Puddings and Pastry à la Mode

Take half a pint of milk, one spoonful of water and a little salt ; when it boils stir in as much dried flour as will make it stiff; then pound it in a mortar till very fine ; beat up the yolks of two eggs ; mix them well and pound it again ; cut the batter into small pieces with a spoon, and take care to make them of an equal size ; make them as round as possible, and fry them a light colour. The pan should be full enough to cover them, and the lard or dripping should boil when they are put in. Batter Pudding. Boil a pint of milk, and stir in three eggs beaten separately, and three and a half teaspoonfuls of flour while the milk is nearly hot enough to boil ; do not let it boil whilst stirring in the flour, but take it off the fire or the eggs will curdle. Bake this batter half an hour, and serve wine or lemon sauce with it. The milk should be slightly salted before boiling. Beignets Soufflés. Put two gills of water into a saucepan, a very little salt, a very full teaspoonful of sugar, the same quantity of butter, and a small piece of grated lemon-peel. When nearly boiling, remove from the fire, and add enough flour to make a light paste ; stir with a wooden spoon till smooth ; let it cool ; add one teaspoonful of vanilla essence, and break an egg into it and stir quickly, then another egg, and if necessary add still one more, to make it of the right consistency to drop slowly from a spoon. Then add the white of an egg beaten to a stiff froth. Put aside for two hours and drop a small spoonful at a time into boiling lard. They should puff up light and large, and when golden brown remove from the fat. Roll in powdered sugar and serve hot. Bengal Custards. Take two ounces of rice flour, mix this with three well-beaten eggs, a grate of nutmeg, two ounces of powdered sugar, and half a pint of milk. Mix well together, and put in patty-pans lined with puff-paste and bake. Berkeley Pudding. Mix together half a pound of finely shred suet, two ounces of fine flour, a tablespoonful of grated bread-crumbs, one whole egg, or two if small, a grate of cinnamon, the same of nutmeg, a gill of milk, and a teaspoonful of essence of lemon. When well mixed pour into a mould and boil five hours. Serve custard sauce with it, flavoured with rum. Berlin Pancakes. Mix half a pound of flour and half an ounce of yeast with lukewarm milk, and allow it to rise ; then add a tiny pinch of salt, half an ounce of sugar, one and a half ounces of butter, a few drops of rose-water, three yolks of eggs, and a little milk ; work all to a soft paste till it is easily detached from the basin. Allow again to rise, divide into four, and roll out. Fill with raspberry jam, turn over and form them into balls, lay them on a cloth powdered with flour, and allow them to rise. Boil some clarified dripping fast, then put the pancakes into it, cover the pan with a lid till the cakes are well risen. If they are nicely yellowish on the lower side, turn over and allow them to bake well. Then take them out of the pan, let the fat drip off, and powder with cinnamon and sugar. The fat must not be too hot, or the cakes will get too brown. If too old the cakes will not bake. The cakes may also be painted with raspberry jelly and dipped into coarse sugar. Bird's-nest Pudding. Peel and core three apples, line a pudding-dish with puff-paste, lay the apples at the bottom of the dish, and stick long strips of citron round them ; air to a cream half a pound of powdered sugar and a quarter of a pound of butter ; beat sepa- J LA MODE, II rately the yolks and whites of four eggs, mix them with butter and sugar, season with nutmeg, place it on the fire and stir till it is hot, then pour over the apples and bake immediately. This pudding can be eaten warm or cold ; the top must not be allowed to brown too soon. Blackberry Tart.