Part 39

BIRTHDAY CAKE]

Fig pudding (No. 2)

Use only the best figs, soak one hour in a little warm water, and chop enough to make a generous cupful when minced. Soak two cupfuls of fine bread-crumbs in two cupfuls of milk until very soft. Into the crumbs stir five eggs, beaten light, a half cupful of sugar, a saltspoonful of salt, and the cupful of minced figs, thoroughly dredged with flour. Beat hard for several minutes, and turn into a greased pudding mold with a close top. Set in boiling water and cook for three hours. Dip the mold into cold water for an instant, then turn the pudding out upon a hot platter. Set in the oven long enough for the moisture to dry from the outside of the pudding. Three minutes in a hot oven should suffice. Send to the table and eat with a hard sauce flavored with a little nutmeg.

Fig and raisin pudding

Soak a large cupful of bread-crumbs in a cupful of milk for an hour; stir into them three eggs, beaten very light, three tablespoonfuls of powdered suet, and three tablespoonfuls of flour sifted with a teaspoonful of baking-powder. Have ready a half cupful of minced figs and the same quantity of seeded and quartered raisins. Mix the fruit together, dredge thoroughly with flour, and stir it into the pudding batter. Pour the mixture into a large pudding mold with a closely fitting top, leaving an abundance of room in the mold for the pudding to swell. Steam for fully three hours. Turn from the mold, set the pudding in the oven for five minutes, and serve with a liquid sauce.

Boiled Indian pudding (No. 1)

Heat a quart of milk to scalding, and beat into it gradually three cupfuls of Indian meal, into which you have stirred a scant teaspoonful of salt. When the meal is thoroughly beaten in and is free from lumps, add two heaping tablespoonfuls of powdered suet and remove from the fire. Turn into a bowl and set aside to cool. When the meal-mixture is very cold beat in four whipped eggs, a gill of molasses and a half teaspoonful of powdered cinnamon. Beat for five minutes and pour into a greased pudding mold with a closely fitting top. Boil for five hours, turn out upon a heated platter and set in the oven for five minutes before sending to the table. Eat with a hard or liquid sauce.

Indian pudding (No. 2)

Heat a quart of milk to scalding. Into a pint of Indian meal stir a half pound of finely chopped suet and a saltspoonful of salt. Turn this into the scalding milk. Stir all together and remove from the fire. When cold add three well-beaten eggs, a small cupful of molasses and half a teaspoonful of baking-soda dissolved in a tablespoonful of boiling water. Dredge a pound of seeded raisins with a cup of flour, and stir in last of all. Boil for three hours. Serve with hard sauce.

Batter pudding

Into four eggs, beaten very light, stir three cupfuls of milk and a pint of flour that has been twice sifted with a teaspoonful of baking-powder and a saltspoonful of salt. Turn into a greased pudding mold and steam for two hours. Eat with hot brandy sauce.

Boiled prune pudding

Stew a pound and a half of prunes; when cold remove the stones and cut each prune into four pieces. Into a half cupful of powdered suet stir a half cupful of powdered sugar, two beaten eggs, a gill of milk, a gill of the prune liquor and a scant pint of flour, sifted with a half teaspoonful of baking-powder and a saltspoonful of salt. Beat all thoroughly together, and, last of all, add the quartered prunes, thoroughly dredged with flour. Turn into a greased pudding mold with a closely fitting top and boil for two and a half hours. Eat hot with hard sauce.

Boiled huckleberry pudding

Make a rich biscuit dough. Roll this out, spread thickly with huckleberries, sprinkle with granulated sugar, and dot with bits of butter. Roll the sheet up carefully into an oblong parcel, pinch the edges together and put into a muslin bag. Plunge this into a vessel of boiling water and keep at a hard boil for at least two hours. Remove the pudding and serve with hot liquid sauce.

Steamed orange pudding (1)

Soak a cupful of bread-crumbs in a cupful of milk until very soft; beat into them three whipped eggs, two tablespoonfuls of powdered suet and three-quarters of a cupful of sugar. Carefully peel and divide into half lobes three oranges, dredge each piece thoroughly with flour, and stir the fruit into the above mixture. Turn into a greased pudding mold with a closely fitting top and steam for at least three hours. Turn the pudding out upon a hot platter, set in the oven for five minutes to dry, and send to the table with a hard sauce.

Boiled orange pudding (2)

Make a light paste of a pint of flour and three-quarters of a cupful of shortening—half butter, half cottolene or other fat—wet with enough iced water to make it of the proper consistency to roll out. Set in a cold place for several hours. Roll into a large sheet and cover this thickly with juicy oranges, peeled, sliced and seeded. Sprinkle the fruit well with granulated sugar and roll up the pastry. Fold the ends closely together, sew the pudding into a floured cheese-cloth bag, and boil for nearly two hours. Serve very hot with a hard sauce flavored with orange juice and a half teaspoonful of the grated peel.

Raisin pudding

Wash and seed a cupful and a half of raisins, and dredge them thickly with flour. Chop a cupful of suet very fine, removing all particles of string. It should be like powder. To this add a half cupful of brown sugar, a cupful of sour milk and three eggs beaten light. Now stir in enough flour to make a batter. (This batter must not be too thick, as the raisins have to be added to it.) About two cupfuls of flour should be enough. Beat in a half teaspoonful, each, of nutmeg and cinnamon and a small teaspoonful of soda, dissolved in a little boiling water. Now add the raisins, stir them in well, turn the pudding into a greased mold with a closely fitting top and steam for three hours. Eat with a hard sauce flavored with vanilla.

Fruit pudding

Cream together a cupful of butter and the same quantity of powdered sugar. Beat six eggs light and stir them into the butter and sugar. When thoroughly blended add three cupfuls of prepared flour and the grated peel of two lemons.

Have already prepared a half pound of seeded and halved raisins, eight minced figs and a quarter of a pound of minced citron. Mix these, dredge them thoroughly with flour and stir into the batter. Boil in a very large mold for three hours. This is an excellent company pudding and is a large one. Eat with hot liquid sauce.

Clonduff pudding

One cupful of molasses; half a cupful of melted butter; three and a half cupfuls of flour; one cupful of milk; three eggs, well-beaten; one-half teaspoonful of baking-soda; one teaspoonful of cinnamon; pinch of salt.

Stir molasses and butter to a cream, add the milk, the eggs, the spice, lastly, the flour, sifted three times with the salt and soda. Mix well, pour into a buttered mold; set in a pot of boiling water and cook steadily for three hours. The water must be kept at a fast boil all the time, replenishing from the tea-kettle if need be. Eat with wine sauce.

An excellent family pudding, and not expensive.

Sally’s pudding

Crumb stale cake finely. If there are several kinds, no matter. Stir the white of a raw egg into just enough cold water to moisten the crumbs. Don’t get them too soft. Press the mixture into a well-greased mold, with a close cover; boil steadily one hour; turn out while hot and eat with hard or liquid sauce.

Boiled gooseberry pudding

Top, tail and wash two cupfuls of gooseberries, ripe or green. Dredge with flour. Sift two cupfuls of flour with one teaspoonful of baking-powder and half as much salt. Cream one-half cupful of sugar with half as much butter. Add the well-beaten yolk of one egg, then the white, beaten stiff, one cupful of milk and the flour mixture alternately. Lastly, stir in the floured fruit; turn into a well-greased mold and boil two hours.

Steamed apricot pudding

With one heaping cupful of flour sift, twice, a heaping teaspoonful of baking-powder and half a teaspoonful of salt. Chop two tablespoonfuls of cottolene or other fat into this and mix to a dough with one cupful of milk. Strain the liquor from a can of apricots and save it to make sauce for the pudding. Butter a deep mold; pour an inch of dough into the bottom; cover with halved apricots; then more dough, and so on until all your materials are used up. Cover closely and boil or steam for three hours.

For sauce, strain and heat the syrup, thicken with a roux of flour and butter, cook for one minute; add a great spoonful of sugar and boil three minutes.

Suet pudding

Slightly warm and stir together one cupful of molasses and one of suet, freed from strings and powdered. Have ready a cupful of seeded and minced raisins and two even cupfuls of flour, sifted with one even teaspoonful of soda and a saltspoonful of salt. Beat two eggs light, add to the warmed mixture, season with mace and cinnamon, put in the flour, lastly the fruit. Pour into a buttered mold and steam nearly three hours.

Mary’s favorite pudding

Sift twice with two cupfuls of whole wheat flour a heaping teaspoonful of baking-powder and half a teaspoonful of salt. Have ready half a cupful of nut-meats—walnuts or hickory-nuts—scalded, skinned and dried, then chopped, and a cupful of sultana raisins, stemmed and washed. Dredge well with flour. Mix one cupful of milk with one-half cupful of molasses. Stir the sifted flour into this, add the dredged nuts and fruit mixed together; turn into a well-buttered mold, fit upon it a close top, and steam or boil for three hours.

Cornstarch hasty pudding

Heat a quart of milk in a double boiler. When it reaches the boiling point add four tablespoonfuls of corn-starch wet up with cold water and a pinch of salt. Cook for ten minutes, stirring often; then add a tablespoonful of butter, and let it stand at the side of the range for five minutes longer. Beat well and serve hot. Eat with butter and sugar.

East Indian pudding (very good)

One cupful of milk; three-quarters of a cupful of flour, sifted with an even teaspoonful of baking powder; three tablespoonfuls of butter; four eggs; four tablespoonfuls of minced preserved ginger, and one tablespoonful of the syrup.

Heat the milk to scalding, stir in the butter, and, when this is melted, boil up before adding the dry flour—all at once. Stir quickly down to the bottom every time, and when you have a smooth batter, turn out into a bowl. Beat hard with upward strokes for one minute and let it cool quickly, uncovered. When cold, make a hole in the middle, and break in an egg from the shell. Beat it in hard and well before dropping in another. Proceed in this way until all the eggs are beaten into the dough.

Dredge the minced ginger with flour before adding it. Last of all, work in the syrup.

Butter a mold well, put in the pudding and steam for two hours, or boil for an hour and a half. Set in cold water for one minute to make it shrink from the sides of the mold. Turn out, and eat hot with brandy sauce.

Cherry batter pudding

Stone three cupfuls of ripe cherries. Beat two eggs light, stir into them a tablespoonful of melted butter and a pint of milk, then four cupfuls of prepared flour. Last of all, stir in the cherries, well dredged with flour. Turn into a greased mold and steam for three hours. Serve with a hard sauce.

Cabinet pudding

(Contributed)

Butter a pudding mold and sprinkle the bottom with chopped raisins, citron and currants; add a layer of sponge cake and sprinkle lightly with ground cinnamon and cloves. Alternate these layers until the mold is almost full. Beat four eggs until light, add one quart of milk and a little salt and four tablespoonfuls of melted butter. Pour over the cake. Let all stand one hour and then steam for one and a half hours and serve with a currant jelly sauce.

Cherry roly-poly

(Contributed)

Sift one teaspoonful of salt and three level teaspoonfuls of baking-powder into one pint of flour; rub into this one tablespoonful of butter and moisten with enough milk to make a rather stiff dough. Toss on the board and pat into a rectangular shape. Have ready some stoned and well-drained cherries, lay them on the dough and press them gently into it. Dredge with flour and roll over into a loose roll, pinch the edges together and wrap in a cloth. Lay in a steamer and cook one hour; serve with cherry sauce.

BAKED PUDDINGS

Baked prune pudding (No. 1)

Stone and chop eighteen stewed prunes. Beat the yolks of four eggs light with two tablespoonfuls of sugar. Cook together in a saucepan one tablespoonful of butter and two of flour, and when they are blended pour upon them a scant gill of hot milk. Cook, stirring, to a thick white sauce; beat this gradually into the yolks and sugar, and add the minced prunes. Beat hard for five minutes, and set aside to cool. When cold, add the stiffened whites of the four eggs, beat for a minute and turn into a buttered pudding-dish. Bake in a hot oven for half an hour.

The sauce to be eaten with this pudding is made by heating the prune liquor, adding to it sugar, and, when this is dissolved, a dash of lemon juice.

Prune pudding (No. 2)

Soak a pound of prunes all night and, in the morning, drain well. Put them over the fire with a half cupful of granulated sugar and enough water to cover them, and stew until tender. Take them from the liquor and set aside to cool in a colander, reserving the liquor for the pudding sauce. Stone the prunes and chop them very fine. Break six eggs, dividing the yolks from the whites. Whip the yolks until thick, beat into them three tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar, the minced prunes and the finely-chopped meats of a dozen English walnuts. Last of all, add quickly, and with light strokes, the stiffened whites of the eggs. Turn into a greased pudding-dish and bake in the lower part of a moderate oven for half an hour. Serve in the bake-dish as soon as done with a sauce made by stirring into a pint of rich cream three tablespoonfuls of sugar, a dash, each, of nutmeg and cinnamon, and a gill of prune syrup. Serve this sauce cold.

Fruit pudding

Into the beaten yolks of five eggs beat a cupful of sugar, a half pound of powdered suet, a teaspoonful, each, of ground nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves, two cupfuls of milk and a pint of flour. Have ready chopped two ounces of citron and a half pound of seeded raisins. To these add a half pound of cleaned currants and dredge all thoroughly with flour. Stir the fruit gradually into the batter, and, last of all, fold in the stiffened whites of five eggs. Turn into a greased pudding-dish and bake for an hour and a quarter in a steady oven. Eat with hard sauce.

Pineapple pudding

Peel and chop a pineapple and cover with granulated sugar. Let it stand in the ice-box for an hour, then drain the juice from the fruit, saving both. In the bottom of a buttered pudding-dish put a layer of split “lady fingers,” and over them pour a little of the pineapple juice, to which you have added two teaspoonfuls of lemon juice. Spread the lady-fingers with a layer of the chopped pineapple; put in another layer of the pineapple, and more of the juice and fruit. Have the top layer of the moistened pineapple. Cover, set the pudding-dish in an outer pan of boiling water, and bake in a steady oven for at least an hour. Uncover, and brown lightly. Serve this pudding with hot liquid sauce flavored with the juice of two lemons and the grated peel of one.

Apple and tapioca pudding

Soak a cupful of tapioca for two hours in enough cold water to cover it. Lay, side by side, in a deep bake-dish apples that have been pared and cored. Pour over them a cupful of boiling water; put a cover on the dish and cook in the oven until the apples are tender. When done, drain the water from the apples, leaving them still in the bake-dish, fill the centers with granulated sugar, squeeze a few drops of lemon juice on each, and pour the soaked tapioca over and around the fruit. Bake for about an hour. Eat hot with hard sauce.

Tapioca and raisin pudding

Soak a cupful of tapioca in a pint of milk for three hours, then add a quart of rich milk and soak at least an hour longer. Put into a double boiler and heat slowly. When the tapioca is very soft, cream two tablespoonfuls, each, of butter and sugar; add to this two beaten eggs, then gradually beat in the hot tapioca. Add a cupful of seeded and halved raisins, turn into a buttered pudding-dish and bake. Eat hot with hard sauce.

Peach batter pudding

Make a batter of four beaten eggs, a quart of milk, two tablespoonfuls of melted butter, three scant cupfuls of prepared flour and a saltspoonful of salt. Lay in a deep pudding-dish fifteen peaches that have been peeled, stoned and quartered. Strew with sugar, pour the batter over and around them and bake in a steady oven. Eat at once with hard sauce.

Plum pudding

Seed and chop a pound of raisins, stem and wash a pound of currants, shred and mince three tablespoonfuls of citron and dredge with flour. Rub to a cream a half pound of sugar and half as much butter, and beat into them six whipped eggs, a cupful of milk, a quart of flour, and spices to taste. Stir in the fruit, last of all.

Baked orange pudding

Make a batter of two eggs, a cupful of milk, a tablespoonful of melted butter and about three cupfuls of flour into which have been sifted two teaspoonfuls of baking-powder. Peel, seed and cut into bits four oranges; beat these into the batter and bake in a greased pudding-dish in a hot oven. Serve with hot liquid sauce made according to the following recipe:

Orange sauce

Rub together five tablespoonfuls of butter and a cupful of granulated sugar. Put these into a saucepan and pour upon them half a cupful of boiling water, then the stiffened whites of three eggs, the juice of two oranges and half a lemon. Beat with an egg-beater until very foamy, and serve.

Raspberry cottage pudding

Rub to a cream a tablespoonful of butter and a scant cupful of sugar. Stir in a gill of cream, three beaten eggs, and two cupfuls of prepared flour. Last of all, add a pint of red raspberries, plentifully dredged with flour. Turn into a greased mold and bake for one hour. Serve hot with hard sauce into which has been beaten the juice from a pint of red raspberries.

Blackberry pudding

Beat three eggs light and stir them into two cupfuls of milk. Sift a quart of flour with two teaspoonfuls of baking-powder and beat this gradually into the eggs and milk. Dredge three cupfuls of blackberries with flour and stir these into the batter. Turn into a greased pudding-dish, and bake, covered, for an hour; then uncover and brown. Eat with hard sauce.

Cherry pudding

Stem and stone two heaping cupfuls of cherries. Beat three eggs light and stir into them a pint of milk, a tablespoonful of melted butter, and a quart of flour which has been twice sifted with two teaspoonfuls of baking-powder. Beat well, and add the cherries, which should be thoroughly dredged with flour. Stir these in, lightly and quickly; turn into a greased pudding-dish and bake in a steady oven for an hour and a half. Bake, covered, for the first hour; uncover and brown. Serve the pudding in the dish in which it was baked. Eat hot with a hard sauce.

Rhubarb pudding

Grease a pudding-dish and put into it a layer of bread-crumbs that have been soaked in a pint of water to which have been added the juice of a lemon and a half cupful of sugar. Sprinkle these crumbs with bits of butter, and put over them a thick layer of stewed rhubarb well sweetened. Now add more crumbs and more rhubarb, and proceed in this manner until the dish is full. Sprinkle the top of the pudding with dry bread-crumbs dotted with bits of butter. Bake, covered, for half an hour; uncover, and bake for ten minutes longer. Eat with hard sauce, flavored with powdered nutmeg.

Brown betty

Peel and chop enough apples to make two cupfuls. Have ready one cupful of fine bread-crumbs and two tablespoonfuls of butter cut into small bits. Butter a bake-dish and put in the bottom of it a layer of chopped apple sprinkled with sugar, bits of butter, and a very little cinnamon; over this spread a layer of crumbs. Then comes another layer of apple, and so on until the dish is full. The topmost layer must be of crumbs dotted with bits of butter. Bake, closely covered, for forty minutes; remove the cover, set the dish on the upper grating of the oven, and brown the pudding. Serve hot, with hard butter and sugar sauce.

Rice custard pudding

Make a white sauce by cooking together, until they bubble, a tablespoonful of flour and one of butter, and pouring on them a cupful of milk. Stir until thick, and set aside to cool. When cool, beat into this sauce three-quarters of a cupful of cold boiled rice and four well-beaten eggs. Turn into a buttered pudding-dish, put the dish into a pan of boiling water and cook until the custard is set. A quarter of an hour should suffice. Eat with a vanilla sauce made according to the following directions:

Put a cupful of boiling water into a saucepan over the fire, stir into it two teaspoonfuls of corn-starch dissolved in cold water, one teaspoonful of butter, half a cupful of sugar, a teaspoonful of lemon juice and a teaspoonful of vanilla. Stir until the sauce boils and thickens.

Poor man’s pudding

Pare the crusts from slices of graham bread, toast delicately and cut the slices into dice. Butter a pudding-dish and strew the bottom with these bread dice. Moisten with a very little milk, and sprinkle with granulated sugar. Cover with apple sauce, well sweetened. Add more bread dice, then apple sauce, and proceed in this way until your dish is full. Let the top layer be of apple sauce. Strew with bread-crumbs and sprinkle with cinnamon. Cover and bake in a hot oven for twenty minutes, then uncover and brown. Eat cold with sugar and cream.

Canned peach puddings

Sift twice with two cupfuls of flour a heaping teaspoonful of baking-powder and a half teaspoonful of salt. Chop into this a tablespoonful of butter. Beat two eggs light, and mix with two cupfuls of milk. Wet the prepared flour into a soft dough with the milk and eggs. Butter several deep pâté-pans. Put half a peach into the bottom of each; dust with sugar and cover with batter; then, another peach and so on, until the pans are full. Set in a pan of boiling water in a good oven and bake, covered, twenty minutes. Uncover, cook five minutes longer, and turn out upon a hot dish.

Make sauce for them by adding sugar to the peach syrup, heating and stirring in a roux of one tablespoonful of butter cooked with a teaspoonful of flour.

A German pudding

Three-quarters of a cupful of seeded raisins, three-quarters of a cupful of cleaned currants, one-half cupful of chopped almonds, one-half cupful of sugar, six eggs, one-half cupful of sweet milk, five slices of stale white bread.

Cut the crust from the bread, cut the bread slices into small cubes, and fry them to a golden-brown in a large tablespoonful of butter. Have a pudding-dish buttered; put in a layer of bread, next of fruits and nuts mixed together, then more bread. Beat the yolks, sugar, milk and a little grated lemon peel; add the beaten whites of four eggs; pour this mixture over the pudding and bake slowly for three-quarters of an hour. When done, beat the remaining whites of the eggs light with a tablespoonful of sugar, spread upon the pudding and brown slightly. Serve warm with fruit sauce.

Baked Indian pudding