DESSERTS AND FOOD VALUE.—Very often dried fruits and nuts are used as accessories after a meal. Under these conditions they are digested often with difficulty, because the meal itself has taxed the digestive organs. These foods should be considered as a part of the meal and should not be added after enough other foods have been eaten. Not only dried fruits and nuts but other desserts often prove distressing, not because they are unwholesome, but because too much food has been eaten.

PRUNE PUDDING

1 cupful cooked prunes, seeded and chopped 1/2 cupful sugar 1 cupful chopped nuts 1/2 cupful milk or prune water 1 teaspoonful vanilla 1 tablespoonful butter or substitute, melted 3 crackers (rolled fine) or 1/2 cupful dried bread crumbs 1 teaspoonful baking powder Salt

Mix all the ingredients. Pour into a buttered baking-dish. Place the baking-dish in a pan of hot water. Bake in a moderate oven for 20 minutes, or until the mixture is firm. Serve hot or cold with plain or whipped cream.

DATE PUDDING

1/2 cupful sugar 1 egg 2 tablespoonfuls milk 1/3 cupful flour 1 teaspoonful baking powder Salt 1 cupful dates, seeded, and cut in pieces 1 cupful California walnuts, chopped

Mix the sugar, milk, and egg. Mix the remaining ingredients; then add to the first mixture. Mix, and turn into an oiled baking-dish or pan. Bake in a moderate oven from 30 to 40 minutes or until it is firm. Serve hot or cold with plain or whipped cream.

QUESTIONS

How many dry, uncooked prunes are required to make 1 cupful of cooked prunes? (See Questions, Lesson XVII.)

What are the prices per pound of figs and dates?

How many will the above recipes serve?

What ingredients in these puddings scorch readily? Why is Prune Pudding surrounded with hot water during baking?