Soyer's standard cookery

Mix dry ingredients, and sift twice. Work in butter and lard with tips of fingers; add gradually the liquid, mixing with knife to a soft dough. It is impossible to determine the exact amount of liquid, owing to differences in flour. Toss on a floured board, pat and roll lightly to one-half inch in thickness. Shape with a biscuit cutter. Place on buttered pan, and bake in hot oven twelve to fifteen minutes. If baked in too slow an oven, the gas will escape before it has done its work. Many obtain better results by using bread flour. Baking-Powder Biscuit. (Another Method.) Two cups of flour, four teaspoonfuls of baking-powder, two tablespoonfuls of butter, three-quarters of a cup of milk, onehalf a teaspoonful of salt. Mix and bake as for previous recipe. Emergency Biscuit. Use recipe for baking-powder biscuit (previous recipe), with the addition of more milk, that mixture may be dropped from spoon without spreading. Drop by spoonfuls on a buttered pan, one-half inch apart. Brush over with milk, and bake in hot oven eight minutes. Mountain Muffins. One-quarter cup of butter, one-quarter cup of sugar, one egg, one-quarter cup of milk, two cups of flour, three teaspoonfuls of baking powder. Cream the butter; add sugar and egg well beaten; sift baking powder with flour, and add to the first mixture, alternating with milk. Bake in buttered tin gem pans twenty-five minutes. Rye Muffins. One and a quarter cups of rye meal, one and a quarter cups of flour, four teaspoonfuls of baking powder, one teaspoonful of salt, one-quarter cup of molasses, one and a quarter cups of milk, one egg, one tablespoonful of melted butter. Mix and bake as Mountain muffins, adding molasses with milk. Rye Gems. One and two-thirds cups of rye flour, one and a third cups of flour, four teaspoonfuls of baking powder, one teaspoonful of salt, one-quarter cup of molasses, one and a quarter cups of milk, two eggs, three tablespoonfuls of melted butter. Mix and sift dry ingredients, add molasses, milk, eggs well beaten, and butter. Bake in hot oven in buttered gem pans twenty-five minutes. Cornmeal Gems. One-half a cup of cornmeal, one cup of flour, three teaspoonfuls of baking powder, one tablespoonful of sugar, one tablespoonful of melted butter, one-half a teaspoonful of salt, threequarters of a cup of milk, one egg. Mix and bake as Mountain muffins. Hominy Gems. One-quarter cup of hominy, one-half a teaspoonful of salt, one-half a cup boiling water, one cup scalded milk, one cup cornmeal, three tablespoonfuls of sugar, three tablespoonfuls of butter, two eggs, three teaspoonfuls of baking powder. Add hominy mixed with salt to boiling water and let stand until hominy absorbs water. Add scalded milk to cornmeal, then add sugar and butter. Combine mixtures, cool slightly, add yolks of eggs beaten until thick, and whites of eggs beaten until stiff. Sift in baking powder and beat thoroughly. Bake in hot buttered gem pans. Berkshire Muffins. One-half a cup of cornmeal, one-half cup of flour, one-half a cup of cooked rice, two tablespoonfuls of sugar, one-half a teaspoonful of salt, two-thirds cup of scalded milk (scant), one egg, one tablespoonful of melted butter, three teaspoonfuls of baking powder.