Baking-powder Biscuit

Margaret's Other Aunt said little girls could never, never make biscuit, but this little girl really did, by this rule:

1 pint sifted flour.

1/2 teaspoonful of salt.

4 teaspoonfuls of baking-powder.

3/4 cup of milk.

1 tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter.

Put the salt and baking-powder in the flour and sift well, and then rub the b.u.t.ter in with a spoon. Little by little put in the milk, mixing all the time, and then lift out the dough on a floured board and roll it out lightly, just once, till it is one inch thick.

Flour your hands and mould the little b.a.l.l.s as quickly as you can, and put them close together in a shallow pan that has had a little flour shaken over the bottom, and bake in a hot oven about twenty minutes, or till the biscuits are brown. If you handle the dough much, the biscuits will be tough, so you must work fast.

Grandmother's Corn Bread

1 1/2 cups of milk.

1 cup sifted yellow corn-meal.

1 tablespoonful melted b.u.t.ter.

1 teaspoonful sugar.

1 teaspoonful baking-powder.

2 eggs.

1/2 teaspoonful of salt.

Scald the milk--that is, let it boil up just once--and pour it over the corn-meal. Let this cool while you are separating and beating the eggs; let these wait while you mix the corn-meal, the b.u.t.ter, salt, baking-powder, and sugar, and then the yolks; add the whites last, very lightly. Bake in a b.u.t.tered biscuit-tin in a hot oven for about half an hour.

Because grandmother's corn bread was a little old-fashioned, Margaret's Other Aunt put in another recipe, which made a corn bread quite like cake, and most delicious.

Perfect Corn Bread

1 large cup of yellow corn-meal.

1 small cup of flour.

1/2 cup of sugar.

2 eggs.

2 teaspoonfuls of baking-powder.

3 tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter.

1 teaspoonful of salt.

Flour to a thin batter.

Mix the sugar and b.u.t.ter and rub to a cream; add the yolks of the eggs, well beaten, and then half a cup of milk; then put in the baking-powder mixed in the flour and the salt, and then part of the corn-meal, and a little more milk; next fold in the beaten whites of the eggs, and if it still is not like ''a thin batter,'' put in a little more milk. Then bake in a b.u.t.tered biscuit-tin till brown, cut in squares and serve hot. This is particularly good eaten with hot maple syrup.

Popovers

Put the m.u.f.fin-tins or iron gem-pans in the oven to get very hot, while you mix these popovers.

2 eggs.

2 cups of milk.

2 cups of flour.

1 small teaspoonful of salt.

Beat the eggs very lightly without separating them. Pour the milk in and beat again. Sift the salt and flour together, pour over the eggs and milk into it, and beat quickly with a spoon till it is foamy. Strain through a wire sieve, and take the hot pans out of the oven and fill each one-half full; bake just twenty-five minutes.

Cooking-school m.u.f.fins

2 cups sifted flour.

2 teaspoonfuls baking-powder.

1/2 teaspoonful of salt.

1 cup of milk.

2 eggs.

1 large teaspoonful of melted b.u.t.ter.

Mix the flour, salt, and baking-powder, and sift. Beat the yolks of the eggs, put in the b.u.t.ter with them and the milk, then the flour, and last the stiff whites of the eggs. Have the m.u.f.fin-tins hot, pour in the batter, and bake fifteen or twenty minutes. These must be eaten at once or they will fall.

There was one little recipe in Margaret's book which she thought must be meant for the smallest girl who ever tried to cook, it was so easy. But the little m.u.f.fins were good enough for grown people to like. This was it:

Barneys

4 cups of whole wheat flour.

3 teaspoonfuls of baking-powder.

1 teaspoonful of salt.

Enough water to make it seem like cake batter.

Drop with a spoon into hot b.u.t.tered m.u.f.fin-pans, and bake in a hot oven about fifteen minutes.

Bridget had to show Margaret what was meant by a ''cake batter,''

but after she had seen once just how thick that was, she could always tell in a minute when she had put in water enough.

Griddle-cakes

2 eggs.

1 cup of milk.

1 1/2 cups flour.

2 teaspoonfuls of baking-powder.

1/2 teaspoonful of salt.

Put the eggs in a bowl without separating them, and beat them with a spoon till light. Put in the milk, then the flour mixed with the salt, and last the baking-powder all alone. Bake on a hot, b.u.t.tered griddle. This seems a queer rule, but it makes delicious cakes, especially if eaten with sugar and thick cream.

Flannel Cakes

1 tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter.