Cassell's dictionary of cookery

Ladies' Wine Biscuits (sometimes called Ladies' Lips). — Mix three ounces of ground rice and three ounces of finely-sifted sugar. Make them into a paste with three fresh eggs. Beat all thoroughly for some minutes, then spread the mixture evenly and thinly on paper, and bake on a well-oiled tie for twenty minutes. Stamp the paste into small ornamental shapes with an ordinary pastry-cutter, and spread over them a thin coating of icing, prepared as follows: — Beat the white of an egg to a firm froth. Stir with it a quarter of a pound of finely-sifted sugar and as much cold water as will make it quite smooth. Colour part of this with two or three drops of cochineal. Spread a little on the top of the biscuits, and put them into a cool oven until the icing sets. Keep the biscuits in a tin box, closely covered, until wanted for use. Time, twenty minutes to bake. Probable cost, 7d. for this quantity. Lady Abbess' Pudding.— This excellent pudding is sometimes called Lady Betty's Delight. Take the thin rind of a fresh lemon, and let it soak for half an hour ia half a pint of new milk, then sweeten with two tablespoonfuls of sugar. Put the whole into a saucepan, and when well heated, add two large fresh eggs and the milk of a cocoa-nut, and put the custard aside to cool. Shred four ounces of beef suet very finely, grate two ounces of fresh cocoa-nut, and stone and mince six ounces of Muscatel raisins. Cut four ounces of stale bread into thin slices. Butter a plain round mould, and stick raisins upoii it in even rows. Put a slice of bread at the bottom, and place upon it a little suet, a few raisins, a little chopped lemon-rind and juice, three grates of nutmeg, and a little custard, and repeat until aU the ingredients are used, being careful to place bread and custard at the top. Let the pudding soak for an hour, then lay a buttered paper on the top, tie in a floured cloth, plunge into boiling water, and let it boil quickly until done enough. Turn it out carefully, and serve with the following sauce in a tureen. Mix a teaspoonful of arrowroot very smoothly with two table-spoonfuls of cocoa-nut milk. Pour over it a quarter of a pint of boiling syrup flavoured with lemon-rind and cinnamon, stir all together until the mixture is nearly cold, then add two table-spoonfuls of cream, a few drops of vaniUa essence, and a dessert-spoonful of brandy. Time to boil the pudding, three hours and a half. Probable cost, with the sauce, Is. 8d. Sufficient for four or five persons. Lady Abbess' Puffs. — Blanch sis ounces of Jordan almonds. Throw them into cold water as they are done, and afterwards wipe them dry and pound them in a mortar, adding a few drops of rose or orange-flower water everj' now and then to prevent them oiUng. Stir with them a quarter of a pound of finely-sifted loaf sugar and half an ounce of fresh butter. Pound to a smooth paste. Spread this evenly and thinly on smaU buttered patty-pans, and bake in a very slow oven until the puffs are crisp. Before serv-ing, put a little LAD ( 352 ) LAM jam into each, and cover it with whipped cream. The puffs should be cold before the jam is put into them. Time to bake, an hour or more. Probable cost, 8d. Sufficient for a dozen and a haK puffs.