GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

Unless you are provided with proper and convenient utensils and materials, the difficulty of preparing cakes will be great, and in most instances a failure; involving disappointment, waste of time, and useless expense. Accuracy in proportioning the ingredients is indispensable; and therefore scales and weights, and a set of tin measures (at least from a quart down to a jill) are of the utmost importance. A large sieve for flour is also necessary; and smaller ones for sugar and spice. There should be a marble mortar, or one of lignum vitae, (the hardest of all wood;) those of iron (however well, tinned) are apt to discolour the articles pounded in them. Spice may be ground in a mill kept, exclusively for that purpose. Every kitchen should be provided with spice-boxes. You should have a large grater for lemon, cocoa-nut, &c., and a small one for nutmeg. Butter and sugar cannot be stirred together conveniently without a spaddle or spattle, which is a round stick flattened at one end; and a deep earthen pan with sides nearly straight. For beating eggs, you should have hickory rods or a wire whip, and broad shallow earthen pans. Neither the eggs, nor the butter and sugar should be beaten, in tin, as the coldness of the metal will prevent them from becoming light.

For baking large cakes, the pans (whether of block tin or earthen) should have straight sides; if the aides slope inward, there will be much difficulty in icing the cake. Pans with a hollow tube going up from the centre, are supposed to diffuse the heat more equally through the middle of the cake. Buns and some other cakes should be baked in square shallow pans of block tin or iron. Little tins for queen cakes, &c. are most convenient when of a round or oval shape. All baking pans, whether large or small, should be well greased with butter or lard before the mixture is put into them, and should be filled but little more than half. You should have at least two dozen little tins, that a second supply may be ready for the oven, the moment the first is taken out. You will also want tin cutters for cakes that are rolled out in dough.

All the utensils should be cleaned and put away as soon as they are done with. They should be all kept together, and, if possible, not used for any other purposes. [Footnote: All the utensils necessary for cake and pastry- making, (and for the other branches of cooking,) may be purchased in Philadelphia; at Gideon Cox's household store in Market street, No. 335, two doors below Ninth. Every thing of the sort will be found there in great variety, of good quality, and at reasonable prices.]

As it is always desirable that, cake-making should be commenced at an early hour, it is well on the day previous to ascertain if all the materials are in the house; that there may be no unnecessary delay from sending or waiting for them in the morning. Wastefulness is to be avoided in every thing; but it is utterly impossible that cakes can be good (or indeed any thing else) without a liberal allowance of good materials. Cakes are frequently rendered hard, heavy, and uneatable by a misplaced economy in eggs and butter; or tasteless and insipid for want of their due seasoning of spice, lemon, &c.

Use no flour but the best superfine; if the flour is of inferior. quality, the cakes will he heavy, ill-coloured, and unfit to eat. Even the best flour should always be sifted. No butter that is not fresh and good; should ever be put into cakes; for it will give them a disagreeable taste which can never be disguised by the other ingredients. Even when of excellent quality, the butter will be improved by washing it in cold, water, and squeezing and pressing it. Except for gingerbread, use only white sugar, (for the finest cakes the best loaf,) and have it pulverized by pounding it in a mortar, or crushing it on the paste-board with the rolling-pin. It should then be sifted. In mixing butter and sugar, sift the sugar into a deep pan, cut up the butter in it, set it in a warm place to soften, and then stir it very hard with the spaddle, till it becomes quite light, and of the consistence of cream. In preparing eggs, break them one at a time, into a saucer, that, in case there should be a bad one among them, it may not spoil the others. Put them into a broad shallow pan, and beat them with rods or with a wire whisk, not merely till they froth, but long afterwards, till the froth subsides, and they become thick and smooth like boiled custard. White of egg by itself may be beaten with small rods, or with a three-pronged fork, or a broad knife. It is a very easy process, and should be continued till the liquid is all converted into a stiff froth so firm that it will not drop from the rods when held up. In damp weather it is sometimes difficult to get the froth stiff.

The first thing to be done in making cake, is to weigh or measure all the ingredients. Next sift the flour, powder the sugar, pound or grind the spice, and prepare the fruit; afterwards mix and stir the butter and sugar, and lastly beat the eggs; as, if allowed to stand any time, they will fall and become heavy. When all the ingredients are mixed together, they should be stirred very hard at the last; and (unless there is yeast in the cake) the sooner it is put into the oven the better. While baking, no air should be admitted to it, except for a moment, now and then, when it is necessary to examine if it is baking properly, For baking; cakes, the best guide is practice and experience; so much depending on the state of the fire, that it is impossible to lay down any infallible rules.

If you bake in a Dutch oven, let the lid be first heated by standing it up before the fire; and cover the inside of the bottom with sand or ashes, to temper the heat. For the same purpose, when you bake in a stove, place bricks under the pans. Sheets of iron without sides will be found very useful for baking small flat cakes. For cakes of this description, the fire should be brisk; if baked slowly, they will spread, lose their shape, and run into each other. For all cakes, the heat should be regular and even; if one part of the oven is cooler than another, the cake will bake imperfectly, and have heavy streaks through it. Gingerbread (on account of the molasses) is more apt to scorch and burn than any other cake; therefore it should he baked with a moderate fire.

It is safest, when practicable, to send all large cakes to a professional baker's; provided they can be put immediately into the oven, as standing will spoil them. If you bake them at home, you will find that they are generally done when they cease to make a simmering noise; and when on probing them to the bottom with a twig from a broom, or with the blade of the knife, it comes out quite clean. The fire should then be withdrawn, and the cake allowed to get cold in the oven. Small cakes should be laid to cool on an inverted sieve. It may be recommended to novices in the art of baking, to do every thing in little tins or in very shallow pans; there being then less risk than with a large thick cake. In mixing batter that is to be baked in small cakes; use less proportion of flour.

Small cakes should be kept' closely covered in stone jars. For large ones, you should have broad stone pans with close lids, or else tin boxes. All cakes that are made with yeast should be eaten quite fresh; so also should sponge cake. Some sorts may be kept a week; black cake much longer.

BLACK CAKE.

Prepare two pounds of currants by picking them clean, washing and draining them, through a cullender, and then spreading them out on a large dish to dry before the fire or in the sun, placing the dish in a slanting position. Pick and stone two pounds of the best raisins, and cut them in half. Dredge the currants (when they are dry) and the raisins thickly with flour to prevent them from sinking in the cake. Grind or powder as much cinnamon as will make a large gravy-spoonful when done; also a table- spoonful of mace and four nutmegs; sift these spices, and mix them all together in a cup. Mix together two large glasses of white wine, one of brandy and one of rose water, and cut a pound of citron into large slips. Sift a pound of flour into one pan, and a pound of powdered loaf-sugar into another. Cut up among the sugar a pound of the best fresh butter, and stir them to a cream. Beat twelve eggs till perfectly thick and smooth, and stir them gradually into the butter and sugar, alternately with the flour. Then add by degrees, the fruit, spice and liquor, and stir the whole very hard at the last. Then put the mixture into a well-buttered tin pan with straight or perpendicular sides. Put it immediately into a moderate oven, and bake it at least four hours. When done, let it remain in the oven to get cold; it will be the better for staying in all night. Ice it next morning; first dredging the outside all over with flour, and then wiping it with a towel. This will make the icing stick.

ICING.

A quarter of a pound of finely powdered loaf-sugar, of the whitest and best quality, is the usual allowance to one white of egg. For the cake in the preceding receipt, three quarters of a pound of sugar and the whites of three eggs will be about the proper quantity. Beat the white of egg by itself till it stands alone. Have ready the powdered sugar, and then beat it hard into the white of egg, till it becomes thick and smooth; flavouring it as you proceed with a few drops of oil of lemon, or a little extract of roses. Spread it evenly over the cake with a broad knife or a feather; if you find it too thin, beat in a little more powdered sugar. Cover with it thickly the top and sides of the cake, taking care not to have it rough and streaky. To ice well requires skill and practice. When the icing is about half dry, put on the ornaments. You may flower it with coloured sugar-sand or nonparels; but a newer and more elegant mode is to decorate it with, devices and borders in white sugar; they can be procured at the confectioners, and look extremely well on icing that has been tinted with pink by the addition of a little cochineal.

You may colour icing of a pale or deep yellow, by rubbing the lumps of loaf-sugar (before they are powdered) upon the outside of a large lemon or orange. This will also flavour it finely.

Almond icing, for a very fine cake, is made by mixing gradually with the white of egg and. sugar, some almonds, half bitter and half sweet, that have been pounded in a mortar with rose water to a smooth paste. The whole must be well incorporated, and spread over the cake near half an inch thick. It must be set in a cool oven to dry, and then taken out and covered with a smooth plain icing of sugar and white of egg.

Whatever icing is left, may be used to make maccaroons or kisses.

POUND CAKE.

Prepare a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, a tea-spoonful of powdered mace, and two nutmegs grated or powdered. Mix together in a tumbler, a glass of white--wine, a glass of brandy, and a glass of rose water. Sift a pound of the finest flour into a broad pan, and powder a pound of loaf- sugar. Put the sugar into a deep pan, and cut up in it a pound of fresh butter. Warm them by the fire till soft; and then stir them to a cream. When they are perfectly light, add gradually the spice and liquor, a little at a time. Beat ten eggs as light as possible, and stir them by degrees into the mixture, alternately with the flour. Then add twelve drops of oil of lemon; or more, if it is not strong. Stir the whole very hard; put it into a deep tin pan with straight or upright sides, and bake it in a moderate oven from two to three hours. If baked in a Dutch oven, take off the lid when you have ascertained that the cake is quite done, and let it remain in the oven to cool gradually. If any part is burnt, scrape it off as soon as cold.

It may be iced either warm or cool; first dredging the cake with flour and then wiping it off. It will be best to put on two coats of icing; the second coat not till the first is entirely dry. Flavour the icing with essence of lemon, or with extract of roses.

This cake will be very delicate if made with a pound of rice flour instead of wheat.

INDIAN POUND CAKE.

Sift a pint of fine yellow Indian meal, and half a pint of wheat flour, and mix them well together. Prepare a nutmeg beaten, and mixed with a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon. Stir together till very light, half a pound of powdered white sugar; and half a pound of fresh butter; adding the spice, with a glass of white wine, and a glass of brandy. Having beaten eight eggs as light as possible, stir them into the butter and sugar, a little at a time in turn with the meal. Give the whole a hard stirring at the last; put it into a well-buttered tin pan, and bake it about an hour and a half.

This cake (like every thing else in which Indian meal is an ingredient) should be eaten quite fresh; it is then very nice. When stale, (even a day old,) it becomes dry and rough as if made with saw-dust.

QUEEN CAKE.

Sift fourteen ounces of the finest flour, being two ounces less than a pound. Cakes baked in little tins, should have a smaller proportion of flour than those that are done in large loaves. Prepare a table-spoonful of beaten cinnamon, a tea-spoonful of mace, and two beaten nutmegs; and mix them all together when powdered. Mix in a tumbler, half a glass of white wine, half a glass of brandy, and half a glass of rose water. Powder a pound of loaf-sugar, and sift it into a deep pan; cut up in it a pound of fresh butter; warm them by the fire, and stir them to a cream. Add gradually the spice and the liquor. Beat ten eggs very light, and stir them into the mixture in turn with the flour. Stir in twelve drops of essence of lemon, and beat the whole very hard. Butter some little tins; half fill them with the mixture; set them into a brisk oven, and cake them about a quarter of an hour. When done, they will shrink from the sides of the tins. After you turn them out, spread them on an inverted sieve to cool. If you have occasion to fill your tins a second time, scrape and wipe them well before they are used again.

Make an icing flavoured with oil of lemon, or with extract of roses; and spread two coats of it on the queen cakes. Set them to dry in a warm place, but not near enough the fire to discolour the icing and cause it to crack.

Queen cakes are best the day they are baked.

FRUIT QUEEN CAKES.

Make them in the above manner, with the addition of a pound of currants, (picked, washed, dried, and floured,) and the juice and grated peel of two large lemons, stirred in gradually at the last. Instead of currants, you may put in sultana or seedless raisins, cut in half and floured.

You may make a fruit pound cake in this manner.

LADY CAKE.

Take a quarter of a pound of shelled bitter almonds, or peach-kernels. Put them into a bowl of boiling water, (renewing the water as it cools) and let them lie in it till the skin peels off easily; then throw them, as they, are blanched, into a bowl of cold water, which will much improve their whiteness. Pound them, one at a time, in a mortar; pouring in frequently a few drops of rose water to prevent them from oiling and being heavy. Cut up three quarters of a pound of fresh butter into a whole pound of powdered loaf-sugar. Having warmed it, stir it to a light cream, and then add very gradually the pounded almonds, beating them in very hard. Sift into a separate pan half a pound and two ounces of flour, and beat in another pan to a stiff froth, the, whites only of seventeen eggs. Stir the flour and the white of egg alternately into the pan of butter, sugar and almonds, a very little at a time of each. Having beaten the whole as hard as possible, put it into a buttered tin pan, (a square one is best,) and set it immediately into a moderate oven. Bake it about an hour, more or less, according to its thickness. When cool, ice it, flavouring the icing, with oil of lemon. It is best the day after it is baked, but it may be eaten fresh. When you put it away wrap it in a thick cloth.

If you bake it in little tins, use two ounces less of flour.

SPANISH BUNS.

Cut up three quarters of a pound of butter into a jill and a half or three wine glasses of rich unskimmed milk, (cream will be still better,) and get the pan on a stove or near the fire, till the butter becomes soft enough to stir all through the milk with a knife; but do not let it get so hot as to boil of itself. Then set it away in a cold place. Sift into separate pans, a half pound and a quarter of a pound of the finest flour; and having beaten four eggs as light as possible, mix them with the milk and butter, and then pour the whole into the pan that contains the half pound of flour. Having previously prepared two grated nutmegs, and a table- spoonful of powdered cinnamon and mace, stir them into the mixture; adding six drops of extract of roses, or a large table-spoonful of rose water. Add a wine glass and a half of the best fresh yeast from a brewery. If you cannot procure yeast of the very best quality, an attempt to make these buns will most probably prove a failure, as the variety of other ingredients will prevent them from rising unless the yeast is as strong as possible. Before you put it in, skim off the thin liquid or beer from the top, and then stir up the bottom. After you have put in the yeast, add the sugar; stirring it well in, a very little at a time. If too much sugar is put in at once, the buns will be heavy. Lastly, sprinkle in the quarter of a pound of flour that was sifted separately; and stir the whole very hard. Put the mixture into a square pan well buttered, and (having covered it with a cloth) place it in a corner of the hearth to rise, which will require, perhaps, about five hours; therefore these buns should always be made early in the day. Do not bake it till the batter has risen to twice its original quantity, and is covered on the top with bubbles; then set the pan into a moderate oven, and bake it about twenty minutes. Let it get cool in the pan; then, cut it into squares, and either ice them, (flavouring the icing with essence of lemon or extract of roses,) or sift grated loaf-sugar thickly over them. These buns (like all other cakes made with yeast) should be eaten the day they are baked; as when stale, they fall and become hard.

In mixing them, you may stir in at the last half a pound of raisins, stoned, chopped and floured; or half a pound of currants. If you use fruit, put in half a wine glass more of the yeast.

BATH BUNS.

Boil a little saffron in sufficient water to cover it, till the liquid is of a bright yellow; then strain it, and set it to cool. Rub half a pound of fresh butter into a pound of sifted flour, and make it into a paste with four eggs that have been well beaten, and a large wine glass of the best and strongest yeast; adding the infusion of saffron to colour it yellow. Put the dough into a pan, cover it with a cloth, and set it before the fire to rise. When it is quite light, mix into it a quarter of a pound of powdered and sifted loaf-sugar; a grated nutmeg; and, if you choose, two or three spoonfuls of carraway seeds. Roll out the dough into a thick sheet, and divide it into round cakes with a cutter. Strew the top of each bun with carraway comfits, and bake them on flat tins buttered well. They should be eaten the day they are baked, as they are not good unless quite fresh.

JELLY CAKE.

Sift three quarters of a pound of flour. Stir to a cream a pound of butter and a pound of powdered white sugar, and mix in half a tea-cup of rose water, and a grated nutmeg, with a tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon. Beat ten eggs very light, and add them gradually to the mixture, alternately with the flour; stirring the whole very hard. Put your griddle into the oven of a stove; and when it is quite hot, grease it with fresh butter tied in a clean rag, and set on it a tin cake-ring, (about the size of a large dinner plate,) greased also. Dip out two large table-spoonfuls and a half of the cake batter; put it within the tin ring, and bake it about five minutes (or a little longer) without turning it. When it is done, take it carefully off; place it on a large dish to cool; wipe the griddle, grease it afresh, and put on another cake. Proceed thus till all the batter is baked. When the cakes are cool, spread every one thickly over with grape jelly, peach marmalade, or any other sweetmeat that is smooth and thick; currant jelly will be found too thin, and is liable to run off. Lay the cakes smoothly one on another, (each having a layer of jelly or marmalade between,) and either grate loaf-sugar over the top one, or ice it smoothly; marking the icing with cross lines of coloured sugar-sand, all the lines meeting at the centre so as to divide the cake, when cut, into triangular or wedge-shaped slices. If you ice it, add a few drops of essence of lemon to the icing.

Jelly cake should be eaten fresh. It is best the day it is baked.

You may bake small jelly cakes in muffin rings.

SPONGE CAKE.

Sift three quarters of a pound of flour, [Footnote: Sponge cake may be made with rice flour.] and powder a pound of the best loaf-sugar. Grate the yellow rind and squeeze into a saucer the juice of three lemons. Beat twelve eggs; and when they are as light as possible, beat into them gradually and very hard the sugar, adding the lemon, and beating the whole for a long time. Then by degrees, stir in the flour slowly and lightly; for if the flour is stirred hard and fast into sponge cake, it will make it porous and tough. Have ready buttered, a sufficient number of little square tins, (the thinner they are the better,) half fill them with the mixture; grate loaf-sugar over the top of each; put them immediately into a quick oven, and bake them about ten minutes; taking out one to try when you think they are done. Spread them on an inverted sieve to cool. When baked in small square cakes, they are generally called Naples biscuits.

If you are willing to take the trouble, they will bake much nicer in little square paper cases, which you must make of a thick letter paper, turning up the sides all round, and pasting together or sewing up the corners.

If you bake the mixture in one large cake, (which is not advisable unless you have had much practice in baking,) put it into a buttered tin pan or mould, and set it directly into a hot Dutch oven, as it will fall and become heavy if allowed to stand. Keep plenty of live coals on the top, and under the bottom till the cake has risen very high, and is of a fine colour; then diminish the fire, and keep it moderate till the cake is done. It will take about an hour. When cool, ice it; adding a little essence of lemon or extract of roses to the icing. Sponge cake is best the day it is baked.

Diet Bread is another name for Sponge Cake.

ALMOND CAKE.

Blanch, and pound in a mortar, four ounces of shelled sweet almonds and two ounces of shelled bitter ones; adding, as you proceed, sufficient rose- water to make them light and white. Sift half a pound of flour, and powder a pound of loaf-sugar. Beat thirteen eggs; and when they are as light as possible, stir into them alternately the almonds, sugar, and flour; adding a grated nutmeg. Butter a large square pan; put in the mixture, and bake it in a brisk oven about half an hour, less or more, according to its thickness. When cool, ice it. It is best when eaten fresh.

COCOA-NUT CAKE.

Cut up and wash a cocoa-nut, and grate as much of it as will weigh a pound. Powder a pound of loaf-sugar. Beat fifteen eggs very light; and then beat into them, gradually, the sugar. Then add by degrees the cocoa- nut; and lastly, a handful of sifted flour. Stir the whole very hard, and bake it either in a large tin pan, or in little tins. The oven should be rather quick.

WASHINGTON CAKE.

Stir together a pound of butter and a pound of sugar; and sift into another pan a pound of flour. Beat six eggs very light, and stir them into the butter and sugar, alternately with the flour and a pint of rich milk or cream; if the milk is sour it will be no disadvantage. Add a glass of wine, a glass of brandy, a powdered nutmeg, and a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon. Lastly, stir in a small tea-spoonful of pearl-ash, or salaeratus, that has been melted in a little vinegar; take care not to put in too much pearl-ash, lest it give the cake an unpleasant taste. Stir the whole very hard; put it into a buttered tin pan, (or into little tins,) and bake it in a brisk oven. Wrapped in a thick cloth, this cake will keep soft for a week.

CIDER CAKE.

Pick, wash, and dry a pound of currants, and sprinkle them well with flour; and prepare two nutmegs, and a large table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon. Sift half a pound and two ounces of flour. Stir together till very light. six ounces of fresh butter, and half a pound of powdered white sugar; and add gradually the spice, with two wine glasses of brandy, (or one of brandy and one of white wine.) Beat four eggs very light, and stir them into the mixture alternately with the flour. Add by degrees half a pint of brisk cider; and then stir in the currants, a few at a time. Lastly, a small tea-spoonful of pearl-ash or sal-aratus dissolved in a little warm water. Having stirred the whole very hard, put it into a buttered tin pan, and let it stand before the fire half an hour previous to baking. Bake it in a brisk oven an hour or more according to its thickness. Or you may bake it as little cakes, putting it into small tins; in which case use but half a pound of flour in raising the batter.

ELECTION CAKE.

Make a sponge (as it is called) in the following manner:--Sift into a pan two pounds and a half of flour; and into a deep plate another pound. Take a second pan, and stir a large table-spoonful of the best West India molasses into five jills or two tumblers and a half of strong fresh yeast; adding a Jill of water, warm, but not hot. Then stir gradually into the yeast, &c. the pound of flour that you have sifted separately. Cover it, and let it set by the fire three hours to rise. While it is rising, prepare the other ingredients, by stirring in a deep pan two pounds of fresh butter and two pounds of powdered sugar, till they are quite light and creamy; adding to them a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon; a tea- spoonful of powdered mace; and two powdered nutmegs. Stir in also half a pint of rich milk. Beat fourteen eggs till very smooth and thick, and stir them gradually into the mixture, alternately with the two pounds and a half of flour which you sifted first. When the sponge is quite light, mix the whole together, and bake it in buttered tin pans in a moderate oven. It should be eaten fresh, as no sweet cake made with yeast is so good after the first day. If it is not probable that the whole will come into use on the day it is baked, mix but half the above quantity.

MORAVIAN SUGAR CAKE.

Cut up a quarter of a pound of butter into a pint of rich milk, and warm it till the butter becomes soft; then stir it about in the milk so as to mix them well. Sift three quarters of a pound of flour (or a pint and a half) into a deep pan, and making a hole in the middle of it, stir in a large table-spoonful of the best brewer's yeast in which a salt-spoonful of salt has been dissolved; and then thin it with the milk and butter. Cover it, and set it near the fire to rise. If the yeast is sufficiently strong, it will most probably be light in two hours. When it is quite light, mix with the dough a well-beaten egg and three quarters of a pound more of sifted flour; adding a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, and stirring it very hard. Butter a deep square baking pan, and put the mixture into it. Set it to rise again, as before. Mix together five ounces or a large coffee-cup of fine brown sugar; two ounces of butter; and two table-spoonfuls of powdered cinnamon. When the dough is thoroughly light, make deep incisions all over it, at equal distances, and fill them with the mixture of butter, sugar and cinnamon; pressing it hard down into the bottom of the holes, and closing the dough a little at the top to prevent the seasoning from running out. Strew some sugar over the top of the cake; set it immediately into the oven, and bake it from twenty minutes to half an hour, or more, in a brisk oven, in proportion to its thickness. When cool, cut it into squares. This is a very good plain cake; but do not attempt it unless you have excellent yeast.

HUCKLEBERRY CAKE.

Spread a quart of ripe huckleberries on a large dish, and dredge them thickly with flour. Mix together half a pint of milk; half a pint of molasses; half a pint of powdered sugar; and half a pound of butter. Warm them by the fire till the butter is quite soft; then stir them all together, and set them away till cold. Prepare a large table-spoonful of powdered cloves and cinnamon mixed. Beat five eggs very light, and stir them gradually into the other ingredients; adding, by degrees, sufficient gifted flour to make a thick batter. Then stir in a small tea-spoonful of pearl-ash or dissolved sal-aratus. Lastly, add by degrees the huckleberries. Put the mixture into a buttered pan, or into little tins and bake it in a moderate oven. It is best the second day.

BREAD CAKE.

When you are making wheat bread, and the dough is quite light and ready to bake, take out as much of it as would make a twelve cent loaf, and mix with it a tea cup full of powdered sugar, and a tea-cup full of butter that has been softened and stirred about in a tea-cup of warm milk. Add also a beaten egg. Knead it very well, put it into a square pan, dredged with flour, cover it, and set it near the fire for half an hour. Then bake it in a moderate oven, and wrap it in a thick cloth as soon as it is done. It is best when fresh.

FEDERAL CAKES.

Sift two pounds of flour into a deep pan, and cut up in it a pound of fresh butter; rub the butter into the flour with your hands, adding by degrees, half a pound of powdered white sugar; a tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon; a beaten nutmeg; a glass of wine or brandy, and two glasses of rose water. Beat four eggs very light; and add them to the mixture with a salt-spoonful of pearl-ash melted in a little lukewarm water. Mix all well together; add, if necessary, sufficient cold water to make it into a dough just stiff enough to roll out; knead it slightly, and then roll it out into a sheet about half an inch thick. Cut it out into small cakes with a tin cutter, or with the edge of a tumbler; dipping the cutter frequently into flour, to prevent its sticking. Lay the cakes in shallow pans buttered, or on flat sheets of tin, (taking care not to let them touch, lest they should run into each other,) and bake them of a light brown in a brisk oven. They are best the second day.

SAVOY BISCUITS.

Take four eggs, and separate the whites from the yolks. Beat the whites by themselves, to a stiff froth; then add gradually the yolks, and beat them both together for a long time. Next add by degrees half a pound of the finest loaf-sugar, powdered and sifted, beating it in very hard; and eight drops of strong essence of lemon. Lastly, stir in a quarter of a pound of sifted flour, a little at a time. Stir the whole very hard, and then with a spoon lay it on sheets of white paper, forming it into thin cakes of an oblong or oval shape. Take care not to place them too close to each other, lest they run. Grate loaf-sugar over the top of each, to assist in keeping them in shape. Have the oven quite ready to put them in immediately. It should be rather brisk. They will bake in a few minutes, and should be but slightly coloured.

ALMOND MACCAROONS.

Take a pound of shelled sweet almonds, and a quarter of a pound of shelled bitter almonds. Blanch them in scalding water, mix them together, and pound them, one or two at a time, in a mortar to a very smooth paste; adding frequently a little rose water to prevent them from oiling and becoming heavy. Prepare a pound of powdered loaf-sugar. Beat the whites of seven eggs, to a stiff froth, and then beat into it gradually the powdered sugar, adding a table-spoonful of mixed spice, (nutmeg, mace, and. cinnamon.) Then mix in the pounded almonds, (which it is best to prepare the day before,) and stir the whole very hard. Form the mixture with a spoon into little round or oval cakes, upon sheets of buttered white paper, and grate white sugar over each. Lay the paper in square shallow pans, or on iron sheets, and bake the maccaroons a few minutes in a brisk oven, till of a pale brown. When cold, take them off the papers.

It will be well to try two or three first, and if you find them likely to lose their shape and run info each other, you may omit the papers and make the mixture up into little balls with your hands well floured; baking them in shallow tin pans slightly buttered.

You may make maccaroons with icing that is left from a cake.

COCOA-NUT MACCAROONS.

Beat to a stiff froth the whites of six eggs, and then beat into it very hard a pound of powdered loaf-sugar. Mix with it a pound of grated cocoa- nut, or sufficient to make a stiff paste. Then flour your hands, and make it up into little balls. Lay them on sheets of buttered white paper, and bake them in a brisk oven; first grating loaf-sugar over each. They will be done in a few minutes. Maccaroons may be made in a similar manner of pounded cream-nuts, ground-nuts, filberts, or English walnuts.

WHITE COCOA-NUT CAKES.

Break up a cocoa-nut; peel and wash the pieces in cold water, and grate them. Mix in the milk of the nut and some powdered loaf-sugar and then form the grated cocoa-nut into little balls upon sheets of white paper. Make them all of a regular and handsome form, and touch the top of each with a spot of red sugar-sand. Do not bake them, but place them to dry for twenty-four hours, in a warm room where nothing is likely to disturb the them.

COCOA-NUT JUMBLES.

Grate a large cocoa-nut. Rub half a pound of butter into a pound of sifted flour, and wet it with, three beaten eggs, and a little rose water. Add by degrees the cocoa-nut, so as to form a stiff dough. Flour your hands and your paste-hoard, and dividing the dough into equal portions, make the jumbles with your hands into long rolls, and then curl them round and join the ends so as to form rings. Grate loaf-sugar over them, lay them in buttered pans, (not so near as to run into each other,) and bake them in a quick oven from five to ten minutes.

COMMON JUMBLES.

Sift a pound of flour into a large pan. Cut up a pound of butter into a pound of powdered white sugar, and stir them to a cream. Beat six eggs till very light, and then pour them all at once into the pan of flour; next add the butter and sugar, with a large table-spoonful of mixed mace and cinnamon, two grated nutmegs, and a tea-spoonful of essence of lemon or a wine glass of rose water. When all the ingredients are in, stir the mixture very hard with a broad knife. Having floured your hands and spread some flour on the paste-board, make the dough into long rolls, (all of equal size,) and form them into rings by joining the two ends very nicely. Lay them on buttered tins, and bake them in a quick oven from five to ten minutes. Grate sugar over them when cool.

APEES.

Rub a pound of fresh butter into two pounds of sifted flour, and mix in a pound of powdered white sugar, a grated nutmeg, a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, and four large table-spoonfuls of carraway seeds. Add a wine glass of rose water, and mix the whole with sufficient cold water to make it a stiff dough. Roll it out into a large sheet about a third of an inch in thickness, and cut it into round cakes with a tin cutter or with the edge of a tumbler. Lay them in buttered pans, and bake them in a quick oven, (rather hotter at the bottom than at the top,) till they are of a very pale brown.

WHITE CUP CAKE.

Measure one large coffee cup of cream or rich milk, (which, for this cake, is best when sour,) one cup of fresh butter; two cups of powdered white sugar; and four cups of sifted flour. Stir the butter and sugar together till quite light; then by degrees add the cream, alternately with half the flour. Beat five eggs as light as possible, and stir them into the mixture, alternately with the remainder of the flour. Add a grated nutmeg and a large tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, with eight drops of oil of lemon. Lastly, stir in a very small tea-spoonful of sal-aratus or pearl- ash, melted in a little vinegar or lukewarm water. Having stirred the whole very hard, put it into little tins; set them in a moderate oven, and bake them about twenty minutes.

KISSES.

Powder a pound of the best loaf-sugar. Beat to a strong froth the whites of eight eggs, and when it is stiff enough to stand alone, beat into it the powdered sugar, (a tea spoonful at a time,) adding the juice of two lemons, or ten drops of essence of lemon. Having beaten the whole very hard, drop it in oval or egg-shaped heaps upon sheets of white paper, smoothing them with the spoon and making them of a handsome and regular form. Place them in a moderate oven, (if it is too cool they will not rise, but will flatten and run into each other,) and bake them till coloured of a very pale brown. Then take them off the papers very carefully, place two bottoms (or flat sides) together, so as to unite them in an oval ball, and lay them on their sides to cool. To manage them properly, requires so much practice and dexterity, that it is best, when practicable, to procure kisses from a confectioner's shop.

MARMALADE CAKE.

Make a batter as for queen-cake, and bake it in small tin rings on a griddle. Beat white of egg, and powdered loaf-sugar according to the preceding receipt, flavouring it with lemon. When the batter is baked into cakes, and they are quite cool, spread over each a thick layer of marmalade, and then heap on with a spoon tire icing or white of egg and sugar. Pile it high, and set the cakes in a moderate oven till the icing is coloured of a very pale brown.

Instead of small ones you may bake the whole in one large cake.

SECRETS.

Take glazed paper of different colours, and cut it into squares of equal size, fringing two sides of each. Have ready, burnt almonds, chocolate nuts, and bonbons or sugar-plums of various sorts; and put one in each paper with a folded slip containing two lines of verse; or what will be much more amusing, a conundrum with the answer. Twist the coloured paper so as entirely to conceal their contents, leaving the fringe at each end. This is the most easy, but there are various ways of cutting and ornamenting these envelopes.

SCOTCH CAKE.

Rub three quarters of a pound of butter into a pound of sifted flour; mix in a pound of powdered sugar, and a large table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon. Mix it into a dough with three well beaten eggs. Roll it out into a sheet; cut it into round cakes, and bake them in a quick oven; they will require but a few minutes.

SCOTCH QUEEN CAKE.

Melt a pound of butter by putting it into a skillet on hot coals. Then set it away to cool. Sift a quarter of a peck of flour into a deep pan, and mix with it a pound of powdered sugar and a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon and mace. Make a hole in the middle, put in the melted butter, and mix it with a knife till you have formed of the whole a lump of dough. If it is too stiff, moisten it with a little rose water. Do not knead it; but roll it out into a large oval sheet, an inch thick. Cut it down the middle, and then across, so as to divide it into four cakes. Prick them with a fork, and crimp or scollop the edges neatly. Lay them in shallow pans; set them, in a quick oven and bake them of a light brown. This cake will keep a week or two.

You may mix in with the dough half a pound of currants, picked, washed, and dried.

HONEY CAKES.

Take a quart of strained honey, half a pound of fresh butter, and a small tea-spoonful of pearl-ash dissolved in a wine glass of water. Add by degrees as much sifted flour as will make a stiff paste. Work the whole well together. Roll it out about half an inch thick. Cut it into cakes with the edge of a tumbler or with a tin-cake cutter. Lay them on buttered tins and bake them with rather a brisk fire, but see that they do not burn.

WAFER CAKES.

Mix together half a pound of powdered sugar, and a quarter of a pound of butter; and add to them six beaten eggs. Then beat the whole very light; stirring into it as much sifted flour as will make a stiff batter; a powdered nutmeg, and a tea-spoonful of cinnamon; and eight drops of oil of lemon, or a table-spoonful of rose water. The batter must be very smooth when it is done, and without a single lump. Heat your wafer iron on both sides by turning it in the fire; but do not allow it to get too hot. Grease the inside with butter tied in a rag, (this must be repeated previous to the baking of every cake,) and put in the batter, allowing to each wafer two large table-spoonfuls, taking care not to stir up the batter. Close the iron, and when one side is baked, turn it on the other; open it occasionally to see if the wafer is doing well. They should be coloured of a light brown. Take them out carefully with a knife. Strew them with powdered sugar, and roll them up while warm, round a smooth stick, withdrawing it when they grow cold. They are best the day after they are baked.

If you are preparing for company, fill up the hollow of the wafers with whipt cream, and stop up the two ends with preserved strawberries, or with any other small sweetmeat.

WONDERS, OR CRULLERS.

Rub half a pound of butter into two pounds of sifted flour, mixing in three quarters of a pound of powdered sugar. Add a tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, and a grated nutmeg, with a large table-spoonful of rose water. Beat six eggs very light, and stir them into the mixture. Mix it with a knife into a soft paste. Then put it on the paste-board, and roll it out into a sheet an inch thick. If you find it too soft, knead in a little more flour, and roll it out over again. Cut it into long slips with a jagging iron, or with a sharp knife, and twist them into various fantastic shapes. Have ready on hot coals, a skillet of boiling lard; put in the crullers and fry them of a light brown, turning them occasionally by means of a knife and fork. Take them out one by one on a perforated skimmer, that the lard may drain off through the holes. Spread them out on a large dish, and when cold grate white sugar over them.

They will keep a week or more.

DOUGH NUTS.

Take two deep dishes, and sift three quarters of a pound of flour into each. Make a hole in the centre of one of them, and pour in a wine glass of the best brewer's yeast; mix the flour gradually into it, wetting it with lukewarm milk; cover it, and set it by the fire to rise for about two hours. This is setting a sponge. In the mean time, cut up five ounces of butter into the other dish of flour, and rub it fine with your hands; add half a pound of powdered sugar, a tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, a grated nutmeg, a table-spoonful of rose water, and a half pint of milk. Beat three eggs very light, and stir them hard into the mixture. Then when, the sponge is perfectly light, add it to the other ingredients, mixing them all thoroughly with a knife. Cover it, and set it again by the fire for another hour. When, it is quite light, flour your paste-board, turn out the lump of dough, and cut it into thick diamond shaped cakes with a jagging iron. If you find the dough so soft as to be unmanageable, mix in a little more flour; but not else. Have ready a skillet of boiling lard; put the dough-nuts into it, and fry them brown; and when cool grate loaf-sugar over them. They should be eaten quite fresh, as next day they will be tough and heavy; therefore it is best to make no more than you want for immediate use. The New York Oley Koeks are dough-nuts with currants and raisins in them.

WAFFLES.

Put two pints of rich milk into separate pans. Cut up and melt in one of them a quarter of a pound of butter, warming it slightly; then, when it is melted, stir it about, and set it away to cool. Beat eight eggs till very light, and mix them gradually into the other pan of milk, alternately with half a pound of flour. Then mix in by degrees the milk that has the butter in it. Lastly, stir in a large table-spoonful of strong fresh yeast. Cover the pan, and set it near the fire to rise. When the batter is quite light, heat your waffle-iron, by putting it among the coals of a clear bright fire; grease the inside with butter tied in a rag, and then put in some batter. Shut the iron closely, and when the waffle is done on one side, turn the iron on the other. Take the cake out by slipping a knife underneath; and then heat and grease the iron for another waffle. Send them to table quite hot, four or six on a plate; having buttered them and strewed over each a mixture of powdered cinnamon, and white sugar. Or you may send the sugar and cinnamon in a little glass bowl.

In buying waffle-irons, do not choose those broad shallow ones that are to hold four at a time; as the waffles baked in them are too small, too thin, and are never of a good shape. The common sort that bake but two at once are much the best.

NEW YORK COOKIES.

Take a half-pint or a tumbler full of cold water, and mix it with half a pound of powdered white sugar. Sift three pounds of flour into a large pan and cut up in it a pound of butter; rub the butter very fine into the flour. Add a grated nutmeg, and a tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, with a wine glass of rose water. Work in the sugar, and make the whole into a stiff dough, adding, if necessary, a little cold water. Dissolve a tea- spoonful of pearl-ash in just enough of warm water to cover it, and mix it in at the last. Take the lump of dough out of the pan, and knead it on the paste-board till it becomes quite light. Then roll it out rather more than half an inch thick, and cut it into square cakes with a jagging iron or with a sharp knife. Stamp the surface of each with a cake print. Lay them in buttered pans, and bake them of a light brown in a brisk oven.

They are similar to what are called New Year's cakes, and will keep two or three weeks.

In mixing the dough, you may add three table-spoonfuls of carraway seeds.

SUGAR BISCUIT.

Wet a pound of sugar with two large tea-cups full of milk; and rub a pound of butter into two pounds of flour; adding a table-spoonful of cinnamon, and a handful of carraway seeds. Mix in the sugar, add a tea-spoonful of pearl-ash dissolved, and make the whole into a stiff dough. Knead it, and then roll it out into a sheet about half an inch thick. Beat it on both sides with the rolling-pin, and then cut it out with the edge of a tumbler into round cakes. Prick them with a fork, lay them in buttered pans, and bake them light brown in a quick oven. You may colour them yellow by mixing in with the other ingredients a little of the infusion of saffron.

RUSKS.

Sift three pounds of flour into a large pan, and rub into it half a pound of butter, and half a pound of sugar. Beat two eggs very light, and stir them into a pint and a half of milk, adding two table-spoonfuls of rose water, and three table-spoonfuls of the best and strongest yeast. Make a hole in the middle of the flour, pour in the liquid, and gradually mix the flour into it till you have a thick batter. Cover it, and set it by the fire to rise. When it is quite light, put it on your paste-board and knead it well. Then divide it into small round cakes and knead each separately. Lay them very near each other in shallow iron pans that have been sprinkled with flour. Prick the top of each rusk with a fork, and set them by the fire to rise again for half an hour or more. When they are perfectly light, bake them in a moderate oven. They are best when fresh.

You can convert them into what are called Hard Rusks, or Tops and Bottoms, by splitting them in half, and putting them again into the oven to harden and crisp.

MILK BISCUIT.

Cut up three quarters of a pound of butter in a quart of milk, and set it near the fire to warm, till the butter becomes soft; then with a knife, mix it thoroughly with the milk, and set it away to cool. Afterwards stir in two wine glasses of strong fresh yeast, and add by degrees as much sifted flour as will make a dough just stiff enough to roll out. As soon as it is mixed, roll it into a thick sheet, and cut it out into round cakes with the edge of a tumbler or a wine glass. Sprinkle a large iron pan with flour; lay the biscuits in it, cover it and set it to rise near the fire. When the biscuits are quite light, knead each one separately; prick them with a fork, and set them again in a warm place for about half an hour. When they are light again, bake them in a moderate oven. They should be eaten fresh, and pulled open with the fingers, as splitting them with a knife will make them heavy.

WHITE GINGERBREAD.

Sift two pounds of flour into a deep pan, and rub into it three quarters of a pound of butter; then mix in a pound of common white sugar powdered; and three table-spoonfuls of the best white ginger. Having beaten four eggs very light, mix them gradually with the other ingredients in the pan, and add a small tea-spoonful of pearl-ash melted in a wine glass of warm milk. Stir the whole as hard as possible. Flour your paste-board; lay the lump of dough upon it, and roll it out into a sheet an inch thick; adding more flour if necessary. Butter a large shallow square pan. Lay the dough into it, and bake it in a moderate oven. When cold, cut it into squares. Or you may cut it out into separate cakes with a jagging iron, previous to baking. You must be careful not to lay them too close together in the pan, lest they run into each other.

COMMON GINGERBREAD.

Cut up a pound of butter in a quart of West India molasses, which must be perfectly sweet; if it is in the least sour, use sugar house molasses instead. Warm it slightly, just enough to melt the butter. Crush with the rolling-pin, on the paste-board, half a pound of brown sugar, and add it by degrees to the molasses and butter; then stir in a tea-cup full of powdered ginger, a large tea-spoonful of powdered cloves, and a table- spoonful of powdered cinnamon. Add gradually sufficient flour to make a dough stiff enough to roll out easily; and lastly, a small tea-spoonful of pearl-ash melted in a little warm water. Mix and stir the dough very hard with a spaddle, or a wooden spoon; but do not knead it. Then divide it with a knife into equal portions; and, having floured your hands, roll it out on the paste-board into long even strips. Place them in shallow tin pans, that have been buttered; either laying the strips side by side in straight round sticks, (uniting them at both ends,) or coil them into rings one within another, as you see them at the cake shops. Bake them in a brisk oven, taking care that they do not burn; gingerbread scorching sooner than any other cake.

To save time and trouble, you may roll out the dough into a sheet near an inch thick, and cut it into round flat cakes with a tin cutter, or with the edge of a tumbler.

Ground ginger loses much of its strength by keeping. Therefore it will be frequently found necessary to put in more than the quantity given in the receipt.

GINGERBREAD NUTS.

Rub half a pound of butter into a pound and a half of sifted flour; and mix in half a pound of brown sugar, crushed fine with the rolling-pin. Add two large table-spoonfuls of ginger, a tea-spoonful of powdered cloves, and a tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon. Stir in a pint of molasses, and the grated peel of a large lemon, but not the juice, as you must add at the last, a very small tea-spoonful of pearl-ash dissolved in a little lukewarm water, and pearl-ash entirely destroys the taste of lemon-juice and of every other acid. Stir the whole mixture very hard with a spaddle or with a wooden spoon, and make it into a lump of dough just stiff enough to roll out into a sheet about half an inch thick. Cut it out into small cakes about the size of a quarter dollar; or make it up, with your hands well floured, into little round balls, flattening them on the top. Lay them in buttered pans, and bake them in a moderate oven. They will keep several weeks.

FRANKLIN CAKE.

Mix together a pint of molasses, and half a pint of milk, and cut up in it half a pound of butter. Warm them just enough to melt the butter, and then stir in six ounces of brown sugar; adding three table-spoonfuls of ginger, a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, a tea-spoonful of powdered cloves, and a grated nutmeg. Beat seven eggs very light, and stir them gradually into the mixture, in turn with a pound and two ounces of flour. Add, at the last, the grated peel and juice of two large lemons or oranges; or twelve drops of essence of lemon, there being no pearl-ash in this gingerbread. Stir the mixture very hard; put it into little queen cake tins, well buttered; and bake it in a moderate oven. It is best the second day, and will keep soft a week.

GINGER PLUM CAKE.

Stone a pound and a half of raisins, and cut them in two. Wash and dry half a pound of currants. Sift into a pan two pounds of flour. Put into another pan a pound of brown sugar, (rolled fine,) and cut up in it a pound of fresh butter. Stir the butter and sugar to a cream, and add to it two table-spoonfuls of the best ginger; one table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon; and one of powdered cloves. Then beat six eggs very light, and add them gradually to the butter and sugar, in turn with the flour and a quart of molasses. Lastly, stir in a tea-spoonful of pearl-ash dissolved in a little vinegar, and add by degrees the fruit, which must be well dredged with flour. Stir all very hard; put the mixture into a buttered pan, and bake it in a moderate oven. Take care not to let it burn.

MOLASSES CANDY.

Mix a pound of the best brown sugar with two quarts of West India molasses, (which must be perfectly sweet,) and boil it in a preserving kettle over a moderate fire for three hours, skimming it well, and stirring it frequently after the scum has ceased to rise; taking care that it does not burn. Have ready the grated rind and the juice of three lemons, and stir them into the molasses after it has boiled about two hours and a half; or you may substitute a large tea-spoonful of strong essence of lemon. The flavour of the lemon will all be boiled out if it is put in too soon. The mixture should boil at least three hours, that it may be crisp and brittle when cold. If it is taken off the fire too soon, or before it has boiled sufficiently, it will not congeal, but will be tough and ropy, and must be boiled over again. It will cease boiling of itself when it is thoroughly done. Then take it off the fire; have ready a square tin pan; put the mixture into it, and set it away to cool.

You may make molasses candy with almonds blanched and slit into pieces; stir them in by degrees after the mixture has boiled two hours and a half. Or you may blanch a quart of ground-nuts and put them in instead of the almonds.

NOUGAT.

Blanch a pound of shelled sweet almonds; and with an almond cutter, or a sharp penknife, split each almond into five slips. Spread them over a large dish, and place them in a gentle oven. Powder a pound of the finest loaf-sugar, and put it into a preserving pan without a drop of water. Set it on a chafing-dish over a slow fire, or on a hot stove, and stir it with a wooden spoon till the boat has entirely dissolved it. Then take the almonds out of the oven, and mix with them the juice of two or three lemons. Put them into the sugar a few at a time, and let them simmer till it becomes a thick stiff paste, stirring it hard all the while. Have ready a mould, or a square tin pan, greased all over the inside with sweet oil; put the mixture into it; smooth it evenly, and set it in a cold place to harden.

LEMON DROPS.

Squeeze some lemon-juice into a pan. Pound in a mortar some of the best loaf-sugar, and then sift it through a very fine sieve. Mix it with the lemon-juice, making it so thick that you can scarcely stir it. Put it into a porcelain sauce-pan, set it on hot coals, and stir it with a wooden spoon five minutes or more. Then take off the pan, and with the point of a knife drop the liquid on writing paper. When cold, the drops will easily come off.

Peppermint drops may be made as above, substituting for the lemon-juice essence of peppermint..

BUCKWHEAT CAKES.

Take a quart of buckwheat meal, mix with it a tea-spoonful of salt, and add a handful of Indian meal. Pour a large table-spoonful of the best brewer's yeast into the centre of the meal. Then mix it gradually with cold water till it becomes a batter. Cover it, put it in a warm place and set it to rise; it will take about three hours. When it is quite light, and covered with bubbles, it is fit to bake. Put your griddle over the fire, and let it get quite hot before you begin. Grease it well with a piece of butter tied in a rag. Then dip out a large ladle full of the batter and bake it on the griddle; turning it with a broad wooden paddle. Let the cakes be of large size, and even at the edges. Ragged edges to batter cakes look very badly. Butter them as you take them off the griddle. Put several on a plate, and cut them across in six pieces.

Grease the griddle anew, between baking each cake.

If your batter has been mixed over night and is found to be sour in the morning, melt in warm water a piece of pearl-ash the size of a grain of corn, or a little larger; stir it into the batter; let it set half an hour, and then bake it. The pearl-ash will remove the sour taste, and increase the lightness of the cakes.

FLANNEL CAKES.

Put a table-spoonful of butter into a quart of milk, and warm them together till the butter has melted; then stir it well, and set it away to cool. Beat five eggs as light as possible, and stir them into the milk in turn with three pints of sifted flour; add a small tea-spoonful of salt, and a large table-spoonful and a half of the best fresh yeast. Set the pan of batter near the fire to rise; and if the yeast is good, it will be light in three hours. Then bake it on a griddle in the manner of buckwheat cakes. Send them to table hot, and cut across into four pieces. This batter may be baked in waffle-irons. If so, send to table with the cakes powdered white sugar and cinnamon.

INDIAN BATTER CAKES.

Mix together a quart of sifted Indian meal, (the yellow meal is best for all purposes,) and a handful of wheat flour. Warm a quart of milk, and stir into it a small tea-spoonful of salt, and two large table-spoonfuls of the best fresh yeast. Beat three eggs very light, and stir them gradually into the milk in turn with the meal. Cover it, and set it to rise for three or four hours. When quite light, bake it on a griddle in the manner of buckwheat cakes. Butter them, cut them across, and send them to table hot, with molasses in a sauce-boat.

If the batter should chance to become sour before it is baked, stir in about a salt-spoonful of pearl-ash dissolved in a little lukewarm water; and let it set half an hour longer before it is baked.

INDIAN MUSH CAKES.

Pour into a pan three pints of cold water, and stir gradually into it a quart of sifted Indian meal which has been mixed with half a pint of wheat flour, and a small tea-spoonful of salt. Give it a hard stirring at the last. Have ready a hot griddle, and bake the batter immediately, in cakes about the size of a saucer. Send them to table piled evenly, but not cut. Eat them with butter or molasses.

This is the most economical and expeditious way of making soft Indian cakes; but it cannot be recommended as the best. It will be some improvement to mix the meal with milk rather than water.

JOHNNY CAKE.

Sift a quart of Indian meal into a pan; make a hole in the middle, and pour in a pint of warm water. Mix the meal and water gradually into a batter, adding a small tea-spoonful of salt. Beat it very hard, and for a long time, till it becomes quite light. Then spread it thick and even on a stout piece of smooth board. Place it upright on the hearth before a clear fire, with a flat iron or something of the sort to support the board behind, and bake it well. Cut it into squares, and split and butter them hot.

INDIAN FLAPPERS.

Have ready a pint of sifted Indian meal, mixed with a handful of wheat flour, and a small tea-spoonful of salt. Beat four eggs very light, and stir them by degrees into a quart of milk, in turn with the meal. They can be made in a very short time, and should be baked as soon as mixed, on a hot griddle; allow a large ladle full of batter to each cake, and make them all of the same size. Send them to table hot, buttered and cut in half.

INDIAN MUFFINS.

Sift and mix together a pint and a half of yellow Indian meal, and a handful of wheat flour. Melt a quarter of a pound of fresh butter in a quart of milk. Beat four eggs very light, and stir into them alternately (a little at a time of each) the milk when it is quite cold, and the meal; adding a small tea-spoonful of salt. The whole must be beaten long and hard. Then butter some muffin rings; set them on a hot griddle, and pour some of the batter into each.

Send the muffins to table hot, and split them by pulling them open with your fingers, as a knife will make them heavy. Eat them with butter, molasses or honey.

WATER MUFFINS.

Put four table-spoonfuls of fresh strong yeast into a pint of lukewarm water. Add a little salt; about a small tea-spoonful; then stir in gradually as much sifted flour as will make a thick batter. Cover the pan, and set it in a warm place to rise. When it is quite light, and your griddle is hot, grease and set your muffin rings on it; having first buttered them round the inside. Dip out a ladle full of the batter for each ring, and bake them over a quick fire. Send them to table hot, and split them by pulling open with your hands.

COMMON MUFFINS.

Having melted three table-spoonfuls of fresh butter in three pints of warm milk, set it away to cool. Then beat three eggs as light as possible, and stir them gradually into the milk when it is quite cold; adding a tea- spoonful of salt. Stir in by degrees enough of sifted flour to make a batter as thick as you can conveniently beat it; and lastly, add two table- spoonfuls of strong fresh yeast from the brewery. Cover the batter and set it in a warm place to rise. It should be light in about three hours. Having heated your griddle, grease it with some butter tied in a rag; grease your muffin rings round the inside, and set them on the griddle. Take some batter out of the pan with a ladle or a large spoon, pour it lightly into the rings, and bake the muffins of a light brown. When done, break or split them open with your fingers; butter them and send them to table hot.

SODA BISCUITS.

Melt half a pound of butter in a pint of warm milk, adding a tea-spoonful of soda; and stir in by degrees half a pound of sugar. Then sift into a pan two pounds of flour; make a hole in the middle; pour in the milk, & c., and mix it with the flour into a dough. Put it on your paste-board, and knead it long and hard till it becomes very light. Roll it out into a sheet half an inch thick. Cut it into little round cakes with the top of a wine glass, or with a tin cutter of that size; prick the tops; lay them on tins sprinkled with flour, or in shallow iron pans; and bake them of a light brown in a quick oven; they will be done in a few minutes. These biscuits keep very well.

A SALLY LUNN.

This cake is called after the inventress. Sift into a pan a pound and a half of flour. Make a hole in the middle, and put in two ounces of butter warmed in a pint of milk, a salt-spoonful of salt, three well-beaten eggs, and two table-spoonfuls of the best fresh yeast. Mix the flour well into the other ingredients, and put the whole into a square tin pan that has been greased with butter. Cover it, set it in a warm place, and when it is quite light, bake it in a moderate oven. Send it to table hot, and eat it with butter.

Or, you may bake it on a griddle, in small muffin rings, pulling the cakes open and buttering them when brought to table.

SHORT CAKES.

Rub three quarters of a pound of fresh butter into a pound and a half of sifted flour; and make it into a dough with a little cold water. Roll it out into a sheet half an inch thick, and cut it into round cakes with the edge of a tumbler. Prick them with a fork; lay them in a shallow iron pan sprinkled with flour, and bake them in a moderate oven till they are brown. Send them to table hot; split and butter them.

TEA BISCUIT.

Melt a quarter of a pound of fresh butter in a quart of warm milk, and add a salt-spoonful of salt. Sift two pounds of flour into a pan, make a hole in the centre, and put in three table-spoonfuls of the best brewer's yeast. Add the milk and butter and mix it into a stiff paste. Cover it and set it by the fire to rise. When quite light, knead it well, roll it out an inch thick, and cut it into round cakes with the edge of a tumbler. Prick the top of each with a fork; lay them in buttered pans and bake them light brown. Send them to table warm, and split and butter them.

RICE CAKES.

Pick and wash half a pint of rice, and boil it very soft. Then drain it, and let it get cold. Sift a pint and a half of flour over the pan of rice, and mix in a quarter of a pound of butter that has been warmed by the fire, and a salt-spoonful of salt. Beat five eggs very light, and stir them gradually into a quart of milk. Beat the whole very hard, and bake it in muffin rings, or in waffle-irons. Send them to table hot, and eat them with butter, honey, or molasses. You may make these cakes of rice flour instead of mixing together whole rice and wheat flour.

CREAM CAKES.

Having beaten three eggs very light, stir them into a quart of cream alternately with a quart of sifted flour; and add one wine glass of strong yeast, and a salt-spoon of salt. Cover the batter, and set it near the fire to rise. When it is quite light, stir in a large table-spoonful of butter that has been warmed by the fire. Bake the cakes in muffin rings, and send them to table hot, split with your fingers, and buttered.

FRENCH ROLLS.

Sift a pound of flour into a pan, and rub into it two ounces of butter; mix in the whites only of three eggs, beaten to a stiff froth, and a table- spoonful of strong yeast; add sufficient milk to make a stiff dough, and a salt-spoonful of salt. Cover it and set it before the fire to rise. It should be light in an hour. Then put it on a paste-board, divide it into rolls, or round cakes; lay them in a floured square pan, and bake them about ten minutes in a quick oven.

COMMON ROLLS.

Sift two pounds of flour into a pan, and mix with it a tea-spoonful of salt. Warm together a jill of water and a jill of milk. Make a hole in the middle of the pan of flour; mix with the milk and water a jill of the best yeast, and pour it into the hole. Mix into the liquid enough of the surrounding flour to make a thin batter, which you must stir till quite smooth and free from lumps. Then strew a handful of flour over the top, and set it in a warm, place to rise for two hours or more. When it is quite light, and has cracked on the top, make it into a dough with some more milk and water. Knead it well for ten minutes. Cover it, and set it again to rise for twenty minutes. Then make the dough into rolls or round balls. Bake them in a square pan, and send them to table hot, cut in three, buttered and put together again.

BREAD.

Take one peck or two gallons of fine wheat flour, and sift it into a kneading trough, or into a small clean tub, or a large broad earthen pan; and make a deep hole in the middle of the heap of flour, to begin the process by what is called setting a sponge. Have ready half a pint of warm water, which in summer should be only lukewarm, but even in winter it must not be hot or boiling, and stir it well into half a pint of strong fresh yeast; (if the yeast is home-made you must use from three quarters to a whole pint;) then pour it into the hole in the middle of the flour. With a spoon work in the flour round the edges of the liquid, so as to bring in by degrees sufficient flour to form a thin batter, which must be well stirred about, for a minute or two. Then take a handful of flour, and scatter it thinly over the top of this batter, so as to cover it entirely. Lay a warmed cloth over the whole, and set it to rise in a warm place; in winter put it nearer the fire than in summer. When the batter has risen so as to make cracks in the flour on the top, scatter over it three or four table-spoonfuls (not more) of fine salt, and begin to form the whole mass into a dough; commencing round the hole containing the batter, and pouring as much soft water as is necessary to make the flour mix with the batter; the water must never be more than lukewarm. When the whole is well mixed, and the original batter which is to give fermentation to the dough is completely incorporated with it, knead it hard, turning it over, pressing it, folding it, and working it thoroughly with your clenched hands for twenty minutes or half an hour; or till it becomes perfectly light and stiff. The goodness of bread depends much on the kneading, which to do well requires strength and practice. When it has been sufficiently worked, form the dough into a lump in the middle of the trough or pan, and scatter a little dry flour thinly over it; then cover it, and set it again in a warm place to undergo a farther fermentation; for which, if all has been done rightly, about twenty minutes or half an hour will be sufficient. The oven should be hot by the time the dough has remained twenty minutes in the lump. If it is a brick oven it should be heated by faggots or small light wood, allowed to remain in till burnt down into coals. When the bread is ready, clear out the coals, and sweep and wipe the floor of the oven clean. Introduce nothing wet into the oven, as it may crack the bricks when they are hot. Try the heat of the bottom by throwing in some flour; and if it scorches and burns black, do not venture to put in the bread till the oven has had time to become cooler. Put the dough on the paste-board, (which must be sprinkled with flour,) and divide it into loaves, forming them of a good shape. Place them in the oven, and close up the door, which you may open once or twice to see how the bread is going on. The loaves will bake in from two hours and a half to three hours, or more, according to their size. When the loaves are done, wrap each in a clean coarse towel, and stand them up on end to cool slowly. It is a good way to have the cloths previously made damp by sprinkling them plentifully with water, and letting them lie awhile rolled up tightly. This will make the crust of the bread less dry and hard. Bread should be kept always wrapped in a cloth, and covered from the air in a box or basket with a close lid. Unless you have other things to bake at the same time, it is not worth while to heat a brick oven for a small quantity of bread. Two or three loaves can be baked very well in a stove, (putting them into square iron pans,) or in a Dutch oven. [Footnote: If you bake bread in a Dutch oven, take off the lid when the loaf is done, and let it remain in the oven uncovered for a quarter of an hour.] If the bread has been mixed over night (which should never be done in warm weather) and is found, on tasting it, to be sour in the morning, melt a tea-spoonful of pearl-ash in a little milk-warm water, and sprinkle it over the dough; let it set half an hour, and then knead it. This will remove the acidity, and rather improve the bread in lightness. If dough is allowed to freeze it is totally spoiled. All bread that is sour, heavy, or ill-baked is not only unpalatable, but extremely unwholesome, and should never be eaten. These accidents so frequently happen when bread is made at home by careless, unpractised or incompetent persons, that families who live in cities or towns will generally risk less and save more, by obtaining their bread from a professional baker. If you like a little Indian in your wheat bread, prepare rather a larger quantity of warm water for setting the sponge; stirring into the water, while it is warming, enough of sifted Indian meal to make it like thin gruel. Warm water that has had pumpkin boiled in it is very good for bread. Strong fresh yeast from the brewery should always be used in preference to any other. If the yeast is home- made, or not very strong and fresh, double or treble the quantity mentioned in the receipt will be necessary to raise the bread. On the other hand, if too much yeast is put in, the bread will be disagreeably bitter. [Footnote: If you are obliged from its want of strength to put in a large quantity of yeast, mix with it two or three handfuls of bran; add the warm water to it, and then strain it through a sieve or cloth; or you may correct the bitterness by putting in a few bits of charcoal and then straining it.] You may take off a portion of the dough that has been prepared for bread, make it up into little round cakes or rolls, and bake them for breakfast or tea.

BRAN BREAD.

Sift into a pan three quarts of unbolted wheat meal. Stir a jill of strong yeast, and a jill of molasses into a quart of soft water, (which must be warm but not hot,) and add a small tea-spoonful of pearl-ash, or sal- aratus. Make a hole in the heap of flour, pour in the liquid, and proceed in the usual manner of making bread. This quantity may be made into two loaves. Bran bread is considered very wholesome; and is recommended to persons afflicted with dyspepsia.

RYE AND INDIAN BREAD.

Sift two quarts of rye, and two quarts of Indian meal, and mix them well together. Boil three pints of milk; pour it boiling hot upon the meal; add two tea-spoonfuls of salt, and stir the whole very hard. Let it stand till it becomes of only a lukewarm heat, and then stir in half a pint of good fresh yeast; if from the brewery and quite fresh, a smaller quantity will suffice. Knead the mixture into a stiff dough, and set it to rise in a pan. Cover it with a thick cloth that has been previously warmed, and set it near the fire. When it is quite light, and has cracked all over the top, make it into two loaves, put them into a moderate oven, and bake them two hours and a half.

COMMON YEAST.

Put a large handful of hops into two quarts of boiling water, which must then be set on the fire again, and boiled twenty minutes with the hops. Have ready in a pan three pints of sifted flour; strain the liquid, and pour half of it on the flour. Let the other half stand till it becomes cool, and then mix it gradually into the pan with the flour, &c. Then stir into it half a pint of good strong yeast, fresh from the brewery if possible; if not, use some that was left of the last making. You may increase the strength by stirring into your yeast before you bottle it, four or five large tea-spoonfuls of brown sugar, or as many table- spoonfuls of molasses.

Put it into clean bottles, and cork them loosely till the fermentation is over. Next morning put in the corks tightly, and set the bottles in a cold place. When you are going to bottle the yeast it will be an improvement to place two or three raisins at the bottom of each bottle. It is best to make yeast very frequently; as, with every precaution, it will scarcely keep good a week, even in cold weather. If you are apprehensive of its becoming sour, put into each bottle a lump of pearl-ash the size of a hazle-nut.

BRAN YEAST.

Mix a pint of wheat bran, and a handful of hops with a quart of water, and boil them together about twenty minutes. Then strain it through a sieve into a pan; when the liquid becomes only milk-warm, stir into it four table-spoonfuls of brewer's yeast, and two of brown sugar, or four of molasses. Put it into a wooden bowl, cover it, and set it near the fire for four or five hours. Then bottle it, and cork it tightly next day.

PUMPKIN YEAST.

Pare a fine ripe pumpkin, and cut it into pieces. Put them into a kettle with a large handful of hops, and as much water as will cover them. Boil them till the pumpkin is soft enough to pass through a cullender. Having done this, put the pulp into a stone jar, adding half a pint of good strong yeast to set it into a fermentation. The yeast must be well stirred into the pumpkin. Leave the jar uncovered till next day; then secure it lightly with a cork. If pumpkin yeast is well made, and of a proper consistence, neither too thick nor too thin, it will keep longer than any other.

BAKER'S YEAST.

To a gallon of soft water put two quarts of wheat bran, one quart of ground malt, (which may be obtained from a brewery,) and two handfuls of hops. Boil them together for half an hour. Then strain it through a sieve, and let it stand till it is cold; after which put to it two large tea-cups of molasses, and half a pint of strong yeast. Pour it into a stone jug, and let it stand uncorked till next morning. Then pour off the thin liquid from the top, and cork the jug tightly. When you are going to use the yeast, if it has been made two or three days, stir in a little pearl-ash dissolved in warm water, allowing a lump the size of a hickory-nut to a pint of yeast. This will correct any tendency to sourness, and make the yeast more brisk.

TO MAKE BUTTER.

Scald your milk pans every day after washing them; and let them set till the water gets cold. Then wipe them with a clean cloth. Fill them all with cold water half an hour before milking time, and do not pour it out till the moment before you are ready to use the pans. Unless all the utensils are kept perfectly sweet and nice, the cream and butter will never be good. Empty milk-pans should stand all day in the sun.

When you have strained the milk into the pans, (which should be broad and shallow,) place them in the spring-house, setting them down in the water. After the milk has stood twenty-four hours, skim off the cream, and deposits it in a large deep earthen jar, commonly called a crock, which must be kept closely covered, and stirred up with a stick at least twice a day, and whenever you add fresh cream to it. This stirring is to prevent the butter from being injured by the skin that will gather over the top of the cream.

You should churn at least twice a week, for if the cream is allowed to stand too long, the butter will inevitably have a odd taste. Add to the cream the strippings of the milk. Butter of only two or three days gathering is the best. With four or five good cows, you may easily manage to have a churning every three days. If your dairy is on a large scale, churn every two days.

Have your churn very clean, and rinse and cool it with cold water. A barrel churn is best; though a small upright one, worked by a staff or dash, will do very well where there are but one or two cows.

Strain the cream from the crock into the churn, and put on the lid. Move the handle slowly in warm weather, as churning too fast will make the butter soft. When you find that the handle moves heavily and with great difficulty, the butter has come; that is, it has separated from the thin fluid and gathered into a lump, and it then is not necessary to churn any longer. Take it out with a wooden ladle, and put it into a small tub or pail. Squeeze and press it hard with the ladle, to get out all that remains of the milk. Add a little salt, and then squeeze and work It for a long time. If any of the milk is allowed to remain in, it will speedily turn sour and spoil the butter. Set it away in a cool place for three hours, and then work it over again. [Footnote: A marble slab or table will be found of great advantage in working and making up butter.] Wash it in cold water; weigh it; make it up into separate pounds, smoothing, and shaping it; and clap each pound on your wooden butter print, dipping the print every time in cold water. Spread a clean linen cloth on a bench in the spring-house; place the butter on it, and let it set till it becomes perfectly hard. Then wrap each pound in a separate piece of linen that has been dipped in cold water.

Pour the buttermilk into a clean crock, and place it in the spring-house, with a saucer to dip it out with. Keep the pot covered. The buttermilk will be excellent the first day; but afterwards it will become too thick and sour. Winter buttermilk is never very palatable.

Before you put away the churn, wash and scald it well; and the day that you use it again, keep it for an hour or more filled with cold water.

In cold weather, churning is a much more tedious process than in summer, as the butter will be longer coming. It is best then to have the churn in a warm room, or near the fire. If you wish to prepare the butter for keeping a long time, take it after it has been thoroughly well made, and pack it down tightly into a large jar. You need not in working it, add more salt than if the butter was to be eaten immediately. But preserve it by making a brine of fine salt, dissolved in water. The brine must be strong enough to bear up an egg on the surface without sinking. Strain the brine into the jar, so as to be about two inches above the butter. Keep the jar closely covered, and set it in a cool place.

When you want any of the butter for use, take it off evenly from the top; so that the brine may continue to cover it at a regular depth.

This receipt for making butter is according to the method in use at the best farm-houses in Pennsylvania, and if exactly followed will be found very good. The badness of butter is generally owing to carelessness or mismanagement; to keeping the cream too long without churning; to want of cleanliness in the utensils; to not taking the trouble to work it sufficiently; or to the practice of salting it so profusely as to render it unpleasant to the taste, and unfit for cakes or pastry. All these causes of bad butter are inexcusable, and can easily be avoided. Unless the cows have been allowed to feed where there are bitter weeds or garlic, the milk cannot naturally have any disagreeable taste, and therefore the fault of the butter must be the fault of the maker. Of course, the cream is much richer where the pasture is fine and luxuriant; and in winter, when the cows have only dry food, the butter must be consequently whiter and more insipid than in the grazing season. Still, if properly made, even winter butter cannot taste badly.

Many economical housekeepers always buy for cooking, butter of inferior quality. This is a foolish practice; as when it is bad, the taste will predominate through all attempts to disguise it, and render every thing unpalatable with which it is combined. As the use of butter is designed to improve and not to spoil the flavour of cookery, it is better to omit it altogether, and to substitute something else, unless you can procure that which is good. Lard, suet, beef-drippings, and sweet oil, may be used in the preparation of various dishes; and to eat with bread or warm cakes, honey, molasses, or stewed fruit, &c, are far superior to bad butter.

CHEESE.

In making good cheese, skim milk is never used. The milk should either be warm from the cow or heated to that temperature over the fire. When the rennet is put in, the heat of the milk should be from 90 to 96 degrees. Three quarts of milk will yield, on an average, about a pound of cheese. In infusing the rennet, allow a quart of lukewarm water, and a table- spoonful of salt to a piece about half the size of your hand. The rennet must soak all night in the water before it can be fit for use. In the morning (after taking as much of it as you want) put the rennet water into a bottle and cork it tightly. It will keep the better for adding to it a wine glass of brandy. If too large a proportion of rennet is mixed with the milk, the cheese will be tough and leathery.

To make a very good cheese, take three buckets of milk warm from the cow, and strain it immediately into a large tub or kettle. Stir into it half a tea-cupful of infusion of rennet or rennet-water; and having covered it, set it in a warm place for about half an hour, or till it becomes a firm curd. Cut the curd into squares with a large knife, or rather with a wooden slitting-dish, and let it stand about fifteen minutes. Then break it up fine with your hands, and let it stand a quarter of an hour longer. Then pour off from the top as much of the whey as you can; tie up the curd in a linen cloth or bag, and hang it up to drain out the remainder of the whey; setting a pan under it to catch the droppings. After all the whey is drained out, put the curd into the cheese-tray, and cut it again into slices; chop it coarse; put a cloth about it; place it in the cheese-hoop or mould, and set it in the screw press for half an hour, pressing it hard. [Footnote: If you are making cheese on a small scale, and have not a regular press, put the curd (after you have wrapped it in a cloth) into a small circular wooden box or tub with numerous holes bored in the bottom; and with a lid that fits the inside exactly. Lay heavy weights on the lid in such a manner as to press evenly all over.] Then take it out; chop the curd very fine; add salt to your taste; and put it again into the cheese- hoop with a cloth about it, and press it again. You must always wet the cloth all over to prevent its sticking to the cheese, and tearing the surface. Let it remain in the press till next morning, when you must take it out and turn it; then wrap it in a clean wet cloth, and replace it in the press, where it must remain all day. On the following morning again take out the cheese; turn it, renew the cloth, and put it again into the press. Three days pressing will be sufficient.

When you finally take it out of the press, grease the cheese all over with lard, and put it on a clean shelf in a dry dark room, or in a wire safe. Wipe, grease, and turn it carefully every day. If you omit this a single day the cheese will spoil. Keep the shelf perfectly clean, and see that the cheese does not stick to it. When the cheese becomes firm, you may omit the greasing; but continue to rub it all over every day with a clean dry cloth. Continue this for five or sis weeks; the cheese will then be fit to eat.

The best time for making cheese is when the pasture is in perfection.

You may enrich the colour of the cheese by a little anatto or arnotta; of which procure a small quantity from the druggist, powder it, tie it in a muslin rag, and hold it in the warm milk, (after it is strained,) pressing out the colouring matter with your fingers, as laundresses press their indigo or blue rag in the tub of water. Anatto is perfectly harmless.

After they begin to dry, (or ripen, as it is called,) it is the custom in some dairy-farms, to place the cheeses in the haystack, and keep them there among the hay for five or six weeks. This is said greatly to improve their consistence and flavour. Cheeses are sometimes ripened by putting them every day in fresh grass.

SAGE CHEESE.

Take some of the young top leaves of the sage plant, and pound them in a mortar till you have extracted the juice. Put the juice into a bowl, wipe out the mortar, put in some spinach leaves, and pound them till you have an equal quantity of spinach juice. Mix the two juices together, and stir them into the warm milk immediately after you have put in the rennet. You may use sage juice alone; but the spinach will greatly improve the colour; besides correcting the bitterness of the sage.

STILTON CHEESE.

Having strained the morning's milk, and skimmed the cream from the milk of the preceding evening, mix the cream and the new milk together while the latter is quite warm, and stir in the rennet-water. When the curd has formed, you must not break it up, (as is done with other cheese,) but take it out all at once with a wooden skimming dish, and place it on a sieve to drain gradually. While it is draining, keep pressing it gently till it becomes firm and dry. Then lay a clean cloth at the bottom of a wooden cheese-hoop or mould, which should have a few small holes bored in the bottom. The cloth must be large enough for the end to turn over the top again, after the curd is put in. Place it in the press for two hours; turn it, (putting a clean cloth under it,) and press it again for six or eight hours. Then turn it again, rub the cheese all over with salt, and return it to the press for fourteen hours. Should the edges of the cheese project, they must be pared off.

When you take it finally out of the press, bind it round tightly with a cloth, (which must be changed every day when you turn the cheese,) and set it on a shelf or board. Continue the cloths till the cheese is firm enough to support itself; rubbing or brushing the outside every day when you turn it. After the cloths are left off, continue to brush the cheese every day for two or three months; during which time it may be improved by keeping it covered all round, under and over, with grass, which must be renewed every day, and gathered when quite dry after the dew is off. Keep the cheese and the grass between two large plates.

A Stilton cheese is generally made of a small size, seldom larger in circumference than a dinner plate, and about four or five inches thick. They are usually put up for keeping, in cases of sheet lead, fitting them exactly. There is no cheese superior to them in richness and mildness.

Cream cheeses (as they are generally called) may be made in this manner. They are always eaten quite fresh, while the inside is still somewhat soft. They are made small, and are sent to table whole, cut across into triangular slices like a pie or cake. After they become fit to eat, they will keep good but a day or two, but they are considered while fresh very delicious.

COTTAGE CHEESE.

This is that preparation of milk vulgarly called Smear Case. Take a pan of milk that has just began to turn sour; cover it, and set it by the fire till it becomes a curd. Pour off the whey from the top, and tie up the curd in a pointed linen bag, and hang it up to drain; setting something under it to catch the droppings. Do not squeeze it. Let it drain all night, and in the morning put the curd into a pan, (adding some rich cream, ) and work it very fine with a spoon, chopping and pressing it till about the consistence of a soft bread pudding. To a soup plate of the fine curd put a tea-spoonful of salt; and a piece of butter about the size of a walnut; mixing all thoroughly together. Having prepared the whole in this manner, put it into a stone or china vessel; cover it closely, and set it in a cold place till tea time. You may make it of milk that is entirely sweet by forming the curd with rennet.

A WELSH RABBIT.

Toast some slices of bread, (having cut off the crust,) butter them, and keep them hot. Grate or shave down with a knife some fine mellow cheese: and, if it is not very rich, mix with it a few small bits of butter. Put it into a cheese-toaster, or into a skillet, and add to it a tea-spoonful of made mustard; a little cayenne pepper; and if you choose, a wine glass of fresh porter or of red wine. Stir the mixture over hot coals, till it is completely dissolved; and then brown it by holding over it a salamander, or a red-hot shovel. Lay the toast in the bottom and round the sides of a deep dish; put the melted cheese upon it, and serve it up as hot as possible, with dry toast in a separate plate; and accompanied by porter or ale.

This preparation of cheese is for a plain supper.

Dry cheese is frequently grated on little plates for the tea-table.

TO MAKE CHOCOLATE

To each square of a chocolate cake allow three jills, or a chocolate cup and a half of boiling water. Scrape down the chocolate with a knife, and mix it first to a paste with a small quantity of the hot water; just enough to melt it in. Then put it into a block tin pot with the remainder of the water; set it on hot coals; cover it, and let it boil (stirring it twice) till the liquid is one third reduced. Supply that third with cream or rich milk; stir it again, and take it off the fire. Serve it up as hot as possible, with dry toast, or dry rusk. It chills immediately. If you wish it frothed, pour it into the cup, and twirl round in it the little wooden instrument called a chocolate mill, till you nave covered the top with foam.

TO MAKE TEA.

In buying tea, it is best to get it by the box, of an importer, that you may be sure of having it fresh, and unmixed with any that is old and of inferior quality. The box should be kept in a very dry place. If green tea is good, it will look green in the cup when poured out. Black tea should be dark coloured and have a fragrant flowery smell. The best pots for making tea are those of china. Metal and Wedgwood tea-pots by frequent use will often communicate a disagreeable taste to the tea. This disadvantage may be remedied in Wedgwood ware, by occasionally boiling the tea-pots in a vessel of hot water.

In preparing to make tea, let the pot be twice scalded from the tea- kettle, which must be boiling hard at the moment the water is poured on the tea; otherwise it will be weak and insipid, even when a large quantity is put in. The best way is to have a chafing dish, with a kettle always boiling on it, in the room where the tea is made. It is a good rule to allow two tea-spoonfuls of tea to half a pint or a large cupful of water, or two tea-spoonfuls for each grown person that is to drink tea, and one spoonful extra. The pot being twice scalded, put in the tea, and pour on the water about ten minutes before you want to fill the cups, that it may have time to draw or infuse. Have hot water in another pot, to weaken the cups of those that like it so. That the second course of cups may be as strong as the first, put some tea into a cup just before you sit down to table, pour on it a very little boiling water, (just enough to cover it,) set a saucer over it to keep in the steam, and let it infuse till you have filled all the first cups; then add it to that already in the tea-pot, and pour in a little boiling water from the kettle. Except that it is less convenient for a large family, a kettle on a chafing dish is better than an urn, as the water may be kept longer boiling.

In making black tea, use a larger quantity than of green, as it is of a much weaker nature. The best black teas in general use are pekoe and pouchong; the best green teas are imperial, young hyson, and gunpowder.

TO MAKE COFFEE.

The manner in which coffee is roasted is of great importance to its flavour. If roasted too little, it will be weak and insipid; if too much, the taste will be bitter and unpleasant. To have it very good, it should be roasted immediately before it is made, doing no more than the quantity you want at that time. It loses much of its strength by keeping, even in twenty-four hours after roasting. It should on no consideration be ground till directly before it is made. Every family should be provided with a coffee roaster, which is an iron cylinder to stand before the fire, and is either turned by a handle, or wound up like a jack to go of itself. If roasted in an open pot or pan, much of the flavour evaporates in the process. Before the coffee is put into the roaster, it should be carefully examined and picked, lest there should be stones or bad grains among it. It should be roasted of a bright brown; and will be improved by putting among it a piece of butter when about half done.

Watch it carefully while roasting, looking at it frequently.

A coffee-mill affixed to the wall is far more convenient than one that must he held on the lap. It is best to grind the coffee while warm.

Allow half a pint of ground coffee to three pints of water. If the coffee is not freshly roasted, you should put in more. Put the water into the tin coffee-pot, and set it on hot coals; when it boils, put in the coffee, a spoonful at a time, (stirring it between each spoonful,) and add two or three chips of isinglass, or the white of an egg. Stir it frequently, till it has risen up to the top in boiling; then set it a little farther from the fire, and boil it gently for ten minutes, or a quarter of an hour; after which pour in a tea-cup of cold water, and put it in the corner to settle for ten minutes. Scald your silver or china pot, and transfer the coffee to it; carefully pouring it off from the grounds, so as not to disturb them.

If coffee is allowed to boil too long, it will lose much of its strength, and also become sour.

FRENCH COFFEE.

To make coffee without boiling, you must have a biggin, the best sort of which is what in France is called a Grecque. They are to be had of various sizes and prices at the tin stores. Coffee made in this manner is much less troublesome than when boiled, and requires no white of egg or isinglass to clear it. The coffee should be freshly roasted and ground. Allow two cupfuls of ground coffee to sis cupfuls of boiling water. Having first scalded the biggin, (which should have strainers of perforated tin, and not of linen,) put in the coffee, and pour on the water, which should be boiling hard at the time. Shut down the lid, place the pot near the fire, and the coffee will be ready as soon as it has all drained through the coarse and fine strainers into the receiver below the spout. Scald your china or silver pot, and pour the coffee into it. But it is best to have a biggin in the form of an urn, in which the coffee can both be made and brought to table.

For what is called milk coffee,--boil the milk or cream separately; bring it to table in a covered vessel, and pour it hot into the coffee, the flavour of which will be impaired if the milk is boiled with it.