Baked Apples, No. I

Use sweet apples for baking. Cut out the blossom ends, wash, but do not pare the apples, and place them in a large pudding-dish ; pour a cupful of water into the dish, cover the latter closely with another dish or a pan, set it in a moderate oven, and bake the apples until tender. Remove them from the dish, pour the juice over them while hot, and repeat this as they cool. Set the apples on the ice, and at serving time transfer them to a glass dish, pouring the juice over them again. Eat with powdered sugar and cream. Apples will not brown when baked in this way, but will be deliciously flavored.

Baked Apples, No. 2

Select tart apples, and pare them or not, as preferred. Extract the cores without breaking the apples, fill the cavities thus formed with sugar, sift a little cinnamon on top, and add an-eighth of a tea-spoonful of butter to each apple. Place the apples in an earthenware baking-dish, cover the bottom with water, and bake until the fruit is soft, basting occasionally with the syrup.

Quinces

These are baked in the same manner as directed in the preceding recipe, the spice being omitted. Quinces require a long time in baking, and frequent basting.

Apple Sauce

Pare, core and quarter tart apples ; place them in a granite-ware kettle with enough water to keep them from burning, and cook until tender. Turn them into a colander, pulp them through, and season to taste with sugar and a little powdered cinnamon. Return the sauce to the kettle, stew it slowly, until the sugar is thoroughly dissolved, and set it on the ice.

Stewed Apples

Pare, core and quarter tart apples. Make a syrup of a cupful of sugar, two-thirds of a cupful of water and a little lemon-peel. When the syrup boils, add the apples, and cook carefully until they are tender but not broken.

Remove them carefully, boil the syrup down a little, and strain it over the apples.

Spiced Apples

Place one cupful of sugar and three cupfuls of water in a granite-ware pan, and add eight cloves and a three-inch piece of cinnamon or a bit of ginger root. Closely cover the pan, and boil slowly for fifteen minutes. Wipe a number of small, tart apples, extract the stem and blossom ends, and cook the fruit in the syrup until tender, taking care that the apples are not broken. Lift them out into a dish, boil the syrup until reduced one-third, and strain it over the apples.

Spiced Pears

These are prepared the same as spiced apples; but if the pears are dry and hard, they should be parboiled slowly in clear water before being cooked in the syrup, as the sugar will harden them, and they will .not become tender if put into the syrup for the entire cooking.

Stewed Prunes

Wash the prunes carefully, and if hard and dry, soak them an hour in cold water before cooking. Place them in a porcelain-lined or granite-ware kettle, with boiling water to cover. Cover the kettle closely, and boil slowly until the prunes are swollen and tender. Then add two table-spoonfuls of sugar to every pint of prunes, and boil a few minutes longer, but not long enough to break the skins. If the prunes lack flavor, add a little lemon-juice.

Rhubarb Sauce

Peel the rhubarb, and cut it into inch lengths; place it in a granite-ware stew-pan, and for each quart of rhubarb add a tea-cupful of sugar and half a cupful of water. Stew slowly until tender.

Baked Rhubarb Sauce

Proceed as in the preceding recipe, and after adding the water and sugar, place all in an earthenware baking-dish. Cover the dish, and bake slowly for two hours. The rhubarb will be found of a rich color when done, and it will not have cooked to pieces.

Sauce Of Dried Fruits

This may be made of evaporated apples or peaches or of dried berries or plums. If apples or peaches are used, wash them carefully in cold water, rubbing them between the hands the same as in washing rice. Place the fruit in a large bowl, allow a quart of water to each pint of fruit, and leave the latter to soak over night. In the morning put both fruit and water in a granite-ware saucepan, add a cupful of sugar, and, if apples are used, also put in the juice of one lemon. Set the pan on the back of the range and cook slowly for three hours, not stirring the fruit while cooking. When done, turn the sauce into a bowl, and set it away to cool. Berries require careful washing, and will cook tender much more quickly than apples, but they must be soaked over night in order to be of proper flavor when done. Plums require a large amount of sugar in cooking, the quantity varying according to the kind used.