Bread, cakes, and biscuits

and bake in a quick oven to a golden brown. When perfectly cold, mask these cakes with a chocolate glace, placing on the centre of each, as the glace is setting, a square of any stiff, highly-coloured jelly, with a blanched nut of any kind fixed in this, and use plain or in tiny paper cases. (These add enormously to the value of such trifles, and cost but little if bought in quantities.) If preferred, this paste can be baked as in the preceding recipe, stamped out to taste, and finished as above. The flavouring, which should be added when beating it all up, may be varied : 2oz. freshlyground almonds and loz. grated vanilla chocolate, or a good dessertspoonful of strong coffee or coffee extract, or any liqueur to taste being used. Genoises au Chocolat. — Put into a basin about a ^lb. of flour and ooz. of sugar well sifted and slightly flavoured with chocolate. Mix this thoroughly with a wooden spatula, add two whole eggs, the yolks of three more, 5oz. of butter, and 2oz. of almonds peeled and pounded in a mortar with the white of an egg. To this, when it is well mixed, add, if desired, a little chocolate essence, or chocolate dissolved and rubbed smooth in about one tablespoonful of water. When all these ingredients are thoroughly incorporated, put the paste into small paper cases, either square or round (the former are generally used), and bake them in a moderate oven. When done, remove the cases and put back the cakes to dry in the oven. They should be iced with chocolate icing. Siros Faits. — Stir the yolks of six eggs first with fib. of finely pounded sugar; then add Alb. of pounded almonds, Jib- of grated chocolate, and, finally, the same quantity of flour. Work the paste thoroughly, and put in the whisked whites of the eggs. Butter some moulds of any desirable size, fill them with the mixture, bake them in the oven, and do not turn the biscuits out till nearly cold, so as to avoid breaking them. Cœurs au Chocolat. — Slightly beat up the yolks of eight eggs, and stir in, as briskly as possible, lib. of pounded almonds, Jib. of sifted sugar, 2oz. of grated chocolate (not the sweet make), and Joz. of grated or pounded cinnamon. When well mixed work into this paste the whites of two eggs whipped to a froth. Cut this pastry with fancy heartshaped moulds, after having rolled it out lightly ; bake them on tins, and ice them or not when they are taken out of the oven. Fanchonettes. — A generic name for a kind of French tartlet, of which there are many sorts. The usual way is to line some small plain or fancy patty pans with thinly rolled puff pastry, then fill them with any nice pastry cream, or custard to taste, and bake in a quick oven for about twenty minutes. They are then covered with a stiff meringue (made with three egg whites, 3joz. of caster sugar, and a drop or two of flavouring) in a rather high dome shape, and returned to the oven till crisp, and, if liked, slightly coloured. Some cooks further garnish them with coloured jelly, icing, glace, fruit, &c. If liked, any rich jam may be used with, or instead of, the cream, with the addition of sultanas, shred almonds, &c. In short, they are of the same class as the English character.