Miss Parloa's kitchen companion

Mix the corn-starch with four table-spoonfuls of the cupful of water. Put the remainder of the water into a saucepan, with the lemon rind and juice and the granulated sugar, and heat to the boiling-point ; then stir the corn-starch into the boiling mixture, and cook for two minutes. Stir the butter into the mixture, and set away to cool. When cool, add the yolks of the four eggs, well beaten. Pour the mixture into a large deep plate that has been lined with paste, and bake in a moderate oven for thirty-five minutes. During the last quarter of an hour make a meringue by beating the whites of the eggs to a stiff, dry froth, and gradually beating the powdered sugar into this froth. At the end of the thirty-five minutes cover the pie with the meringue, and bake, with the oven door open, for ten minutes longer. By following this rule, one gets a very large deep pie. The materials named are sufficient for making two small and rather thin pies. At serving- time the dish should be as cold as possible. Orange Cream Pie. For the cake use a scant half-cupful of butter, two cupfuls of sugar, three cupfuls and a quarter of flour, one of milk, three teaspoonfuls of baking-powder, and three eggs. Beat the butter to a cream, and gradually beat into it the sugar. Beat the eggs light, and then beat them into the sugar and butter; add the milk, and then the flour and baking-powder, mixed. Spread the mixture in six well-buttered Washington-pie tins, — these shallow plates are also called "jelly-cake tins." Bake in a moderate oven for about eighteen minutes. These six cakes will make three pies. The cake is very tender, and must be handled with care when it is taken from the pans. Let the cakes cool, and then fill them with the cream filling. Cream for Filling. — The materials are : four mediumsized oranges, one lemon, two cupfuls and a half of water, one cupful of powdered sugar, the yolks of three eggs, three table-spoonfuls of corn-starch, and one tablespoonful of butter. Into a saucepan put two cupfuls of water and the grated yellow rind of two of the oranges, and place on the fire. Mix the corn-starch with half a cupful of cold water, and stir into the boiling water. Simmer for ten minutes. Beat the sugar and yolks of eggs together, and stir into the boiling mixture. Cook for two minutes longer, stirring all the while. Take from the fire, and add the butter and orange and lemon juice ; beat well, and set away to cool. When the mixture is cold, spread it on three of the round cakes, and cover with the other three cakes. These pies may be frosted and decorated with sections of oranges, or they may be served plain. * Cream Pie. Beat three eggs very light with the Dover-beater ; add to them one cupful and a half of powdered sugar, and beat with a spoon until the entire mixture is creamy. Add one table-spoonful of lemon juice, and beat three minutes longer. Put two cupfuls of sifted flour into the sieve; mix with it two level teaspoonfuls of baking-powder; add one gill of cold water to the beaten egg and sugar ; then sift in the flour and baking-powder, and beat well. Pour a little more than half of this mixture- into two buttered