My Best Christmas Candies, Cakes And Puddings

The attractive candies manufactured by the first-class confectioners may be daintily made by the ordinary housewife, but it requires inventiveness, patience and much experience to make them perfect. Do not attempt too great variety at first: select a few that do not call for the touch and skill of a professional. To be successful, first learn to boil the sugar to the correct point. On a damp day patience will be required.

Before beginning select three or four new, small saucepans, holding from a pint to a quart, several measuring-cups, and six small cups for melting fondant (ordinary stoneware coffee-cups will answer the purpose), two or three candy-tongs, half a dozen candy-dippers, three small wooden paddles, six-inch spatula, a teller knife, a dish-mop, a half-inch paste-brush, a small twenty-five-cent alcohol stove, and, if possible, a marble slab.

Use granulated sugar for the fondant. Make the fondant one day and the candies the next. Fondant will form the basis of two-thirds of the French candies and the coverings of nuts, fruits, etc.