563. Pick off the stems and blossoms of your gooseberries, wash them, and pour enough boiling water over to cover them. Let them stand a few minutes and then drain them. Line your pie-plates with paste, fill them with the fruit, and add three-quarters of a pound of sugar to a pint of fruit. Dredge a little flour over the top and cover with a lid of paste, leave an opening in the centre to permit the steam to escape, and bake them.
RIPE CURRANT PIE.
564. Stem your currants and wash them. Line your pie-plates with paste, fill them with the fruit, and add sugar in the proportion of a half a pound to one pint of currants. Dredge some flour over the top, put on the lid of the pie, leave an opening in the centre and bake it.
GREEN CURRANT PIE.
565. The fruit should have attained its full size before it is picked. Stem the currants and wash them; then pour enough boiling water over them to cover them, and let them stand while you prepare the paste. Line the bottom of your pie-plates with paste, drain your fruit through the colander and fill your plates, adding half a pound of sugar to a pint of currants, or in that proportion. Dredge a little flour over the fruit, and put on the top crust; leave an opening in the centre to permit the steam to escape. The pie requires no water, as a sufficient quantity will adhere to the fruit.
APPLE BUTTER.
566. Boil one barrel of cider till reduced to one half the original quantity. Pare, core, and slice enough apples to measure two bushels and a half when cut up. Put them in with the cider, let them boil, and stir it all the time it is boiling. The apples must be reduced to a pulp, which will take from nine to twelve hours. It should be boiled till perfectly smooth and thick. Great care should be taken not to let it scorch, as it would be entirely spoiled.
New cider is the kind used for making apple butter.