Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-03
I IOUSE=
HOLD
/ lINTS

caterers and bake shop windows.
Cakes from time immemorial have been
closely associated with all the Christmas
and New Year festivities. In Dutch and
German households holiday cake baking
is one of the most important parts OF
the pre-festival ceremonies, and good
housewives would as soon think OF turn
ing the good saint himself from their
doorways as to intrust their holiday bak-
ing to a hireling. Besides the Christmas
spice cake or lebkuchen, made all over
Germany. STOLEN. the counterpart of our
American fruit cake, springerbe, white
and hard, marzipan and baumkuchen
pfannkuchen and bund kuchen, pepper
nuts and biscuit kippel, there must be
square cakes rolled in paper and tied
with bright ribbons as a special Christ
mas token for every maid and man con-
nected with the establishment. Small
wonder that from this time on odors of
Sabean extraction, "tinct with CHINA
mon,' incense and myrrh, fill the house
and float out upon the air, notifying
every passer-by that the celebration Of
the Nativity with carol. chime and
Christmas cheer Is again at hand.
While the shops will doubtless be pa
Uonized for marzipan and other holiday
specialties the recent announcement by
DR.. H. w. Wiley, chief chemist of the
Department of Agriculture at Washing
ton, before the students of City College
of New York, that the highpriced cakes
that the bakers sell are mot yellow with
fresh eggs. but with stale eggs, charged
with much boraX as they will hold,
| will doubtless be an incentive for the
housewife to do as much of her own bak-
| ing as possible The treated eggs, to which
DR.. Wiley referred, are from China, where
| they are broken together in a great ves-
| sci and mixed with boraX, four or five
| pounds to every hundred pounds of eggs.
tnd
| months old when they get here, are said
to be in great demand, the people admir-
ing the beautiful yellow tint they i'm
part to the bakers products. For those
who wish to make their own cakes, with
pure eggs, the following recipes are COM
mended as accurate and excellent:
And first by rights are
Christmas Fruit Cake-Stir a cup and
half of butter with three cups of brown
sugar until light and creamy. Add half a
grated nutmeg, tablespoonful of powdered
cinnamon, one teaspoonful each cloves and
mace, dissolve a level teaspoonful of soda
in half cup of sour cream, add to it half
cup Of molasses and stir until it stops "pur
ring" then add to the other ingredients.
Mix we'll and put in six eggs. beating vigor-
ously between each one. Confectioners and
French chefs knead this cake with their
hands, for it is toe stiff to beat properly, es-
pecially after the fruit is In. Now stir in a
wine glass of brandy. Sift four cups Of flour
and add to the cake mixture little by little,
kneading all the time. Have ready one
pound of seeded raisins, one pound washed
and dried currants. quarter of a pound of
shredded citron and an eighth of pound
each of candied orange and lemon peel
chopped fine. Sprinkle this fruit with two
tablespoonfuls of -four and mix well to-
gether before adding them to the cake. Add
and knead for ten minutes longer, then put
into two brick shaped tins lined with but
tered paper, place in a moderate oven and
bake slowly for three hours, watching close
ly lest they bake too fast. Cover with pa
per If they brown too quickly over the top
In case of a gas stove, 1T is safer to steam
the cakes for two hours first, setting the
tins in close covered steamer, then bake
an hour In slow oven. When cold spread
with thick icing in which finely chop
ped almonds have been mixed. When this
frostlng is quite dry put a plain Icing over
| the almond one. AS these cakes improve
with keeping the sooner they are made now,
the better. A good plan is to mix them one
| day, let them rest in a cool place over night
| to "ripen," then bake the next day. AS these
cakes are not suitable for the little ones
there should be supply of plain cakes
| made and baked In little patty tins. If these
are attractively frosted in pink yellow,
| white and chocolate and decorated with a
rev bits of candied cherries, cranberries or
tiny candies they will be quite as attractive
and much more wholesome.
Patty Pan Cakes for Children-Beat to a
| cream a quarter cup of butter and one cup
| of sugar. Beat the yolks Of two eggs until
| lemon colored and thick and add to the but
| ter. Have ready cup and a half of pastry
| hour sifted with a teaspoonful and half OF
baking powder. Add little by little to the
| batter alternating with half cup of milk
| also poured In little at a time. Flavor
| with half teaspoonful of vanilla, then
| lastly fold in the whites of the two eggs and
| put into patty tins well buttered. Bake in
| a moderate oven and frost when cold.
| Gingerbread Horses for Christmas-Of all
the holiday cakes none are usually more
| pleasing to the children than the old-fash-
| Toned gingerbread horses, made just as our
| grandmothers made them years ago. All
| sorts of animals. the birds and beasts that
| went to the animal fair" may be evolved
| in the same way II one has a little inge-
| nuity. If you cannot get the tin cutters
| cut the desired shapes out Of pasteboard
| lay on the dough after 1t Is rolled to the
proper thickness and then cut out by run
ming a pastry wheel or sharp knife through
| the dough. Here is the recipe for the
dough that has stood the test of a century
| Put two cups of molasses and a cup of soft
| ened butter in a bowl and beat until wei
blended. Add cup Of sour milk. and stil
! 1t In well, then dissolve level tablespoon.
full Of baking soda In quarter OF cup OF
hot water and stir it through the mixture
Add tablespoonful of cloves, ginger te
taste and the grated rind of lemon. anc
stir in enough flour to make "a stiff dough
Roll out on the molding board very thln
cut out the shapes. put in a well-hourec
| dripping pan and bake in moderate oven
| When done and still little warm. fros'
lightly. having some of it white and some
pink
Scotch Christmas Squares.-To foul
beaten eggs allow four ounces of sugar
| and beat twenty minutes, using fork OF
egg beaten Mix three ounces of seeded
raisns with FIVE ounces slightly Drowned
flour. and add gradually to the eggs anc
sugar. Line a shallow tin with butteret
| paper pour in the batter and bake fifteer
| minutes In hot oven. Cut in square:
| when YOU take the cake from the oven.
Marzipan or NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS., reck
oned as chief of Christmas dainties, Is
really a CONNECTION composed Of the bes
almond meal and sugar, with occasiona
variations in the way of white of egg
fresh, dried and crystalized fruits or the In
PRODUCTION of pistachio nuts In place o.
almonds.
II is of ancient and always honorable
origin figuring in legend as well as history
and a prominent figure In medieval chron
icles of grand banquets
| 1t is a cosmopolitan dainty, equally be
loved in Granada, Spain, France, Italy
Austria Germany, Holland and Turkey, a!
well as England. The Jews have long beer
, famous for their skill in making this prep
aration and some believe that they intro
duced IL into Europe from Armenia or Per
sia At the present time 1t finds its highes
development in Vienna, Madrid, CONSTANT
| nople and Lubbock particularly in the lat