I find the generality of ordinary puddings are dreadfully insipid. It is not at all necessary that this should be the case. And flavouring is cheap enough. Appearance, too, is a great thing. The sense of sight, smell, and taste can easily enough be gratified with very little trouble. And when one takes into consideration that our health depends on the way in which our food is prepared, it becomes an actual matter of duty to take the necessary trouble to prepare it properly, and bringing both intelligence and taste to bear on the subject.

1. Currant and Apple Tart.

Make a nice short crust of Coombs' Eureka Flour, thus—half a pound of flour, three ounces of butter, one egg well beaten, a pinch of salt, and one teaspoon of castor sugar. Make it into a nice dough with milk. Put in a pie dish one layer of dry currants well washed and picked, a little grated lemon peel, and a few drops of lemon juice, then a spoonful of treacle and a few very fine bread crumbs, then a layer of sliced fresh apples, and again the currants, and so on till the dish is full. Cover with the paste rolled thin, and ornament prettily on the top with the paste nicely cut out, etc., etc. Bake a nice golden brown, and when a little cool sprinkle castor sugar over the top. Serve with a nice custard or cream.

2. Cabul Cassalettes.

Put half a pound of dried apricots to soak for about four hours, pour the water in which they have been soaked into an enamel saucepan, about a cupful. Add half a pound of sugar, a little grated lemon peel, and the juice of half a lemon. Let it get into a syrup, then add the fruit, and let it simmer gently for one hour. Make a nice puff paste of Coombs' Eureka Flour, roll out thin, and line some nice shaped patty pans, well greased, with the paste; prick it with a fork to prevent it blistering. Put it in a quick oven and bake a pretty golden brown, turn out of the pans, and fill the cases with the apricot stew; then well whip some cream very stiff, put it smoothly over the top of each, so that it looks like white foam, and then sprinkle over all either crushed crystallised violets or chopped pistachio nuts. Both are pretty, or do half with the violets and half with the nuts. Arrange them neatly in a glass dish, with a dish paper under. These are very pretty, and very delicious, and simple to make.

3. Fried Almond Rings.

Make a paste thus—half a pound of Coombs' Eureka Flour, two ounces of butter, two ounces of sugar, a quarter pound of almonds ground to a paste. Mix well together. Add one well-beaten egg, with just enough milk to make the mixture into a good dough, roll out about a quarter of an inch thick, stamp out some rounds about the size of the top of a tumbler, then take some smaller rounds and stamp out the inside so as to form rings. Fry these rings in a bath of boiling lard a pale golden colour, drain them on a sieve, and sprinkle well over with castor sugar. Serve on a dish paper neatly. The inner rounds may be put on a well floured baking tin, and baked in the oven as biscuits. So there need be no waste. They are nice both ways.

4. Digestible Plum Pudding.

Put one tablespoon of crushed loaf sugar into a pan. Let it get quite brown, but do not let it burn. Add to it one pint of hot milk; stir well till the sugar dissolves in the milk. Have ready three ounces of fine florador dissolved in enough milk to make it like thick cream; stir this into the milk as it is on the point of boiling. Let it get very thick; stir in two ounces of fresh butter, quarter a pound of sultanas washed and picked, quarter a pound of currants washed and picked, two ounces of citron peel chopped small, half a grated nutmeg, the grated rind of half a lemon, two well beaten eggs; stir all well (but do not put in the eggs till the pudding is a little cool, as they will curdle), put it in a well greased plain mould, and steam till well set and firm. Turn out on a dish, and ornament with glacÉ cherries, angelica, etc., etc. This is a very digestible plum pudding, and may be safely eaten by invalids, who dare not touch ordinary plum pudding. It is in the opinion of some very much nicer than the usual Christmas puddings.

5. Plain Florador Pudding.

Put one tablespoon of crushed loaf sugar into a pan. Let it get brown, but do not let it burn, then add one pint of hot milk. Have ready three ounces of fine florador (semolina will do) mixed with enough milk to make it like thick cream, stir it into the milk just as it comes to the boil, let it thicken, then add two ounces of butter, a little more sugar to taste, and any flavouring approved of. Turn it into a pie dish, and bake in the oven a nice brown on the top. Let it cool a little, and sprinkle over the top some hundreds of thousands, and serve.

6. Boiled Banana Pudding.

Make a crust thus—a half pound of Coombs' Eureka Flour, a pinch of salt, and a quarter pound of chopped suet. Mix well with enough water to form it into a dough, roll out thin, line a plain well-greased pudding mould with the paste, and fill in thus—some nice ripe bananas cut in slices, a few cloves, the grated rind of half a lemon, the juice of one lemon strained, one tablespoon of castor sugar, a small cup of water. Cover over the top with paste, tie with a cloth wrung out of boiling water. Steam for about two hours. Turn out carefully, and serve with a nicely flavoured custard.

7. Banana Custard.

Well mash two bananas into a complete pulp. Put with one pint of milk and the well beaten yolks of three eggs sugar and vanilla flavouring to taste. Stir well. Put it into a pan, and put the pan into a larger one with boiling water in it. Stir all the time for twenty minutes, and pour it into custard cups. This is very delicious and novel.

8. Cocoa-nut Rice.

Boil a quarter pound of small rice in one pint of milk till quite soft. Then add two ounces of butter, sugar to taste, and three ounces of desiccated cocoa-nut. Stir well, and pour into a plain mould that has been rinsed with cold water. Let it get cold. Turn out of the mould into a glass dish, decorate with pretty sweets, such as those sold by Messrs. Clark Nicholls and Coombs, or Mr. E. Roberts of Camberwell.

9. Cocoa-nut Macaroni.

Boil half a pound of macaroni in water till tender, drain, put it in a pie dish. Mix with it a quarter pound of desiccated cocoa-nut. Well beat up two eggs with rather more than a half pint of milk, with sugar to taste. Pour it over the macaroni, and see that it is well covered. Put a little dab of butter here and there over it. Bake it in the oven a nice colour. Let it cool a little, and sprinkle castor sugar over it, or any pretty fruits.

Vermicelli will answer the purpose quite as well.

10. Cream Rolls.

Get as many nice plain, round, smooth, little rolls as you may require. Cut a little piece off the top of each with care; now scoop out the crumbs out of each with very great care, and also take off any crumbs there may be on the pieces cut off the tops. Well beat two eggs with about one cup of milk. Add a little sugar to taste. Put the custard in a bowl, dip each roll and the piece cut off in the custard, but not enough to moisten it so that it gets too soft. Now fry all of them in a bath of boiling lard a nice golden brown. Drain on a sieve. When cold, fill each one up thus—a little guava jelly at the bottom, and then cream whipped stiff and flavoured with a little sugar, the grated peel of half a lemon, and a little lemon juice. Then put on the top that was cut off, sprinkle over with castor sugar. Serve on a dish paper. These are delicious.

11. Semolina Cup Puddings.

Put on one pint of milk in the pan, with two ounces of fresh butter and sugar to taste, and some grated rind of lemon to taste. Have ready about three ounces of semolina mixed with enough milk to make it like thick cream. Pour it into the milk just as it comes to the boil; stir well, and let it get very thick. Pour into very small cups that have been rinsed in cold water. When cold, turn out in a glass dish, neatly, and pour over it a nicely flavoured custard, and grate over the top a little nutmeg. Each cup can be decorated with dried fruit if desired, but it is very simple and nice as it is.

12. Cream Cake Pudding.

Make a cake thus—one pound of Coombs' Eureka Flour, a quarter pound of sugar, a quarter pound of butter. Mix well together; add three well beaten eggs with enough milk to make the mixture like very thick whipped cream. Pour it into a well-buttered quite plain pudding mould (tin), bake a nice colour, let it stand about ten minutes, and then turn out. Next day scoop out all the inside, leaving a wall of cake about one and a half inches thick; fill this up as follows—a layer of strawberry jam, then a layer of thick cream, till it is filled up; cover the top with cream, and smooth with a wet palette knife; decorate the top with two nice strawberry sweets in the middle, and some half moon almond paste sweets laid round the edges, either plain or interlaced, by putting a second round over the first, then stick three long pieces of angelica, and make a tripod handle. This is pretty and nice.

13. Boiled Vermicelli Pudding.

Boil a quarter pound of Vermicelli in about half a pint of milk till soft, sweeten a little, then make a custard thus—two eggs well beaten, half a pint of milk, vanilla to taste, also a little castor sugar. Pour the custard over the vermicelli; stir well together; pour it into a mould that has been well greased. Steam for about one hour or more till quite set. Take great care in turning it out, as it is apt to break. Ornament with dried cherries cut in half, and chopped pistachio nuts, or with pretty sweets.

14. Florador Custard Pudding.

Boil one pint of milk. Have ready two ounces of fine florador, mixed with enough milk to make it like cream; stir this into the milk as it comes to the boil; let it thicken. Now take it off the fire; stir in two ounces of fresh butter, sugar and flavouring to taste. Well beat up three eggs, and when the florador is cooled a little, mix in the eggs with it. Pour into a pie dish, and bake in the oven till set and of a nice golden brown. When a little cool, sprinkle over the top a little castor sugar that has been made a pretty pink by adding a drop of cochineal to it in a dry state, and rubbing it with the fingers.

15. Orange Fritters.

Get two or three nice large oranges, peel them carefully so as not to break the inner part. Divide into skeins, and carefully take off all the white pithy part, but on no account break the skin. Make a batter thus—quarter pound of flour, the yolks of two raw eggs, one tablespoon of olive oil. Mix it with enough cold water to make it a stiff batter. Whip the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth, with a pinch of salt, and add this to the batter; stir and use; dip each skein of orange in it, and fry in a bath of boiling lard a nice golden brown; drain on a sieve. Serve on a dish paper, and sprinkle all over with castor sugar; better still, roll each skein in castor sugar. This is uncommon, and nice.

16. Pine Apple Sweet.

Put into a pan a quarter pound of butter, with a quarter pound of sugar, and two ounces of fine florador; stir well till it gets quite smooth, then add four slices of pine-apple that have been mashed to a complete pulp and passed through a sieve; add a spoonful or two of water, and let it cook till the florador is quite done and looks clear. Pour into a mould that has been rinsed in cold water. When quite cold, turn out with care in a glass dish, surround the dish with cream, nicely flavoured with pine-apple flavouring. Decorate with either dried fruits or pretty sweets.

17. Apple Sweet.

Exactly the same as the pine-apple, only using apples boiled and pulped instead. About four good sized apples will be needed, and the cream flavoured with lemon. Decorate in the same way, or with pink and white cocoa-nut chips.

18. Pumpkin Tart.

Make a puff paste of Coombs' Eureka Flour, and line a nice sized shallow tin pan with it. Grease the pan well; prick the paste to prevent it blistering; bake a nice colour and turn out of the pan. Fill up with a mixture made thus—boil one pound of nice ripe yellow pumpkin till soft; pass it through a sieve. Add to it half a pound of sugar, the grated rind of a small lemon, the strained juice of a lemon, the strained juice of an orange, a few cloves. Boil till it looks nice and clear; take out the cloves, and fill the mixture into the paste case. Cover over neatly with well whipped cream, and sprinkle over the top some chopped pistachio nuts.

19. Jerusalem Artichoke Jelly.

Nicely peel one and a half pounds of Jerusalem artichokes, and throw them into cold water as you do them, else they discolour. Boil them till soft; drain and mash them to a complete pulp. Add one pound of castor sugar, and boil till the artichokes get quite clear. Mix with them a good deal of vanilla flavouring to overcome the artichoke flavour; taste it so as to have it right; then put the mixture into a greased plain mould. Let it get cold before turning out; dip it for one instant in very hot water so as to melt the grease, and turn out in a glass dish. Decorate with nice dried crystallised fruits. This is nice, and is nutritious.

20. Banana Pancakes.

Well mash two bananas to a pulp, mix up a quarter of a pound of flour, two eggs well beaten, yolks and whites separately, the whites to a froth; mix with enough milk to make a stiff batter. Add the bananas to it, and fry in lard or butter a golden brown; turn over neatly; drain on a sieve. Serve on a napkin or dish paper; sprinkle well over each some castor sugar. Serve with sliced lemon.

21. Coffee Cream Puddings.

Boil one pint of milk, have ready three ounces of fine florador mixed with just enough milk to make it like thick cream; stir it into the milk just as it comes to the boil, stir well till it gets very thick, stir into it two ounces of fresh butter, sugar to taste, and enough coffee essence to give it a good flavour, and a few drops of almond flavouring. Pour into small plain Darrol moulds that have been rinsed in water, let them get quite cold and set. Turn them out on a glass dish; put on the top of each a spoonful of thick whipped cream, and a glacÉ cherry in the middle.

22. Chocolate Cream Puddings.

The same as the last, but instead of coffee put in two ounces of good cocoa, flavour with vanilla, and decorate each little mould with pistachio nuts, blanched and cut in strips, and stick all over the little moulds like porcupine quills.

Cream may be served with these separately.

23. Sponge Cake and Banana Pudding.

Crumble up half a dozen sponge cakes, cover them with a custard made thus—two bananas mashed to a pulp, two eggs well beaten, one pint of milk, sugar to taste, and vanilla flavouring. Pour over the sponge cakes, stir well together, put over the top little dabs of butter here and there; bake a nice brown. Decorate with pink castor sugar sprinkled over the top.

24. Strawberry Cream Pudding.

Mix some cochineal with ordinary clear plain jelly; line a plain mould with this. Let it set about a quarter of an inch thick, then fill up the mould with the following—half a pound of strawberries passed through a sieve; mix with one cup of good thick cream, sugar to taste, and a little liquid jelly. Mix well together, and pour it in the lined mould. Let it get quite cold and set; dip the mould into hot water for a second; whip the water off, and turn out on a glass dish. Decorate with leaves and flowers of the strawberry.^[1]

^[1] Raspberries can be done the same way.

25. Hen's Nest Pudding.

Get some egg shape moulds, fill them with a mixture made as recipe No. 11, only using fine florador instead of semolina. When cold, turn in thus—cut into thin chips some pale lemon and orange peel, so as to resemble straw as much as possible. Take off all the sugar, put the chips in a glass dish (a round one is best), form them as much as possible like a nest, and lay the eggs in them. Serve with a nice custard in custard glasses separately. This is a pretty dish when well made. Some use jelly cut in strips instead of the peel, but it must be very carefully done to look nice.

26. Fancy Sweets.

One pound of Coombs' Eureka Flour, half a pound of sugar, half a pound of butter; mix these well together, then add four eggs, yolks and whites separately, the whites beaten to a stiff froth; mix with enough milk to make the consistence of stiff whipped cream. Take out a third of the mixture, and colour a nice pink with cochineal, and flavour with a few drops of almond essence, also put in a few blanched almonds cut in half; the rest of the mixture flavour with lemon, and put in some glacÉ cherries cut in half. Well butter a square and shallow cake tin, pour in half the plain mixture with cherries, let it spread and flatten, then pour the pink mixture on the top of that, let that also spread and flatten, and then pour the rest of the cherry mixture on the top; smooth with a wet knife and bake till set and a nice colour. Leave it for about ten minutes, and turn out. Let it get quite cold, then cut it into small squares; smooth the top of each by cutting it quite even. Then pour over each an icing made thus—half a pound of confectioners' sugar, with about two tablespoons of water, stir well; just let it boil up, and cover the tops of the cakes smoothly; then sprinkle over the top with pink chip cocoa-nut, hundreds of thousands, pistachio nuts, or crushed crystallised violets, each cake with a different decoration. This is a pretty dish, and very nice.

27. Sago Jelly.

Boil a quarter pound of small sago in one quart of water till quite clear and thick—if too thick add a little more water—but it must be very thick and stiff. Now add a half pound of sugar, the juice of three oranges strained, a drop or two of oil of oranges, a pennyworth of saffron that has been dissolved in a wine glass of boiling water and strained, some almonds blanched and cut into thin strips. Mix all well together, and pour into a plain mould that has been rinsed with cold water. Let it get quite cold and set, and turn out on a glass dish. Decorate with chow-chow according to fancy.

28. Sweet made of Bread.

Cut some slices of stale bread of a close texture, stamp it out in neat rounds, soak it in one egg well beaten in a small cup of milk, fry in lard a golden brown. Now cover over each any kind of jam that is liked best. Cover with whipped cream and ornament with a sprinkling of pink chip cocoa-nut, or to make it of two different colours the cream can be coloured with a few drops of cochineal, and ornament with white chip cocoa-nut. This is a very simple and pretty sweet.

29. Chestnut Souffle.

Boil about thirty chestnuts in water till soft. Remove the shell and outer skin; pound the nuts in a mortar with a few drops of orange flower water. Well beat the yolks of three eggs. Add them to the chestnuts with enough sugar and almond flavouring to taste. Stir into the paste about one pint of milk. Now beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth, and stir in gradually. Pour the mixture into a soufflÉ dish and bake a nice colour. Serve direct from the oven, as a soufflÉ falls in getting cold, and is spoilt.

30. Treacle Balls.

A half pound of Coombs' Eureka Flour, a pinch of salt, half a teaspoon of ginger powder, the grated rind of a small lemon, a quarter pound of treacle. Mix well together, add two well beaten eggs, form into small balls, and fry in a bath of boiling lard a golden brown. The balls will swell a little in cooking. Sprinkle well over with castor sugar, and serve.

THE END.

Printed by Cowan & Co., Limited, Perth.

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