Some people prefer to cook the fondant for peppermints, but it is much easier to make a fondant that does not require cooking. Here is a simple way to prepare it.

Break the white of an egg into a dish, add a few drops of peppermint extract. Stir in a confectioner's sugar, and gradually add more sugar until the mixture can be molded easily. Roll it with a rolling pin, and stamp it into rounds with a small cutter. Place the candies on waxed paper and let them dry.

Sometimes we make popped corn and wish we knew how to make it look attractive to serve. Here is one way of making it delicious.

Put one cup of granulated sugar, one cup of water, and 3/4 cup of corn syrup into a saucepan and stir constantly until it is dissolved. Cook until the candy forms a rather soft ball when tried in water, or until the thermometer reads 240'. To test it, roll between the fingers in cold water.

Remove from the fire, add a teaspoonful of vanilla and pour slowly over the popped corn, stirring it well. If you moisten your hands with cold water, it is easy to press a lump of corn into a ball.

Combine 1 cup of granulated sugar with 1 cup of corn syrup and 1 tablespoon of vinegar and stir constantly over medium heat to dissolve sugar.

Then cook until a few drops crackle when dropped into cold water or mixture registers 300 degrees F. on a thermometer.

Remove from heat and quickly stir in 1 tablespoon of baking soda. Pour mixture into a buttered dish and allow to cool before breaking into pieces.

Open a package of dates, wash them in warm water and remove the stones by cutting along the side with a sharp knife. Put a small piece of walnut inside each date, pressing the sides together again. Then roll each date in sugar.

The dates may also be stuffed with peanut butter or nuts of different kinds.They are very good when stuffed with preserved ginger and cherries chopped together, figs or shredded coconut finely chopped or salted almonds.

Melt 1 oz. of gelatin in a cup of cold water and put this into a saucepan with one pound of fine sugar and the juice of an orange and a lemon. Boil it up three times and then simmer it about twenty minutes till sticky. Butter a soup plate and pour half the mixture into it.

Color the remainder with a few drops of coloring, pour it on to the rest and set it to stiffen.

Then warm the plate slightly to loosen it, turn it on to paper dusted with icing sugar, cut it into squares, and sugar these also. Store it in a tin.

Bring to a boil, stirring frequently, 1 pound of loaf sugar, three dessert spoonfuls of glucose, and a small teacupful of water. Test it by dropping a little into cold water. If it hardens, add one gill (1/2 cup) of cream and 1/2 oz. of butter.

Boil again, stirring frequently, until a little turns brittle when dropped into cold water.

Flavour with vanilla extract and pour the caramel onto an oiled marble slab. Cut into squares and wrap in oiled paper.