The hearthstone; or, Life at home

Corn Cakes (without eggs, milk or yeast). — Sift three pints of corn meal, add one teaspoonful of salt, one tablespoonful of lard, one teaspoonful of dissolved soda. Make it into a soft dough with one pint of cold water, then thin it gradually by adding not quite one and a half pints of warm water; when it is all mixed, beat or stir it well for half an hour, then bake on a griddle and serve hot. Economy Cakes. — Bread which is old and sour can be made into nice cakes. It should be cut into small pieces, and soaked in cold water until very soft; then drain off the water and mash the bread fine. To three pints of the bread-pulp put a couple of beaten eggs, three or four tablespoonfuls of flour, and a little salt; dissolve a teaspoonful of saleratus in a teacup of milk; strain it; then stir it into the bread; add more milk till it is of the right consistency to fry; the batter should be rather thicker than that of buckwheat cakes, and cooked in the same manner. Nice Breakfast Cakes. — One pound of flour, half a teaspoonful 524 THE hearthstone; or, life at home. of tartaric acid, half a teaspoonful of salt, half a teaspoonful of carbonate of soda, one and a half breakfast-cupful of milk, one ounce of sifted loaf-sugar, two eggs. These cakes are made in the same manner as the soda bread, with the addition of eggs and sugar; mix the flour, tartaric acid, and salt well together, taking care that the two latter ingredients are reduced to the finest powder, and stir in the sifted sugar, which should also be very fine; dissolve the soda in the milk ; add the eggs, which should be well whisked, and, with this liquid, work the flour, etc., into a light dough; divide it into small cakes; put them into the oven immediately, and bake about twenty minutes. Rice or Hominy Griddle Cakes. — To one quart of sweet milk put two cups of boiled rice or hominy, two egg's beaten a little; throw in a sprinkling of salt, and thicken with wheat-flour. Half a teaspoonful of soda dissolved. If the rice be cold, warm the milk and rub the rice into it before putting the flour in. Bread-Cake. — Four eggs, three cups of dough after it is raised ; two cups of sugar, one cup of butter; a very little soda dissolved in water and flavored with nutmeg. Put raisins or currants in if you wish. Batter Cakes. — Mix the batter, either rye and Indian meal or wheat and Indian meal — half of each, one teaspoonful of soda, and one of saleratus dissolved in water, then a spoonful of tartaric acid in a cup of water, and a little salt. Soft Waffles. — One pound of flour, four eggs, one quart of milk, one-quarter of a pound of butter, two spoonfuls of yeast ; warm the milk and butter together; mix them at ten o'clock in the morning for tea. Graham Muffins. — Take three pints of lukewarm milk, half a teacup of home-made hop-yeast, three tablespoonfuls of sugar, one teaspoonful of salt; stir it into three pints of Graham flour and one pint of barrel flour. Set it in a warm place to raise over night, and next morning pour it into "gem" pans or muffin-rings, and bake in a very hot oven. Muffins (i). — One quart of milk, warm, two eggs, flour to make a batter, half a teacup of yeast, and a little salt.