Cookery for every household

6 oz. ground almonds. 1 gill water. I white of egg. Flavouring. A little icing sugar. Put the sugar and water into a saucepan, and let them dissolve slowly over the fire. Then put on the lid, and bring to the boil. Now uncover it, and boil with the thermometer to 242°. Skim the syrup carefully when necessary, and wash the sides of the saucepan occasionally with a brush dipped in cold water to prevent the sugar graining. When ready, remove the saucepan from the fire, stir in the almonds and white of egg, and mix briskly for a few minutes. Then return the saucepan to the fire, and cook a minute or two longer. Turn the marzipan on to a marble slab, and work it first with a wooden spatula and then with the hand until smooth and firm. Use a little icing sugar when kneading with the hand, to prevent the mixture sticking. Flavour and colour as required. Any flavouring and colouring should be worked in while the marzipan is still warm. If it has become hard and dry, a few drops of warm water may be added to it. This marzipan will keep for some time if first wrapped in wax paper and then in a cloth, and kept in an air-tight box. 2933. Moulded Marzipan With Moulds. — Very pretty sweets may be made by moulding marzipan in little moulds sold for the purpose. Various fruits, flowers, vegetables, shells, &c., may be imitated in this way. The marzipan should either be coloured first to resemble as nearly as possible the colour of the article imitated, or the sweets may be painted over after moulding with a little vegetable colouring. Stalks may be formed with a small piece of angelica or a piece of natural stalk, such as the stalk of a raisin. The husk in fruit may be formed with a small piece of marzipan coloured brown, cut out in the desired shape and then pressed on to the shaped fruit, or with a little husk made out of cambric and sold for the purpose. The calyx of flowers, too, may be imitated by cutting a star-shaped piece out of thinly-rolled green marzipan, and so on. Moulds for the above are usually double, and they are made of a special preparation or of pewter mounted on plaster of Paris. Such shapes as the pea-pod, marguerite, almond, walnut, pansy, thistle, &c., are all favourites. The moulds vary in price from about Is. 6 d. to 2s. Gd. each. When the moulds are new, they should be lightly rubbed with a soft rag dipped in salad oil, otherwise the marzipan will be liable to stick to them. They should be washed as little as possible, and hot water must never be allowed to run over the plaster of Paris mounting, as it would be liable to crack it. Recipes 2936-7 will give a good idea of how to use these little moulds. Small single moulds of tin can also be used for moulding, and these are cheaper to buy, as they Fancy Sweet Moulds