[Ill.u.s.tration: CHARLOTTE RUSSE]

CHARLOTTE RUSSE

Cut sponge cake into narrow strips, or use lady fingers, to line a gla.s.s bowl or individual gla.s.s cups as preferred. Fill center with whipped cream, for which directions are given elsewhere, and garnish top with Maraschino cherries. Prepare at the last moment before dinner, as the cake is apt to become soaked if left standing long.

MARSHMALLOW CREAM

Whip thick half a pint of cream, add two tablespoonfuls of confectioner's sugar, one white of egg, beaten stiff, one-quarter of a pound of marsh-mallows cut in small pieces, two tablespoonfuls of chopped nuts, and half a teaspoonful of vanilla. Mix up lightly, and pile on the split halves of little cakes baked in heart-shaped pans.

Place a Maraschino cherry in the center of each, pierce with a candy arrow, and pour a thickened cherry syrup around for a sauce. This dessert might also be called Bleeding Hearts.

APPLE DUMPLINGS

Sift two cups of flour with two teaspoonfuls of baking powder and half a teaspoonful of salt, work into it two tablespoonfuls of lard until "mealy," add one cup of milk, and stir with a fork as little as possible to make a smooth dough. Turn out on a floured board, roll out thin, cut in squares, place in the center of each half of a sour apple, sprinkle with a little sugar and ground cinnamon, cover with the dough, place in a pie pan and bake slowly half an hour. Serve with cream and sugar or hot sauce as preferred.

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE INDIVIDUAL

Make crust as directed for apple dumplings, turn on to a floured board, cut out with a biscuit cutter and bake twenty minutes in a hot oven. On removing, break each biscuit in half, b.u.t.ter, place the lower piece in a saucer, cover with sweetened crushed berries, put on the top half, and pour the crushed berries over all. Or, if preferred for a nice company dessert, drop a big spoonful of whipped cream on top of each biscuit, and stick a fine whole berry in the center.

PRUNE WHIP

Soak half a pound of prunes over night, then stew half an hour and sweeten with half a cupful of sugar. When cool, cut in small pieces or put through the colander, and stir in to the stiffly beaten whites of five eggs, with half a cupful of granulated sugar. Pour into a b.u.t.tered pudding dish, bake half an hour in a slow oven, and serve at once, before it begins to go down, with thick cream.

LEMON PIE

Make paste as directed before, line a deep pie pan, p.r.i.c.k the bottom to keep from blistering, and bake in a hot oven about ten minutes. Remove and fill immediately with the following preparations:

Mix three tablespoonfuls of cornstarch with one cup of sugar, add two-thirds of a cup of boiling water, and one teaspoonful of b.u.t.ter, and cook five minutes, stirring all the time. Then pour on to the beaten yolks of two eggs, flavor with the strained juice and grated rind of one lemon, and fill the sh.e.l.l. Bake until the crust is brown, then cover with the meringue, and set back long enough to color lightly.

MERINGUE

Beat two whites very stiff, stir in slowly half a cupful of powdered sugar, and spread on with a knife or apply through a pastry tube. It will take some time to stir in the sugar slowly enough, but it must be well mixed, then baked until a delicate brown.

APPLE PIE

Line a pie tin with the crust, fill with sliced sour apples, sprinkle thickly with sugar, flavor with nutmeg, cover with the crust, making an opening in the center to emit the steam, press closely together and trim around the edge, and bake in a moderate oven about three-quarters of an hour.