Home cookery

Make a quarter of a pound of puff pastry, cut from it a round of paste about six inches in diameter. Mark the centre with a small cutter (as for a patty case) about an inch from the edge. Bake in a quick oven ; when done carefully remove the centre, and let the pastry become quite cold. Ornament the edge with sections of crystallised oranges and pieces of pastry cut in fancy shapes. Fill up the centre with the Florida Mixture, and pile on the top of it some French Cream. Florida Mixture. Make a sauce with half an ounce of butter, a good half ounce of Vienna flour, half a gill of orange juice, and half the juice of a lemon. Boil the mixture well, sweeten to taste, and stir in a good tablespoonful of thick cream. Add to this a custard made of one gill of milk and the yolks of three eggs flavoured with orange rind, and thickened over the fire in the usual way. French Cream. Boil six ounces of loaf sugar with barely half a gill of cold water until au boulet, then pour this syrup on to the whites of three eggs beaten very stiffly, whisking all the time. Flavour with lemon or orange juice. Curd Cheese-Cakes. The curd from 2 quarts of new milk. Butter Eggs Penny sponge cake... Currants Nutmeg Brandy Sugar Grated lemon rind ... Salt Cream To make the Curd, — Stir one tablespoonful of essence of rennet into two quarts of lukewarm new milk ; let it stand undisturbed till the curd has formed. Put the curd into a piece of strainer, hang it up, and let it drain through the night. In the morning break up the curd, and rub it with the butter through a hair sieve. Add the beaten yolks of eggs and other ingredients, mix well. Bake in deep patty pans lined with paste. Lemon Cheese-Cakes, Lump sugar ^ lb. Eggs 3 (well beaten). Butter 2 oz. Lemon rinds and juice ... 2. Put the butter into a pan, add the lemon rinds (grated), juice and sugar. Stir until dissolved, then add the eggs. Stir over a slow fire till the eggs are cooked, but be careful that the mixture does not curdle. Bake in shallow patty pans lined with pufi" or flaky pastry. 4 yolks. I (crumbled). to taste. a pinch. 2 or3tablespoonfuls. The Lemon Cheese-Cake Mixture, if put into jars and covered with vinegar or brandy papers, will keep good for months. Mince Pies. For the mincemeat : — Suet (chopped finely) i lb. Raisins (stoned and chopped) i lb. Currants i lb. Apples (chopped) i lb. Castor sugar i lb. Candied peel (chopped finely) 4 oz. Lemons 3 Brandy J gill. Some persons add also half a pound of sultanas. Pare the lemons thinly, and stew the rinds till quite tender, pound them, and add them with the juice to the other ingredients. The mincemeat should be made a month before it is required. Line some patty pans with thin puff or flaky pastry, put in a little of the mincemeat, cover with thin paste, previously cut with a cutter. Bake and serve very hot. Macaroon Tartlets. Almonds (ground) 2 oz. Castor sugar i| oz. Rice flour J oz. Whites of eggs about 3. Apricot jam. Pastry. Line some tartlet tins with puff or short pastry, put in each a small quantity of apricot jam, then place over a little almond mixture, put strips of pastry across ; sift over some castor sugar. Bake in a quick oven. Almond Mixture.