The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-08-10
THE HOUSEHOLD
3 o . oooeo o 90 . 3 o . AZ 0 . o . 3 :
Some old Dutch ReceIpt--rhe Chief


of Ala Cookies.
The housekeeping of the Holland
DANES of New aAmsterdam has always
excited a powerful influence on New
York kitchens, and kniclSerbocker
New York is never so much in evidence
as at New Years. Oily hooks and New
Year cookies are still prepared in
many old New York families by re-
ceipts handed gdown from those days
when New York was Dutch village
below Wall street. No cream tartar
nor soda nor baking powder were
known then; the cakcmakar depended
upon either eggs or yeast for tighten
ing her cake and bread alike.
The rule for oily hooks, or Dutch
doughnuts still in use in an old Knick-
erbocker family, calls for the follow
Ing simple ingredients: Beat to
cream cup Of butter and two cups of
sugar Break in two eggs, beating the
batter vigorously. Add an even salt
spoonful Of salt and half cup OF hot
milk, with enough sifted flour to make
stiff batter. Now add a cup and
half more Of hot milk and flour enough
10 make batter as stiff as you can
peat with ease. Finally, when the
batter us luke-warm, add cup Of
yeast or yeast cake dissolved In a
cup OF water. Add more flour, but only
enough to make the batter firm, SO
that 1T is easily beaten. Beat till It
busters. Let 1t rise in a warm, not a
hot, place, well covered, until 1t is very
light
II the batter is set at o'clock in the
AFTERNOON 1t will not be ready for use
until o'clock the next afternoon. If
II IS well risen, then dredge a board
with flour and turn the batter out on
1t, remembering 1t should be as soft
as IT can be handled. If 1t is too soft,
dredge Hour on it, but do not knead or
handle II any more than you can help
Roll the dough out in sheets, about
tnree-quarters of an inch thick, and
cut 1T into round cakes with a plain
lncn-and-a-half cutter. After cutting
out the oily hooks, or doughnuts, open
quickly at the side with a sharp knife
as slender as a penknife, and put in
the center of each a raisin or a tea
spoonful OF rich cranberry preserves or
any other nice ysWeetmeats. A raisin
and piece of sliced citron or a lump
OF sugar dipped in wine, are generally
used. Close up this opening, wetting
the edges and pressing them very care
fully together, or the center Of the
doughnuts will fly out in the cooking.
Let the doughnuts rise half an hour,
or even longer, after being cut out
Usually by the time the last ones are
cut out and made ready for frying the
first ones will have risen enough to be
cooked.
The pot of smoking hot lard in which
they are cooked should be ready. Test
it with bread. If the bread turns dark
at once, 1t is too hot If 1t turns a
light brown, it is just right. Put in the
doughnuts and fry them for ten min
utes, turning them once. They should
have tender brown crust and be done
through. They cannot be cooked
through in less than ten minutes. AS
soon as they are done, lift them out
with wire spoon. Drain each one
carefully over the fat, and lay it for an
instant on coarse brown paper to alb
sorb any fat still clinging to it. Roll
them, one by one, in bowl of powder
ed sugar, and lay them in a stone
cake crock. They will keep a week or
longer.
All cookies were Of Dutch origin, as
their name implies. They were thin,
rich cakes originally. andseither oblong
or round in shape. The English made
somewhat similar cake, baked in a
ring form and called Jubilee" The
Dutch cooky was usually garnished
with caraway seeds. So essential were
these seed cakes to the family cuisine
that caraway seed was raised in every
garden, not only for these thin delic-
iouS cakes, but as meeting seed,'' to
keep children and frivolous young peo-
pie awake during the long Dutch SER
mons.
The chief of ali cookies were the New
Year cakes. These cakes were oblong
frn rh0 -
son In the shops; but when made at
home they were considerably richer and
more delicious. A good old rule for these
cookies calls for two and a half pounds
of flour (pastry flour Is the besD. half
POUND of sugar, and half pound of
butter. Rub the butter thoroughly
through the flour and mix in the SUI
gar Make a cavity In the mixture and
pour in half a pint of lukewarm milk,
with a quarter of cup of yeast or a
third Of a yeast cake. Let the batter
stand over night;gin the morning add
an ounce of caEaway seeds, and beat
all the ingredients thoroughly to-
gether.
Set the batter in a warm place
where it will rise, rand when it has be-
come double I'M bulk roll 1t out until
it is not over a quarter of an inch
thick. Cut into cakes about two and
time they are all cut out, the first will
have risen enough to bake. Bake them
in a moderately hot oven for about half
an hour, Or until well done, but de-
lioate brown. Brush them over with
milk when theyc come out of the oven,
to give them a glossy surface.
A simple rule for plain but delicious
seed cakes of more modern make calls
for a cup of butter and twos cups of
sugar beaten to a cream; three table
spoonfuls of sweet milk and two table
spoonfuls of caraway seeds. Sift three
times two cups of flour with two even
teaspoonfuls of baking powder and
beat into the butter, sugar and milk.
IT the batter is not as stiff as you can
beat it, add little more sifted -four,
and turn it out on Toured board
After dredging it lightly with flour, roll
it out with Toured rolling-pin until
1t is almost as thin as wafer, but
not quite. Cut 1t into round cakes not
over two and a half or three inches in
diameter. Some housekeepers use water
instead of milk, and add two eggs to
this rule. This makes rather harder
tea cake. @S
Fruit cake is the English loaf for
ever associated with New Years day
at the bake shops. Where 1t is properly
made it seldom costs less than 81
pound. When achieved at home a
good-sized loaf need not cost over
dollar. The color of the average home
made fruit cake Is unhappfly too famil-
lar to every one.
1t Is generally : of q dingy, dark
yellow, and so dryland hard as to dis
cO1ra ge one Fh6 reason for this ia