The encyclopædia of practical cookery

(2) Put If pints of water into a round-bottomed, porcelainlined pan, set on the fire, bring it to the boil, add 4oz. of butter, and as soon as it is melted stir in rapidly Jib. of flour and 3 teaspoonfuls of baking-powder, both sifted together. Remove the pan from the fire, the contents being a stiffish dough, let it cool slightly, work in with the spatula six eggs, adding two at a time, and continue to work until the paste is rather soft. Have ready well-greased baking-tins, and with a table-spoon put the paste in lumps on them, keeping them a little apart ; hake in a moderate oven for about twenty minutes, or until they have a fawn colour. Take them out, let them cool, and open them on one side. In the meantime prepare the following Cream : Mix 2 table-spoonfuls of cornflour with a little milk, put it into a saucepan with more milk, making the quantity used altogether 1 pint, 4oz. of powdered loaf sugar, and two eggs. Stir well over the fire until the mixture thickens, flavour with lemon or vanilla essence, let it get cold, fill the cakes with it, dust them over with caster sugar, and serve. (3) Boston. — Put barely fib. of lard or butter into a saucepan with f pint of water and 1 pinch of salt, and boil it. Put in, all at once, with the above mixture fib. of flour, and stir it over the fire till it is cooked to a smooth paste. Move the saucepan to the side of the fire, and beat in five eggs, one at the time. Slightly grease some baking-sheets, and drop dessert-spoonfuls of the mixture on to them, allowing a space of about tin. between them. Bake the cakes in a moderate oven for about twenty minutes. Have ready a pastry Cream prepared in the j. Fig. 66. Boston Cream Puffs. V / - py x '' i t 1 ' following manner : Boil lqt. of milk with a lump of sugar in it to prevent burning, mix fib. of caster sugar with fib. of flour, then dredge them into the boiling milk, beating it all the while ; stir it for five minutes over the fire, add loz. of butter to the above mixture, beat five eggs, and stir them in. Move the saucepan to the back of the range, put the lid on, and let the contents cook about ten minutes longer. When nearly cold, flavour the Cream with lemon or vanilla. When cooked, cut a slit in the sides of the puffs, and fill them with the Cream (see Fig. 566). The difficulty in making Cream puffs is the baking in the uneven heat of a stove or range. They are nothing if they do not rise round and hollow, and the stove must be slackened down to suit. The more the paste is beaten against the sides of the pan as the eggs are added, and after, the more the puffs will expand in baking. If it can possibly be avoided, the oven door should not be opened during the whole time of baking. (4) French. — Put 1 pint of water into a saucepan with 7oz. of butter and 3oz. of sugar, and boil them. Then add lOoz. of flour, and stir until it becomes a thick paste. Take it off the fire, and mix in six eggs, one at a time, beating it with a spoon against the side of the pan. When the last of the six eggs is about to be put in, add to it 2 teaspoonfuls of extract of vanilla. The more the paste For details respecting Culinary Processes , Utensils, Sauces, &C., referred to, see under their special heads. Cream — continued.