Cocoanut Candies.—To make the best quality of cocoanut candy the fresh grated cocoanuts should be used, but where these are not avail able place the desiccated cocoanut in a sieve or colander and steam a few minutes over a saucepan of boiling water so as to soften the cocoanut slightly before it is stirred in. Pre pare a fondant or French cream and stir into the melted fondant by bulk of freshly grated or desiccated cocoanut, mixing thoroughly. Roll the mixture into round rolls 17y or 2 inches in diameter, cut off into pieces of the same length, and roll into balls. Sprinkle these with freshly grated or desiccated cocoanut until well covered, and let stand to harden and cool.
Cocoanut Squares. — Bring to a boil a pound of sugar with I cup ful of water and stir in a small fresh ly grated cocoanut. Boil to the hard thread, remove from the fire, add a drop of blue to give a clearer white, and cream with a wooden spoon or paddle against the sides of the sauce pan. Pour out in a tin pan dusted with powdered sugar, and when cold cut into blocks with a sharp knife.
Or to pound of white sugar add cupful of fresh milk. Bring to a boil and stir in f a small cocoa nut freshly grated. Boil to the soft ball and pour out in a tin pan dusted with confectioners' sugar. When cold cut into squares.
Nut Loaf Candy.—Boil to the soft ball 1 pint of light coffee sugar with pint of sweet fresh milk or cream and a lump of butter the size of an English walnut. Stir in 1 teacupful of assorted nut meats, and pour into a small cake tin or other mold.
Nut Cups.—Lay a pound of fon dant on a warm soapstone or in an earthenware bowl, set in a pan of boiling water. When it is sufficiently warm stir in a cupful of finely chopped hickory-nut meats, which can be assorted or of any single kind desired, and work the whole with a wooden paddle until the fondant be comes soft and warm. Pour on a molding board with Confectioners' XXX sugar, and roll into a strip inch or more in thickness and to 2 inches in width. Lay this aside in a warm place. Meantime boil to a hard crack 2 pounds of granulated sugar, 2 tablespoonfuls of glucose, 1 pint of water, and pour into a tin buttered dish. Pull this taffy over a hook and roll out in a wide, flat sheet, and in this roll up the fondant. Let cool and cut crosswise into small pieces or bars as desired.
Chocolate Walnuts. — Dip half meats of English walnuts in melted sweet chocolate and lay aside on paraffin paper to dry.
Cream Walnuts.—Boil to the me dium thread 2 cupfuls of sugar, cupful of hot water, 1 tablespoonful of glucose, it spoonful of cream of tartar. Remove from the fire, beat up until it thickens, stir in chopped walnut meats, and pour into a but tered tin.
Sugared Almonds.—These bonbons are of two sorts: burnt almonds, sometimes called pralines, and sug ared almonds, sometimes called dragees. They consist of whole alm onds coated with sugar, which is often colored in various delicate tints.
To make burnt almonds, bring to a boil over a moderate fire pound of finely granulated sugar in pint of water in a round-bottomed vessel, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until dissolved. Then throw in 1 pound of fine Jordan alm onds shelled and sifted, to remove dust and dirt. Stir in the almonds gently in the sirup until they are heard to crackle slightly. Take them off the fire and stir vigorously so that the sugar grains and becomes almost a powder, and each almond has a complete coat. Pick out the almonds, shake them gently in a coarse sieve to remove the loose sugar, and cover them with a folded flannel cloth to keep them warm. Replace the sugar, add pound of Confectioners' XXX sugar and pint of water with u teaspoonful of any desired coloring matter.
Boil to the soft ball, remove from the fire and stir in the almonds as before. Again sift out the loose sug ar and repeat the process until the candies are of the desired size.
Or blanch any desired quantity of almonds and fry them to a light brown color in butter. Roll them in a napkin to remove the excess of butter, and pour over them a sirup of white sugar boiled to a thread, stirring until they are quite cold. This is a celebrated Indian sweetmeat.
To Gloss Burnt Almonds. — Dis solve 2 tablespoonfuls of gum arable in 4 tablespoonfuls of water in a double boiler. Drop the burnt alm onds in this after they have become cold and hardened, stir them gently and turn them out in a sieve. After the gummed water has dripped away shake the sieve gently over a slow fire until they are dry.
Or pour over a little clean white gum shellac sufficient alcohol to cover it, and let stand over night. Pour off the clear solution from the sediment, dilute with alcohol, and apply to the burnt almonds with a brush.