by: Victor Carlton

Whether it's a party, a quiet day in the house or just cruising downtown with friends, there's always an occasion (or excuse) to gratuitously munch on chocolate.

Everyone loves chocolates, especially the types made from those secret vintage recipes. Listed below are a few of such.

CHOCOLATE JELLY WITH CRYSTALLIZED GREEN GAGES

Dissolve in a quart of water three tablespoonfuls of grated chocolate and let it come to a boil. Simmer for about ten minutes. Add a cup of sugar and a box of gelatin (that has been softened in a cup of water) and strain through a jelly bag or two thicknesses of cheese-cloth. When almost cold, add a dessertspoonful of vanilla and a tablespoonful of brandy. Then whisk well, add half a pound of crystallized green gages cut into small pieces and pour into a pretty mould. When cold serve with whipped cream.

CHOCOLATE MARBLE CAKE

Put one ounce of chocolate and one tablespoonful of butter in a cup, and set this in a pan of boiling water. Beat to a cream half a cupful of butter and one cupful of sugar. Gradually beat in half a cupful of milk. Now add the whites of six eggs beaten to a stiff froth, one teaspoonful of vanilla, and a cupful and a half of sifted flour, in which is mixed one teaspoonful of baking powder. Put about one-third of this mixture into another bowl, and stir the melted butter and chocolate into it. Drop the white-and-brown mixture in spoonfuls into a well buttered deep cake pan, and bake in a moderate oven for about forty-five minutes; or, the cake can be baked in a sheet and iced with a chocolate or white icing.

MRS. BEDFORD'S CHOCOLATE CRULLERS

Cream two tablespoonfuls of butter and one-half of a cupful of sugar; gradually add the beaten yolks of three eggs and one and one-half cupfuls more of sugar, one cupful of sour milk, one teaspoonful of vanilla, two ounces of chocolate grated and melted over hot water, one-third of a teaspoonful of soda dissolved in one-half of a teaspoonful of boiling water, the whites of the eggs whipped to a stiff froth, and sufficient sifted flour to make a soft dough. Roll out, cut into oblongs; divide each into three strips, leaving the dough united at one end. Braid loosely, pinch the ends together and cook until golden-brown in smoking-hot fat.