TEA-CAKE.

Mix three-quarters of a pound of self-raising flour, half an ounce of b.u.t.ter, and a cup of milk into a light dough; roll out, cut into round cakes, slip into b.u.t.tered bags, and cook fifteen minutes.

YORKSHIRE TEA-CAKES.

Cream the white of one egg in as much b.u.t.ter and sugar together; beat into the white of the egg as much ground rice and self-raising flour; mix to a light dough with one tablespoonful of milk. b.u.t.ter two plates, spread over the mixtures, put each plate into a "Papakuk" bag, cook fifteen minutes, spread one cake with warmed jam, put the other on the top, and serve hot.

COCOANUT BUNS.

Beat a quarter of a pound of b.u.t.ter and a quarter of a pound of sugar to a cream, then beat in two eggs, quarter of a pound of desiccated cocoanut, and one gill of milk; stir in a quarter of a teaspoonful of ground ginger and three-quarters of a pound of flour; b.u.t.ter some patty pans, half fill with the mixture, put into "Papakuk" bags, and cook twenty minutes.

SPONGE ROLL.

Beat four eggs and one cup of sugar together for five minutes, stir in one cup of self-raising flour, put into an oblong greased tin, enclose this in a "Papakuk" bag, and cook ten minutes. Turn out and spread with heated jam, and roll up at once.

AMERICAN COOKIES.

Put four tablespoonfuls of sugar into a basin, pour over it three tablespoonfuls of melted b.u.t.ter, mix well together; beat two eggs with two tablespoonfuls of milk and stir in; add as much self-raising flour as will make a very stiff dough. Roll out a quarter of an inch thick, cut with a pastry-cutter into nice rounds, brush each over with milk, sprinkle thickly with sugar, slip into well b.u.t.tered bags, and cook twenty minutes.

LUNCH BUNS.

Beat well together one egg, half a cup of sugar, and one teaspoonful of b.u.t.ter, add one cup of self-raising flour, and mix very thoroughly. Form into buns, put into a well greased bag, and cook fifteen minutes.

CHERRY CAKES.

Beat a quarter of a pound of b.u.t.ter and two ounces of sugar together till very light, add one egg, very thoroughly beaten, stir in by degrees half a pound of self-raising flour. Turn the dough out on a board; chop two ounces of dried cherries finely, blanch and chop one ounce of sweet almonds. Roll out the dough, sprinkle over the cherries and almonds, and fold the dough together; roll it out again and fold it again; roll it out once more to half an inch in thickness; cut into rounds; put into a thickly b.u.t.tered bag and cook ten minutes.

NURSERY TEA-CAKES.

Mix well together half a cup of b.u.t.ter, one of sugar, half a cup of milk, two of self-raising flour, two teaspoonfuls of vanilla essence, two well beaten eggs. Shape into buns, put into b.u.t.tered bags, and cook twenty minutes.

CROPPER CAKES.

Beat three ounces of b.u.t.ter to a cream with three ounces of sugar; put half a pound of self-raising flour into a basin, and add it by slow degrees to the b.u.t.ter and sugar. Add a well beaten egg and a few drops of essence of vanilla. Make into a smooth dough, form into small cakes, place into a well b.u.t.tered "Papakuk" bag, and cook fifteen minutes.

FEATHER CAKE.

Beat half a cup of b.u.t.ter to a cream, add two cups of sugar, and beat well; add one cup of milk with one tablespoonful of baking soda dissolved in it; three eggs, the yolks and whites beaten separately, one cup of flour with two teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar mixed in it; then add two more cups of flour without the cream of tartar. Beat very thoroughly. Put into a well b.u.t.tered tin; enclose the tin in a "Papakuk"

bag and cook forty-five minutes.

GINGER CAKE.

These are particularly wholesome for children, and are an agreeable laxative.

Take one pound of self-raising flour, and rub it well together with a quarter of a pound of sugar and half an ounce of ground ginger; then add half a pound of golden syrup and a tablespoonful of honey. Melt three ounces of b.u.t.ter in a quarter of a pint of hot milk; dissolve a teaspoonful of carbonate of soda in the milk and add it to the other ingredients. It must be a very stiff dough. Form into flat cakes, slide into very thickly b.u.t.tered "Papakuk" bags, and cook forty-five minutes.

CHAPTER VI.

MISCELLANEOUS RECIPES.

For those who still hesitate whether to adopt paper-bag cookery or not, it may be as well to repeat the solid advantages of this method. For one thing, it minimises labour and saves time, thus going far to solve the servant problem. The cook who has not the never-ending labour of cleaning saucepans and baking-tins, who has leisure for reasonable rest and recreation, is a contented being, not likely to give notice at awkward moments. The expense of most labour-saving domestic utensils prevents their adoption in households where means are limited, but the bags necessary for paper-bag cooking cost the merest trifle.

Only those who live in small houses or flats know the misery of having each meal heralded by a violent smell of cooking, which invades every room, and robs the average person of all appet.i.te; the tenant of those uncomfortable dwelling-places known as "Maisonettes" knows only too well what it is to inhale the fragrance of the downstairs burned onion or frying bloater; while the occupants of the lower maisonette suffer from audible and pungent remarks upon the odours from their kitchen, remarks which frequently lead to friction. Now, paper-bag cookery does not smell.

Paper bags are cheap. The young couple setting up modestly in life are spared the outlay of an expensive range of cooking utensils; the occupant of cramped apartments has not to endure the obtrusive little kitchen in bed-or sitting-room, and the thrifty housewife has not the continual necessity of replacing a worn-out saucepan or burnt-out frying-pan. And these things run into money. All that is necessary for the equipment of the up-to-date paper-bag cook is, of course, a kettle for boiling water, a conservative boilerette (Welbank) for the cooking of these few dishes not amenable to paper-bag treatment, and an egg saucepan. For though eggs are delicious cooked in a paper bag, it would be an extravagance to light the oven up for that purpose alone. Perhaps a frying-pan might also be included, but the rest of the kitchen outfit may consist entirely of "Papakuk" bags.

DOING WITHOUT A KITCHEN.

With the aid of paper-bag cookery, the up-to-date householder may eliminate the kitchen altogether, thus gaining another room. The small flat at a moderate rent usually consists of one sitting-room, two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom. It is equally unpleasant to sit in the room in which one has just dined, or to take meals in the room where they have just been cooked. With a little contrivance and ingenuity, the kitchen may be transformed into a neat little dining-room, a gas stove erected in any convenient recess or in the bathroom, and with paper-bag cookery, nothing more elaborate will be needed.

BEDROOM COOKERY.

For the business woman, living in one room, ordinary cooking is out of the question, yet most landladies refuse to cook for their lodgers, except at a high charge, and restaurant living is expensive. Ordinary cooking, too, means more or less heat and odours, incompatible with keeping the one room fresh and neat. In this case, too, paper-bag cookery solves the difficulty.

"WILD WEST" COOKERY.

Paper-bag cookery has been seized upon with thankfulness by a girl who went out to keep house for a brother in the "Wild West," and found the toil of cooking with rough and old-fashioned utensils beyond her capacity. So incessant were her labours, so unsatisfactory the results, that she hailed with joy and grat.i.tude a newspaper article and some bags sent her by a compa.s.sionate relative, and now writes triumphantly that all her cookery troubles are over.

INVALID DIET.

How weary invalids get of the eternal boiled whiting and boiled chicken is well known. The poor invalid who besought his doctor's permission to have his whiting fried, and who, receiving it with the proviso it should be fried in water, burst into tears when the dish was set before him, would have been charmed with the fish cooked in a paper bag. A whiting, a chop, a fillet of chicken thus cooked are all as savoury as if fried, yet as light and digestible as when boiled.

INVALID'S CHOPS.

Trim every morsel of fat from the chop, and put it without water or seasoning into a very well greased bag. Cook it fifteen or twenty minutes according to the thickness, and serve it with any seasoning or sauce the doctor sanctions.

INVALID'S CHICKEN.