Madeleines.—Four ounces of butter, four ounces of the best flour, three ounces of sugar, a teaspoonful of orange-flower water, the yolks of four eggs, and rind of a lemon. Beat butter, sugar, and yolks of eggs together, then add the other ingredients; grate in the rind of half a lemon, and add the well-beaten whites of eggs last of all. Fill little moulds that have been buttered with washed butter, cover the tops with split almonds and sifted sugar; bake from thirty to forty minutes in a moderate oven. These cakes are sometimes served hot with apricot sauce.

Chestnut Croquettes.—Boil fifty sound chestnuts; take them out of the shells; reject all imperfect ones; keep the large pieces aside; pound the crumbs and most broken pieces with an ounce of butter till very smooth; then mix in a small cup of cream two ounces of butter and one ounce of powdered sugar; put the whole into a double boiler, and stir in the beaten yolks of six eggs. Let the mixture set. When cool, make it into balls; in the centre of each ball put a piece of the chestnut you have laid aside, dip the balls in fine cracker meal and eggs, and fry a very pale yellow. Serve with sifted sugar.

Very pretty cakes, very easily made, which come under the French term petits fours, may be given here.

Petits Fours.—Make rich cake mixture thus: Wash three quarters of a pound of butter to free it from excess of salt; squeeze it dry in a cloth; beat it with the hand till creamy; add three quarters of a pound of powdered sugar; beat till light; then beat in ten eggs, one by one, and sift in a pound of dried and sifted flour. When all are well beaten together, the paste or batter is ready for use. Line some shallow pans (those used for making rolled jelly-cake are best) with buttered paper; spread a layer of the mixture just as you would for jelly-cake, but much thicker, as when baked the sheets should not be more than the third of an inch thick. Bake slowly. When done, remove from the oven, but leave the cake undisturbed till cold. If the sheets are large, they may be cut exactly in half, spread thinly with some stiff marmalade or jelly; quince or apricot is best, but any rich flavor with some tartness will do; lay one half on the other, and press closely and very neatly together. Do each sheet of cake in the same way, varying the marmalade if you choose. Have ready a bowl of icing (either boiled French icing or what is called royal icing). Dust the top of the cakes with flour, which must be brushed off again, as it is only to absorb the grease. Flavor the icing with vanilla, and lay it on the centre of the cake; let it run over it, aiding with a knife dipped in water (shaking off the drops, however). The icing needs to be very neatly done, and must not be thicker than a twenty-five-cent piece. Now color the icing in the bowl pink, with a little cochineal, add a drop or two of extract of bitter almond or of lemon, either of which will agree with the vanilla that was in the white icing; then ice another sheet of cake in the same way; a third may be done with chocolate icing.

The beauty of these cakes will depend on the way they are cut. You may choose to make them tablets an inch wide and three inches long, or in lozenge shape—the true diamond—but in either case the cutting must be exact. The best way to have it so is to mark the lines very lightly with the point of a penknife on the icing, using a measure. Trim off the edge of the cake with a sharp knife, so that it is neat all round, no excess of marmalade oozing out, or tears of icing running down. Then warm a sharp carving-knife (I am supposing the cake is on a board), and cut through the lines you have marked, without hesitation, so that there may be no crumbs or roughness, which slow, over-careful cutting causes. When cut up you should have, if neatly done, an assortment of very delicious and ornamental cakes.

FRENCH SWEET SAUCES FOR PUDDINGS, ETC.

Sauce MadÈre À la Marmalade.—A half-pound of apricot marmalade; half a tumbler of Madeira or sherry; boil three minutes, then pass through a sieve, and serve as sauce to soufflÉes, cabinet puddings, etc.

Sauce des Œufs au Kirsch.—Beat the yolks of eight eggs, put them in a saucepan with half a tumbler of kirsch, five ounces of powdered sugar, and half the rind of a lemon grated. Stir all in a double boiler till the mixture sticks to the spoon; then remove from the boiling water; stir for a minute to prevent curdling; then it is ready to serve.

Chaudeau Sauce.—Take two whole eggs, six yolks of eggs, and eight lumps of sugar (each one rubbed on lemon-peel), two pints of Chablis, and the juice of half a lemon; beat them over a slow fire in a double boiler till a light froth is formed; be very careful the eggs do not curdle when the boiling-point is reached; take the sauce off the fire, and continue beating for a minute or two. If small streaks appear on the froth the sauce is done. Stir in a tablespoonful of fine rum, and the sauce is ready to serve.

Sherry Sauce for Puddings.—Six yolks of eggs, one ounce of sugar, half a pint of sherry, and the thin peel of a lemon. Beat the eggs with the sugar; when the wine is warm, stir them into it (let the lemon-peel steep in the wine while warming); stir all together till as thick as cream; then remove from the fire, and take out the peel. In making all these sauces with eggs the same precaution is required as in making custard.

Wine Sauce, No. 2.—Three gills of water, one cup of sugar, one teaspoonful of corn-starch, and one gill of wine. Mix the corn-starch with a little water; pour the rest boiling to it, stirring till smooth; then add the sugar, and boil for five minutes; then add the wine and a few drops of essence of lemon and the same of cinnamon. Use these flavorings drop by drop, as they differ in strength too much for an exact quantity to be given, and the taste must be the guide. Rum or brandy may be used instead of wine; then the cinnamon is omitted.

Apricot Sauces.—Half a small jar of apricot jam or marmalade; dissolve it in three quarters of a gill of water with the juice of a lemon; stir in three quarters of a gill of rum. This sauce is simply made hot, not boiled, and may be served cold with Baba or Savarin cake. Greengage marmalade may be substituted.

Whipped Sweet Sauce.—Put the yolks of four eggs into a double saucepan with two ounces of sugar, one glass of sherry, the juice of one lemon, and a speck of salt; beat all together; then set the saucepan over the fire, and whisk the sauce till it is a creamy froth, when it is ready to serve.

Very Fine Sweet Butter Sauce.—Wash four ounces of butter; squeeze it dry; beat it to a hard sauce with half a pound of powdered sugar; then put the yolks of two eggs in a cold bowl; stir it a minute, then add to it a little of the hard sauce; when well mixed add more, about a teaspoonful at a time; when the hard sauce is blended with the yolks of eggs, stir in by degrees a wineglass of brandy or rum. Keep on ice till wanted.

Vanilla Cream Sauce.—Put half a pint of fresh cream to boil, reserving a tablespoonful; mix this with a teaspoonful of flour; stir it into the cream, with a tablespoonful of sugar, when near boiling; when it boils, stir for five minutes or ten in a double boiler; then pour out the sauce, and stir in a small teaspoonful of vanilla and a few drops of extract of rose or a teaspoonful of rose-water. Observe that the rose is used to give a different tone to the vanilla, and not to impart its own flavor, therefore very little must be used.

Almond Sauce.—Dissolve four ounces of almond paste in half a pint of sweet cream by stirring in a double boiler (the almond paste should be grated first); when both are hot, add a tablespoonful of sugar and the yolk of an egg; stir till the egg thickens, then remove from the fire and serve.