Prune Short Cake.
Sift together twice, 2 cups of flour, 4 teaspoons of baking powder, 1¹⁄₂ teaspoons of salt, 2 large tablespoons of sugar. Blend with this mixture ¹⁄₂ cup of butter and ³⁄₄ cup of milk mixed with beaten yolks of 2 eggs. Bake in layers. Use best prunes, soak several hours, then let them cook very slowly without boiling until tender but not broken, adding the sugar when half done. To 1 pint of prunes allow 1 tablespoon sugar and 1 teaspoon lemon juice, when the prunes are done, remove them carefully and cook the juice until like syrup. On the lower layer of shortcake place prunes with syrup poured over, on the top use prunes well drained. Then heap lightly with whipped cream slightly sweetened.
Green Tomato Pie.
Have ready 4 qts of chopped green tomatoes, 3 lbs of brown sugar, ¹⁄₂ a nutmeg, 1 tablespoon of allspice, 1 teaspoon of cloves, 2 lemons, 1 lb of currants, 1 lb of raisins. The tomatoes and lemons should be chopped fine, boil them together with the sugar, salt and spices until reduced to half of the original quantity. No water is needed. Then add the currants and raisins and continue to cook for 2 or 3 hours, fill 2 rich crusts with the filling having any left may be put in glass jar to use when needed.
Chocolate Pie.
1 cup of sweet milk, 1 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons grated chocolate and stir until smooth, yolks from eggs, 1 teaspoon of cornstarch wet with a little milk and stirred into milk while boiling. Cook until it dimples, put into crusts and bake. Frost with whites of 4 eggs and 4 tablespoons sugar, flavor with vanilla.
Harlequin Pie.
1 cup of cranberries, 1 cup of raisins, 1 cup of apples, run all through meat chopper. Mix thoroughly, add 1 cup of sugar, little salt and 2 or 3 tablespoons of water. Bake in rich crust.
CAKES
Hints for making cakes. The flour should always be very dry and well sifted. White sugar is purer and sweeter for cakes and pastries than the brown sugar. If the butter is very hard soften but do not melt it when soda is used dissolve it before adding to the ground mixture. Fruit should be thoroughly dry if added to the other ingredients damp, cakes will be liable to be heavy. Dust your fruit with a little of the flour to be used for the cake and stir into the other ingredients just before putting in the rest of the flour. The ingredients should be well beaten before mixing in the flour except in a few plain cakes that are beaten all together. All cakes bake nicer if the pan used is lined with buttered paper.