HOT DESSERTS

FARINA CROQUETTES

Put two cupfuls of milk and half a teaspoonful of salt into a double boiler. When the milk is hot add half a cupful of farina, and moisten with a little milk to make it smooth. Cook about twenty minutes, or until it is well thickened, then add the yolk of an egg. When it is cold mold it into small croquettes. Roll the croquettes in egg and white bread crumbs, or cracker dust, and fry in smoking-hot fat to a bright yellow color.

Serve with maple sugar scraped from the cake.

HUCKLEBERRY PUDDING

Mix well the sugar, salt, and baking powder with the flour, then rub in a teaspoonful of butter, and stir in quickly enough milk to make a batter which will drop from the spoon. Add the berries well floured, and turn the mixture into a greased quart pudding-mold. Steam or boil it for half an hour.

It should be mixed quickly and the water should not be allowed to fall below the boiling-point while the pudding is cooking. Serve with any pudding sauce.

CHOCOLATE BREAD PUDDING

Scald the milk and turn it over the bread, broken into small pieces. Let it soak until the bread is soft, then beat it with a fork to a smooth pulp and add the chocolate, melted, the sugar, vanilla, and yolk of the egg, also a dash of salt. Lastly fold in the white of the egg whipped to a stiff froth.

Bake in a moderate oven for thirty minutes.

COCOANUT BREAD PUDDING

Pour a cupful of scalded milk over a cupful of broken bits of crumb of bread. Let the bread soak until softened, then beat it to smoothness. Add a cupful of grated cocoanut, half a cupful of sugar, a teaspoonful of lemon juice, and the yolks of two eggs. Mix well, and then add the whites of the eggs whipped to a stiff froth. Bake in a moderate oven for thirty minutes. Serve hot or cold.

FIG PUDDING

Weigh three eggs; take the same weight of butter, sugar, figs, and of crumb of bread. Chop the figs, put a little hot water on them, and cook them to a pulp. Grate the bread to very fine crumbs. Mix together the butter and sugar, add the yolks of the eggs, then the figs and the crumbs, and lastly the whites of the eggs whipped to a stiff froth. Turn the mixture into a covered quart mold, and steam for two and a half hours; or put it into individual timbale molds, set them into a pan of water, cover them with a greased paper, and cook in an oven for thirty minutes, or until firm to the touch. At the moment of serving pour over them a little rum or brandy and light it with a taper.

Serve with wine sauce, or with any other pudding sauce.

GREEN-GAGE PUDDING

Butter well a quart granite-ware basin. Arrange on the bottom a layer of green-gage plums (California canned plums), then fill the dish heaping full of the crumb of stale bread cut into dice. Beat two eggs enough to break them, and mix them with two cupfuls of milk. Pour the egg and milk mixture slowly over the bread with a spoon, so the bread will soak up the liquid. Set the pudding-dish in a pan of water and bake in a moderate oven for thirty minutes. Let it stand a few minutes, then invert it on a dish and do not lift it off the tin for a few minutes longer. Serve with a sauce made of a cupful of juice from the can, with a heaping tablespoonful of sugar added to it and then boiled until clear.

TAPIOCA PUDDING WITH PRUNES

Soak three tablespoonfuls of tapioca in cold water for two hours. Use two and a half cupfuls of water. Stew dried prunes until they begin to swell. Add to the soaked tapioca (there should be four heaping tablespoonfuls of it) three tablespoonfuls of sugar, one teaspoonful of butter, and two cupfuls of milk or water. Spread a layer of prunes over the bottom of a quart pudding-dish, then fill the dish with the tapioca mixture and bake it twenty-five to thirty-five minutes in a slow oven.

SAUTÉD BANANAS

Select bananas that are not quite ripe. Peel and cut them in two lengthwise. Put a tablespoonful of butter in a sautÉ-pan; when it bubbles add a tablespoonful of sugar and lay in the bananas. When the bananas are tender take them out carefully and lay them in an even row on a hot dish. Add half a cupful of cream to the pan and mix it well with the butter and sugar. The sugar should be cooked enough to give a caramel flavor. Add two or three tablespoonfuls of sherry, or just enough to take away the very sweet taste. Pour this sauce over the bananas.

BAKED BANANAS, No. 1

Select bananas that are not quite ripe, detach the skins. Bake the bananas in the skins for twenty to thirty minutes, or until tender but not soft. Turn them out of the skins, lay them in an even row on a hot dish, and pour over them some melted currant jelly.

BAKED BANANAS, No. 2

Mix two tablespoonfuls of butter with three tablespoonfuls of sugar and two tablespoonfuls of lemon juice, and place it on the fire to melt the butter. Peel bananas and lay them uncut in a baking-pan; pour over them the buttered mixture and bake them until tender, basting them frequently. Place them in an even row on a flat dish and pour over them the liquor from the pan.

BAKED QUINCES

Peel and core the quinces, then cut them in halves and bake them in a pan with a very little water until tender.

When they are cooked, spread the tops with butter and a plentiful amount of sugar. Serve hot. Pass butter and sugar.

SOUFFLÉS

SoufflÉs are one of the most elegant dessert dishes. They are esteemed for their delicacy rather than their richness, and the difficulty in making them gives them distinction, as they are usually presented only from the hand of an expert cook. There is no reason, however, that any one should not succeed in making a perfect soufflÉ, though it is one of the popular delusions that they are very difficult to make. With intelligent care about the heat of the oven, a soufflÉ can be made with less trouble than is given to many other simple desserts. The whites of eggs must be beaten until filled with air. They are then placed in a moderate oven, where the heated air expands and puffs up the whole mass. The baking is continued until the air-cells are enough hardened to support the weight, and the dish must be served at once and before the imprisoned air cools and the mass collapses.

STRAWBERRY SOUFFLÉ

Beat to a stiff, dry froth the whites of as many eggs as needed, allowing one white for each person and one for the dish, then fold in lightly enough strawberry jam to sweeten it; or use strawberry pulp and sugar. Turn it into a pudding-dish and bake in a moderate oven for twenty minutes. Serve at once. The soufflÉ must go directly from the oven to the table.

FRUIT AND OTHER SOUFFLÉS

To the whipped whites of eggs may be added half the number of yolks and powdered sugar enough to sweeten, or chocolate, or any jam, or softened jelly, or fruit juice, or the pulp of any fruit with the juice drained off. Fruit must be pressed through a purÉe sieve to make the pulp fine and soft.

BURNING PEACHES

Place California canned whole peaches and the juice in a deep dish. Just before serving pour over them some brandy or rum and light it with a taper.

BURNING CHERRIES

Serve California white cherries in the same way as directed above for peaches.

COLD DESSERTS

APPLES RICHELIEU

Take out the cores of well-flavored apples and cut them crosswise into halves. Simmer them in sugar and water until tender. Let them cool. Lay several pieces of sliced blanched almonds straight, at regular intervals, upon the flat sides of the apples. Sprinkle them with powdered sugar and set them in the oven a minute to brown the sugar. Place candied cherries cut in halves upon the apples between the almonds. Just before serving put spoonfuls of whipped cream at intervals on a flat dish and place the cold apples upon the cream; or press the cream through a pastry-bag in circles around the apples.

STEWED APPLES, No. 1

Select apples of uniform size and shape. Remove the cores and peel them carefully. Put them into hot water with sugar and lemon juice. Cook them slowly until tender, but not so long that they lose shape. When they are cold fill the centers with sweetened and flavored boiled rice and cover them with apricot or any jam. Sprinkle them with blanched almonds cut in strips.

STEWED APPLES, No. 2

Prepare the apples as for No. 1. Fill the centers with well-flavored apple purÉe, or with apple jelly mixed with chopped raisins. Sprinkle them with granulated sugar and stick into them blanched almonds cut into strips and slightly browned.

Serve with cream, if convenient.

Apple purÉe and apple jelly can be made from the parings and cores of the apples. Put these trimmings in a saucepan with a little water and cook them to a pulp. Press the pulp through a sieve for the purÉe, or strain it through a cloth for the juice. Return the juice to the fire, let it boil a minute, then add half a pound of hot sugar to a cupful of juice. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, and boil until a few drops put on a cold plate jelly. Turn it into glasses to set.

BAKED APPLES

Peel and core good-flavored, tart apples. Put a small piece of butter in each one and sprinkle them with sugar so they will brown well. Put them in a pan with a little water and bake until tender, then remove and put on each one two drops of almond extract. Add a little sugar to the water in the pan and cook it down to a thick syrup, then strain it slowly over the apples to glaze them; or stick three cloves into each apple before baking them, and omit the almond extract; or fill the centers with the sugar, lemon peel, and stick cinnamon before baking, or with blanched almonds and raisins after baking.

Put a pound of pulled figs in a bowl and cover them with water. Let them soak for several hours, or until they are softened and expanded, then press each one into natural shape and pile them on a dish. Take the water in which they were soaked, add enough sugar to sweeten it, and a thick slice of lemon. Boil it until it is a good syrup, then pour it over the figs. Let the figs cool before serving. Or to each cupful of fig water add a cupful of sugar and boil it to the crack, then pour it slowly over the figs. This will give them a coating of sugar. Serve with whipped cream flavored with kirsch.

The figs, being very sweet, are improved by using a flavoring which is sharp like lemon or kirsch. If lemon is used, pour the juice over the figs, as it will curdle the cream if mixed with it.

COMPOTE OF APRICOTS

Prepare dried apricots the same as directed for compote of pears. Place half a blanched almond in the center of each piece to imitate a pit.

COMPOTE OF PEARS

Soak dried California pears in water overnight, or for several hours until they swell to natural shape. Arrange them symmetrically on a dish, or around a form of rice, as in illustration. To the water in which the pears were soaked add enough sugar to make it sweet, and boil it down to a syrup, then add a teaspoonful of lemon juice. Pour the hot syrup over the fruit. Serve cold.

Cut bananas into slices one quarter of an inch thick. Arrange them in a pile in the center of the dish and place around them spoonfuls of whipped cream. The cream may be flavored with sherry or vanilla, but use no sugar, as the fruit is sweet enough without it.

STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM

Mix enough sugar with cream to sweeten it thoroughly, and then whip it until it is stiff and dry. A half pint of cream is enough for a quart of berries. When ready to serve, mix the berries in the cream and serve them piled on a flat dish.

PEACHES AND CREAM

Cut peeled peaches into slices and put them in the ice-box. Add as much sugar to a half pint of cream as will be needed to sweeten the peaches. Whip the cream to a stiff froth. At the moment of serving, mix together lightly the peaches and cream; or an hour or more before serving, mix the cream and fruit, put it in a covered mold, and pack in ice and salt. Use but little salt, for the object is to make the peaches very cold, but not to freeze them.

BREAD AND JAM TARTLETS

Cut very light bread into slices one quarter of an inch thick. Stamp these pieces into rounds with a biscuit-cutter. Put them in a sautÉ-pan with a little butter, and brown them on both sides. When they are cool, spread them with any kind of jam or preserved fruit, and just before serving ornament them with whipped cream pressed through a pastry-bag and star tube.

Cut quarter-inch slices of bread into rounds and moisten them with sherry or maraschino. Pile chopped pineapple in cone shape on each round of bread. Canned, fresh, or stewed pineapple may be used. Dilute the juice strained from the fruit with a little water, and sweeten it to taste. Add a teaspoonful of arrowroot moistened with cold water to a cupful of pineapple liquor. Boil it until thickened, then with a spoon pour it slowly over the cones. Serve hot or cold.

CORNSTARCH PUDDINGS

Dissolve two heaping tablespoonfuls of cornstarch in a little cold water or milk and turn it slowly, stirring all the time, into a pint of scalding milk in a double boiler; add three tablespoonfuls of sugar and a dash of salt. Stir until it is thickened, then let it cook for half an hour, or until it has lost the raw taste of the starch, then add the whipped whites of two eggs and a half teaspoonful of vanilla, and cook it a few minutes longer to set the eggs.

No. 1. The cornstarch is molded in cups; when unmolded a piece is taken out of the top of each one, and the holes are filled with currant jelly, and jelly is placed on the dish around the individual puddings. This gives a good sauce as well as a nice effect of color. Any jelly, jam, or preserved fruits may be used in place of the currant jelly.

No. 2. Lay a line of seeded raisins on the bottom of a ring-mold before turning in the cornstarch; or mix with the cornstarch some chopped citron, currants, and raisins. Fill the center of the ring with whipped cream, or with plain boiled custard.

No. 3. Mold the cornstarch in a bowl. Decorate it with candied cherries and angelica. Serve with it cream, sweetened milk, custard, or preserved fruit.

No. 4. Add to the cornstarch two squares of melted chocolate and a tablespoonful of sugar. Decorate the mold with split blanched almonds. Dip the almonds in a little half-set gelatine to make them adhere to the mold. Put the mold into hot water for a second to soften the gelatine before unmolding the pudding. Serve with whipped cream or sweetened milk.

PEACH PUDDING

Cover the bottom of a pudding-dish with canned peaches. Take half the juice from the can, add to it two tablespoonfuls of sugar, and boil it to a thick syrup.

Make a custard, using two cupfuls of milk, the yolks of two eggs, and a heaping tablespoonful of cornstarch. Cook in a double boiler for half an hour, or until it is quite thick and the raw taste of the cornstarch is gone, then add a little of the peach syrup to sweeten it, and a few drops of almond extract. Sprinkle the peaches with blanched almonds cut in pieces, pour over them the syrup, then the custard. Cover the top with meringue made of the whites of two eggs and three tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar. Brown the meringue. Serve the pudding hot or cold.

TAPIOCA PUDDING

Soak the tapioca in cold water for several hours or overnight. Boil the soaked tapioca in the milk until it is soft, then add the beaten yolks of the eggs, the sugar, cream, and wine, and lastly the whipped whites of the eggs.

Turn the mixture into a pudding-dish. Set the dish in a pan of water and bake twenty to twenty-five minutes. Serve cold.

RICE PRUNE PUDDING

Spread stewed prunes over the bottom of a basin or mold, then fill the mold with boiled rice. Press the rice in just hard enough to make it hold its shape. Turn it out of the mold and serve it hot or cold, with the sweetened juice of the prunes as sauce; or press the rice into a bowl or mold, and arrange the prunes around the form after it is unmolded, as in illustration No. 129; or arrange it as in illustration No. 130.

JELLIED APPLE PUDDING

Add to one and a half cupfuls of strained stewed apples the juice of an orange, the grated rind and juice of half a lemon, three tablespoonfuls of sherry, three quarters of a cupful of sugar, and two tablespoonfuls of granulated gelatine which has been soaked for an hour in half a cupful of cold water and then dissolved in half a cupful of hot water. Stir the mixture until it begins to thicken, then fold in the whites of three eggs whipped to a stiff froth, or a half-pint of whipped cream. Turn it into a mold.

Serve it with whipped cream.

PINEAPPLE PUDDING

Grate a pineapple fine. Mix well together a cupful of sugar and four eggs, then mix them with the pineapple pulp. Turn the mixture into a mold, set the mold into a pan of water and bake it slowly until stiffened like a baked custard. When cold unmold it and decorate it with whipped cream.

SAVARINS

Take some brioche dough (page 209) and add enough milk to make it almost soft enough to drop from the spoon. Add sugar, raisins, chopped citron, and a little lemon juice. Work all well together.

Butter some earthen cups, sprinkle them with sliced blanched almonds, half fill the cups with the savarin dough, and let it rise to double in size. Bake in a hot oven.

Turn them out of the molds, and while they are warm dip them in a syrup made of one cupful of sugar syrup, three tablespoonfuls each of kirsch, maraschino, and curaÇao, or flavor with any other liqueurs preferred. When the savarins are well soaked place them on a sieve to drain.

BABAS

Take brioche dough prepared as for savarins, and mix with it candied fruits cut into small dice. Butter baba-molds, fill them half full of the mixture, let them rise to double in size, and bake in a hot oven.

Soak the babas in sugar syrup flavored with rum and drain. Place a candied cherry on each one.

Baba-molds are like large individual timbale cups.

COFFEE MOUSSE

Soak the gelatine in the cold water for an hour, then dissolve it in the hot water and add the sugar. When the sugar is dissolved add a cupful of cold, strong, clear coffee. Put the mixture on ice and whip it until it becomes light and frothy and has begun to stiffen, then add the whipped cream and turn it into a mold. The gelatine must be thoroughly whipped, as for snow pudding, and the liquid drained from the whipped cream must not go in. This will make about one and one half quarts of mousse.

PEACH MOUSSE

Use fresh or canned peaches. Mash and rub them through a colander. Add to a cupful of peach pulp half a teaspoonful of lemon juice, a few drops of almond extract, and enough sugar to sweeten it. Dissolve in quarter of a cupful of hot peach juice one and three quarter tablespoonfuls of granulated gelatine which has been soaked for an hour in half a cupful of cold water. Add the gelatine to the peach mixture. When it begins to set, mix it until smooth, then fold in a half pint of cream whipped to a stiff froth, and turn it into a mold. Serve with whipped cream. The cream can be used to decorate the dish by pressing it through a pastry-bag.

Boil for five minutes a pound of French chestnuts, drain off the water and remove the shells and skins. Return the chestnuts to the fire and boil them until tender. Put the boiled chestnuts in a mortar, and pound them to a paste, then add a teaspoonful of vanilla and a teaspoonful of lemon juice. Make a thick sugar syrup, and beat it into the paste, using enough to sweeten to taste. Grease a ring-mold with oil, and put into it a lining half an inch thick of the chestnut paste pressed through a pastry-bag with a tube of small opening so it will come out vermicelli-like in form. Fill the rest of the mold with plain paste. Turn it on to a layer of sponge-cake. Just before serving fill the center of the ring with whipped cream flavored with almond.

CHESTNUT BAVARIAN

Prepare chestnuts as directed for chestnut purÉe. To two cupfuls of the purÉe add one ounce of gelatine which has been soaked for an hour in half a cupful of cold water and then dissolved in half a cupful of hot water. Mix well, and when it begins to stiffen add a pint of cream whipped to a stiff froth, and turn the mixture into a ring-mold to harden. Fill the center with whipped cream, or with chestnuts boiled in sugar and water until they look clear.

CHARLOTTE RUSSE

Mix the sugar with the yolks of the eggs. Scald the milk and pour it over them. Place it on the fire and stir until the eggs are cooked, but not thickened like a custard, then add the gelatine, which has been soaked for an hour in half a cupful of cold water. When the gelatine is dissolved remove it from the fire, add the vanilla, and let it get cold. When the mixture begins to thicken add the cream whipped to a stiff froth, and turn it into a mold lined with lady-fingers or with slices of sponge-cake.

STRAWBERRY CHARLOTTE RUSSE, No. 1

Soak the gelatine in the water for an hour, then set it in a pan of hot water to dissolve. Add to the crushed berries the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and gelatine. Put it aside for a while. When it begins to stiffen, beat it until it is light and spongy, then mix in the whipped cream, being careful not to pour in any of the liquid cream that may have drained to the bottom of the dish. Turn the mixture into a charlotte-mold lined with lady-fingers. When it is unmolded garnish it with whole strawberries.

STRAWBERRY CHARLOTTE RUSSE, No. 2

Line a china or earthen bowl or mold with strawberries cut in halves, and with the flat side of the berries placed close together against the mold. Arrange one or two rows at a time, and then turn in the mixture to keep them in place. Fill the mold with the same mixture used in No. 1; or fill the mold with plain charlotte-russe filling, or with Bavarian cream.

HOW TO MAKE MERINGUES

Put a dash of salt into the whites of five or six eggs and whip them until very stiff and dry, then add slowly a quarter of a cupful of sifted powdered sugar for each egg. The sugar should be placed, a little at a time, at the end of the platter, and gradually whipped in. Continue to whip until the mixture is firm enough to stand without spreading, and any little point left by the beater remains erect. Success depends on the eggs being sufficiently beaten.

The mixture can be made into various shapes with a spoon, but is better molded by being pressed through a pastry-bag. The tops can be smoothed and any irregularities effaced with a clean wet knife. The shapes should be arranged on paper placed on inverted baking-tins, and set in a moderate oven to form a thin crust, and to color lightly the tops, and then placed on the hot shelf of the range to dry. If the meringues stick to the paper, they can be easily removed by wetting the paper slightly.

MERINGUE RING

Place meringue mixture (see above) in a pastry-bag with star-tube. Draw on heavy paper two rings four to six inches in diameter, according to size desired. Any round utensil of right size can be used for guide. Press the meringue through the tube, following the circles marked on the paper. One of the rings—the top one—should be made more ornamental than the other. This is easily done by moving the tube while the mixture is passing through it. With a wet knife make a narrow, smooth, flat surface on the top of the under ring. Lay the papers holding the rings on inverted baking-tins, and put them in a moderate oven for a few minutes to color them and form a crust. Watch carefully that they do not get too brown. When lightly colored, remove them to the hot shelf to dry. When they are sufficiently firm take them carefully off the paper, turn them over, break in the bottoms, then return them to the shelf to continue the drying. Place one ring on top of the other, and just before serving fill the center with whipped cream.

Meringues may be kept for some time, but in that case should be freshened by heating before being used.

If preferred, the upper piece can be made into a cover as in illustration No. 139.

MERINGUE CREAM TART, No. 1

Make meringues (see page 150) of oblong shape, three inches long and two inches wide. After the tops are firm, break in the bottoms in order to dry the insides.

Trim the edges of a round layer of sponge-cake, spread it with jam of any kind, arrange the meringues around it, and at the moment of serving fill the center of the tart with whipped cream. Flavor the cream, if desired. It will take a dozen meringues to make the crown.

Arrange the crown as follows: Put half a cupful of sugar and a quarter cupful of hot water into a saucepan and stir until the sugar dissolves, then let it cook, without stirring, until a little dropped into cold water is brittle; it is then boiled to the crack. Draw the saucepan to the side of the range, so the sugar will be kept hot without cooking any more.

Dip the end of a meringue into the sugar and place it on the cake; hold it in place while you dip a second meringue and place it under the first one. Proceed in this way until all are placed, then put a drop of the boiled sugar on the top of each one where it touches the next one. The whole will then be held firmly in place.

MERINGUE CREAM TART, No. 2

Make meringue mixture into small kisses, leaving the point left by the tube erect.

Spread a layer of cake with jam as in No. 1. Stick a candied cherry on the point of each kiss and arrange them as shown in illustration. Fill the center with whipped cream.

Make oblong-shaped meringues, as for cream tart No. 1. Just before serving, fill them with whipped cream, or with ice cream, and press two together. If necessary, use a little white of egg on the edges to make them adhere.

CHOCOLATE CREAM

Scald two cupfuls of milk. Melt on a dry pan two squares of unsweetened chocolate, add the hot milk slowly to the chocolate, stirring all the time. Let it come to the boiling-point. Beat two whole eggs and two yolks with four tablespoonfuls of sugar, stir the milk and chocolate into the eggs, add half a teaspoonful of vanilla and a dash of salt. Turn the mixture into a mold, set it into a pan of hot water, and cook in a slow oven until it is firm. In order to have it smooth and solid it must bake slowly. Test it by running in the point of a knife; if it is not cooked, it will coat the knife with milk.

Unmold when cold and serve with whipped cream.

CHOCOLATE SPONGE

Make the same mixture as for chocolate cream. Instead of cooking it slowly, put it into a hot oven and cook it until the whey appears. By cooking in a hot oven it will be full of holes and have a sponge-like appearance. When cold, unmold it and let the whey escape. Serve with whipped cream.

BAVARIAN CREAM GARNISHED WITH CREAM-CAKES

Make a Bavarian cream (see “Century Cook Book,” page 400), and turn it into a flat tin to harden. Have it about half an inch thick. When it is set, cut it into pieces two and a half to three inches square, and arrange them, overlapping, in the center of a dish. Place around them small cream-cakes of one inch in diameter.

Cornstarch pudding, jelly, or any mixture firm enough to be sliced can be served in this way. Left-over jelly can be melted and molded again in a layer, or it may be combined with custard, cream, crumbed cake, or anything suitable that may be at hand, and turned into a layer-tin to stiffen; then cut and serve as above. Any small cakes or sliced cake cut into rounds may be substituted for the cream-cakes.

Chocolate Bavarian garnished with small cakes covered with white icing makes a good combination.

PIES AND TARTS

PUFF-PASTE

Puff-paste is made of equal weights of butter and flour. The flour is made into a paste, the butter is worked until it is flexible, and they are then rolled together and folded several times so that many distinct layers of butter and paste are obtained. During the rolling air is imprisoned, and in baking the air-cells expand, separate the layers, and so inflate the pastry.

In order to effect this result, it is necessary to keep the pastry dry and cold, and the butter cold, so that they will not mix in rolling, but be pressed into thin sheets. Careful handling is necessary. Many failures are the result of pressing the paste in spots with the fingers, which prevents its rising evenly, if at all. A marble slab is desirable for rolling the paste on, as it helps to keep it cold.

Either of the following mixtures may be used:

Cut one sixth of the butter into the flour for the paste.

No salt is needed if salted butter is used.

Put the flour on the slab, chop into it, using a knife, one sixth of the butter, then moisten it with the water into which has been stirred the beaten white of one egg. The exact amount of water cannot be given, as that depends upon the dryness of the flour, but care must be taken to have the paste of the right consistency. It should be neither too hard to roll easily, nor so soft that it will stick, but have a flexible, dry consistency. Work it for a few minutes with the hands to a perfect smoothness. Roll it to a rectangular shape (a little longer than broad), and about a half inch in thickness. The paste can be handled with impunity at this stage, and care should be taken to roll it to an even thickness and to have the edges straight and the corners square. When just right, fold it over, wrap it in a napkin, put it in a pan, and place the pan upon ice.

Work the butter with a spoon or a pat until it is smooth and flexible, and press out as much of the water it contains as possible, as this wets the paste and may make it sticky. Mold the butter into a smooth, flattened square cake and set it on ice.

When the paste and the butter are perfectly cold lay the paste on the slab, place the cake of butter in the center, and fold the paste over it, first on the sides, and then the ends. The paste should be long enough to fold the end pieces entirely across the cake of butter. Roll it out into a strip three times longer than broad. Rolling is made easier by lightly pounding as well as rolling the paste. Keep the edges even, and finish by having the corners square and the whole of uniform thickness. Fold the strip twice, making three even layers, and place it on the ice again, wrapped in a napkin, to prevent it from gathering moisture. When it is entirely cold, roll it out again and fold it in the same way. Strike the edges to keep the folds from separating, and turn the paste so as to roll it in the opposite direction from the previous time. Endeavor to keep the edges straight and corners square, so the layers will be even. After each folding and rolling, it is said to have one “turn,” and the pastry is not finished until it has had six to eight turns. The rolling becomes more difficult as the layers get thinner, and great care must be used not to let the butter break through. This will happen if it is not kept very cold; so, unless the rolling is done in a very cold room, it is safer to put it on the ice after each turn. If the butter shows signs of coming through, cover the spot with flour, and set it away at once.

The paste should also be very cold when cut into shapes, so that the edges will not stick together; and again, it should be very cold before being put into the oven.

The oven should be hot. A simple test of the heat is to place a piece of writing-paper in the oven for ten minutes. If at the end of that time the paper is a light yellow, the heat is right for vol-au-vent and large pieces. If it is a light-brown color, it is about the heat used for baking bread, and is right for patty-shells.

After a little practice the making of puff-paste becomes an easy matter. The rolling need not be done all in one day, for if the paste is kept dry and cold, and not allowed to form a crust, it will keep for several days. So many high-class dishes can be made of puff-paste, it is desirable to accomplish the art of making it.

JAM TART

Tart cases may be prepared the same as vol-au-vent cases, page 71, except that the paste should be rolled not more than half an inch thick when ready to be cut; or, instead of cutting the border in the paste, as for vol-au-vents, a strip of paste one inch wide may be laid around the edge. The strips should be cut diagonally on the ends, and these edges moistened so they will stick together where joined. Lay the strip carefully around the slightly moistened border of the bottom piece, paint the top with egg, and bake in a hot oven for thirty minutes. Remove carefully the top of the center, and take out any uncooked paste, return it to the oven to dry the inside.

Before using, heat the tart again to make it crisp, and when cool spread the inside with a layer of any kind of jam or preserved fruit, put on the center piece, which was taken off to get out the uncooked paste, and cover the entire center with jam. Serve it on a lace paper.

TARTLET SHELLS

Use puff-paste trimmings. Roll the paste thin, shape it to the pans, being careful to press the paste as little as possible. Trim the edges with a sharp knife. Put a piece of paper in the bottom of each one, and fill the tartlet cases with dried peas, beans, or rice, and bake in a hot oven ten to fifteen minutes. When well browned, remove the filling, being particularly careful, if rice is used, that every grain is picked off the crusts. Return the shells to the oven for a minute to dry the insides.

These shells can be kept for some time, but should be freshened before using by being heated again. Fill them, just before serving, with any kind of jam or preserve, or with any freshly stewed fruits, or with creamed minced meat.

STRAWBERRY TARTLETS

Use tartlet shells made of any good pastry, puff-paste trimmings preferred. Just before serving, freshen the shells by heating them, if they have been kept some time, and fill with stewed fresh strawberries. Serve the juice separately in a sauce-dish.

To prepare the strawberries, put them in a saucepan and cover them with enough sugar to sweeten them. Let them stand in a warm place until the juice moistens the sugar. Cook them slowly until the berries are softened, but not so long that they lose their shape.

FRANGIPANE TARTLETS

Line patty-pans with puff-paste rolled one quarter of an inch thick. Cut the paste an inch larger than the pans, and fit it as carefully as possible, pressing it lightly with the broad finger into the flutings. Prick the bottom crust and lay on it a slice of bread cut to the size of the bottom of the pan. This is to prevent the bottom crust from rising and to leave the sides to puff, as the light pastry is an important part of these tartlets. Bake in a hot oven about fifteen minutes. When done remove any uncooked paste and fill with frangipane cream. Cover the whole top with meringue, piling it high in the center, and smooth it with a wet knife. Make a border one half an inch wide of chopped almonds which have been blanched and browned. Place in the center a half cherry and two pieces of angelica to imitate a flower.

Put the cream and flour in a small saucepan and stir until smooth, place on the fire a few minutes to cook the flour, stirring all the time. Remove from the fire, and when it is a little cooled add all the other ingredients. Set the saucepan in a second saucepan containing hot water and cook, stirring all the time, until the mixture has become a thick cream.

FRUIT TARTLETS

Prepare tartlet shells as for frangipane tartlets. Half fill the shells with frangipane cream, cover each one with half a California canned peach or apricot, and decorate around the outside of the fruit with meringue pressed through a pastry-bag.

JALOUSIES

Roll puff-paste trimmings into a sheet one eighth of an inch thick. Cut it into strips three inches wide. Lay half of the strips on a baking-sheet and spread them with a layer of well-seasoned and quite dry apple sauce. Cover them with the remaining strips, which have been slashed into triangular openings by being folded over and cut on the folded side an inch deep in diagonal lines. Egg the tops and bake in a hot oven. When done, sprinkle with sugar and return them to the oven for a minute to glaze. Cut the strips after they are baked into pieces three inches long.

CRANBERRY PIE

Add to half a cupful of hot water a cupful of sugar and a tablespoonful of cornstarch diluted with a little water. Stir until the water boils, then add half a cupful of molasses, half a tablespoonful of butter, a saltspoonful of salt, and a pint of chopped cranberries. Cook for a few minutes, then turn it into the pastry and bake with or without an upper crust.

COCOANUT PIE

Grate a cocoanut. Mix it with an equal weight of sugar and the beaten yolks of four eggs. Mix together and scald a cupful of milk and the milk of the cocoanut. Add a tablespoonful of cornstarch diluted with a little water, and stir it until it is a little thickened. Remove it from the fire, add the cocoanut mixture, and lastly the whipped whites of four eggs. Turn it into a deep pie-paste and bake very slowly for half an hour, or until firm to the touch. Serve cold.

The cocoanut filling should be one and a half or one and three quarter inches thick. A kitchen basin may be used for the baking-dish, or the crust can be built up around a pie-dish to make it deeper.

CURRANT PIE

Add to a cupful of mashed currants a cupful of sugar, half a teaspoonful of butter, the yolk of an egg, and if there is much juice a tablespoonful of flour. Bake with an under-crust only, and cover the top with meringue.

Beat together the yolks of three eggs and the white of one egg, then add, in the following order, the sugar, the flour, the butter, and the milk. Lastly, add very slowly the juice and grated rind of lemon. Turn the mixture into a pie-dish lined with a bottom crust and bake it slowly until it is set like a custard. Do not let it cook too long, or, like custard, it will become watery.

Make a meringue of the whites of two eggs. Beat them to a stiff froth, then add slowly two tablespoonfuls of sugar. Spread the meringue roughly over the pie when it is taken from the oven, and return it to the oven for a minute to color the meringue. The top may be made more ornamental by pressing the meringue through a pastry-bag on to the pie.

LEMON PIE, No. 2

Put into a saucepan on the fire one cupful of sugar and one cupful of water. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, then add two cupfuls of grated crumb of bread and the juice and grated rind of two lemons. Stir until the mixture is smooth, then add the beaten yolks of two eggs and remove it from the fire. Turn the mixture into a baked under-crust, and bake the pie for ten to fifteen minutes.

Cover the top with meringue made of the whites of three eggs and three tablespoonfuls of sugar.

Make two layers of sponge-cake, trim the edges, cover them with well-selected strawberries set close together, sprinkle with sugar, and place one layer on the other. Pass cream in a pitcher.

Prepare the cake as in No. 1, but cover the top with whipped cream pressed through a pastry-bag.

Use a single layer of cake, cover it with meringue, then with strawberries placed close together, and decorate with meringue pressed through a pastry-bag with star-tube, making a border, or a border and stars between the berries.

For the meringue use the whites of three eggs and four tablespoonfuls of sugar. Flavor it with a few drops of vanilla. Prepare the cake just before serving it.

CURRANT SHORTCAKE

This shortcake will be liked as well as, if not better than, one made of strawberries. The latter has an established reputation, which is based largely upon its attractive appearance, but, as a rule, it is disappointing to the taste. Shortcake can be made quite as inviting with currants as with strawberries, and the tartness of the fruit gives it a flavor which is especially grateful in hot weather, when currants are in season.

Receipt for one currant shortcake which is enough to serve to six persons:

Make a biscuit dough as follows: Sift together twice two cupfuls of flour, one and a half teaspoonfuls of baking-powder, and a half teaspoonful of salt (they must be thoroughly mixed). When this is done, rub in one rounded teaspoonful of butter or lard or cottolene, then add enough milk to make a soft dough. Use a fork to stir in the milk. Mix it lightly and quickly together, making the paste a little too soft to roll. Turn it into a well-greased pie-tin, smooth the top with a wet knife, and put it at once into a hot oven to bake for thirty minutes. When it is taken from the oven trim the edges and split the biscuit in two, using two forks so as to tear, not cut, it apart. Spread each half with butter while it is still hot.

Stem a box of currants. Reserve a few of the finest ones to decorate the top of the shortcake. Put the rest of the currants into a bowl and mash them, add enough sugar to sweeten to taste, and let them stand an hour or more before using them.

Spread the mashed currants over one half of the buttered biscuit, lay the other half on it. Cover the top with meringue made of the whipped whites of two eggs sweetened with two tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar. Decorate with whole currants as shown in illustration.

It can be more elaborately decorated by pressing the meringue through a pastry-bag and tube into ornamental shapes, and placing currants on it as the fancy dictates.

Serve very fresh.