What to drink

Because it would seem folly to give suggestions for sundaes without recipes for making the sauces to be served on them, I am giving several.

While these sauces are given here to use on sundaes, there is no good reason why they may not be used for puddings and desserts.

HEAVY FUDGE SAUCE

Melt the chocolate, putting it into a double boiler; add the milk and cook directly over the fire until it is well blended; add the sugar and cook slowly until smooth. Keep hot in the double boiler or in a chafing dish until ready to serve.

This should be the consistency to pour readily.

MARSHMALLOW SAUCE

Boil the sugar and milk in a double boiler for about six or seven minutes, until it spins a thread. Allow this to become luke warm, then beat until thick and white. Put the double boiler back on the fire and stir until thin enough to pour. Melt the marshmallows and water, pour the syrup over them, beating constantly. Keep warm until ready to serve.

MARSHMALLOW SAUCE NO. 2

Into the upper part of the double boiler turn half a pound of marshmallows and melt them slowly until they will pour readily. Dissolve one cupful of sugar in one-third of a cupful of boiling water and cook without stirring (after it begins to bubble hard) for eight minutes. Pour gently on to the stiffly whipped white of one egg and beat steadily until thick and creamy. Add the marshmallow syrup and a small cupful of drained and chopped Maraschino cherries.

MARSHMALLOW SAUCE WITH SYRUP

Melt the marshmallows in a double boiler. Boil the syrup and water together until bubbling hot, then pour slowly on the stiffly beaten white of the egg. Beat until creamy and thick, then add the marshmallows. Chop a tablespoonful of candied Maraschino cherries and add to the sauce.

MAPLE FUDGE SAUCE

Cook the maple sugar (which should have been grated), milk and soda until it boils; continue to boil for five minutes, stir in the butter and keep hot over boiling water. A double boiler or a chafing dish would be the best means of doing so.

HOT MAPLE SAUCE

Butter the inside of a granite saucepan and add a cupful of thick maple syrup and one-third of a cupful of cream. Then boil until the syrup forms a soft ball when tested in cold water. Pour while hot, over each portion of cream and sprinkle thickly with chopped nut meats.

BERKSHIRE HOT MAPLE SAUCE

Put the butter in a saucepan and when melted stir in the maple syrup. Then when hot add the top milk slowly; boil until it begins to thicken slightly, then cool partially and serve.

PRUNE SAUCE

Cut the prunes in small pieces; peel the orange, separate into sections and remove the membrane; then cut into pieces; chop the plums and cherries and mix the fruit. Add lemon juice and sugar, stir and allow to stand for a half hour. Place a generous spoonful on each serving of cream; top with a spoonful of nuts.

HONEY SAUCE

Melt the butter and blend with the cornstarch. Add honey and hot water. Cook until it thickens and serve hot.

COFFEE SAUCE WITH SYRUP

Heat the coffee until the boiling point is reached; add the egg yolks beaten light, then the syrup; cook until it begins to thicken but do not allow it to boil. Take from the fire, add the cream, whipped stiff, and a few drops of vanilla.

COFFEE SAUCE WITH SUGAR

Beat the yolks of the eggs with one-fourth cupful of sugar. Add one cupful of strong coffee (strained) and cook slowly over hot water, stirring constantly until well thickened. Do not boil. Remove from the fire and, when cold, mix 1 cupful of sweetened whipped cream which has been flavored with a few drops of vanilla extract.

CHOCOLATE SAUCE WITH SYRUP

Melt the chocolate and pour on gradually the hot syrup, prepared by adding water to corn syrup and boiling for three minutes. Cool slightly and flavor with vanilla.

CHOCOLATE CARAMEL SAUCE

If an agate boiler is used, and a very little butter heated in it, and allowed to run over the surface used, the sauce will not stick to the pan.

Shave the chocolate and melt in the buttered upper part of the double boiler, and add the sugar gradually; mix well, and add the butter; cook until well blended and pour in the top milk or cream slowly. Cook over a very low fire until it forms a soft ball if tried in cold water. Take from the fire, add the vanilla, and use over vanilla ice cream.

If it is not to be used at once keep it hot in the double boiler.

FRUIT SAUCE

Remove the pits from the dates and cut into small pieces, chop the cherries, cut the figs into small pieces and chop (or break into pieces) the nuts. Mix, and pour the syrup of the cherries and the honey over the mixture, allowing to stand until thoroughly blended. Keep near the ice if possible.

STRAWBERRY SAUCE

Wash and hull the berries, mash with a silver fork, add the sugar, stir well, and allow to stand for two hours in a cold place.

ORANGE SAUCE

Grate the rind of half an orange and add to it the juice of three oranges. Whip the whites of the eggs until dry and stiff, add the sugar and then the orange juice.

This, heaped on ice cream, is as delightful as it is unusual.

TUTTI FRUTTI SAUCE

Chop the different fruits and mix enough maple syrup to blend but not enough to make a great deal of liquid.

CANNED, PRESERVED AND DRIED CHERRIES
(For use in making sundaes)

There may be several reasons why one prefers to use home-canned or dried cherries instead of using those commercially prepared. To can them at home, the first thing to remember is; the fruit should be well ripened and the cherries will be far better if it is possible to obtain them directly from the trees. If one is fortunate enough to be able to get them from the trees, see that they hang at least four days after they are considered ripe, for they will be larger, riper and sweeter.

Another thing to bear in mind, is that cherries should be simmered and never boiled.

It is quite possible to use any canned cherries one may have, or may purchase, in making sundaes, or those put up commercially for this purpose alone.

CANNED CHERRIES

The amount of fruit depends upon the desire of the hostess, for she may have a few she wishes to can, or a great many; the process is the same.

Wash and pit the cherries, put them in sterilized jars, adjust the rubbers (new ones), and pour over the boiling syrup, made of the sugar and water boiled. Pour in enough syrup to nearly overflow. Partially seal the jar and place in a sterilizer, either commercial or home-made, and nearly cover with boiling water. It has been found satisfactory by the writer to allow the water to reach just below the top. Sterilize for sixteen minutes.

CANNED CHERRIES WITHOUT SYRUP

If one cares to can the cherries without using syrup, pour plain boiling water over the cherries in the jars, in place of the syrup and sterilize for a half hour. After sterilization, complete the seal, invert to test for leakage, allow to cool, wrap in dark paper and store.

PRESERVED CHERRIES

Remove the pits from the largest cherries obtainable; allow a pound of sugar and one cupful of water to each pound of fruit. Melt the sugar in the water, let it come to a boil and skim thoroughly. Then add the cherries and allow them to simmer for twenty minutes. Take out with a skimmer, pack into sterilized hot jars and boil down the syrup until quite thick. Fill the jars to overflowing and seal air-tight, using new rubbers and hot covers.

PRESERVES AND SHRUB FROM THE SAME CHERRIES

Stone the cherries and cover with vinegar. Stand in a cool place for twenty-four hours and drain off the fruit juice and the vinegar. To each pint of juice add a scant pound of sugar, simmer for twenty-five minutes and bottle air-tight. Put the drained cherries in a stone crock with alternate layers of granulated sugar, allowing three-quarters of a pound of sugar for each pint of fruit. Keep the crock covered and in a cool place. Every eighteen hours stir the fruit and sugar carefully for a period of eight days. The uncooked preserves can be put in small jars and paraffined, but they need not be sealed air-tight.

MOCK MARASCHINO CHERRIES

Select the largest sized cherries one can find and remove the pits, saving all the juice. Measure fruit and juice and allow an equal amount of sugar. Drain the cherries and set on the ice. Put the juice and sugar into a preserving kettle, cook to a thick syrup and add the cherries. Simmer for fifteen minutes. Drain off half the cherry syrup, add an equal amount of white grape juice, bring quickly to the boil and seal as for preserved fruit.

DRIED CHERRIES

The larger the cherry the more satisfactory if dried to use for sundaes.

Wash, stem and pit the cherries; spread in thin layers on a drying tray. (Commercial driers are inexpensive and very satisfactory.) Dry from two to four hours, starting at 110 degrees F. Condition them by placing in composition or paper boxes and pouring them from box to box every day for four days. This is to insure even drying. If too moist, return to the drier for a short time, and again pour into the boxes, and again “condition” them.