OMELET SOUFFLÉ

• Whites of 6 eggs.
• Yolks of 3 eggs.
• Grated zest of ½ lemon.
• 3 rounded tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar, sifted.
• 1 tablespoonful of lemon-juice.

Whip the whites of the eggs, with a pinch of salt added to them, to a very dry stiff froth. Beat to a cream the yolks and the sugar, then add the lemon. Fold in the beaten whites lightly (do not stir) and turn the mixture into a slightly oiled pudding-dish. If preferred, turn a part of it onto a flat dish, and with a knife shape it into a mound with a depression in the center. Put the rest into a pastry-bag, and press it out through a large tube, into lines and dots over the mound; sprinkle it with sugar and bake it in a very hot oven eight to ten minutes. Serve at once in the same dish in which it is baked (see soufflÉs above). The flavor may be vanilla, or orange if preferred.

VANILLA SOUFFLÉ

• 1 cupful of milk.
• 2 tablespoonfuls of flour.
• 3 tablespoonfuls of sugar.
• 2 tablespoonfuls of butter.
• ¼ teaspoonful of salt.
• 1 teaspoonful of vanilla.
• 4 eggs.

Put the milk into a double boiler with the salt; when it is scalded add the butter and flour, which have been rubbed together. Stir for ten minutes to cook the flour and form a smooth paste; then turn it onto the yolks of the eggs, which, with the sugar added, have been beaten to a cream. Mix thoroughly, flavor, and set away to cool; rub a little butter over the top, so that no crust will form. Just before time to serve, fold into it lightly the whites of the eggs, which have been beaten to a stiff froth. Turn it into a buttered pudding-dish and bake in a moderate oven for thirty to forty minutes; or, put the mixture into buttered paper cases, filling them one half full, and bake ten to fifteen minutes. Serve with the soufflÉ foamy sauce (page 445). This soufflÉ may be varied by using different flavors; also by putting a layer of crushed fruit in the bottom of the dish, or by mixing a half cupful of fruit-pulp with the paste before the whites are added. In this case the whites of two more eggs will be needed to give sufficient lightness. Serve at once after it is taken from the oven.

CHOCOLATE SOUFFLÉ

• 3 ounces of chocolate.
• 1 heaping tablespoonful of sugar.423-*
• 2 rounded tablespoonfuls of flour.
• ½ cupful of milk.
• Yolks of 3 eggs.
• Whites of 4 eggs.
• 1 rounded tablespoonful of butter.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan; stir into it the flour and let it cook a minute, but not brown, then add slowly the milk and stir until smooth and a little thickened; remove it from the fire and turn it slowly onto the yolks and sugar, which have been beaten to a cream; mix thoroughly and add the melted chocolate (see page 388); stir for a few minutes, then set it away to cool; rub a little butter over the top so a crust will not form. When ready to serve, stir the mixture well to make it smooth and fold into it lightly the whites of the eggs, which have been whipped until very dry and firm. Turn the mixture into a buttered tin, filling it two thirds full. Have the tin lined with a strip of greased paper which rises above the sides to confine the soufflÉ as it rises. Place the tin in a deep saucepan containing enough hot water to cover one half the tin. Cover the saucepan and place it where the water will simmer for thirty minutes, keeping it covered all the time. Place the tin on a very hot dish and serve at once. Cover the top with a hot tin until it reaches the dining-room if it has to be carried far.

PRUNE SOUFFLÉ

• ½ pound of prunes.
• 3 tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar.
• 4 eggs.
• 1 small teaspoonful of vanilla.

Beat the yolks of the eggs and the sugar to a cream, add the vanilla, and mix them with the prunes, the prunes having been stewed, drained, the stones removed, and each prune cut into four pieces. When ready to serve fold in lightly the whites of the eggs, which have been whipped to a stiff froth, a dash of salt having been added to the whites before whipping them. Turn it into a pudding-dish and bake in a moderate oven for twenty minutes. Serve it as soon as it is taken from the oven. A few chopped almonds, or meats from the prune-pits, may be added to the mixture before the whites are put in if desired.

APPLE SOUFFLÉ

Boil some peeled and cored apples until tender; press them through a colander; season to taste with butter, sugar, and vanilla. Place the purÉe in a granite-ware saucepan and let it cook until quite dry and firm. To one and one quarter cupfuls of the hot reduced apple purÉe add the whites of four eggs, whipped very stiff and sweetened with three tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar. Mix the purÉe and meringue lightly and quickly together and turn it into a pudding-dish; smooth the top into a mound shape; sprinkle with sugar and bake in a slow oven twenty to twenty-five minutes. This soufflÉ does not fall. Serve with a hard, a plain pudding, or an apricot sauce.

FARINA PUDDING

This is a very wholesome, delicate pudding, and is especially recommended. The receipt gives an amount sufficient for six people.

• 2 cupfuls of milk (1 pint).
• 4 tablespoonfuls of farina.
• 3 tablespoonfuls of sugar.
• 3 eggs.
• Grated rind of ½ lemon.

Put the milk and lemon-zest into a double boiler; when it reaches the boiling-point stir in the farina and cook for five minutes; then remove from the fire and turn it onto the yolks and sugar, which have been beaten together until light; stir all the time. Let it become cool but not stiff; when ready to bake it, fold in lightly the whites of the eggs beaten to a stiff froth, a dash of salt added to them before beating. Turn it into a pudding-dish and place the dish in a pan containing enough hot water to half cover it. Bake it in a moderately hot oven for twenty-five minutes. Serve at once, or, like other soufflÉs, it will fall. Serve with it a sabayon No. 2, or a meringue sauce (pages 446 and 448).

SWEET OMELETS

These desserts are quickly made, are always liked, and serve well in emergencies.

ORANGE OMELET

• 3 eggs.
• 3 tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar.
• 1 orange, using the grated rind and 3 tablespoonfuls of juice.

Beat the yolks of the eggs with the sugar to a cream; add the grated zest of the rind and the orange juice; then fold in lightly the beaten whites of the eggs. Have a clean, smooth omelet or frying-pan; put in a teaspoonful of butter, rubbing it around the sides as well as bottom of the pan. When the butter bubbles, turn in the omelet mixture and spread it evenly. Do not shake the pan. Let it cook until it is a delicate brown and seems cooked through, but not hard. Fold the edges over a little and turn it onto a flat hot dish; sprinkle it plentifully with powdered sugar; heat the poker red hot and lay it on the omelet four times, leaving crossed burnt lines in the form of a star. This ornaments the top and also gives a caramel flavor to the sugar.

JAM OMELET

Make a French omelet as directed on page 264, using four to six eggs; omit the pepper and add a little powdered sugar. When the omelet is ready to turn, place in the center two tablespoonfuls of any jam (apricot is particularly good) and fold. Turn the omelet onto a hot dish and sprinkle it with sugar.

RUM OMELET

Make either a French omelet, or a beaten omelet, using a little sugar and omitting the pepper. Place the dish holding the omelet on a second and larger dish to prevent accident from fire. When ready to place on the table pour over the omelet a few spoonfuls of rum or brandy and light it. It is better not to touch the match to it until it is on the table.

SWEET PANCAKES

• 3 eggs.
• 1 cupful of milk.
• ½ teaspoonful of salt.
• 1 teaspoonful of sugar.
• ½ cupful of flour.
• ½ tablespoonful of oil.

Beat the yolks and whites of the eggs separately; mix them together and add the salt, sugar, and one half the milk; stir in the flour, making a smooth paste; then add the rest of the milk, and lastly the oil; beat well and let it stand an hour or more before using. Bake on a hot griddle in large or small cakes as desired; spread each cake with butter and a little jam or jelly, then roll them, sprinkle with sugar, and serve at once. Any pancake batter can be used. Those made of rice or hominy are good. The batter can be made of a consistency for thick or thin cakes by using more or less milk. Currant or tart jelly is better to use than a sweet preserve.

FRITTERS

With fritter batter a number of good desserts are made, which, if properly fried, will be entirely free from grease, and perfectly wholesome.

FRITTER BATTER

• 2 eggs.
• 1 tablespoonful of oil.
• 1 cupful of flour.
• ½ cupful of cold water.
• 1 saltspoonful of salt.
• If for sweet fritters, 1 teaspoonful of sugar and 1 tablespoonful of brandy.

For clam or oyster fritters use one tablespoonful of lemon juice or vinegar, salt and pepper to taste, and the liquor of the clams or oysters instead of water.Stir the salt into the egg-yolks; add slowly the oil, then the brandy and the sugar; the brandy may be omitted if desired, and if so, use two tablespoonfuls of oil instead of one. When well mixed stir in slowly the flour, and then the water, a little at a time. Beat it well and set it aside for two hours (it is better to let it stand longer); when ready to use, stir in the whites of the eggs beaten to a stiff froth. The batter should be very thick and of the consistency to coat completely the article it is intended to cover. If not soft enough add the white of another egg.

APPLE FRITTERS

Cut firm apples crosswise into slices one quarter of an inch thick. With a biscuit-cutter stamp them into circles of uniform size; sprinkle them with orange sugar (see page 391), and moisten them with brandy. Let them stand to soak for ten minutes, then dry one or two at a time on a napkin; dip them in batter, using care to have them completely coated, and drop them into hot fat (see frying, page 72). Fry to an amber color; lift them out on a skimmer and dry on paper in an open oven until all are fried; then roll them in sugar and serve on a folded napkin, the slices overlapping. Fry only two at a time, so they can be kept well apart. Serve with a sauce flavored with brandy or sherry.

PEACH OR APRICOT FRITTERS

Cut the fruit in half; sprinkle with sugar moistened with maraschino, and roll them in powdered macaroons before dipping them in the batter. Fry as directed above. Well-drained canned fruit may also be used for fritters.

ORANGE FRITTERS

Cut the oranges in quarters; take out the seeds and run a knife between the pulp and peel, freeing the orange and leaving it raw. Roll them in powdered sugar and dip in batter before the sugar has time to dissolve; fry as directed for apple fritters.

FRITTERS MADE OF BISCUIT DOUGH

Make a biscuit dough as given on page 352; turn it on a floured board and let it rise until light, then roll it one eighth of an inch thick and cut it into circles with a fluted patty-cutter. Put a teaspoonful of jam in the center of a circle. Wet the edges and cover with a second circle; press the edges lightly together and fry in hot fat.

BALLOONS

Put a cupful of water in a saucepan; when it boils add one tablespoonful of butter; when the butter is melted add one cupful of flour and beat it with a fork or wire whip until it is smooth and leaves the sides of the pan. Remove from the fire and add three eggs, one at a time, beating vigorously each one before adding the next. Let it stand until cold. When ready to serve, drop a spoonful at a time into moderately hot fat and fry for about 15 minutes. Take out on a skimmer and dry on brown paper. The batter will puff into hollow balls. If the fat is very hot it will crisp the outside too soon and prevent the balls from puffing. Fry only a few at a time, as they must be kept separated. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and pile on a folded napkin. Serve with lemon sauce made as follows.

Lemon sauce: Strain the juice of one and a half lemons; add one cupful of powdered sugar, then a half cupful of boiling water.

BATTER PUDDING

• 1 cupful of milk.
• 1 heaping tablespoonful of butter.
• ½ cupful of flour.
• 3 eggs.

Put the milk in a double boiler; when hot add the butter. Let the milk boil; then add the flour, and beat it hard until it leaves the sides of the pan; then remove from the fire and stir in gradually the eggs, which have been well beaten, the yolks and whites together, and a dash of salt. Continue to beat the batter until it is no longer stringy. Turn it into a warm greased pudding-dish, and bake in a moderate oven thirty to thirty-five minutes. It should puff up like a cream cake, and have a thick crust. Serve as soon as it is taken from the oven, or it will fall. The batter may stand some time before baking if convenient. It may be baked in gem-pans fifteen to twenty minutes if preferred. Serve with plain pudding or hard sauce.

DESSERTS MADE OF APPLES

SNOW APPLE PUDDING

Fill a pudding-dish half full of apple purÉe or sauce, well seasoned with butter, sugar, and nutmeg. Pour over it a batter made of one and a half cupfuls of flour mixed with two heaping teaspoonfuls of baking-powder, one half teaspoonful of salt, and a tablespoonful of chopped suet or of lard. Moisten it with about three quarters of a cupful of milk, or enough to make a thick batter. It should not be as stiff as for biscuits. Cook in a steamer about three quarters of an hour, and serve at once with a hard, foamy, sabayon, or any other sauce. The top will be very light and white. This quantity is enough to serve six people.

BROWN BETTY

In a quart pudding-dish arrange alternate layers of sliced apples and bread-crumbs; season each layer with bits of butter, a little sugar, and a pinch each of ground cinnamon, cloves, and allspice. When the dish is full pour over it a half cupful each of molasses and water mixed; cover the top with crumbs. Place the dish in a pan containing hot water, and bake for three quarters of an hour, or until the apples are soft. Serve with cream or with any sauce. Raisins or chopped almonds improve the pudding.

BAKED APPLE DUMPLINGS

Make a short pie-crust; roll it thin and cut it into squares large enough to cover an apple. Select apples of the same size; pare them; remove the core with a corer, and fill the space with sugar, butter, a little ground cinnamon, and nutmeg. Place an apple in the center of each square of pie-crust; wet the edges with white of egg and fold together, the points meeting on the top; give the edges a pinch and turn, making them fluted. Bake in a moderate oven about forty minutes, or until the apples are tender, but not until they have lost their form. If preferred, the crust may be folded under the apple, leaving it round. It must be well joined, so the juices will not escape. Brush the top with egg, and ten minutes before removing from the oven dust them with a little sugar to give them a glaze.

Serve with hard sauce.

APPLE CHARLOTTE

Cut bread into slices one quarter inch thick; then into strips one and a half inches wide, and as long as the height of the mold to be used; cut one piece to fit the top of mold, then divide it into five or six pieces. Butter the mold; dip the slices of bread into melted butter, and arrange them on the bottom and around the sides of the mold, fitting closely together or overlapping. Fill the center entirely full with apple sauce made of tart apples stewed until tender, then broken into coarse pieces, drained, and seasoned with butter and sugar. A little apricot jam can be put in the center if desired; chopped almonds also may be added. Cover the top with bread, and bake in a hot oven about thirty minutes. The bread should be an amber color like toast. Turn it carefully onto a flat dish. Serve with a hard sauce or any other sauce preferred.

APPLES WITH RICE, No. 1

Boil half a cupful of rice with a saltspoonful of salt in milk until tender; sweeten it to taste; drain it if the milk is not all absorbed; press it into a basin; smooth it over the top; when it has cooled enough to hold the form, turn it onto a flat dish. This will be a socle, and should be about one and a half to two inches high. Pare and core as many apples as will stand on the top of the socle; boil them slowly until tender in sugar and water; remove them before they lose shape. Boil the sugar and water down to a thick syrup. Arrange the apples on the top of the rice, and pour over them a little of the thickened syrup; then fill the center of each apple with jam; place a candied cherry on each one, and a pointed piece of angelica between each apple. The syrup should give enough sauce, but Richelieu sauce is recommended instead. Serve hot or cold.

APPLES WITH RICE, No. 2

Boil the rice as above; sweeten it and flavor it with a few drops of orange-flower water, almond, or other essence, and mix into it a few chopped blanched almonds. Turn it onto a flat dish, and press it into a mound or cone. Cut some apples of uniform size in halves, cutting from the stem to the blossom; remove the core with a vegetable scoop (see illustration), and pare off the skin carefully; stew the apples slowly until tender, but still firm enough to hold their shape; before removing them add a few drops of carmine to the water, and let them stand until they have become a delicate pink; then drain and place them evenly and upright against the form of rice. Put some meringue in a pastry-bag, and press it in lines or dots around the apples and over the top of the rice, making it as ornamental as desired. Dust it with sugar, and place for one minute in the oven to slightly color the meringue, but not long enough to dry the surface of the apples. Serve with whipped cream, with fruit sauce, Richelieu sauce, or wine sauce.

Whipped cream may be substituted for the meringue, in which case place the apples overlapping one another around the rice in wreath shape; flatten the top of the rice, and pile the whipped cream on it. Another form may be made by putting the rice in a border-mold to shape it, filling the center of the rice with a well-seasoned apple purÉe, and finishing as directed above.

APPLES WITH CORN-STARCH (Felice)

Pare and core as many apples as will be used, having them of uniform size. To a quart of water add one half cupful of sugar and the juice of half a lemon; boil the apples in this until tender, but remove them before they lose shape; drain and place them in regular order on the dish in which they are to be served. Boil the water down one half; then stir into it one tablespoonful of corn-starch or arrowroot moistened in a little water; let it cook until the starch is clear; remove from the fire; flavor with lemon, almond, kirsch, or anything preferred; let it stiffen a little; then pour it over the apples; sprinkle with sugar and place in the oven a moment to brown, or, omitting the browning, sprinkle them with green and pink sugar (see page 393), or stick them full of split almonds.

FLAMING APPLES

Pare and core the apples; stew them in sugar and water until tender, but still firm enough to hold their shape. Remove them carefully to the serving-dish; fill the centers with apricot or raspberry jam; boil down the liquor to a thick syrup and pour it over the apples; just before serving pour over them a few spoonfuls of rum or brandy, and light it with a taper after it is on the table. Serve with fancy cakes.

BAKED APPLES

(FOR BREAKFAST)

Select apples of equal size; wash and polish them; remove the core. Place them in a baking-tin a little distance apart, and put a little water in the bottom of the pan. Bake in a moderate oven about thirty minutes; baste frequently, so they will not burn or blacken. Serve with sugar and cream.

BAKED APPLES

(FOR LUNCHEON)

Pare and core the apples; fill the centers with butter and sugar. Let them bake in a pan with a little water until tender, but still in good shape; baste frequently, letting them become only slightly colored. After removing from the oven sprinkle them with granulated sugar and a little powdered cinnamon or nutmeg.

TAPIOCA PUDDING

Arrange evenly in a buttered dish six apples which have been pared and cored. Any other fruit may be used—canned peaches are good. Soak a cupful of tapioca in hot water for an hour or more; sweeten and flavor it to taste and pour it over the fruit. Bake in a moderate oven for an hour.

RICE PUDDINGS

PLAIN RICE PUDDING No. 1

In a pudding-dish holding a quart, put two heaping tablespoonfuls of well-washed rice; fill the dish with milk, and add a half teaspoonful of salt. Let it cook in the oven for half an hour, stirring it two or three times. Take it out and add two tablespoonfuls of sugar and a scant teaspoonful of vanilla; also a half cupful of stoned raisins if desired. Grate nutmeg over the top; return the dish to the oven and cook slowly for two hours or more; as the milk boils down, lift the skin at the side and add more hot milk. The pudding should be creamy, and this is attained by slow cooking, and by using plenty of milk.

RICE PUDDING No. 2

Scald a pint and a half of milk; add a tablespoonful of cornstarch which has been moistened with a little of the cold milk; cook it for a few minutes; then remove it from the fire and stir in three cupfuls of boiled rice, a cupful or more of sugar to taste, and the beaten yolks of two eggs. Return it to the fire and cook it until thickened, stirring constantly but carefully. Turn it into a dish, cover the top with meringue, and place it in the oven for a few minutes to brown.

RICE AND RAISINS

Mix with two cupfuls of boiled rice a half or three quarters cupful of raisins. The rice should be boiled as directed on page 222, and the raisins should be soaked in hot water until plump, and the seeds removed. Press the mixture into a bowl to give it shape, and turn it onto a flat dish. Grate nutmeg over the top. Serve with sweetened milk a little flavored with vanilla or almond, or only nutmeg.

For Lemon Rice Pudding, see page 242.

For Rice and Orange Marmalade Pudding, see page 242.

BREAD PUDDINGS

BREAD PUDDING No. 1

• 2 cupfuls of milk.
• 1 cupful of bread-crumbs or broken bread.
• 1 tablespoonful of sugar.
• 2 egg-yolks.
• 1 egg-white.
• ½ teaspoonful of vanilla.
• 1 saltspoonful of salt.

Soak the bread in the milk until softened; then beat it until smooth and add the rest of the ingredients excepting the white of egg. Turn it into a pudding-dish, place this in a pan of hot water, and bake in a slow oven fifteen to twenty minutes, or only long enough to set the custard without its separating. Cover the top with a layer of jam or with tart jelly, and place in the center a ball of meringue made with the white of one egg; dust with sugar, place in the oven a moment to brown the meringue, and then put a piece of jelly on the top of the meringue. Serve hot or cold. The jelly and meringue answers as a sauce.

BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING

Cut stale bread into thin slices; remove the crusts, dip them in melted butter, and arrange them in a small bread or square cake-tin in even layers, alternating with layers of stoned raisins. When the mold is full, pour over it a mixture made of one pint of milk, the yolks of two eggs, and two tablespoonfuls of sugar. Use only as much as the bread will absorb. Bake in a moderate oven twenty to thirty minutes. Turn it onto a flat dish and serve with it a plain pudding sauce. The bread should be dry and crisp and hold the form of the mold.

BREAD TARTS

Cut bread into slices a quarter of an inch thick, then with a biscuit-cutter about three inches in diameter stamp it into circles. Moisten the circles of bread with milk, but do not use enough to cause them to fall apart; then spread them with any jam or preserve and place two together like a sandwich. Place them in a frying-pan with a little butter, and sautÉ them on both sides to a delicate color. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve very hot. A sabayon or other sauce can be served with them if convenient, but it is not essential.

For other bread puddings see Blueberry Pudding and Cherry Bread, page 241.

CAKE PUDDINGS

COTTAGE PUDDING

• 1 cupful of flour.
• 1 heaping teaspoonful of baking-powder.
• 1 tablespoonful of butter.
• ½ cupful of sugar.
• ½ cupful of milk.
• 1 saltspoonful of salt.
• 1 egg.

Mix the baking-powder with the flour and sift them. Rub the butter and sugar together to a cream and beat into it the egg; then add the milk, in which the salt has been dissolved. Add the flour; beat well together and turn into a cake-tin having a tube in the center. Bake about twenty-five minutes in a moderate oven. Turn it onto a flat dish, leaving it bottom side up. The chocolate sauce given below is recommended, but any other sauce may be served with it.Chocolate sauce: Melt three ounces or squares of Baker’s chocolate on a dry pan (see page 388); add one half cupful of sugar and one half cupful of boiling water. Stir until well dissolved and smooth, then add one quarter teaspoonful of vanilla.

CANARY PUDDING

Take the mixture for Genoese cake, which is three eggs, and their weight respectively of sugar, butter, and flour; cream the butter and sugar; then beat in, one at a time, the three eggs; add lightly the sifted flour. Butter a covered pudding-mold; decorate it with raisins, or sprinkle it all over with currants; fill it half full of the mixture; cover and steam for one hour, or put it in individual timbale-molds and bake for twenty minutes. Serve with wine or fruit or Richelieu sauce.

SUET PUDDING

• 1 cupful of molasses.
• 1 teaspoonful of soda.
• 1 cupful of milk
• 3½ cupfuls of flour.
• 1 cupful of stoned raisins.
• 1 cupful of suet, chopped fine.
• 1 teaspoonful of salt.

Mix the salt, flour, and suet together. Mix the molasses and milk; add the soda and then as much of the flour mixture as will make a stiff batter (not dough), then add the raisins floured, and fill a covered pudding-mold half full; steam for three hours. Serve with foamy, wine, or brandy sauce.

FARINA PUDDING (Boiled)

Stir into three cupfuls of boiling milk one cupful of farina, and cook for ten minutes. Rub together one tablespoonful of butter and two tablespoonfuls of sugar; add the yolks of three eggs, the grated rind of one lemon and twenty-five chopped blanched almonds. Stir this mixture into the farina after it is a little cooled; lastly add the whites of three eggs beaten to stiff froth. Boil this pudding in a covered mold for one and a half hours. Serve with any pudding sauce.

CHRISTMAS PLUM PUDDING

• ¾ pound of suet chopped very fine; mix with it, while chopping, a tablespoonful of flour.
• ¾ pound of raisins seeded.
• ¾ pound of currants.
• ¾ pound of sugar.
• ¾ pound of fresh bread-crumbs.
• Grated zest of one lemon.
• ¼ pound candied orange-peel and citron cut into thin shavings.
• ½ teaspoonful each of ground cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice.

Mix the dry materials together thoroughly, and then add six eggs, one at a time, and one half cupful of brandy; add another egg if too stiff, and more crumbs if too soft. Wet a strong cloth in cold water, wring it dry, butter it, and dredge it well with flour; turn the mixture into the center and draw the cloth together over the top, leaving room for the pudding to swell a little, and tie it firmly; give it a good round shape. Put it into a pot of boiling water, having it completely covered with water; cover the pot and boil four to five hours. Do not let the water fall below the pudding, and in adding more let it be hot, so as to not arrest the boiling. After it is removed from the water let it rest in the bag for ten minutes to harden a little, then cut the string and turn it carefully onto a dish. Cut a small hole in the top of the pudding and insert a paper bonbon case (see page 386); trim it so it does not show. Pour rum or brandy onto the dish and also into the paper box on top; place it on the table and touch it with a lighted taper. Serve with a brandy sauce. The amount given will serve twelve to fourteen persons. The mixture may be divided and boiled in small puddings if it is too much to use at one time. It will keep for a long time, and the puddings can be warmed when used. Slices of cold plum pudding may be steamed and served with a sauce; or they may be rolled in egg and crumbs and fried in hot fat, and be served as fruit croquettes.

FIG PUDDING

• ½ cupful of chopped figs.
• ½ cupful of chopped suet.
• 2 cupfuls of white bread-crumbs.
• ½ cupful of sugar.
• 1 cupful of milk.
• ¼ cupful of flour.
• ½ cupful of chopped almonds.
• 4 eggs.
• 1 teaspoonful of baking-powder.
• 3 tablespoonfuls of noyau or other flavor.

Flour the figs and suet. Soak the bread-crumbs in the milk, add the sugar, then the egg-yolks, and beat it well; then add slowly, stirring all the time, the figs, suet, almonds, flour mixed with the baking-powder, flavoring, and lastly the whites of the eggs beaten very stiff. Turn it into a covered pudding-mold, filling it three quarters full; steam for three hours. This mixture will fill twelve individual molds. If the small molds are used, place a star of angelica in the bottom of each one and cover it with a thin layer of boiled rice; then fill three quarters full with the pudding mixture; place them in a pan of hot water, cover with a greased paper, and poach on top of the range for one and one half hours. This pudding can have brandy poured over and lighted the same as the plum pudding. Serve with a syrup sauce flavored the same as the pudding.

CABINET PUDDING No. 1

Ornament the bottom of a well-buttered mold with citron and raisins. Cover them with slices of cake; then fill the mold nearly full with alternate layers of fruit and cake, arranging the fruit on the edges of the fruit layers so it will be even and symmetrical. Make a custard mixture of a pint of milk, three egg-yolks, and three tablespoonfuls of sugar. Pour it slowly into the mold, so the cake will be thoroughly soaked, and set it in a pan of water. Bake it in a slow oven for an hour, or until the custard is set. Unmold the pudding, and serve with it a wine sauce.

CABINET PUDDING No. 2

Cut a half pound of candied fruits into dice, using cherries, apricots, plums, limes, etc.; also some candied orange-peel shredded. Butter well a plain cylindrical mold; sprinkle over the bottom a thin layer of the fruit, then a layer of cake (genoese, or sponge layer cake, see page 466). Fill the mold to within an inch of the top with alternate layers of fruit and cake, using also some macaroons. Leave always some fruit on the sides of the mold. Then turn in slowly a custard mixture made of one pint of milk, the yolks of five eggs, and two and one half tablespoonfuls of sugar. Let it stand a few minutes for the cake to absorb the liquid; then place the mold in a pan of hot water, and poach in a slow oven for one hour. This pudding is usually served hot, but may be served cold. Serve with Sabayon, Richelieu, or Bischoff sauces. (See pudding sauces.)

CABINET PUDDING No. 3 (Royale)

Take a loaf of brioche (see page 359 and 361) baked the day before in a cylindrical mold. Cut it into slices one half inch thick. Cut with a small patty-cutter a round piece from the center of all but two of the slices. Cut the crust from the outside, taking as little as possible. Spread each slice with apricot jam, and sprinkle with chopped almonds. Butter the mold well, and replace the slices, using on the bottom one which has not had a hole cut in the center. When all but the last slice are in, fill the well in the center with mixed canned fruits well drained, using pineapple, apricots, a few candied cherries, and chopped almonds; then pour in a custard mixture made of one pint of milk, four yolks of eggs, two and a half tablespoonfuls of sugar. Let the brioche absorb the liquid; then cover with the second whole slice, and pour over that, too, some of the custard mixture. Place the mold in a pan of hot water, and poach in a slow oven for one hour. Let it stand a little while in the mold after it is cooked. When ready to serve, unmold, spread the whole outside with apricot jam, and sprinkle with chopped almonds. Serve with apricot sauce or any other sauce.

CABINET PUDDING No. 4

Cut slices of bread one half inch thick to fit a mold. Fill the mold with alternate layers of bread and chopped drained pineapple (fresh or canned). Pour in a custard mixture made of one pint of milk, yolks of three eggs, and three tablespoonfuls of sugar. Bake in a slow oven for one hour (as directed above), or until the custard is set. Serve with a sauce made of the juice of the fruit diluted and thickened with a little arrowroot, then sweetened and flavored (with kirsch if liked), and a few shredded almonds.

SAVARINS

Butter some individual timbale-molds, sprinkle them with chopped almonds, fill them half full of brioche paste (see page 359), let the paste rise to the top of the molds, and then bake in a hot oven for about twenty minutes. When baked, cut off the top even with the mold, and turn them out. Pour over them a hot syrup made of one cupful of sugar and three quarters of a cupful of water boiled for ten minutes (or to 30°), and flavored with four teaspoonfuls of kirsch. Other flavors may be used if preferred. Let the savarins absorb enough of the hot syrup to be well moistened, but not so much as to lose their firmness. Drain and serve them hot. Or incorporate into the paste before molding a little shredded candied orange-peel. Soak them, when baked, in syrup flavored with orange or curaÇao, and cover them with an orange fondant icing (see page 485), and serve cold.

BABA

Into three cupfuls of brioche paste mix one cupful of currants, raisins, and chopped citron, which have soaked for an hour in maraschino. Half fill buttered baba-molds (which are cups holding about one half pint); let it rise to top of mold, which will take about three quarters of an hour. It must not rise in too warm a place, or the butter will separate. Bake them in a moderate oven one half hour. Let them absorb hot syrup at 30°, flavored with kirsch or sherry.

CUSTARDS

CRÊME PARISIENNE

This is the same as caramel custard (page 396), except that it is served hot. Butter well a flat mold or basin, ornament the bottom with a few candied cherries and angelica, pour over them caramel which is not browned deeper than an amber color, and do not use enough to float the fruits. Let it cool before adding the custard mixture. When it is baked, let the mold stand in the hot water until the moment of serving.

FRIED CREAM

• 1 pint of milk.
• ½ cupful of sugar.
• ½ teaspoonful of butter.
• Yolks of 3 eggs.
• 2¼ tablespoonfuls of cornstarch.
• 1 tablespoonful of flour.
• ½ teaspoonful of vanilla.
• ½ saltspoonful of salt.

Put the milk into a double boiler with the salt and a piece of cinnamon or lemon-zest. When it is at the boiling-point add the sugar; then the cornstarch and flour, which have been moistened in cold milk. Stir until thickened; remove, and turn it over the beaten yolks of the eggs. Place it on the fire again for a few minutes to set the eggs. Add the butter and flavoring, and strain it onto a flat dish, or biscuit-tin, making a layer three quarters of an inch thick. Let it stand until perfectly cold and firm (it may be made the day before it is used); then cut it into pieces three inches long and two inches wide. Handle the pieces carefully, using a broad knife-blade. Cover each one with sifted cracker-crumbs, then with egg, and again with crumbs; be sure they are completely covered. Fry the pieces in hot fat to an amber color; lay them on a brown paper in the open oven to dry, sprinkle them with sugar, and serve on a folded napkin. The crust should be crisp, and the center creamy, the same as a croquette. If the pudding stands long enough before being fried, it will not be difficult to handle. Have the fat smoking hot, and do not fry too long. This dish is recommended, as it is particularly good, and very easy to make.

SHORT CAKES

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE

• 4 cupfuls of sifted flour.
• 3 heaping teaspoonfuls of baking-powder.
• 1 teaspoonful of salt.
• 1 teaspoonful of butter.
• 1 teaspoonful of lard.
• Milk.
• 2 quarts of strawberries.

Sift the baking-powder and salt with the flour, rub in the shortening; then with a fork stir in lightly and quickly sufficient milk to make a soft dough—too soft to roll. Turn it into a greased tin, and bake in a hot oven for thirty minutes. Watch to see that it rises evenly. Unmold, and leaving it inverted, cut a circle around the top, within one inch of the edge; lift off the circle of crust, and with a fork pick out the crumb from the center, leaving about three quarters of an inch of biscuit around the sides. Spread the inside of the cake with butter, and then fill it with crushed strawberries, which have been standing half an hour or more mixed with sugar enough to sweeten them. Turn off the juice from the berries before filling the cake. Replace the circle of crust, and cover the whole cake, top and sides, with meringue, heaping it irregularly on the top. Use a pastry-bag if convenient to give the meringue ornamental form. Place it in the oven a moment to slightly color the meringue. Arrange a few handsome berries on the top. Serve the strawberry-juice as a sauce. Whipped cream may be used instead of meringue, if convenient. Shortcake, to be good, should be freshly made, and served as soon as put together.

CURRANT SHORTCAKE

Make a biscuit dough as directed for strawberry shortcake above, using half the quantity. Turn it into a pie-tin to bake. While it is still hot cut the edges and pull it apart with forks (do not cut it). Turn the crumb sides up; butter them and cover each one with a thick layer of crushed currants, which have been standing at least two hours with enough sugar to sweeten them. Place one layer on the other, cover the top with meringue, and ornament it with a few currants in lines or arranged in any way to suit the fancy. This is a delicious shortcake, the acid of the currants giving it more character than strawberry shortcake.

STRAWBERRY CAKE

Make two layers of Genoese (page 467) or of sponge cake No. 1 (page 466); cover them with whipped cream, and arrange whole strawberries close together over the entire top; place one layer on the other, and serve at once. The cream moistens the cake if it stands long.

Shortcakes are good made of peaches or pineapple, using the biscuit mixture.

ROLY-POLY PUDDING

Make a biscuit dough, and roll it out a quarter of an inch thick; spread it with any kind of berries (whortleberries or blackberries are best). Then roll it, and tie it in a cloth, leaving room for the pudding to expand, and boil or steam it for an hour. Serve with any sauce.

FRUIT PUDDING

Beat two eggs; add a cupful of milk, three teaspoonfuls of baking-powder and enough flour to make a stiff batter; then stir in as much fruit as it will hold (cherries, whortleberries, strawberries, or raspberries are the best fruits to use). Turn the mixture into a pudding-mold large enough to give room for the pudding to expand, and boil it for an hour. Serve with it plain pudding sauce, Sabayon, or a fruit sauce.

BAKED INDIAN PUDDING

• ¼ cupful yellow meal.
• Scant half cupful of molasses.
• ¼ teaspoonful of salt.
• 1½ tablespoonfuls of butter.
• 3 cupfuls of milk.
• 1 egg.
• ¼ cupful of water.
• Dash of nutmeg.

Put two cupfuls of milk, a quarter cupful of water, and the salt, on the fire; when it boils stir in the meal, and let it cook five minutes, stirring all the time; then remove from the fire, and add the rest of the milk mixed with the molasses, the butter, the beaten egg, and the nutmeg (or ginger, if preferred), and turn it into a baking-dish. Bake it in a slow oven for three hours. This quantity makes a pint and a half of pudding.

Note.—Some small bits of candied orange-peel sprinkled on the bottom of the dish before the batter is put in give a delicious flavor to the pudding.