Miss Parloa's kitchen companion

The materials are a generous pint of mashed potato, two table-spoonfuls of butter, one pint of cream, a gill of port, one gill of sugar, four eggs, about one-fourth of a grated nutmeg, and a scant half-teaspoonful of salt. Rub the mashed potato through a sieve ; add the sugar to it, and then the cream, stirring it in gradually. Next add the butter, melted. Stir in the yolks of the eggs, well beaten, the salt and nutmeg, and then the wine, a little at a time. Last of all, add the whites of the eggs, beaten to a stiff froth. Have two small deep plates lined with puff paste. Pour this preparation into them, and bake half an hour in a moderate oven. Cream Cheese Tart. Use one cupful of cottage cheese, half a cupful of sweet cream, two table-spoonfuls of sugar, half a cupful of blanched and chopped almonds, one cupful of currants, and four eggs. Butter a deep plate, and line it with a very thin sheet of dough made in the manner described for making luncheon rolls in the chapter on " Bread." Beat the cream into the cheese. Beat the sugar and yolks of eggs together, and add the cheese and cream. Beat this mixture for two minutes, and then add the almonds and currants. Last of all add the whites of the eggs, beaten to a stiff froth. Pour into the plate, and bake in a moderate oven for half an hour. Chantilly Tarts. These dainty bits of pastry are made of two cupfuls of flour, one of butter, a scant half-cupful of water, about half a cupful of strawberry preserve, a pint of whipped cream, a teaspoonful of salt, a teaspoonful of sugar, and the white of an egg. Put the flour, butter, sugar, and salt into a choppingbowl, and chop until the butter is thoroughly mixed with the flour j then add the water, and continue chopping until smooth dough is formed. Sprinkle a moulding- board very lightly with flour, and, placing the dough upon it, pound with a rolling-pin, and roll till thin. Fold the paste, and pound and roll again ; and after doing the same operation a third time, set the paste on ice. When it has become thoroughly chilled, roll it down to the thickness of a quarter of an inch, and cut it into circular pieces with a large pattie-cutter or biscuitcutter. With a smaller tin, cut the centres out of these pieces. Gather up the scraps of paste, and roll very thin, and cut out with the large cutter as many pieces as there are rings of paste. Moisten these pieces with the beaten white of an egg, and place the rings upon them. Bake in a quick oven for twenty minutes, and on removing from the oven, fill with strawberry preserve. At servingtime cover the tarts with whipped cream. Mince-meat. Take three pounds of beef from the tenderest part ot the round, half a pound of chopped suet, three quarts of pared and chopped apples, three cupfuls of stoned raisins, two cupfuls of dried currants, a quarter of a pound of citron, a cupful of molasses, three of sugar, one tablespoonful of ground mace, four of cinnamon, one of allspice, half a table-spoonful of cloves, three grated nutmegs, two lemons, three table-spoonfuls of salt, five cupfuls of cider, one pint of wine, and a pint of brandy.