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POTATO—MISCELLANEOUS
Potatoes are probably the most useful vegetable known to the maker of vegetable confectionery. As has been explained in the preceding chapters, they are the basis of potato fondant and potato paste, both of which are basic mixtures.
The usefulness of the potato does not end with decorative candy. In the form both of paste and fondant and prepared in other ways, it is responsible for several pleasing new confections.
Mocha Walnuts.—To the yolk of one egg beaten to a cream, add one-half cupful of Irish potato—boiled, drained, and forced through a sieve as described before—and one teaspoonful of coffee extract. Gradually stir in confectioner's sugar until the mass can be made into soft balls. Flatten these balls, press on walnut meats, and spread to dry. If desired for packing, dip them into a crystal cooked to two hundred and twenty degrees. To insure a good surface and keep the cream from drying out, it may be well to dip the candy again after letting it dry a day.
See No. 8 in the [frontispiece].
Pecan Creams.—The process for making them is the same as that described for making mocha walnuts except that lemon or vanilla extract is used instead of coffee,—see No. 14 of the [frontispiece]—and pecan meats, instead of walnut meats. Indeed, the imaginative candy-cook will be able to invent for herself several other new confections built upon this same principle.
Raisin Creams.—To make them, form potato fondant—directions for which are given on page [61]—into balls and place a seeded raisin on each side. Cook a crystal syrup to two hundred and twenty-eight degrees and keep it warm by the use of the steam bath. Into it, dip, one by one, the fondant balls, prepared as above. Dry on racks. If desired, ordinary bon-bon cream, flavored and colored to suit the cook's fancy, may be substituted for the potato fondant. A satisfactory variety is given these raisin creams by pulling the raisin entirely over a pecan meat before attaching to the cream. This confection is rich in flavor and most attractive in shape.
Peppermint Chocolates.—Potato paste—described on page [52]—is the basis for them. Make a softer paste by using less sugar, work in peppermint to taste, form it into balls, flatten and dry for a couple of hours. Then dip them in chocolate as usual. After the finished candy has stood for a time long enough for the chocolate covering to have mellowed the center, the result will be a cream of excellent flavor and a texture unusually attractive because of its grain. The difference between this and the ordinary peppermint chocolate is so great that they really are not the same confection.