Macaroon Basket.
1 lb. macaroons—almond or cocoanut, or “kisses.”
1 large cup white sugar.
1 table-spoonful dry gum arabic.
½ cup of water—boiling.
Dissolve the gum arabic in the hot water thoroughly; then stir in the sugar. Boil gently until very thick. Set it, while using it, in a pan of boiling water to keep hot. Take a round tin pail (a fluted mould will not do so well), butter thickly on bottom and sides, dip the edges only of each macaroon in the hot candy and lay them in close rows on the bottom until it is covered. Let them get perfectly dry, and be sure they adhere firmly to one another before you begin the lower row of the sides. Build up your wall, one row at a time, letting each harden before adding another. When the basket is done and firm, lift carefully from the mould; make a loop-handle at each end with four or five macaroons, stuck together; set on a flat dish and heap with whipped cream. Sprinkle comfits over the cream, or ornament with red jelly.
With a little care and practice any deft housewife can build this basket. A mould of stiff white paper, lightly stitched together and well buttered, has several advantages above one of tin. You can make it of any shape you like, and remove it without risk of breaking the basket, by clipping the threads that hold it together.