Evening star., 1900-12-15
HOME : MADE CANDY
Good Results if Proper Ingredients
Are Used.
TAKES A LITTLE PATIENCE, 700
A List of Delicious Recipes to Sc
Iect From.
READY FOR HOLIDAY TINE

| Written for The Evening Star.
! In materials the most important thing is
| the sugar, for unless you can get this suf-
| ficiently fine and free from grit, the great
est skill cannot produce good results. 1t
should be what is commonly called confec-
TONERS sugar, sold to the trade in boxes
of forty pounds. and graded from xxx
| to XXXXXX. The finer it is the better.
and 1t should feel soft between thumb and
| finger like flour or starch. If there Is any
gritty feel such is common in the ordi
nary pulverized sugar, the candy will not
melt in the mouth as it should and will
seem dry and chippy
The best chocolate is that used by con-
fectioners, coming in ten-pound cakes al
| ready sweetened. But this is seldom sold
| except to the trade, and is obtainable by
amateurs only in large cities. This re-
quires simply melting over hot water to
! be ready for use. unsweetened chocolate
will often stiffen with heat, though if en-
tirely pure it should not. In case it does,
for half cake of chocolate or a quarter
of pound, beat stiff the white of an egg
| on platter and beat in six tablespoonfuls
! OF confectioners' sugar. Pour boiling wa
| ter on the chocolate very slowly, stirring
all the time, till the Jumps are all smooth,
and then, while still hot. pour upon the
! beaten egg and sugar. and beat rapidly till
| thoroughly mixed If the mixture is not
| quite stiff enough to stay well on the
| creams beat in little more sugar. If 1t
is too stiff add few drops of boiling wa
| ter. Chocolate prepared in this way should
be kept hot over boiling water when in
| use
If. however. the chocolate melts clear and
fluid when stood in boiling water, the
creams may be dipped in 1t without sweet
ening. though most persons prefer it
| SWGeteQ6d. This easily he done nv
mixing with the hot chocolate a syrup
made of cup of granulated sugar and a
little boiling water. The syrup should be
hot when poured into the chocolate, and
the mixture thoroughly stirred till of one
consistency throughout. This is, on the
| whole. the most satisfactory chocolate to
use If one cannot get the confectioners'
| chocolate. as the sweetened chocolate in
| the stores is usually stiff with starch. The
| quantity of chocolate required for this last
| rule is the same as for the former-half
| cake. 1t will cover from a hundred and
| fifty to two hundred creams, according to
size.
Any good desiccated cocoanut is suitable
for candy making, but it should be soaked
in little milk for some hours and then
| strained well before using.
| III fig marmalade is at hand 1t Is the
easiest way in which to use figs. If not.
| a good substitute may be made as follows:
| Cut dozen good Smyrna figs into small
pieces, removing all the hard Jumps, and
soak all night in water enough to cover
| Put over slow fire in the same water and
| cook slowly until the pieces are thorough
! ly dissolved. Add two tablespoonfuls of
| lemon juice and the same quantity of
| granulated sugar and cook fifteen minutes
longer; then cool and put In glasses and
keep covered as you would jelly. 1t Is nice
| and but little Is needed at time SO that
once made 1t will last some time.
Walnuts should be carefully cracked and
| separated in halves, and the broken pieces
saved to be chopped for nougat. Almonds
| should be cracked and part of them
blanched by pouring boiling water over
them and letting it stand till the skins are
| loosened and Will slip off easily.
Dates should be slit down one side with
a sharp knife and the seeds extracted In
handling dates be careful to keep the shape
perfect and to allow no raggedness or
attractive appearance of your candy
| For cOioring there are many devices that
may be used. The yolk of egg gives a
strong yellow and for fainter yellow
grated orange peel will serve as we'll as
| for flavor. The orange used for this pur-
| pose should have a thick, oily rind, so as
when grated to give very moist and
| strongly yellow powder. For pink the col
oring fluid sold for coloring ice cream is
| quite as good and less expensive than cochi-
! neal; and some strawberry extracts will
color as well as flavor. A few tender leaves
| of boiled spinach thoroughly mixed with
! the cream will give a pretty and harmless
green. and the juice of black mulberry jam
will give delicate lavender. Other fruit
| JdTlS Will give uellcate COiOrS, II the
| centrated juice IS worked into the cream or
| beaten into the frosting
| FlaVors must be pure and not too promi-
| nent. Orange and lemon are best taken
| from the fruit itself by grating the peel
| and using with little of the juice Vanilla
| may be used in any good extract: banana
| is gained by working up piece of banana
| into the cream. For rose cream have the
| druggist prepare your flavor using two
drops of the essence Of rose to twelve of
alcohol. 1t is expensive and very strong,
| so sparingly. Get essence of pepper
| mint from the druggist, and also of winter
| green. II desired.
Order of Making.
| In making large quantity of candy of
| various Xmas as for a festival, or a sale.
| plan to make first those candles that need
| to be dipped. like the cocoanut and choco-
| late creams. While these are drying make
those that are to be finished immediatel
| Ike the walnut and date creams, Then
come to the stuffed dates and nougat; then
| the dippin. IN colored frOsting, so as to
| utilize in the layer candy any frosting left
over: after that the layer candies, and
| finally dip the chocolates.
Cocoanut Creams.
Soak half a ten-cent package of desic-
Gated cocoanut in cup of milk for several
hours. Drain thoroughly through a strain
er and then work into 1t confectioners' su-
IS
s:ble. Put in sugar till the mass Is stiff
enough to work with the fingers, but no
more. 1t should be as soft as possible
and yet work well. Have ctrons cut in
| small cubes about the size of pea, and
! roll the cream Of cocoanut and the citron
| together in small balls, each containing
| one cube of citron. The balls must be as
small as possible and conceal the citron as
they have yet to be dipped in frosting.
| which will increase their size. Let them
| cry on the surface. putting them on paraf-
| hne paper for an hour Or two. then dip in
a frosting prepared as follows: Beat stiff
| the whites Of two eggs with two table
| spoonfuls of water. Add confectionerS su-
gar to make a stiff frosting. Color a deli
| cafe pink and favor to taste with strawber-
| ry. Dip the cocoanut balls and stand TO
| dry on parafine paper. If the frosting runs
| off too readily add a little sugar; If it ad-
| heres in streaks add a drop or two of
| water and beat 1t in. This quantity will
| make about sixty fuIl-sized creams.
Strawberry Creams.