RICE CUPS, (DESSERT)

The rice cups will be delicious for dessert, if instead of using cold meat they are filled with mince meat or raisins that have lain in cold water until they have swelled. When baked they are to be turned out on sauce dishes and served with a sauce made by creaming one-third cupful of b.u.t.ter with one cupful of brown sugar, flavoring with half-teaspoonful vanilla and heating in a double boiler until hot and creamy.

[Ill.u.s.tration: COMPOTE OF RICE]

COMPOTE OF RICE

Take plain boiled rice, pack lightly in small cups, and put in a warm place for an hour to set. Turn out molded, and send to the table garnished with any kind of rich preserves,--preferably such large fruits as peaches, pears or plums.

Rice nicely cooked is often served in place of a vegetable and eaten with a fork from the dinner plate like mashed potatoes. It is a good thing for the little cook to learn all the different ways of cooking it, as often a small quant.i.ty left from one meal would prove most acceptable for another, if prepared differently.

FRIED RICE

The plain boiled rice intended to be served like a vegetable or for a simple dessert might not all be used. If a cupful were left it could be cut in thin slices and browned in b.u.t.ter for breakfast, or it could be stirred into the soup made from the left-overs, as described in one of our former lessons. The little maid must learn to use all her odds and ends, and a good way to teach her would be to ask her what she thought could be prepared from the small quant.i.ty of food left from a meal.

While often there might not be enough for the whole family, there might be plenty for the few that happened to be home for the noon luncheon, or perhaps only enough for the school lunch that after a while gets to be such a hard thing for mother to fix up "in a different way."

RICE PUDDING

Rice pudding is one of the first desserts a child should learn to make, as it is so little trouble and always a favorite. She should first beat up thoroughly two eggs; add half a cupful of sugar, two cupfuls of milk, a little nutmeg, and stir through two cupfuls of cooked rice. If the rice has been standing long enough to stiffen, then, after washing her hands, she will have to work the rice through the custard with her fingers in order to remove any lumps. A half cupful of raisins or dried currants stirred in after the pudding is in the baking-dish will make it just that much nicer. In baking, leave in the oven until the pudding is firm, which will show when a silver knife stuck in the middle comes out clean. A custard is never baked enough that sticks to the knife and leaves it milky.

BOILED MACARONI

As there are many days, especially in summer, when macaroni can well take the place of meat, it is desirable that the small maid be taught how to prepare it attractively.

The macaroni is first broken in small pieces, washed and then boiled in salted water until tender--about twenty minutes. It can be tested with a fork. It is very good if simply drained when cooked, sprinkled with salt and pepper, dotted with lumps of b.u.t.ter and sent to the table piping hot.

MACARONI WITH CHEESE

Or it can be taken from the boiling water, put in a colander, rinsed with cold water, then arranged in a baking dish in alternate layers with grated cheese. Over the top pour one cup of hot milk in which has been stirred a teaspoon of b.u.t.ter and a beaten egg. This must be baked a light brown as quickly as possible, and served at once. It is not so good after it has stood.

If preferred, a cupful of white sauce can be used instead of the milk and egg.

MACARONI WITH TOMATO

For baked macaroni with tomato, have the little cook put in her baking dish first a layer of the cooked and rinsed macaroni, then a layer of tomatoes, either fresh or canned, but well seasoned, then another layer of macaroni, then one of tomatoes, and on the top sprinkle rolled bread crumbs. Scatter tiny lumps of b.u.t.ter all around, season again, and bake a light brown in a quick oven.

MACARONI PIE

But if she finds that she has a small quant.i.ty of cold meat on hand, beef, veal or chicken, she can put one layer of that through the middle of the macaroni, and she will have a surprise for her family--delicious, too. This is quite nice for wash-day dinner when it can be served with baked potatoes, at little cost of time or trouble.

In a series of cooking lessons of this kind, it is manifestly impossible to include directions for preparing all kinds of food, but I have outlined the work with the idea of teaching the children a great variety of dishes, believing that their success with these will stimulate them to try by themselves recipes found elsewhere.

CHAPTER X

Baking Cake and Bread

The child who has been a.s.sisted in preparing the various dishes given in our previous cooking lessons, and who has learned to follow directions, will now be eager to undertake different kinds of baking. The mother should impress on the little student that the first essential to success is correct measurements, and the second, careful mixing. For cake baking a graduated tin cup, marked in quarters and thirds, is almost a necessity, as different people's ideas vary so as to what const.i.tutes a quarter or a third. If the cup is at hand, however, and is used in taking all the measurements, there can be no mistake. And a cupful means a level cupful, not heaping; a teaspoonful a level spoonful, not a rounded one, unless so specified.

BAKING PREPARATIONS

Before beginning the work, the child should read over her recipe and lay out all ingredients needed. She should have the mixing bowl on the table with the mixing spoon, the teaspoon and tablespoon for measurements, and the measuring cup. The cake pan, wiped off, warmed and greased lightly with lard, is next set aside, ready for use.

Then the fire must be in good condition. If a gas stove is used it will take only a few moments to heat the oven properly, but if wood or coal is the fuel, the mother must show the child how to prepare the fire, so as to have the oven the right temperature and on time. The old way of having it as hot as one can stand the hand while counting twenty, is a fair test.

As small cakes bake more evenly and quickly for the inexperienced cook, it is a good idea to let the child put her cake dough in m.u.f.fin tins. A mixture that might fall and seem a failure if put in a loaf and not properly baked, will often come up very nicely in gem pans; and, besides, the small cakes appeal more to the childish fancy. A nice one-egg cake is made as follows:

[Ill.u.s.tration: ICING THE CAKE]

TEA CAKES

One-third of a cup of b.u.t.ter, one cup of sugar, one egg, one cup of milk, two cups of sifted flour, two level teaspoonfuls of baking powder, half a teaspoonful of vanilla, and half a cup of currants.

DIRECTIONS FOR MIXING

First the child should measure her flour while her cup is dry, and adding the baking-powder, sift it on to a paper or in an extra bowl, and set it aside, ready for use. Next she can measure the even cupful of sugar into the mixing bowl, add an even one-third cupful of b.u.t.ter, and rub together to a creamy ma.s.s. If the b.u.t.ter has been standing a while in the kitchen, it will be warm enough to work up nicely. Then she must separate the egg, beating the white stiff and the yolk until it is foaming. Adding the beaten yolk to the b.u.t.ter and sugar, she again stirs thoroughly, and then begins adding--a little at a time--first the milk and then the sifted flour, stirring evenly all the while. Put in the vanilla, the stiffly beaten white of egg, with the currants, mixing as little as possible, and pour out into the greased gem pans. If the oven is right, the baking will take from fifteen to twenty minutes, but if the oven seems too hot, leave the door slightly open for about five minutes. An old-fashioned way of finding out when the cakes are well baked is to try with a new wooden toothpick. If it comes out clean and dry the cakes are done.

On removing from the oven, loosen around the bottom edge (the cakes should have shrunk from the sides), and turn on to a bread board. When cold, they can be iced with the following simple icing:

[Ill.u.s.tration: TEA CAKES BAKED IN HEART SHAPE]

WHITE ICING UNCOOKED

Two tablespoonfuls milk or cream, enough confectioner's sugar to make a thick paste and half dozen drops of vanilla. In spreading, if the icing does not go on as smoothly as desired the silver knife used for spreading can occasionally be dipped in a gla.s.s of cold water.

COCOA ICING

When the child has followed this recipe several times successfully, she can then try baking it in two cake tins. When done and cool, she can put the layers together with the same icing, to which, by adding two teaspoonfuls of cocoa, she will have a nice chocolate filling. When the cocoa is used, she will need a trifle more milk or cream.

GINGER COOKIES

After the child has fully mastered this recipe, let her next try some ginger cookies. To a half a cupful of mola.s.ses, one teaspoonful of soda, half a cupful sour milk, half a cupful of sugar, and one-third cupful of melted b.u.t.ter add one well-beaten egg, three cupfuls of flour, with one tablespoonful of ginger. This will make a thick ma.s.s which is to be turned out as soft as can be handled, half at a time, on a well-floured bread board. The child must then flour her rolling-pin to keep it from sticking, and roll as thin as desired. She should thoroughly grease the dripping pan and then cut out her cookies and lift carefully into place, one just touching another. The oven should be quite hot for these as they ought to bake quickly; and on removing from the oven, they should stand a moment in the pan before being lifted on to a plate.