BUTTER ICING When I buy the canned icing, (and Ive bought it only once), I always think Im buying

butter icing. This has got to be the most common icing around. When I said that everyone I knew could make 7 Minute rosting, that didnt mean that everyone I knew actually made it. Most la!y "eo"le made butter icing. I have always been a la!y cook, but Ive never made butter icing. This is not because Im ambitious# its because butter icing is too, too sweet $or me. Mom never made it. Which makes me "ause to note that in our $amily, no one had a %sweet tooth&. Mom used very little sugar in her baking and cooking. This was "rimarily because sugar was e'"ensive and her (e"ression )urvivor instincts o"erated against e'travagance. (uring the war (WWII), sugar and butter were among the $oods rationed and we were given ration cards that were made u" o$ cou"ons (much like a card o$ transit tickets, only each ticket, or cou"on was smaller). *ou had so many tickets $or sugar and so many $or butter and so on. *ou were not su""osed to e'change cou"ons with other "eo"le, but this was something di$$icult to monitor, so everyone e'changed cou"ons. We always had a sur"lus o$ sugar cou"ons, but we always ran short o$ butter cou"ons. The +lassen $amily lived on the $arm and had cows and so they made their own butter. There$ore, they had a sur"lus o$ butter cou"ons. They were all victims o$ the sweet tooth, however, so were always short o$ sugar cou"ons. ,aturally, we traded our sugar cou"ons $or their butter cou"ons. The -rowns dont have a sweet tooth (or teeth), they have .butter teeth/ VANILLA BUTTER ICING: 4 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons scalded cream pinch of salt 2 cups sifted icing sugar teaspoon vanilla

Cream butter till soft. Add salt. Work sugar into butter alternately with the hot cream.

CHOCOLATE BUTTER ICING: Use above recipe but add 2 ounces melted unsweetened chocolate after part of the cream has been added. !educe vanilla to " teaspoon. COFFEE BUTTER ICING: #ake as vanilla but substitute 2 tablespoons very hot strong coffee for the 2 tablespoons cream. MOCHA: #ake the vanilla icing sifting 2 tablespoons cocoa with the sugar and substituting 2 tablespoons hot coffee for the cream.