Fruit Candy. (No. 1)

2 pounds sugar.

2 lemons (juice only).

Raisins and figs (chopped).

Boil the sugar with the lemon-juice (slowly and without stirring) till it ropes when poured from the spoon. Then stir in the fruit - enough to thicken the syrup well. Pour into buttered shallow pans, and when partly cold, mark it with a knife into pieces one inch square.

Another way is to use, instead of the raisins and figs, any or several kinds of preserved fruits, chopped coarse. Use a little more lemon juice in this case.

Cream Candy

1 cupful rich cream. 3 pounds sugar.

1 teaspoonful vanilla or rose.

Boil the cream and sugar together, slowly, without stirring, till it candies when dropped into cold water. Then stir in the vanilla, and pour into buttered pans. As soon as it is cool, pull strips of it with your hands until very white. The hands should be washed in cold water often, and thoroughly dried afterwards. This keeps the hands from becoming warm and moist, and the candy is much nicer for the extra trouble taken. On no account butter the hands.

N. B. It is not necessary to pull the candy at all, but it is much better to do so.

Molasses Candy

1 pint molasses. 1 cupful brown sugar. Butter size of walnut. 1 dessertspoonful vinegar. 1/4 teaspoonful soda (dry).

Boil the first four ingredients, stirring constantly, in a large kettle. At the end of half an hour test it. If it hardens when dropped into cold water, stir in the soda and pour it into greased pans. When cool, pull it without buttering the hands. The length of time for boiling depends upon the kind of molasses. Some kinds take as long as one and one half hours. The common dark-colored molasses boils more quickly, and makes better candy than the nicer kinds.

Taffy

Make as above, but do not pull. Mark it off into squares before it hardens.

Peanut Candy

Make as above. Have ready the peanuts (two quarts unshelled). When ready to take up the molasses, stir in the peanuts; pour into shallow pans, and smooth the top with a wet knife. When cool, mark into strips with the knife.

Sugar Taffy With Nuts

1 cupful granulated sugar. 1 cupful peanuts.

1/4 teaspoonful lemon flavoring.

Put the sugar in a clean frying-pan. Set it on the fire and stir without stopping for about five minutes. As soon as melted remove the sugar from the fire, and stir in the flavoring and nuts. Pour instantly into a greased pan. When cool, mark into strips. If left too long over the fire the syrup will return to sugar. Chop the nuts if you prefer. Any kind of nuts or flavor will do.

This is more quickly made than any other candy.

Sugar Candy

3 1/2 pounds white sugar. 3 cupfuls water.

1 table spoonful vinegar. 1 teaspoonful vanilla.

Mix all together except the vanilla. Boil slowly without stirring. When the bubbles become large, test it as you do "Cream Candy." When ropy take from the fire, add the vanilla, and proceed as with " Cream Candy." The more it is pulled the better it is.

Vinegar Candy

2 cupfuls sugar.

1 cupful vinegar.

Boil until it candies, then proceed as with " Cream Candy."

Barley Sugar

(An English Receipt.)

1 1/2 pounds fine loaf sugar. 1 pint water.

1 lemon (juice only).

6 drops essence of lemon.

Break the sugar into fine lumps. Put it in a sauce-pan with the water to boil. Skim it carefully, till it looks like glue. When it becomes brittle on being dropped into cold water, and will snap, add the lemon-juice and essence. Boil up once, remove from the fire, and set the sauce-pan into a pan of cold water, to cool it quickly. When the first heat has subsided, pour the contents upon a platter (previously buttered). Keep it from spreading out much by pushing it together with a knife. When cool enough to handle, cut off pieces about the size of an egg. Roll them out long with your hands till evenly round like sticks, and twist them slightly. Lay them on buttered platters till cold. Then sift sugar over them.