Select some oranges with a clear skin, and, with a blunt knife, mark out the handle and rim of the baskets in Vandykes. With a sharp knife cut through the rind over the traced lines, taking care not to cut through the pulp. Take off the two spare pieces of peel, and, with the handle of a teaspoon, carefully take out all the pulp from the basket. Fill up the baskets with orange jelly or whipped cream, and decorate with crystalized flowers; put a large flat of sponge-cake in the center of a dish that has had a napkin spread over it, put one basket on top of the cake, and surround with the remainder. Any form of extra ornamentations can be put in the basket.

Orange Butter

Boil twelve eggs until hard, peel, cut them into halves, and put their yolks in a mortar with two ounces of sugar, four ounces of butter, and two ounces of blanched and chopped sweet almonds; pound the whole to a smooth paste, moistening it occasionally with orange-flower water, then rub it through a sieve onto a glass dish. Serve the butter with any kind of sweet or fancy biscuits.

Orange Salad

Peel six oranges,-scrape off all the pith, and cut them into slices. Take out the pips, put a layer of the slices on a dish, and sprinkle over them some powdered sugar and a little brandy or rum. Continue in this way until they are all used up, and serve. They may be piled in the shape of a pyramid.

Oranges, French Style

Cut six oranges into halves, remove all the insides, taking care not to injure the rinds; notch evenly round the edges of the rinds, and put them into cold water to soak. Squeeze out all the juice from the pulp, strain it into a saucepan, pour in water to make three gills in all, add one and one-half ounce of gelatine dissolved in one and one-half teacupfuls of water, also six ounces of sugar, the thin rind and juice of a lemon, and the whites and crushed shells of three eggs. Whisk well over the fire until the liquor boils, remove the whisk, put the lid on the pan, and boil slowly for ten minutes. Remove the pan from the fire, let it stand for five minutes, and strain through a jelly-bag until clear; wipe the orange peels perfectly dry, fill them level with the jelly, packing them in ice to keep them firm, heap up on top one-half pint of cream beaten stiff, with one teaspoonful of crushed loaf-sugar and a few drops of vanilla; place a sweetmeat on the top of each, and serve on a dessert-dish.

Frosted Peaches

Take two dozen ripe peaches and rub the fur off with a soft cloth. Beat the whites of six eggs and one teacupful of water to a stiff froth, and dip the peaches into it one at a time, rolling each one immediately in powdered white sugar, then lay them stem end downwards, on white paper, on a tray; place it in a window well exposed to the sun; when half dry, roll them again in sugar and place in the sun till quite dry; then keep in a cool place till wanted for use. Arrange them in a glass dish, and garnish with green leaves.

Pear Salad

Peel and core some ripe pears, cut them in thin slices, and lay them in a glass dish, sprinkle powdered sugar over them, pour in a little brandy or rum, and serve.

Stuffed Pears

Select a large pear, not too ripe, and peel it, but do not remove the stalk. Cut the pear lengthwise about two-thirds of its height from the side on which it is lying. Take out the inside with a vegetable-spoon. Cook the pieces of pear by boiling in a little sugar and water, but keep them firm, and leave in the syrup till cold. Drain the pear on a cloth. Put a layer of cooked rice and cream on a dish, put the thick part of the pear on it, fill the hollow with a salpicon of fruits thickened with a little apricot marmalade, put the other piece of pear on the top, and arrange a circle of crystallized green gages round it. Reduce the syrup flavor with a little vanilla extract, and pour it, when cold, over the pear.