Baked Pears

8 medium sized pears.

1/2 cup brown sugar.

Butter.

Select firm and ripe pears, without blemish. Cut in nalves lengthwise. Remove the core and sprinkle with brown sugar, using a tablespoonful for each pear. Dot each lialf with two or three small bits of butter. Bake until tender and nicely browned in a moderate oven. Serve with or without whipped cream.

Baked Apples

6 medium sized apples 1 lemon.

1 cup water 3/4 cup sugar.

Wipe, core and pare the apples. Put apples in baking dish with a slice of lemon on top of each. Make a syrup of the sugar and water. Pour around the apples, cover and bake slowly until soft. Serve cold with cream, or with 1 teaspoon jelly in the center of each apple. If desired the apples may also be flavored with cloves, by sticking four cloves in the side of each apple at an even distance apart.

Sweet apples are always tough when cooked. The acid of the lemon helps to soften the cellulose of the apple. The skins of the apple break when baking, because the steam in the apple must escape, therefore it forces an opening in the thinnest part of the skin. A line cut around the center of the apple will prevent its breaking. Basting apples while cooking makes the skin tender.

Steamed apples are served for baked apples in many of the best hotels and restaurants, as they retain their color and flavor much better than when baked.

Baked Apples With Meltose Dressing

Select sweet apples of the same degree of hardness and remove the cores. Unless the skins are very tender, it is best to pare them. Water sufficient to cover the bottom of the baking dish should be added if the fruit is not juicy. Bake in a quick oven. Cover the first ten minutes, then remove the cover and finish baking. Serve with Meltose Dressing.

Apple Tapioca

1/4 cup pearl tapioca (or minute tapioca)

1 quart quartered apples 1/2 cup sugar.

3 cups water.

Soak the tapioca, unless the minute tapioca is used. Cook in 1 cup water until the tapioca, is transparent. Pour it over the apples in a baking dish. Add sugar and 2 cups water and bake slowly.

Maple Apple

1 cup maple syrup.

1 cup water.

4 medium sized apples.

Pare and core the apples. Heat the water and syrup to the boiling point. Drop the apples into the heated liquid, turning often in order to insure cooking uniformly. Remove the apples when tender. Allow the liquid to cook down to a syrupy consistency, and pour over the apples.

Almond Apple

8 tart apples 1 1/2 cups sugar 1 1/2 cups water.

1/2 pound almonds 1 lemon.

1 tablespoon cornstarch.

Core and pare the apples. Cut the lemon in half and rub the apples with the lemon to prevent discoloration. Make a syrup of the sugar and water. Cook the apples in the syrup. Remove from the syrup when done, and place in a pudding dish. Press obliquely into them the blanched almonds split into halves. Dredge the apples and almonds with sugar, and brown in the oven. Add 1 cup water and 1 teaspoon lemon juice to the syrup. Moisten the cornstarch with a little cold water and add to the hot syrup. Cook 5 nunutes. Place the apples in a serving dish and pour the syrup around them. Serve cold with or without whipped cream.