Cassell's dictionary of cookery

If wanted for speedy use, pierce each one throughout both ways with a needle, leave them in the brine fully twelve days, and pour the vinegar upon them boiling hot. Time, about a fortnight to make the pickle. Probable cost, walnuts. Is. 6d. to 2s. per 100. Walnuts (to freshen old nuts for dessert) . ■ — Put the nuts into an earthen pan, and pour over them as much cold water slightly salted as will cover them. Leave them until the next day, and rub them dry before using them. Walnuts, To Preserve. — Fill an earthen pot with them, and cover them with clay an inch thick. At Christmas-time they will be found as fresh as when first gathered. Another way is to put the walnuts into a common earthenware jar with an earthenware Ud, and burj^ the jar in the earth about a foot deep in a place not too wet or too diy. A third way is as follows : — Gather the walnuts on a dry day, and directly the walnuts are taken out of the rind, put them into large flower-pots holding two pecks (any pans, however, will do as well), and when nearly full cover the pots two inches thick with sawdust. Place the pots on the floor in a wine-cellar. Washington Cake.— Put three-quarters of a pound of fresh butter into a bowl, and beat it to cream. Add gradually a pound of sugar, four well-beaten eggs, a tea-cupful of milk, half a nutmeg grated, half a tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, three table-spoonfuls of brandy, and a pound and three-quarters of flour ; flour a pound of dried currants, and stir them in also : they may be omitted. Beat the mixture briskly for a quarter of an hour. Dissolve a tea-spoonful of saleratus in a little hot water, and stir it into the mixture. Line the sides and bottom of the pan with buttered paper, pour in the cake, and bake in a moderate oven. When a skewer which has been thrust into it comes out clear and dry it is done enough. Washington Cakes, Breakfast.— Rub two ounces of butter into a pound and a half of floui- ; add a pinch of salt, two table-spoonfuls of powdered sugar, three well-beaten eggs, and a pint of milk. Beat the mixture thoroughly. Put it into buttered pans an inch deep, and bake the cakes in a well-heated oven. Time to bake the cakes, about half an hour. Probable cost. Is. for this quantity. Wasps' Nest Cakes. — Beat up six ounces of fresh butter, one egg, and three yolks. Add two spoonfuls of yeast, three spoonfuls of milk, and half a pound of flour. iSliike the mixture into a paste, roll it out thin, cut it into strips twelve fingers long, and three broad. Strew thickly with currants, chopped almonds, sugar, and cinnamon ; roll the strips up, butter a tin, and bake slowly. Strew with sugar, and serve.