The housewife's referee

Compote of Pears. — Take some pears and drop them first into cold and then into hot water, with a sufficient amount of sugar, a piece of cinnamon, and the thinly grated rind of a lemon. Bring slowly to boiling point, taking care to remove the pears before they become soft. Boil the syrup again, skim the surface and pour over the pears, adding a wineglassful of claret. Conservative Pudding. — Four ounces of sponge cake, half an ounce of ratafias, one ounce and a half of macaroons : put them into a basin, and pour over half a gill of rum and a gill of cream ; add six well-beaten eggs ; beat for ten minutes. Butter a pint mould, stick it tastefully with preserved cherries ; put in the pudding, tie it over with writing paper spread with butter, and steam over fast-boiling water for an hour and a half. Turn out carefully, and serve with clarified sugar (flavoured with almond) in the dish, but not poured over the pudding. Three ounces of loaf sugar, a laurel leaf, and half a gill of water, boiled ten minutes, will make the sauce. Conserve a la Richelieu. — Peel and cut six ripe apples and the same number of oranges, and place them in a basin with one pound of castor sugar ; let them cook slowly till they become quite liquid, when they must be strained. Make some flaky paste, and cut it into oblongs and triangles, and spread some of the conserve over, fold over and bake. Corbeille d'Oranges a la Creme. — Put half a pound of lump sugar and a quarter of a pint of water into a small saucepan, and boil them till the sugar becomes brittle. Peel four or five oranges, remove as much of the white skin as possible. Divide them into their natural sections, Take out the pips, then dip each section into the sugar, holding them on the point of a thin skewer. Oil a mould and arrange the pieces cf orange at the bottom and sides quite closely together ; when firm turn out the shape very carefully, and fill up the centre with whipped and flavoured cream. Cream Pudding. — One pint and a half of milk, three eggs, three ounces of butter, one and a half tablespoonfuls of arrowroot or cornflour, two ounces of sugar, a little lemon or other flavouring. Mix the arrowroot with a little cold milk till quite smooth, flavour with a few drops of lemon essence or juice and stir the butter into it. Bring the rest of the milk to boiling point in a lined saucepan, and add the sugar, then pour it into the arrowroot, stirring well together. Beat the eggs thoroughly, stir them into the other ingredients and pour the whole into a pie dish. This pudding should be baked in a moderate oven for about twenty minutes. It may be served with stewed fruit. Cream Wafers. — Beat together two ounces of Vienna flour, four ounces of castor sugar and two eggs, then roll out at once. Rub a baking sheet with wax and place it in a quick oven. Cut out six circles and curl up when hot, fill these with whipped cream flavoured with vanilla. Arrange in a circle on a dish, and serve cold. They look alternately one white and pink.