CHILDREN 184 For the Walnut Candies, press a half- walnut into each side of a ball of white fondant until the fondant is squeezed out just beyond the edges of the half -nuts. For the Surprise Dates, or French plums, open each fruit and take out the stone, and insert a tiny ball of pink or white vanilla- flavoured fondant in place of it, and fold the edges over again, so that just a glimpse of fondant is visible. To make Peppermint Creams, press each ball of the peppermint fondant flat with the Work in the sugar until the fondant is stiff bottom of a wineglass which has been dipped in sugar to prevent its sticking, or they may be satisfactorily flattened with the thumb. For the Zoological Animals it will be necessary to roll the peppermint fondant, with the help of a small rolling-pin or a round bottle, to the thickness of a third of an inch. Then, with a fine steel skewer or a very narrow-bladed penknife, draw and cut out pigs, donkeys, goats, ducks, or any other animal you fancy, adding eyes, noses, etc., with the help of a quill pen dipped in diluted cochineal. To complete the party, Mr. and Mrs. Noah may be represented in the same way, after the fashion of ginger- bread figures ! Marzipan Vegetables If the children have had any practice in brushwork and in modelling in plasticine at their kindergarten, it will delight them to be allowed to put their talents in this direc- tion to practical account by modelling simple fruits and vegetables in almond paste, or " marzipan," as it is more elabor- ately called. To make the almond paste, take a quarter of a pound of ground almonds, two ounces of castor sugar, two ounces of sifted icing sugar, a little orange-flower water, and the juice of a quarter of a lemon. Any small modelling tools should be well washed and then put in readiness to shape the sweets with when the paste is pronounced ready, or much can be done with the help of an orange wood stick or two. If a small bottle of " harmless green veget- able colouring " is added to the outfit it will greatly enhance the appearance of the work. Sieve the two sugars together and add them to the ground almonds, putting all into a small basin, and stirring them well together with a wooden spoon. Now moisten them with the strained lemon juice and about half a teaspoonful of orange- flower water, and knead the mixture to- gether until it is quite smooth. Divide it into three parts, colouring one rather a deep pink, one a pale green, and leave the third part its natural colour. A pea-pod is an excellent thing to model first of all, for everyone knows what it looks like. The pod may be made from the un- coloured marzipan, and the peas of the green tinted paste. Pears, apples, and other objects may be made also, and if natural- coloured leaves are added the effect is splendid. Excellent marzipan potatoes can be made by grating a little chocolate and rolling small balls of uncoloured almond paste in it until they are nicely coated, and then marking the eyes with the end of an orange- wood stick, or even a pointed match Bonbons for the Nursery Table For bonbons destined to adorn the nur- sery table for a children's party, dainty paper cases can be easily devised from sheets of plain white and coloured tissue paper. Cut a number of two and a half inch squares of white and coloured paper, fold each in four, and, holding by the folded corner, draw the points through the fingers several times to crinkle them prettily. Then partly open out each coloured square, putting a similar crinkled white paper inside each tinted one, and arranging them so that the four white points alternate with the four coloured ones. Place a sweet- meat in the centre of the cup this makes, and it is finished, Another very dainty plan, which is speci- ally suitable when sweets are to be packed up to send away as presents, is to cut strips four inches long and two and a half inches wide from a penny roll of light green, pink, or blue crinkled paper, and, having placed a similar sized strip of plain white grease- proof paper on top of each coloured one to make a lining, place a sweetmeat in the middle. Fold the two sides of the paper over it, and give the ends a tight twist in opposite directions — one to the right and one to the left. The little cases thus made should be finished off by tying a tiny bow of the daintiest baby ribbon round each twist. Sweets packed up in this way keep fresh for a much longer time, as the grease-proof paper excludes the air ; but they must be allowed to get quite hard before being packed up, or they are apt to stick to the paper.
