PLUM CHOCOLATES.
Take the stones out of two dozen good and ripe plums, and lay them in a fine sieve and squeeze them through; now place the pulp in the kettle and add 7 pounds of sugar and 1 pint of water; cook to 240° and add quickly 2½ ounces of dissolved gelatin and stir and cook to 248° or 250°; set off on barrel and run the batch into starch prints, oval shape; when they set and are ready, dip in chocolate.
In winter when there are no plums, you can use any kind of can preserves if you are unable to obtain plums.
CHOCOLATE FIGLETS.
Grind 5 pounds figs, and then add 2 pounds of fondant to it and knead both well together; use XXXX sugar, and get it to a good stiff paste, then flatten it out on the slab to about the thickness of caramels and with a half inch tin lozenge cutter cut them out and dip in chocolate.
The above are also nice to dip in fondant, and look well made larger. When dry cut in two so as to show the center.
SPUN SUGAR.
You may and you may not be able to make the above to look well the first time you attempt it; but by practice, you will soon be able to turn out quite a respectable batch. Cook any amount of sugar, and water to dissolve it, to 276°, not above this, and see that you put no more water in than is enough to dissolve the sugar, as boiling it too long affects the color of the batch; use about one pint of water to every 2 pounds of sugar; when the batch starts to boil cover the kettle and let the steam wash the sides clean, then take off cover and when the batch is cooked to 276° set kettle on a barrel; now have ready two newspapers spread on the floor, and set a clean, empty sugar barrel on the center of the paper and with a common egg whip, or four or five kitchen forks tied together, dip into the batch and then swing the forks or egg whip to and fro quickly as possible across the barrel; continue this until the batch starts to darken; when at that point it is unfit for use and must be added to what scraps you have; pick up the spun sugar and form it as you wish.