CUSTARDS, CREAMS AND DESSERTS. 369
CRYSTALLIZED FRUIT.
PICK out the finest of any kind of fruit, leave on their stalks, beat the whites of three eggs to a stiff froth, lay the fruit in the beaten egg with the stalks upward, drain them and beat the part that drips off again ; select them out, one by one and dip them into a cup of finely powdered sugar ; cover a pan with a sheet of fine paper, place the fruit inside of it, and put it in an oven that is cooling ; when the icing on the fruit becomes firm, pile them on a dish and set them in a cool place. For this purpose, oranges or lemons should be carefully pared, and all the white inner skin removed that is possible, to prevent bitterness ; then cut either in thin horizontal slices if lemons, or in quarters if oranges. Tor cherries, strawberries, currants, etc., choose the largest and finest, leaving steins out. Peaches should be pared and cut in halves and sweet juicy pears may be treated in the same way, or look nicely when pared, leaving on the stems and iced. Pineapples should be cut in thin slices and these again divided into quarters.
PEACHES AND CREAM.
PARE and slice the peaches just before sending to table. Cover the glass dish containing them to exclude the air as much as possible, as they soon change color. Do not sugar them in the dish they then be- come preserves, not fresh fruit. Pass the powdered sugar and cream with them.
SNOW PYRAMID.
BEAT to a stiff foam the whites of half a dozen eggs, add a small teacupful of currant jelly and whip all together again. Fill half full of cream as many saucers as you have guests, dropping in the centre of each saucer a tablespoonful of the beaten eggs and jelly in the shape of a pyramid.
JELLY FRITTERS.
MAKE a batter of three eggs, a pint of milk and a pint bowl of wheat flour or more, beat it light ; put a tablespoonful of lard or beef fat in a frying or omelet pan, add a saltspoonful of salt, making it boiling hot, put in the batter by the large spoonful, not too close ; when one side is a delicate brown, turn the other ; when done, 'take them on to a dish with a d'oyley over it; put a dessertspoonful of firm jelly or jam on each and serve. A very nice dessert.
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