This section is from the book "Mary Jane's Cook Book", by Mary Jane. Also available from Amazon: Mary Jane's Cook Book.
Powdered sugar, 1 pound. Water, 1 small cup.
Butter, 1/4 pound.
Essence of lemon, 1/2 teaspoon.
Pour water over sugar and when well soaked add butter beaten to a cream. Boil about 10 minutes stirring constantly. Add lemon and turn out on a well buttered tin. Miss H. B., Roxbury.
Brown sugar, 3 cups. Cream, 1/2 pint.
English walnuts, 1 cup. Marshmallows, 1/2 pound.
Boil sugar and cream for 8 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in nuts and marshmallows and pour into buttered pan. Mark into squares before it hardens. May Bell, Beverly.
Gum arabic, 1 pound. Water, 1 1/2 pints.
Sugar, 1 pound. Flavorings.
Vegetable colorings.
Dissolve the gum arabic in the water and strain, add sugar and heat till sugar is dissolved. Flavor to taste and color with various colorings while mixture is warm. Fill a shallow pan with corn-starch and make indentations the size of ordinary gum drops. When the mixture is the consistency of honey fill a pitcher with it and pour gently into the molds. Set the pan aside in a warm place for several days till the gum drops are hard enough to handle. Remove from molds, wet a little and roll in granulated sugar.
X. Y. Z., Braintree.
Powdered sugar, 2 cups. Egg white, 1. Water. Dates, 12. Figs, 4.
English walnuts, 6.
Currants, 1/2 cup.
Raisins.
Citron.
Maraschino cherries.
Cocoanut.
Mix the powdered sugar to a firm fondant with equal parts of egg white and water. Put all fruit through meat grinder, mixing them in feeding the chopper. Stir into the fondant and when well blended roll in shape like long sausages and cover with pow-dered sugar. Place on paraffin paper in a cool place. The next day cut with a very sharp knife into slices about as thick as a lozenge.
A. D. B., Brookline.
Brown sugar, 1 pound. Butter, 1/2 pound.
Water, 1 cup. Vanilla extract.
Boil sugar and water over a slow fire till it is a smooth thick syrup. Stir in the butter and boil 1/2 hour more. It is done when a little dropped in cold water will harden immediately. Flavor with vanilla and pour onto flat dishes, which have been wet with cold water. Miss H. B., Roxbury.
Granulated sugar, 1 cup. Hot water, 4 tablespoons.
Confectioner's sugar, 4 heaping tablespoons.
Essence of peppermint, 1 tea-spoon.
Boil granulated sugar and water for 4 minutes, remove from fire and add confectioner's sugar and essence. Stir till it begins to thicken then drop by teaspoons on waxed paper.
To make checkermints add 1/2 teaspoon of pink sugar to the granulated sugar before boiling and flavor with wintergreen.
To make chocolate mints add one square of unsweetened choco-late before boiling and flavor with vanilla. Cinnamon, clove, ginger and other mints may be made in the same way.
Mrs. H. B. C., East Boston.
 
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