| Home Library Contents |
|
There are all sorts of candy substitutes, such as stuffed dates, candied ginger, fruit pastes and salted nuts. Not only stuffed dates, but stuffed prunes are delicious. Wash them thoroughly, take out the seeds and slip into each one an almond or a peanut and see how eagerly the children will eat them. Dried fruits, such as dates, figs, prunes and raisins not only have sugar, but are also highly nourishing. Raisins and nuts, if given with moderation, will not prove indigestible.
A half pound each of dates and
nuts run through a grinder, softened with lemon juice and cut into
squares like caramels make a wholesome substitute for candy.
Use more home salted nuts this
Christmas than in previous years. Peanuts, pecans or almonds,
if prepared in olive oil or butter, will not go begging.
To candy orange or grape fruit
peel requires the use of some sugar, but less than for its equivalent
in candy, and you are using up what would otherwise be thrown
away. The following recipes require very little sugar:
Peanut bars No. 1:
One cupful of granulated sugar, half a cupful of broken peanuts; put
the sugar in an iron skillet, stir constantly until it melts to a
golden brown. Stir in the nuts and pour at once into a
buttered pan. Stir constantly while the sugar is melting, as
it burns easily.
Peanut bars No. 2:
Shell and remove the skins from one quart of roasted peanuts and chop
fine. Beat the white of one egg until stiff, but not dry, and
add gradually one cupful of brown sugar, one-fourth teaspoon of salt
and one-half teaspoonful of vanilla. Fold the peanuts into
the mixture and spread evenly in a buttered shallow pan. Bake
in a quick oven until well puffed and browned. As soon as
taken from oven cut in bars, using a sharp knife.
Chocolate caramels:
One pint of sugar, one pint of extracted honey (or sorghum),
one-quarter pound grated chocolate, one-half cupful sweet cream, one
tablespoonful of vanilla extract. Try this often while
boiling by dropping a small portion in cold water. When it
will form a soft ball, pour about one-quarter inch thick on greased
tins. Mark in squares just before it hardens.
Walnut creams: Boil
to the hard snap stage one cupful of grated chocolate, one cupful of
brown sugar, one cupful of extracted honey (or sorghum), one-half
cupful of sweet cream. When it hardens on being dropped into
water, stir in a piece of butter the size of an egg. Just
before removing from fire add two cupfuls of finely chopped
305
nuts, stir thoroughly and pour on buttered plates to cool,
then cut it into squares.
Cracker
Jack: One cupful of brown sugar, one cupful extracted honey
(or sorghum). Boil until it hardens when dropped into cold
water. Remove from the fire and stir in one-half teaspoonful
of soda, and when this dissolves, stir in all the popcorn it will
take. Spread on greased tins and mark in squares.