CANDY
Margaret did not wait till she reached the recipes for candy at the back of her book before she began to make it. She made it all the way along, whenever another little girl came to spend the afternoon, or it was such a rainy day that she could not go out. Nearly always she made sugar candy, because it was such fun to pull it, and she used the same recipe her mother used when she was a little girl.
SUGAR CANDY
2 cups brown sugar.
1 cup white sugar.
1 tablespoonful butter.
1 tablespoonful vinegar.
1 small teaspoonful soda.
Boil hard twenty minutes, stirring all the time, and cool in shallow pans. If you double the quantity you must boil the candy five minutes longer.
The best thing about this candy is that it does not stick to the fingers, if you let it get quite cool before touching it, and pull it in small quantities. Do not put any butter on your fingers, but work fast.
HARDBAKE
Make the sugar candy given above, and stir in a large cup of shelled almonds just before taking it from the fire. Put in shallow, buttered pans.
PEPPERMINT DROPS
1 cup of sugar.
2 tablespoonfuls of water.
3 teaspoonfuls of peppermint essence.
Boil the sugar and water till when you drop a little in water it will make a firm ball in your fingers. Then take it off the fire and stir in the peppermint, and carefully drop four drops, one exactly on top of another, on a buttered platter. Do not put these too near together.
CREAM WALNUTS
2 cups of light brown sugar.
⅔ cup of boiling water.
1 small saltspoonful of cream of tartar.
1 cup of chopped walnuts.
Boil till the syrup makes a thread, then cool till it begins to thicken, and stir in the walnuts and drop on buttered paper.
CREAM MADE FROM ICING SUGAR
Take the white of one egg, and measure just as much cold water; mix the two well, and stir stiff with icing sugar; add a little flavouring, vanilla, or almond, or pistache, and, for some candies, colour with a tiny speck of fruit paste. This is the beginning of all sorts of cream candy.
CHOCOLATE CREAMS
Make the cream candy into balls, melt three squares of chocolate; put a ball on a little skewer or a fork, and dip into the chocolate and lay on buttered paper.
NUT CANDY
Chop a cup of almonds and mix with the cream candy; make into bars, and when cold cut in slices.
WALNUT CREAMS
Press two walnut halves on small balls of cream candy, one on either side.
BUTTERSCOTCH
6 tablespoonfuls of brown sugar.
2 tablespoonfuls of water.
1 tablespoonful of butter.
1 saltspoonful of soda.
Boil all together, without stirring, till it hardens in water; then put in a small teaspoonful of vanilla and pour at once on a buttered dish. When hard break up into squares.
PINOCHE
1 cup light brown sugar.
1 cup cream.
1 cup walnuts, chopped fine.
Butter the size of a walnut.
1 teaspoonful vanilla.
Cook the sugar and cream till it makes a ball in water; then put in the butter, vanilla, and nuts, and beat till creamy and spread on a dish.
BETTY’S ORANGE CANDY
Betty was Margaret’s particular friend, so this was her favourite recipe:
2 cups sugar.
Juice of one orange.
Boil till it hardens in water, and then pull it.
CREAMED DATES, FIGS, AND CHERRIES
Make the plain cream candy, as before; wash the dates well, open at one side, and take out the stones and press in a ball of the candy; leave the side open. You can sprinkle with granulated sugar if you choose.
Cut figs in small pieces, and roll each piece in the cream candy till it is hidden.
For the cherries, colour the cream candy light pink and make into little balls. On top of each press a candied cherry.
DATES WITH NUTS
Wash and wipe the dates dry, and take out the stones. Put half an English walnut in each and press the edges together; roll in granulated sugar. Small figs may be prepared in the same way.