Chambers's cookery for young housewives

Pare and take out the cores of the apples, and cut each apple into four or eight pieces, according to their size. Lay them in a pie-dish, season with the sugar and the cloves or any spice (such as cinnamon), or grated lemon-peel. A little quince marmalade gives a fine flavour to the pie. Add a little water, and cover with short crust; make a small hole with a skewer, just above the rim at either end. This allows GOOSEBERRY — RHUBARB — CBANBERRY TART — FLAKY PASTE. 99 the hot air from the boiling sugar and fruit to escape ; otherwise it would boil over and spoil the appearance of the tart. Fruit tarts should not be decorated with leaves, &c. Bake for about an hour. GOOSEBERRY TART. 2 pints gooseberries. | 4 lb. brown sugar. 4 gill water. Pick the heads and stems from unripe or hard gooseberries, and rub them with a towel to clean them. Fill the dish with them, and add the brown sugar, with a very little water. Cover, and bake for about an hour. RHUBARB TART. 6 stalks rhubarb. | 4 lb. sugar. 4 lemon-rind. I 4 gill water. Take away the leaf, and strip off the skins from the rhubarb. Cut the stalks into pieces of an inch long. Fill the dish high in the centre, add the sugar and flavouring with the water. Rhubarb tarts may be flavoured with great variety — for instance, with lemon-rind, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, &c. Cover and bake for half an hour. Some persons stew the rhubarb before making the tart ; the advantage of this is, that more can be put into the dish, for it shrinks considerably in cooking. CRANBERRY TART. 4 lb. cranberries. | 4 apples. 6 table-spoonful3 sugar. | 4 lb. prunes. Wash the cranberries, and pick them from the stalks; peel, core, and slice the apples; stone and wash the prunes; put all these with the sugar into a saucepan, and stew them till soft, or for about half an hour. Put the mixture into the pie-dish, and allow it to cool. Cover with short crust, and bake for about half an hour. FLAKY PASTE. 10 oz. flour. Whites of 2 eggs. A little lemon-juice. 6 oz. butter. A pinch of salt. Cold water. For this paste, secure dry and fine flour, and pass it through a sieve before using. Beat the whites of egg to a stiff froth MINCE-PIES — OPEN TARTS. with 11 jc salt. The easiest method of doing this is to put them upon a clean plate, and to beat them with a broad long knife quickly. Pour these on to the flour, and with the addition of a little water form a soft paste ; turn it on to a floured hoard, and knead lightly until smooth. Wash the butter in cold water, wring it in a cloth, and then divide it into six parts. Roll the paste about sixteen inches long, then put on one-sixth of the butter in small dabs, fold in three, half turn it, and roll again.; add another portion of the butter, fold, half turn, and roll again ; and so on until all the butter is rolled in. At the seventh time of rolling, sprinkle over the paste a little lemon-juice, fold it again, and roll to whatever size and thickness you may require. This paste is generally used for mince-pies, patties, fish pies, &c. MINCE-PIES. 1 lb. beef suet. 1 lb. sultanas, li lb. apples. 4 lemons. 2 nutmegs. } teaspoonful cinnamon. 11 lb. brown sugar. 1 teaspoonful salt. 1 lb. raisins. 1 lb. currants. 1 lb. figs. J lb. almonds. 1 teaspoonful allspice. \ teaspoonful ground ginger. 1 gill rum. 1 gill brandy. 1 lb. candied peel.