"Cans't eat a dream?"

"I've done it - a frozen and refreshing dream. 'Twas more than my dessert."

- Quaint Tales.

FROZEN desserts are refreshing and wholesome and require less time in preparation than the ordinary pudding. Success, moreover, is assured if a few very simple directions are followed.

The essentials are to have the ice finely crushed and to use the right proportion of coarse rock salt. The finer the ice is crushed the quicker it melts, so for this reason it is important to have the ice broken into very small pieces. Enough should be broken for the entire freezing, as the process of turning the crank should not be interrupted.

The can should be completely surrounded and covered with a mixture of ice and salt, using three parts ice to one of salt. Let it stand for a minute or two until the mixture begins to freeze to the inside of the can. Then turn the crank continuously until the mixture seems hard and heavy to move; then take out the dasher, scrape the frozen dessert from the sides of the can and pack it down closely. Put a cork in the opening of the cover, fill up the bucket with ice and salt, cover with burlap or piece of carpet and let stand an hour or more to ripen.

Do not draw off any of the water until the freezing is completed, but add ice and salt as necessary. The melted water helps to freeze the mixture in the can and need not be drawn off at all if the dessert is to be served within an hour.

The mixture should be prepared several hours before freezing and allowed to stand in the refrigerator until thoroughly chilled. Can and dasher should be scalded before using.

To crush the ice use an ice-crusher or a wooden mallet. Put the ice in a bag of burlap or canvas and pound into fine pieces. When the dessert is served, drain the salt that is in the can and save to use again.

Vanilla Ice Cream No. 1

1 1/2 cups milk

3/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon flour

1 egg

1 pint cream

2 teaspoons vanilla

Bring the milk to a boil. Beat the egg; add the flour and half the sugar; stir into the boiling milk and put over the fire. Cook until it thickens; add the cream and the rest of the sugar; set aside to cool; add the vanilla and freeze.

Serve plain or with berries or with hot or cold chocolate sauce.

Vanilla Ice Cream No. 2

3 pints thin cream

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 vanilla bean or 1 tablespoon extract

Scald the cream with the sugar, using part milk if the cream is very rich. When cold, add the flavoring and freeze.

To prepare the bean put it in a small kettle; cover with water and let simmer until the water is half gone, keeping the kettle covered all the time. Remove from the fire; scrape each piece of bean with a blunt knife, mixing the seeds and pulp with the water and using all for the flavoring.

Economical Ice Cream

1 quart milk 1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 level tablespoons flour

1 saltspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla

Make a boiled custard, following the usual directions, and freeze. If desired, fresh fruits, thoroughly mashed and sweetened, may be added instead of vanilla.