Barley Sugar.—Dissolve and boil 1½ lb. loaf sugar in ½ pint water and the white of ½ egg; when it is at candy height, add a teaspoonful of strained lemon juice, and boil it quickly till it recovers its former state; pour it over a marble slab, and when it becomes stiff cut it in strips and twist it.
Chestnuts, Candied.—Remove the outer skin from some large chestnuts, rejecting any one of them which is not perfectly sound; throw them into a tinned pan full of boiling water, and let them boil just long enough to allow of the second skin being removed. Having done this, put them into another similar pan full of boiling water, and as soon as they are done (they should be tender, but rather underdone) drain the water from them, and put them into a basin full of lukewarm water, with the juice of 1 or 2 lemons squeezed in it. When the water is perfectly cold take out the chestnuts very carefully, and dry them; put them into a basin, and cover them with clarified sugar boiling hot, prepared as follows: Take 6 lb. pounded sugar and put it into a sugar boiler—an untinned copper vessel—with 1 qt. water. Beat up the whites of 3 eggs with 1 pint water, and add this to the rest. Set the pan on the fire, and keep stirring the sugar; when it rises add a little cold water, and repeat this every time the sugar rises until 1 pint water has been so expended, and by that time the sugar will no longer rise, and a dark scum will have gathered on the top. Remove the scum carefully, and strain the syrup through a wetted napkin. Put the syrup back into the boiler—having previously scoured it quite clean—and boil until on taking some between thumb and finger and drawing them apart the sugar will form a thread. The next day put the chestnuts with the syrup into the sugar boiler, and let them boil for 5 minutes, then put them by in the syrup to remain another day. The third day strain off the syrup, boil it till on being raised on the skimmer, and blown through it will form into bubbles; pour this over the chestnuts. On the following day prepare some syrup as above, and boil it till a small modicum dropped into cold water will harden, and can be made into a ball; drain the chestnuts from the former syrup, dip them carefully one by one in the fresh syrup, and put them on a wire sieve in a warm place to dry. When dry they are ready.
Chocolate Creams.—(a) Mix 2 oz. Bermuda arrowroot smoothly with 1½ gill cold water; add 12 oz. pulverised sugar, and boil rapidly 8-10 minutes, stirring continually. Remove it from the fire, and stir till a little cool; flavour with vanilla or rose; continue stirring till it creams, then roll into little balls. Melt some chocolate over steam (add no water), and when the cream balls are cold roll them in it one by one, and lay on a buttered slab to cool. The creams may be varied by dividing the cream into 3 parts, adding grated coconut to one, chopped almonds to another, and pistachios to the third.
(b) Grate 8 oz. vanilla chocolate; put into a stewpan, with 8 oz. sugar, 8 yolks of eggs, 1 pint cream. Stir the whole over the fire until the preparation begins to thicken, allowing the yolks to sufficiently set without curdling; strain the cream through a clean napkin, placed over a fine hair sieve, then pass it again through a tammy cloth with pressure into a basin, then clarify 1 oz. best cut isinglass, or gelatine; mix the whole well together, and pour it into a mould embedded in rough ice.
(c) Put 1 lb. loaf sugar in a stewpan; pour upon it as much milk or thin cream as the sugar will absorb. Dissolve it over the fire, and boil slowly until it will candy when dropped into cold water. Neither stir it, nor allow it to stick to the pan; take it off and stir it until you can cream it with a spoon. Add a tablespoonful of extract of vanilla, and beat it till cool enough to handle. Then fashion it into balls the size of a filbert; lay these aside on buttered paper. Put ½ lb. unsweetened pure chocolate in a tin plate over a kettle of boiling water, and when it is dissolved dip the bonbons into it and lay them out on buttered paper to cool. If the sugar grains like sand instead of creaming, it has been boiled too long, and it will be necessary to begin anew with other sugar.
Coconut Candy.—Place in an earthen pipkin 1 lb. best loaf sugar cut as for table, with a breakfastcupful of cold spring water. Let it remain until the sugar is dissolved, and then set it on a clear fire to boil for about 5 minutes, or rather more. As the scum rises carefully skim it away until the sugar looks quite white and thick, and then stir into it ¼ lb. grated coconut, taking care that it is a nice fresh one. Again set it on the fire, and with a wooden spoon stir it continuously until it rises quite up in the pipkin, then at once spread it out on well-dried sheets of writing-paper, which should be warmed before the fire before putting the coconut upon them; the paste should be rather more than ½ in. thick. Let it remain in this way until nearly but not quite cold, when the paper must be removed, and it can then be cut up into small squares. Let it get thoroughly dry before storing it in tin boxes for use. It is an improvement to give it a slightly pink colour by adding a few drops of cochineal to the sugar just before putting in the coconut. Some people grate this, and spread it out to dry for a day or two before it is used for candy.
Marzipan.—(a) ½ lb. almonds, ¾ lb. sugar, the white of an egg, and the juice of half a lemon. The whole to be well pounded together till it acquires the consistency of a soft dough.
(b) Blanch, and then pound very fine 1 lb. sweet and a few bitter almonds, adding a few spoonfuls of rosewater; put the almond paste in a stewpan with 1 lb. powdered sugar, and stir over the fire till a smooth paste is obtained, which will not stick to the finger when touched. Turn it out on to a pasteboard well strewn with powdered sugar; roll out the paste, divide it into cakes of any shape you like, and put them on sheets of paper on the baking sheet well sprinkled with sugar; bake in a slow oven until of a pale yellow colour.
Popcorn Candy.—Put into an iron kettle 1 tablespoonful butter, 3 tablespoonfuls water, and 1 cup white sugar; boil until ready to candy, then throw in 3 qt. nicely popped corn; stir vigorously until the sugar is evenly distributed over the corn; take the kettle from the fire, and stir until it cools a little, and in this way you may have each kernel separate and all coated with the sugar. Of course, it must have your undivided attention from the first to prevent scorching. Almonds, walnuts, or, in fact, any nuts are delicious prepared in this way.
Toffee.—(a) Take 1 breakfastcupful rich cream (if slightly sour it would be just as good, or better), 1 breakfastcupful pounded white sugar, pour the above into a very clean copper saucepan, and boil slowly over a clear but not too hot fire. The mixture will first become quite liquid, and will afterwards gradually thicken; when almost done pour in 1 dessertspoonful essence of vanilla and 1 of whisky. When the mixture becomes very frothy, and leaves the sides of the pan clean, pour it out as quickly as possible on to a flat buttered dish. It should set at once, cut it into squares; before it is cold it should be quite smooth, and of a creamy white; it should be “short,” without being at all crisp or crumbly. The only difficulty is to know the exact moment to take it off the fire. This can only be learned by practice.