quarter of a pound of sugar to a pint of currants, to make
them sufficiently sweet. Green currant pies are good sweetened with
molasses and sugar mixed.

250. _Prune Pie._

Prunes that are too dry to eat without stewing, can be made into good
pies. Turn enough boiling water on the prunes to cover them, set them on
a few coals, and let them remain till swelled out plump. If there is not
water sufficient to make a nice syrup for the pies, add more, and season
them with cinnamon or cloves. The juice and grated peel of a lemon gives
them a fine flavor. Add sugar to the taste, and bake them in deep pie
plates.

251. _Pumpkin Pie._

Halve the pumpkin, take out the seeds--rinse the pumpkin, and cut it
into small strips--stew them, over a moderate fire, in just sufficient
water to prevent their burning, to the bottom of the pot. When stewed
soft, turn off the water, and let the pumpkin steam, over a slow fire,
for fifteen or twenty minutes, taking care that it does not burn. Take
it from the fire, and strain it, when cool, through a sieve. If you wish
to have the pies very rich, put to a quart of the stewed pumpkin two
quarts of milk, and twelve eggs. If you like them plain, put to a quart
of the pumpkin one quart of milk, and three eggs. The thicker the pie is
of the pumpkin, the less will be the number of eggs required for them.
One egg, with a table-spoonful of flour, will answer for a quart of the
pumpkin, if very little milk is used. Sweeten the pumpkin with sugar,
and very little molasses--the sugar and eggs should be beaten together.
Ginger, the grated rind of a lemon, or nutmeg, is good spice for the
pies. Pumpkin pies require a very hot oven. The rim of the pies is apt
to get burnt before the inside is baked sufficiently. On this account,
it is a good plan to heat the pumpkin scalding hot when prepared for
pies, before turning it into the pie plates. The pies should be baked as
soon as the plates are filled, or the under crust to the pies will be
clammy. The more the number of eggs in the pies, the less time will be
required to bake them. If you have pumpkins that have begun to decay, or
those that are frozen, they can be kept several months, in cold weather,
by cutting the good part up, stewing it till soft, then stirring it, and
adding sugar and molasses, to make it very sweet. Make it strong of
ginger, then scald the seasoning in well. Keep it in a stone jar, in a
cool place--whenever you wish to use any of