of 1 lemon, 1 egg, 1 cup sugar, 1 tablespoonful flour, 1 cup large, blue, seeded raisins. Cover the raisins with one cup of cold water; let soak two hours. Cream egg and sugar together, add juice and grated rind of one quite small lemon, or half a large one. Mix the tablespoonful of flour smooth with a little cold water, add to the mixture, then add raisins and to the water in which they were soaked add enough water to fill the cup and cook until the mixture thickens. When cool fill pie-tins with the mixture, bake with upper and under crust about 20 minutes in hot oven. Aunt Sarah used a generous tablespoonful of flour for this pie.

"SNITZ" PIE

Cover a bowlful of well-washed dried apples with cold water and allow to soak over night. The following morning cook until tender and mash through a colander. If quite thick a small quantity of water should be added. Season with sugar to taste. Some apples require more sugar than others. Add cinnamon, if liked. Aunt Sarah never used any spices in these pies. Bake with two crusts or place strips cross-wise over the pie of thinly rolled dough, like lattice work. These are typical "Bucks County" pies.

MARY'S RECIPE FOR PLAIN PUMPKIN PIE

Line a pie-tin, one holding 3 cups of liquid, with rich pastry. For the filling for pie mix together the following: 1 cup of steamed pumpkin, which had been mashed through a colander, 1 egg, beaten separately, 1 tablespoonful of flour, 2-1/2 tablespoonfuls of sugar, 1/8 teaspoonful of salt, 1/2 teaspoonful of grated nutmeg, same of ginger, 1-1/2 cups of milk (scant measure). The mixture should measure exactly 3 cups, after adding milk. Pour this mixture into the pastry-lined pie-tin and bake in a moderate oven until top of pie is a rich brown.

CHOCOLATE PIE

Melt one square of Baker's unsweetened chocolate, or 1/4 cup of powdered cocoa, mix with this 1/2 cup of granulated sugar and 1/4 cup of corn starch. When well mixed add yolks of 3 eggs, a pinch of salt, 2 cups of milk; cook all together in a double boiler until thickened. When cool flavor with vanilla. Fill pastry-lined pie crust with the mixture. Beat the 3 whites of eggs to a froth, mix with a couple tablespoonfuls of pulverized sugar, spread on top of pie, stand in oven until light brown.

"PEBBLE DASH" OR SHOO-FLY PIE

Aunt Sarah made these to perfection and called them "Pebble Dash" pie. They are not really pies, they resemble cakes, but having a crust we will class them with pies. She lined three small sized pie-tins with rich pie crust. For the crumbs she placed in a bowl 3 cups of flour, 1 cup brown sugar and 3/4 cup of butter and lard, mixed and rubbed all together with the hands, not smooth, but in small rivels. For the liquid part she used 1 cup baking molasses, 1 cup hot water, 1 teaspoonful baking soda dissolved in a few drops of vinegar and stirred this into the molasses and water. She divided the liquid among the three pans, putting one-third in each crust, over which she sprinkled the crumbs. Bake one-half hour in a moderate oven. These have the appearance of molasses cakes when baked.

VANILLA CRUMB "CRUSTS"

Cook together a short time 1/2 cup molasses, 1 egg, 1 tablespoonful flour, 1 cup sugar, 2 cups cold water. Moisten the flour with a little cold water before adding to the other ingredients. When cooled add 1 teaspoonful of vanilla. Pour this mixture in the bottom of each of four common sized pie-tins, lined with pastry, and sprinkle over the following crumbs:

THE CRUMBS (FOR VANILLA CRUMB CRUSTS).

Two cups flour, 1/2 cup butter and lard, mixed, 1/2 teaspoonful soda and 1 cup sugar, rubbed together with the hands to form crumbs. Scatter these crumbs over the four pies.

These are not thick pies, but simply what the recipe calls them—vanilla "crusts."

"KASHA KUCHEN" OR CHERRY CAKE

Aunt Sarah sometimes filled the bottom crusts of two small pies (either cheese pie or plain custard) with a layer of fresh cherries and poured the custard over the top of the cherries and baked same as a plain custard pie.

Aunt Sarah might be called extravagant by some, but she always made egg desserts when eggs were cheap and plentiful, in the Spring. In Winter she baked pies and puddings in which a fewer number of eggs were used and substituted canned and dried fruits for fresh ones. In summer she used fresh fruit when in season, ice cream and sherbets. She never indulged in high-priced, unseasonable fruits—thought it an extravagance for one to do so, and taught Mary "a wise expenditure in time means wealth."

For banana custard pie she substituted sliced banana for cherries on top of pie.

"RIVEL KUCHEN"

Place in a bowl 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup sugar (good measure), 1/2 cup butter and lard, or all butter is better (scant measure). Some like a little grating of nutmeg, especially if part lard is used. Mix or crumb the ingredients well together with the hands to form small lumps, or rivels. Line pie-tins with a rich pastry crust and strew the rivels thickly over and bake in a quick oven. A couple tablespoons of molasses spread over the crumbs is liked by some. This is a favorite pie or cake of many Pennsylvania Germans.

AUNT SARAH'S LEMON MERINGUE

Two cups of water, 1-1/2 cups of sugar, 2 rounding tablespoonfuls of corn starch, 4 eggs, 1 tablespoonful of butter, 2 small lemons. Mix the water, sugar and corn starch dissolved in a little cold water, pour in sauce-pan, place on range and stir mixture until thickened. Beat separately the yolks of 4 eggs and the whites of 2, then add both to the above mixture. Remove from the fire, add the juice of two small lemons and grated rind of one; add butter. Fill two previously baked pastry shells with the cooled mixture. Beat the remaining whites of egg (another white of an egg added improves the appearance of the pie.) Add one tablespoonful of pulverized sugar to each egg used; place the stiffly beaten whites of egg rockily over tops of pies stand in oven until a delicate shade of brown. This is a delicious pie.

A COUNTRY BATTER PIE

Line two medium-sized pie-tins with pastry crust in which pour the following mixture, composed of 1/2 cup of granulated sugar and one egg, creamed together; then add 1/2 cup of cold water and the grated yellow rind and juice of one lemon.

For the top of pies: Cream together 1 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of lard and 1 egg, then add 1/2 cup of sour milk alternately with 1-1/2 cups of flour, sifted with 1/2 teaspoonful of baking soda and 1/2 teaspoonful of cream of tartar. Place 1/2 of this mixture on top of each pie. Bake in oven.

PUMPKIN PIE (AUNT SARAH'S RECIPE)

The best pumpkin for pie is of a deep orange yellow with a rough, warty surface. Remove the soft, spongy pulp and seeds of the pumpkin, pare and cut into small pieces. Steam until tender. Put in a colander to drain, then mash through colander with wooden potato masher. For one deep pie allow one pint of the stewed pumpkin, beat in 2 eggs, one at a time, 1/2 teaspoonful salt, 1 teaspoonful ginger, 1/2 teaspoonful grated nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoonful cinnamon, 2/3 cup sugar, 1 scant pint milk. Beat all together. This mixture should barely fill a quart measure. Pour in a deep pie-tin lined with rich crust, grate nutmeg over the top of pie and bake from 45 to 50 minutes in a moderate oven. Have the oven rather hot when the pie is first put in to bake and then reduce the heat, else the filling in the pie will boil and become watery. If liked, two tablespoonfuls of brandy may be added to the mixture before filling the crust. In that case, use two tablespoonfuls less of milk.

WHITE POTATO CUSTARD (AUNT SARAH'S RECIPE)

Boil one medium-sized potato, mash fine, add 1 large tablespoonful of butter and a generous 1/2 cup sugar. Beat to a cream. When the mixture has cooled add yolks of 2 eggs, 1/2 cup sweet milk and grated rind and juice of half a lemon. Lastly, stir in the stiffly beaten whites of the two eggs. Bake in a medium-sized pie-tin with one crust in a moderately hot oven about 25 minutes, until a rich brown on top. This is a delicious pie and would puzzle a "Bucks County lawyer" to tell of what it is composed.

"RHUBARB CUSTARD" PIE

Two cups of rhubarb, uncooked, do not skin it, cut in half-inch pieces. Cream together 1 cup of sugar, 1 tablespoonful of cornstarch, 2 eggs (reserve white of one egg). Add the 2 cups of rhubarb to this mixture and place all in a pie-tin lined with pastry. Place in oven and bake until rhubarb is tender. Remove from oven and when pie has cooled spread over it the stiffly beaten white of the egg, to which had been added one tablespoonful of sugar. Place pie in oven and brown a light fawn color.

"LEMON APPLE" PIE

Grate the yellow rind from a lemon (discard the white part of rind), grate the remainder of the lemon, also pare and grate 1 apple. Add 1-1/2 cups of sugar, then add 2 well-beaten eggs. Pour this mixture into 1 large pie-tin lined with rich pastry; place on a top crust, pinch edges, moistened with water, together; bake in an oven with a steady heat. When pie has baked sift pulverized sugar thickly over top and serve cold. From these materials was baked a fair sized pie.

GREEN CURRANT PIE

Line a pie-tin with rich pastry; place oil this crust 2 tablespoonfuls of flour and 2 tablespoonfuls of sugar; then add 2 cups of well-washed and stemmed green currants, previously mixed with 1 tablespoonful of cornstarch, moistened with a small quantity of cold water. Add 1 cup of sugar (from which had been taken the 2 tablespoonfuls placed on crust;) add 2 tablespoonfuls of water; cover with a top crust, cut small vents in crust, bake in a moderate oven. When crust loosens from side of pan the pie should be sufficiently baked.

A COUNTRY "MOLASSES" PIE

Place in a mixing bowl 3/4 cup flour (generous measure), 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1 generous tablespoonful of butter.

Crumble all together with the hands until quite fine. Then to 1/4 cup of New Orleans (baking) molasses add 1/4 cup of boiling water and 1/4 teaspoonful of soda (saleratus). Beat together the molasses, water and soda until the mixture is foamy and rises to top of cup. Then pour into a medium-sized pie-tin, lined with pie crust (the pie-tin should not be small or the mixture, when baking, will rise over top of pan). Sprinkle the prepared crumbs thickly over the molasses mixture and with a spoon distribute the crumbs well through the mixture. Bake in a moderate oven from 25 to 30 minutes and you will have the old-fashioned pie your Grandmother used to bake.

When her baking finished, she had dough remaining for an extra crust. Children always called this "molasses candy pie," as 'twas quite different from the "molasses cake batter" usually baked in crusts.

A MOCK CHERRY PIE

This pie was composed of 3/4 cup of chopped cranberries, 3/4 cup of seeded and chopped raisins, 3/4 cup of sugar, 3/4 cup of cold water, 1 tablespoonful of flour, 1 teaspoonful of vanilla all together and bake with two crusts.

AUNT SARAH'S CUSTARD PIE

Line an agate pie-pan (one used especially for custards two inches in depth, holding exactly one quart) with a rich pastry. Break five large eggs in a bowl, heat lightly with an egg-beater and add 1/2 cup of sugar. Boil 3 cups of sweet milk, pour over the eggs and sugar, add 1 teaspoonful of butter and a pinch of salt, 1/2 teaspoonful of vanilla. The mixture should fill a one-quart measure. When the custard has cooled, pour either into the deep pie-pan, lined with pastry, holding one quart, or into two ordinary pie-tins holding one pint each. Place the custard pie in a quick oven, that the crust may bake before the custard soaks into the crust; then allow oven to cool and when the custard is "set" (which should be in about 35 minutes) remove from the oven and serve cold. The custard should be the consistency of thick jelly. Scalding the milk produces a richer custard.

PLAIN RHUBARB PIE

Line a pie-tin with rich crust, skin rhubarb and cut into half-inch pieces a sufficient quantity to fill 3 cups. Mix together 1 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup of flour. Place a couple tablespoonfuls of this on the bottom crust of pie. Mix sugar and flour remaining with 3 cups of rhubarb and fill the crust. Moisten the edge of crust with water, place on top crust, press two edges of crust together (having cut small vents in top crust to allow steam to escape). Bake in a moderate oven about 30 minutes, when top crust has browned pie should be baked.

MARY'S CREAM PIE

Bake crusts in each of two pie-tins. For filling, 1 pint of milk, 1 generous tablespoonful of corn starch, 2 tablespoonfuls of sugar, 2 yolks of eggs (well beaten), 1 teaspoonful of vanilla. Cook all together until mixture thickens and when cooled put in the two baked crusts.

Mix the stiffly beaten whites of two eggs with two tablespoonfuls of pulverized sugar and spread over cream filling in pies and brown lightly in oven.

Always prick the lower crust of a pie carefully with a fork to allow the air to escape; this will prevent blisters forming in the crusts baked before filling crusts with custards.

APPLE CUSTARD PIE

To 1 cup of hot apple sauce (unsweetened) add a tiny pinch of baking soda, 1 tablespoonful of butter, 1 cup of sugar, grated rind and juice of half a lemon or orange, 2 egg yolks, 1/2 cup of sweet cream and 1 large teaspoonful of corn starch. Line a pie-tin with pastry, pour in this mixture and bake. When the pie has cooled spread over top a meringue composed of the two stiffly beaten whites of eggs and two tablespoonfuls of pulverized sugar flavored with a little grated orange or lemon peel. Brown top of pie in oven.

LEMON PIE WITH CRUMBS

Place in a bowl 1 cup (good measure) of soft, crumbled stale bread. Pour over this one cup of boiling water, add 1 teaspoonful (good measure) of butter and beat until smooth, then add 1 cup of sugar, the grated rind and juice of 1 lemon and the beaten yolks of 2 eggs. This mixture should measure about 1 pint. Pour into a pie-tin lined with rich pastry and bake. When cold spread over a meringue made of the stiffly beaten whites of the 2 eggs and 3 tablespoonfuls of granulated sugar. Place in the oven until the meringue is a light fawn color and serve cold.

AUNT SARAH'S BUTTER SCOTCH PIE

Boil together 1 cup brown sugar and 2 tablespoons butter until a soft, wax-like consistency. Mix together 2 heaping teaspoons flour, yolk of 1 egg and 1 cup of milk. Beat until smooth; stir this into the sugar and butter mixture and cook until thick. Flavor with lemon or vanilla, pour into baked crust and spread over top the beaten white of 1 egg to which has been added tablespoon sugar and brown in oven.

GREEN TOMATO MINCE MEAT

One peck of green tomatoes, chopped fine; 3 lemons, 2 seeded raisins, 5 pounds of granulated sugar, 1 cup of vinegar, 1 teaspoonful of cloves, 1-1/2 tablespoonfuls of nutmeg, 1 tablespoonful of cinnamon. Cook tomatoes 3-3/4 hours, then add the other ingredients and cook all together 30 minutes. A small quantity of grated orange peel, finely minced citron, cider, brandy or canned fruit juice may be added to improve the flavor of the mince meat. Fill air-tight jars with the hot mixture and screw on jar-tops. This mince meat may be prepared in season when tomatoes are plentiful; is both good and cheap and is a splendid substitute for old-fashioned mince meat.

ORANGE MERINGUE (A PIE)

Into a bowl grate the yellow outside rind of a large, juicy orange; add the juice and pulp, but not any of the tough part enclosing sections. Add 1 tablespoonful of lemon juice, 1 cup of granulated sugar, which had been beaten to a cream with 2 tablespoonfuls of butter, the yolks of 3 eggs, 2 large tablespoonfuls of corn starch, mixed smoothly with a little cold water, and 1 cup of boiling water. Cook all together until thickened and when cool spread on a rather large pie-tin, lined with a baked crust of superior pastry. Add to the stiffly beaten whites of 3 eggs 3 tablespoonfuls of pulverized sugar. Place meringue over top of pie and place in oven until a light fawn color.

GRANDMOTHER'S RECIPE FOR "MINCE MEAT"

The day preceding that on which mince meat is to be prepared, boil 5 pounds of beef. To the well-cooked, finely-chopped meat add 10 pounds of tart apples, chopped into coarse bits; 2 pounds of finely-chopped suet, 2 pounds of large blue raisins, seeded; 2 pounds of dried, cleaned currants, 1/2 pound of finely-shaved citron, 2 tablespoonfuls of cinnamon, 1 tablespoonful of cloves, 1 tablespoonful of grated nutmeg, 1 small tablespoonful of salt, 1 pint of baking molasses, 1 pint of brandy or cider which had been boiled down. Mix all well together, add more spices, if liked, also juice of 1 orange or lemon. Place all ingredients in a large preserving kettle, allow the mixture to heat through. Fill glass jars, seal and stand away until used. Add more cider, should it he required, when baking pies.

"TWENTIETH CENTURY" MINCE MEAT

Two pounds lean beef (uncooked), chopped fine, 1/2 pound beef suet, shredded.

Put the beef and suet in a large stone jar, pour over it 2/3 of a quart of whiskey. Let stand covered with a lid for a week, then add 2 pounds large, seeded raisins, 2 pounds Sultana raisins, 2 pounds currants, 1/2 pound citron, juice and grated rind of 2 oranges and of 2 lemons, 1 teaspoonful salt, 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, 2 grated nutmegs, 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice, 1 pound sugar. Let stand two weeks, then it is ready to use. When you wish to bake pies take out as much of the mince meat as you wish to use and add chopped apples, two parts of mince meat to one part chopped apples, and add more sugar if not as sweet as liked. If too thick, add a little sherry wine and water, mixed. Fill bottom crust with some of the mixture, cover with top crust and bake. There must be just enough liquor in the jar to cover the meat, as that preserves it. This seems like a large quantity of liquor to use, but much of the strength evaporates in baking, so that only an agreeable flavor remains; that is, to those who like liquor in mince meat; some people do not. Others there are who think mince meat not good unless made with something stronger than cider. Mince pies made by this recipe are excellent. This recipe was given Mary by a friend, a noted housekeeper and cook.

A "DUTCH" RECIPE FOR PUMPKIN PIE

Line a medium-sized pie-tin with pastry. Cover the crust thickly with thinly-sliced, uncooked pumpkin, cut in inch lengths. Place on the pumpkin 1 tablespoonful of syrup molasses, 1 tablespoonful of vinegar, 1 tablespoonful flour and sweeten with sugar to taste, dust over the top a little ground cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg; cover pie with a top crust and bake in a moderately hot oven. When baked the pumpkin filling in the pie should resemble diced citron and the pie have somewhat the flavor of green tomato pie. (The vinegar may be omitted and the result be a very good pie.)