“Far too much sugar is used in food. Cakes, sweet puddings, pastries, jellies, jams are active causes of indigestion. Especially harmful are the custards and puddings in which milk, eggs and sugar are the chief ingredients.

“The free use of milk and sugar taken together should be avoided.”

Desserts made of tart fruits and bread should be avoided by those with a tendency to acid stomach.

Elizabeth’s Indian Pudding—Superior

• 2 qts. milk
• 1 cup corn meal
• 2 tablespns. flour
• ¼–½ cup butter
• 1 egg
• ? cup molasses
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ teaspn. salt

Mix meal and flour, pour 1 qt. boiling milk over, stirring; boil well, add butter; combine egg, molasses, sugar, salt and the remaining quart of milk and add to the corn meal mixture; bake for 2 hrs., stirring occasionally. Serve warm or cold, plain or with cream, nut or dairy.

? Corn Cake Pudding

Use 2 eggs and 3 tablespns. sugar to each quart rich milk and turn over crumbs, dice or small pieces of corn cake; sprinkle top with sugar and bake in moderate oven until eggs are set. May use currants and raisins.

? Brown Bread Pudding

• 1 cup brown bread crumbs
• 1 pt. milk
• 3 tablespns. sugar
• 2 or 3 eggs
• salt

Add stiffly-beaten whites of eggs last; bake in pan of hot water or in slow oven, covered part of the time; serve warm with hard sauce or cold with whipped cream.

Victoria Dessert—Impromptu

• 1 cup milk
• 2 or 3 eggs
• 1 tablespn. sugar
• salt
• slices of stale bread

Cut slices of bread into desired shape and size; soak in mixture of milk, eggs and sugar until moistened, not soft; lay in hot buttered pan and brown delicately in quick oven; serve at once with fresh fruit, jelly, marmalade or suitable fruit or pudding sauce.

2 whites of the 3 eggs may be left out and beaten stiff with sugar and some fruit marmalade or jelly and used as a sauce. Drained canned peaches or apricots, rubbed through a colander and beaten well make a nice sauce, especially with a little whipped cream. Even nicely stewed apples are good.

? Steamed Crumb Pudding

• 1 pt. hot milk
• 1–1¼ cup dry bread crumbs
• ¼–½ cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• ½ teaspn. vanilla

If bread was very light, the larger quantity of crumbs will be required. Pour milk over crumbs, add sugar, cool; add beaten eggs and vanilla. Steam in large or small molds 1–1½ hr. Unmold, serve with orange, hard, jelly, foamy, plain or any desired sauce. Vanilla may be omitted. Fine cut raisins or citron, dried blueberries, English currants or any desired fruit (about ½ cup) may be added to the pudding sometimes; also fresh red or black raspberries, blueberries or blackberries.

Steamed Cabinet Pudding

• 3 eggs
• 3 tablespns. sugar
• 3 cups milk
• 1 cup fruit (currants, raisins, citron), chopped fine
• 3 pts. stale bread or cake crumbs
• salt

Beat eggs, add sugar, salt, milk, pour over crumbs, let stand 1 hr. Use 1 tablespn. of softened butter in oiling a three-pint mold; sprinkle mold with fruit, pour in batter, steam in vessel of hot water in oven for 2 hrs. Serve with creamy sauce.

Plain Boiled or Baked Custard

• 1 qt. milk
• 3–4 eggs
• 3–4 tablespns. sugar

Beat eggs with sugar just enough to blend whites and yolks, add milk, stir until sugar is dissolved; cook, stirring over hot water until the custard thinly coats the spoon; remove quickly from fire, add flavoring if desired and strain into pitcher or glass sauce dish; serve cold.

Or, pour hot milk slowly stirring, over beaten eggs and sugar, strain and pour into buttered custard cups, set in pan of hot water, bake slowly until creamy all through, or till a silver knife will come out clean when run into custard. Do not allow the water around the cups to boil at any time. Cool as rapidly as possible. The straining of custards has much to do with their smoothness and lightness. If the boiled custard should curdle from too long cooking, beating with the dish in cold water may restore the smoothness, but not the flavor.

In making a large quantity of custard, set as soon as creamy into cold water and stir until below the coagulating point or the custard will become curdled by its own heat.

Custard of Yolks of Eggs

• 1 pt. milk
• 2 tablespns. sugar
• yolks of 3 eggs

Follow directions for boiled custard. The custard may be served with an uncooked meringue of the whites of the eggs, sprinkled with chopped candied cherries or dotted with jelly.

? White Custard

The white of 1 egg with ? to 1 tablespn. of sugar and a trifle of salt, to every ? or 1 cup of milk. (Good with either quantity of milk.) Bake in pan of hot water in very slow oven for 40 m. to 1 hour, according to heat of oven and shape and size of dish.

Corn Starch Custard

• 1 qt. milk
• 4 tablespns. sugar
• 1½ tablespn. corn starch
• 1 egg
• salt

Blend corn starch with a little of the cold milk and pour slowly into remainder of milk heated to boiling with the sugar; boil up well, or cook in double boiler 10 m., add a little to the beaten egg, and when smooth, turn egg all at once into hot mixture; stir well, remove from fire, add salt and flavoring and strain.

Cocoanut Banana Dessert

Add grated cocoanut to corn starch custard. Fill deep glass dish with layers of custard and bananas, and sprinkle cocoanut over the top. Serve cold.

Lemon Water Custard

• 4 or 5 tablespns. lemon juice with water to make 1 cup
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 whole eggs and 1 yolk
• salt

Beat eggs and sugar together, pour hot lemon juice over, stirring; cook, strain, turn into dish or glasses. Just before serving drop on sweetened beaten white of egg and dot with squares or diamonds of jelly.

Coffee Custard

• 1 cup cereal coffee
• 1 level tablespn. sugar
• 2 eggs
• ½ teaspn. vanilla

Steep 2 tablespns. cocoanut in coffee and strain out if convenient. Boil or bake. Serve with whipped cream.

? Floating Island

• 1 qt. milk
• 3 eggs
• 4 or 5 tablespns. sugar
• flavoring

Beat whites of eggs stiff with half the sugar, flavor, drop by spoonsfuls on to hot (not boiling) milk; when puffed a little, turn with silver fork, remove with skimmer or wire spoon when well heated through. Turn milk into double boiler, add yolks and sugar, cook, strain, cool. When cold, flavor and turn into large dish or several glasses; lay puffs on top and dot with jelly or some confection, or sprinkle with chopped candied cherries. A few fresh rose leaves scattered over are not unsuitable.

? Floating Island No.2

• 1 pt. milk
• 3 eggs
• ¼ cup sugar
• ½ glass jam or jelly

Make boiled custard of yolks, sugar and milk; when cold, flavor or not and turn into glass dish. Beat whites of eggs to stiff froth and beat in any desired jam or jelly. Beat until very firm, drop on to custard. Serve with cake or wafers.

Raspberry jelly or jam with 1 tablespn. currant jelly makes a nice combination for flavor. The dish may be lined with lady fingers or slices of sponge cake before custard is poured in. Water may be used instead of milk for the custard.

Custard Apple Pudding—Good Sabbath Dessert

Cook without paring 3 medium sized apples in as little water as possible; press through sieve, add 2 tablespns. butter, ¼–½ cup sugar and the yolks of 3 eggs beaten with ¼ cup sugar, with 1 pt. of milk and ½ teaspn. of vanilla or a few drops of lemon extract; bake in moderate oven until creamy, cover with meringue of whites of eggs beaten with 1 tablespn. of sugar; dust with powdered or granulated sugar and brown delicately. Serve cold.

Orange Pudding

• 1 qt. milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 level tablespns. corn starch
• 2 or 3 eggs
• 4 large oranges
• salt
• 1 tablespn. powdered sugar

Heat ¾ of milk with ? of sugar to boiling and stir in slowly corn starch which has been blended with the remaining cup of milk, boil up well and cook in double boiler for 10 m., then add yolks of eggs which have been beaten with ? the cup of sugar; when well heated through, remove from fire and cool. Grate rind from one orange and mix with a little of the remaining sugar; prepare orange pulp according to directions on p.42, and put into glass dish or individual glasses and sprinkle with remaining sugar; when custard is cold turn it over the oranges, and just the last thing before serving sprinkle the peel over the custard and pile on it in spoonfuls (or put on with pastry tube) the whites of the eggs beaten stiff with a speck of salt and the powdered sugar; Serve at once.

Sprinkle meringue with cocoanut sometimes, or decorate with leaves of angelica or diamonds of citron. The custard may be delicately flavored with vanilla. Other fruits may be used.

Banana Pudding

Same as orange pudding, using 3 tablespns. cornstarch only. Pour unflavored custard over sliced bananas warm, so that the custard will be flavored with the banana.

Hattie’s Prune Dessert

Stew 1 lb. nice large California prunes in as little water as possible; drain, remove the stones and chop the prunes, not too fine. Beat the whites of 3 eggs to a stiff froth with a little salt and ¼ cup of sugar. (Be sure to use the sugar in the eggs instead of in the prunes.) Chop prunes in lightly, bake in pudding dish or brick shaped granite pan in slow oven until egg is set, about 20 m. Serve cold with plain or whipped cream. Almond cream flavored with vanilla is nice.

Prune SoufflÉ

Stew 28 prunes in as little water as possible; drain, rub through colander. Add the whites of 4 eggs stiffly-beaten with 4 to 6 tablespns. sugar, set in pan of water, bake slowly until set. Serve with egg cream or custard sauce or whipped cream.

Fruit Whips

Dried Apple—2 cups sifted, stewed, dried apples (stewed in small quantity of water), ½–1 cup sugar, 1 tablespn. lemon juice if 1 cup of sugar is used, whites of 2–4 eggs. Beat all together until light and spongy, heap in glass dish. Serve cold with or without custard sauce or cream. Dried peaches, apricots and prunes may be used the same.

Use only 2 tablespns. of sugar for each cup of prunes.

Banana—White of 1 egg, ¼ cup sugar, 1 teaspn. lemon juice, 1 cup banana pulp. Nice on cake.

Cranberry—½ cup thick, sweetened, cooked pulp to white of 1 egg.

Whips must be beaten until they hold their shape. They are nice served on bread puddings, custards and other desserts, instead of a meringue or a sauce.

The rule for fruit whips is, 1 cup of fresh or stewed fruit pulp to the white of each egg, sugar to suit the fruit, and a little lemon juice with sweet fruits; but the proportion of fruit often needs to be varied.

Fresh pears and peaches may be used by rubbing through the colander or mashing well.

? Jelly Whips, or Mary’s Desserts

Quince—1 glass of quince jelly, whites of 3 eggs; beat jelly a little, and whites very stiff and dry; combine the two and beat together until stiff. Make custard of 1 pt. of milk, yolks of 3 eggs, 2 tablespns. sugar; when cold put into glasses with whip on top. Sterilized cream may be used instead of custard, or whip may be put into glass first and whipped cream piled on top of that. Serve with crackers or cake.

Other jellies may be used the same.

Brother Fulton’s Strawberry Fluff

• whites 2 eggs
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 pt. strawberries

Mash berries with sugar and add to unbeaten whites in deep cake bowl; beat with egg or batter whip until the mixture will stand alone, very light and fluffy. Serve in glasses with cake or wafers, or as meringue, garnish, or sauce for other desserts. Strawberry fluff makes a nice garnish for strawberry shortcake. Raspberries and other fruits may be used.

Strawberries and Cream Whip

• 1 pt. ice cold cream
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup mashed fresh strawberries

Add sugar and berries to cream, whip as for whipped cream and serve in sherbet glasses.

Apple Cream

Pare, quarter, core and steam 12 tart apples, rub through colander, cool, add 1 cup sugar and whites of 2 eggs, beat until white and foamy; heap in cold glass dish. Garnish with chopped candied cherries, bits of jelly or with citron or angelica. Serve very cold.

Rose Apple Cream

Steam red skinned apples without paring for above recipe. Pile on glass dessert plate and surround with whipped cream roses flavored delicately with extract of rose.

Lemon Snow Pudding

• 2–2¼ tablespns. lemon juice
• 1 cup water
• 1¼ tablespn. corn starch
• ½ cup sugar
• white of 1 egg

Heat sugar and water to boiling, stir in the corn starch blended with water, boil up, add lemon juice and pour gradually, beating, over the stiffly-beaten whites of eggs. Beat well and pour into molds or cups, cool. Serve with custard or red sauce or cream.

Pudding may be garnished with halves of candied cherries.

Birds’ Nest Pudding

Pare and core 6 or 8 tart apples. Steam until nearly tender. Set in oiled pudding dish and cover with the following

Cream butter and flour, pour boiling milk over, cook 5 m.; remove from fire and add yolks of eggs. When cold, chop in the stiffly-beaten whites of the eggs, turn over apples and bake in a slow or moderate oven about ½ hour or until done. The success of the pudding depends upon the slow baking. Serve at once with hard, creamy or any suitable sauce, or with sweetened sterilized cream. Do not sweeten the apples or batter. With some flours and some measurements, ½–1 tablespn. more of flour will be required.

Sponge Apple Pudding

Fill pudding dish half full of quartered sour apples that have been steamed until tender. Fill dish with a sponge cake batter and bake until well done. Serve with custard, almond, cream or other sauce. May use peaches sprinkled with sugar instead of apples, with thin meringue on cake and no sauce.

Lemon SoufflÉ Pudding—Unequaled

• ¼ cup butter
• ½ cup flour
• 1½ cup milk
• grated rind of 1 lemon
• 3 tablespns. lemon juice
• 3 eggs
• ¼ cup sugar
• salt

Cream butter and flour and pour the boiling milk over; cook until thick; add lemon juice and rind and yolks of eggs beaten with the sugar; cool a little, chop in whites of eggs beaten to a stiff froth with salt; bake in buttered mold in pan of water in moderate oven until egg is set, about 30 m. Serve with foamy or fruit Sabayon sauce, fruit syrup or egg cream sauce.—Boston Cooking School Magazine.

Cream Sponge Pudding

• 4–5 tablespns. corn starch (according to quality)
• 1 qt. milk
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup sugar or none
• salt

Thicken boiling milk and sugar (if used) with corn starch stirred smooth with some of the cold milk, boil 3–5 m.; add beaten yolks of eggs, beat well and pour over stiffly-beaten whites, turn into wet molds or cups. Serve with fruit or other sauce if not sweetened, or if sweet with cream.

Fruit Juice Mold

• 1 cup rich fruit juice
• 1 cup water
• sugar
• salt
• 4 level tablespns. corn starch
• whites of 2–3 eggs

Heat juice, sugar, salt and water to boiling; stir in corn starch blended with cold water; boil well, pour over stiff whites of eggs, beating; mold. Serve with custard or whipped cream flavored with strawberry, orange, lemon or vanilla or not flavored at all, as suitable.

Snow Blanc Mange—No Milk

• 1 pt. boiling water
• 6 level tablespns. corn starch
• ¼ cup cold water
• ? cup sugar
• whites 3 or 4 eggs
• ½–¾ teaspn. vanilla with or without a few drops almond extract

Thicken boiling water and sugar with corn starch blended with cold water; boil well, pour over the stiffly-beaten whites of the eggs, beating, add flavoring and turn into wet mold. Serve with custard of yolks of eggs flavored with vanilla or a few drops of lemon extract.

Blanc Mange may be garnished with small dice or diamonds of citron.

Flour Blanc Mange

• 1 pt. milk
• 2 tablespns. flour
• 1 egg
• salt

Stir flour blended with part of the milk into remainder of milk when boiling; cook 10–20 m. in double boiler; add egg slightly beaten, heat a moment and turn into cups dipped in cold water; serve cold with any desired dressing. In making a larger quantity, use a slightly larger proportion of flour.

Rice Flour Pudding

• 4 tablespns. rice flour
• 1 cup cold milk
• 1 qt. boiling milk
• 1 tablespn. butter
• 2 eggs
• ¾–1 cup sugar
• flavoring
• salt

Add sugar to boiling milk and stir in the flour blended with the cold milk; boil 5 m.; add butter, beaten eggs and salt; bake 20 m. or until firm. Serve with strawberry or blueberry sauce or with cream. Butter may be omitted.

Corn Starch Meringue

• 1 qt. milk
• 2 tablespns. corn starch
• 6 tablespns. sugar
• 3 eggs
• flavoring

Heat milk and 4 tablespns. of sugar to boiling; stir in corn starch blended with cold milk; boil; add the yolks of eggs, flavor, turn into serving dish; cover at once with whites of eggs beaten with 2 tablespns. of sugar; tint delicately on top grate of oven. Serve cold. The meringue may be sprinkled with grated cocoanut while warm. May use 1 tablespn. more of corn starch and lay drained canned peaches on top of pudding before putting on meringue. Other fruits, jellies or jams may be used.

Sea Foam—Sea Moss

Pour hot Irish Moss Blanc Mange, p.308, over stiffly-beaten whites of eggs. Flavor with almond, orange flower water or other flavoring. Mold. Serve with anything suitable for Irish Moss Blanc Mange.

Eva’s Tapioca Cream—none better

• 4 tablespns. minute, pearl or flake tapioca (3 only of cassava or manioca)
• 1 scant cup of warm water
• 1 qt. milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspn. vanilla
• salt

Soak tapioca in water (pearl or flake 2 hrs., minute or manioca 10 m.) and cook with milk and sugar in double boiler until transparent; add beaten yolks, stir for a moment, remove from fire, add vanilla and pour into serving dish, cover with the whites of eggs beaten with 1–1½ tablespn. sugar. Tint on top grate of oven. Serve cold.

Tapioca Cream—in glasses

• 2 tablespns. tapioca
• scant cup water
• 1 qt. milk
• 3 eggs
• ½–1 cup sugar
• flavoring
• salt

Soak tapioca in water, cook in the milk with half the sugar in double boiler until clear; add beaten yolks of eggs, remove from fire and while hot or when nearly cold pour over whites which have been beaten with the remaining sugar; flavor and serve in glasses.

Beaten whites may be chopped into cold custard just before serving, or, they may be served on top of it.

Water Tapioca Pudding—Excellent

• 6 tablespns. tapioca
• 5 cups water
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• flavoring

Soak tapioca in 1 cup of the water, cook in remainder with sugar until transparent, add beaten yolks (it is better to reserve a spoonful of sugar to beat with the yolks), flavor and pour into pudding dish. Meringue with whites of eggs beaten with 1–2 tablespns. of sugar, flavored or not. Lemon juice or other fruit juices may replace some of the water for variety. Stewed or steamed raisins may be sprinkled over the pudding before the meringue is put on, but the plain pudding is good enough.

Molded Tapioca Pudding—Fine

• ½ cup minute tapioca
• 2 cups milk
• 1–1? cup water
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• a few drops of lemon extract
• ¾ teaspn. vanilla

Pour a good quantity of warm water over tapioca, soak 10 m., drain and put to cooking with milk, water and sugar; cook until perfectly transparent, stir in beaten yolks of eggs, remove from fire, add flavoring, chop in the whites of eggs beaten with 1 tablespn. of sugar; turn into wet mold or cups. Serve plain, garnished with nuts or jelly, or with nut or dairy cream, custard, or some fruit whip or egg cream.

? Cottage Pudding—Eggs

Take 1 egg and ½ cup of sugar to each cup of milk in universal crust. Bake in any desired shape and serve with lemon or other sauce. The sugar may be omitted for some sauces. A different pudding may be made by steaming instead of baking.

Steamed Fruit Pudding

To ingredients for universal crust add 1 or 2 tablespns. of sugar (white or brown) and 1 or 2 eggs for each cup of liquid—milk or water, and flour for a thick batter. When light, mix in carefully floured fresh blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, cranberries, cherries or sliced peaches; dried blueberries, cherries, raisins or currants; or drained canned cherries. Steam in well oiled molds or cups—cups ¾ hour, mold 1 hour. Serve with sauce suitable for the fruit.

The batter for Washington cake may be used sometimes.

? Quaker Pudding

• 6 eggs
• 9 or 10 tablespns. pastry flour
• 1 qt. milk

Beat all together. Bake in moderate oven. Serve with sauce.

Batter Pudding

• 4 eggs
• 1½ cup sifted flour
• salt
• 1 pt. milk

Beat eggs for 3 m.; add the milk and pour on to flour gradually, beating. Turn into well oiled mold with cover and steam or boil 1½ hr. Serve with suitable sauce.

Cocoanut Rice Pudding

• 3 pts. milk
• ? cup rice
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1½ cup grated cocoanut
• 1 teaspn. vanilla
• salt

Cook rice in milk until very soft, cool; beat 2 whole eggs and the yolks of the other 2 with the sugar, cocoanut and salt and add with the vanilla to the rice. Turn into pudding dish and bake in moderate oven until eggs are set. Cover with a meringue of the remaining whites of eggs and 1 or 2 tablespns. of sugar. Tint delicately in oven. Serve warm or cold.

Grind desiccated cocoanut when using that instead of fresh. 1–1¼ cup of cold boiled rice may be used. Vanilla maybe omitted.

Rice Custard Pudding

Same as above with cocoanut omitted. 1 cup of raisins, whole or chopped, may be cooked with the rice sometimes.

Rice Pudding—Lemon Meringue

• 1 cup boiled rice
• 1 good pt. of milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 2–2½ tablespns. lemon juice

Pour hot milk over rice in pudding dish. Beat yolks of eggs with ? of the sugar flavored with oil of lemon, as on p.27, and add to rice and milk. Bake in slow oven until creamy; beat whites of eggs stiff, add sugar and lemon juice, drop by spoonfuls on pudding and brown delicately.

Sweet Potato Mold

• 2 lbs. potatoes
• ½ cup butter
• ½ cup sugar
• 5 eggs
• flavoring
• 1 pt. thin cream

Boil and mash potatoes, add butter while warm, beat well; beat eggs with sugar and add to mixture; then flavoring, Vanilla or lemon, and cream. Bake in pudding mold in moderate oven. Serve with sauce or cream.

Dainty Dessert

Bake rose flavored sponge cake in flat pan, cut in squares and serve with Imperial Raspberry Cream, p.307.

Cottage Cheese and Cake

Spread creamy, unseasoned, sweetened cottage cheese over sponge cake, cut into squares and serve with whipped cream. Molasses or Washington cake may be used.

Molasses Cake with Whipped Cream

Serve fresh, warm, molasses cake with sweetened whipped cream flavored with vanilla.

Molded Apples

Grind (not too fine) tart apples, put at once into boiling syrup of equal quantities of sugar and water, just enough to cook apples and leave dry. Do not stir. When thick, turn into mold to cool; unmold and serve with boiled custard or with unsweetened whipped cream.

Apple Dessert

Stew nice, tart apples in quarters, in just enough water without sugar to cook them, or, steam them; serve cold with plain sweetened egg cream or boiled custard. Apples may be pared, cored and steamed.