Part 68

_Alexandra Ice Pudding._--Make 1 pint custard of milk or cream and the yolks of 4 eggs, and sugar to taste; break up and sift through a sieve ¼ lb. ratafia cakes; mix this with the custard, adding a few drops of extract of bitter almonds and freeze to 22° F. Have ready 2 oz. strawberries preserved whole, drain them well from their syrup, and dip each one in lemon juice. Put a layer of the ice into the mould, then a few strawberries, and so until all are used. Let the mould remain imbedded in ice for 2 hours.

_Almond Génoise._--Beat in a mortar 2 oz. blanched almonds, adding some orange-flower water as wanted to prevent their oiling. Beat up in a bowl 2 oz. fresh butter (warmed) with 4 oz. powdered loaf sugar, add the almonds, the yolks of 4 and the whites of 2 eggs, one at a time, then very gradually 4 oz. fine flour. Continue beating until the mixture is perfectly smooth, then flavour it with some essence of vanilla, and bake as above. Spread the Génoise with apricot jam as above, and, instead of chocolate, use the following icing: Put the whites of 2 eggs into a basin with a little lemon juice and some _glacé_ sugar; well work the mixture with a wooden spoon, and, as it gets thin, keep on adding more sugar until a smooth paste of the consistency of butter is obtained. Lay the icing evenly on the slab of Génoise with a palette knife, put it in the oven for a minute to set the icing, and put it out at once in a cold place, then cut up the slab as above.

_Almond Jumbles._--Beat ½ lb. butter to a cream, with ½ lb. loaf sugar, pounded fine; mix with 1 lb. flour, and ¼ lb. almonds, blanched and shred fine, or beaten to a paste, with the juice of a lemon; work it well together, roll it out, then cut it into small round cakes, and bake them in a quick oven.

_Almond Pastry._--Pound 3 oz. almonds, ¼ lb. butter, 2 oz. loaf sugar, with a little rose-water till it becomes a thick paste. Spread it on a buttered tin, bake in a slow oven. When cold divide it into 8 pieces, put a spoonful of preserve on each piece, and cover with whipped cream.

_Almond Pudding._-½ lb. sweet almonds pounded, ¼ lb. pounded sugar, ¼ lb. breadcrumbs, ¼ lb. butter, 6 eggs, leaving out one white. Melt the butter, beat the eggs; add the sugar, then the butter, then the breadcrumbs and almonds; beat all together, butter a mould, put in layers with 3 tablespoonfuls apricot jam; boil 1½ hour; serve with sweet sauce, made with a tablespoonful of jam and a little water.

_Almond Rice Pudding._--3 oz. ground rice boiled in 1 pint milk; when cold add 6 oz. melted butter, 6 oz. sugar, 6 eggs, 3 whites, and a few blanched bitter almonds; when baked, stick it with sweet almonds.

_Almond Savarin._--Take 1 lb. fine sifted flour, 4 oz. pounded loaf sugar, ½ lb. fresh butter, 8 eggs and 1 oz. German yeast. Dissolve the yeast in rather less than ½ pint tepid milk, strain it, and work into it so much of the flour as will produce a soft dough. Roll this into a ball, place the remainder of the flour into a deep basin, lay the ball of dough on it, cover up the basin, and leave it in a warm place until the ball of dough (the sponge) has risen. Now add the sugar, the butter (just liquefied), the eggs, and a pinch of salt, and work the mixture lightly with the fingers until it becomes a smooth paste. Butter plentifully a large plain border mould (Savarin mould), mince some blanched almonds, not too fine, and strew the mould with as many of these as will stick to the butter; then pour in the cake mixture, which should not fill the mould more than ¾ full. Place the mould, covered up, in a warm place, and when the cake has well risen bake it in a moderate oven for about 1½ hour. Before turning the cake out of the mould stab the top of it (which will be the bottom when the cake is turned out) with a knife in several places, and pour all over it a mixture of 2 parts old rum, and one of very sweet syrup, so as to soak it well, but not too much, to the depth of an inch; then turn it in a dish, and serve. It may be eaten either hot or cold.

_Amber Pudding._--(_a_) Put 1 lb. butter into a saucepan, with ¾ lb. crushed sugar; melt the butter, and mix well; then add the yolks of 15 eggs, well beaten, and as much candied orange peel (pounded to a paste) as will give colour and flavour. Line a dish with paste, fill with the mixture, lay a crust over, and bake in a slow oven.

(_b_) Loaf sugar 4 oz., melted butter 4 oz., the yolks of 4 eggs, and 1 tablespoonful orange marmalade; make all hot over the fire, then add 2 oz. candied orange peel in large slices, put a thin crust in a tin, pour in the above mixture, and bake ½ hour.

(_c_) ½ lb. white sugar, ½ lb. butter, boiled together for 5 minutes: when hot pour it upon the yolks of 8 eggs, well beaten; line a dish with puff paste, put some marmalade in the bottom, pour the mixture over it, and bake in a slow oven for ½ hour. This pudding is so rich, it is better eaten when cold.

(_d_) Line a pudding dish with good puff paste, take ½ lb. fresh butter, ½ lb. loaf sugar, and 8 eggs; take the yolks of the eggs, mix with the sugar and butter on the fire till it becomes thick, but not boiling; whip the whites of eggs to a froth, and mix with the other when cold. Put any sort of jam at the bottom of the dish, pour the mixture of eggs, &c., over it, and bake for ½ hour.

_‘Angels’ Food._--Beat well the whites of 11 eggs, add 1½ tumblerfuls (3 gills) of pulverised sugar sifted 3 times, then add 2 teaspoonfuls extract of vanilla, and lastly 1 tumblerful (½ pint) of flour, which has been sifted with 1 teaspoonful cream of tartar 5 times; the flour must be measured both before and after sifting; it will be found to have gained a little, which increase must be rejected, using only the level tumblerful. Stir lightly together, and pour it into a new ungreased tin pan. Bake it in a moderate steady oven for 40 minutes. Cover it for the first 20 minutes with a sheet of paper. Let it cool in the pan, by turning the pan upside down, resting the edge of the pan upon 2 plates, in order to allow the air to circulate under the cake. Do not shake the pan while in the oven, or while cooling, or it will be heavy. It should be eaten the day it is baked. This cake is very fashionable in America just now; but to succeed with it, it is necessary to observe absolutely the directions.

_Apple and Quince Tart._--Lay a disc of puff paste on a round tin, and place a strip of paste all round it as for an ordinary jam tart. Spread on the inside a layer of quince marmalade ¼ in. thick. Peel and core some apples, cut them in slices ¼ in. thick, trim all the slices to the same shape, dispose these slices over the marmalade, overlapping each other, and in some kind of pattern; strew plenty of sugar over, and bake in a quick oven till the apples are a good colour.

_Apples and Tapioca._--Peel 4-6 good-sized apples, take out the core, and fill up the cavity with sugar and powdered cinnamon, putting a small piece of butter on the top of each. Place them in a baking dish, and strew round them about a cupful of tapioca (raw) mixed with sugar and some grated lemon rind; fill the dish with water, and put in a gentle oven until both apples and tapioca are done.

_Apples, Baked._--Baked apples are very nice filled in with plain custard, also with rice and cornflour, dressed as for a pudding, and poured in where the cores were; or take a piece of quince cheese and place it in when the apples are about half done. Blackberry jam also is very nice, but must not be put in till the apples are done, or it spreads over the dish too much.

_Apple Cake._--Take 1 lb. lump sugar, put it to 1 pint water, let it boil till quite dissolved and ready to candy; then add 2 lb. apples pared and sliced, and the peel of a lemon, if liked. Boil all together till quite stiff; then put it into a mould, and when cold it will turn out. Serve with custard round, and, if liked, a few almonds blanched, split, and stuck in the cake. These cakes will keep for several weeks.

_Apple Charlotte._--Cut from a household loaf a number of slices of uniform thickness (¼ to ⅜ in.); butter a plain mould and all the slices of bread; shape one of them round to fit the bottom of the mould, and another one for the top; cut the rest in pieces 1 in. wide, and the height of the mould in length; lay one of the round pieces at the bottom of the mould, and line the sides with the small pieces, carefully smearing the edges with white of egg, so as to make them well hold together. Stew a quantity of apples with plenty of brown sugar, a little water, the juice and the thin rind of a lemon, and a piece of cinnamon; when thoroughly done pass them through a hair sieve; fill the mould with this purée, put on the round slice of bread for the cover, and set in a quick oven for about 1½ hour.

_Apple Compote._--Peel, core, and halve 6 large apples, trimming them so as to get them all of a size; drop them as they are done into cold water with the juice of a lemon squeezed into it, to prevent their turning brown. Have ready a strong syrup (made with 1 lb. sugar and 1 qt. water) boiling hot; put the apples into this, with the thin rind of a lemon and 2 or 3 cloves. As soon as they are cooked (great care must be taken that they do not break), take them out and dispose them, concave side uppermost, on a glass dish; place a piece of currant jelly or quince jelly in the hollow of each apple, then well reduce the syrup, and, when cold, pour as much of it as is necessary under the apples.

_Apple Cream Cake._--Rub 1 oz. butter into ¾ lb. flour, and take half a pint of sour cream; dissolve 1 teaspoonful soda carbonate in 1 teaspoon boiling water, add it to the sour cream, and stir until it froths well. If the cream is very sour, it may require a little more soda. Be careful that it is frothy, or else the paste will not be light. Stir the frothing cream into the flour, enough to make a soft paste; line a greased plate with a thin layer of paste; have ready some stewed apples, sweetened and perfectly cold, grated lemon peel mixed in just before they are put into the cake, and as little juice from the apples as possible, or the crust will be soddened. Spread the stewed apple over the paste, leaving a narrow margin for the top crust to adhere to the bottom; roll out the top crust 1 in. thick; pinch the edges well together to make it a little ornamented round the edge, and bake it in a quick oven. This quantity of paste should make two good-sized cakes, the size of a dinner plate; a tin plate is best to bake them on; they are equally good cold or hot, and are eaten with sugar and cream.

_Apple Custard._--Apple chips or rings are as nice as ordinary fruit, and in winter much cheaper. They can be got at an ordinary grocers, and must be soaked 12 hours before using. Take ½ lb. of the fruit when soaked, and stir gently with sugar, lemon peel and cloves to taste, till tender. When cool, pour into a glass dish, and cover with the following custard: ½ pint milk, 1 egg, ½ small teaspoonful cornflour, 2 lumps of sugar. Mix the cornflour carefully with the milk, then whisk the egg and add it with the sugar (which is best sifted); put the whole into a jug and stand in boiling water, stirring well till it thickens, then pour it over the apples, and grate nutmeg on the top. (Bessie Tremaine.)

_Apple Devil._--The following is a delicious way of dressing apples, and is not very well known: Peel and core about 30 good baking apples, and slice them into a little cold water; add equal weight of lump sugar, the juice and peel of 2 lemons cut very thin, 2 oz. very finely grated ginger, and 1 teaspoonful cayenne pepper. Boil all together till the apples look quite clear. The quantity of cayenne can be diminished to suit the taste. This will keep good for 2-3 years, and is to be eaten as a preserve. If required for a dish for dinner, beat up the whites of 4 eggs till very stiff; sprinkle with a little crushed sugar whilst beating. When very firm pile it on some of the preserve previously placed in a dish, and put in the oven till nicely browned. It may be served either hot or cold.

_Apple Dumplings._--Take some finely sifted flour, say ½ lb., and ¼ lb. suet very finely shred, and well freed from skin. Mix the suet and flour, add a pinch of salt and ½ teaspoonful baking powder, with sufficient cold water or milk to make it of the right consistency. Knead it well, and roll it out to the thickness required. Divide this paste into as many pieces as are required for the dumplings. Take some large-sized apples, peel, core, sprinkle them with moist sugar, then insert into the cavity of each some butter, sugar, and a clove. Cover them with the paste, and join the edges carefully. Tie each dumpling up in a floured cloth, and boil about 1 hour. Untie them carefully, and turn them out without breaking them; serve with cream and sugar. A little currant jelly may be substituted for the butter, sugar, and clove.

_Apple Fool._--(_a_) In the country where milk and apples are plentiful, this is a cheap treat for children, and very nice. In towns, it may be necessary to soak a little light bread in the milk and beat it up with the apples to make them go further. Bake good sharp apples slowly, then they will not burst; when done, take out the pulp, rub it smooth, sweeten, add a little lemon flavouring, and a tablespoonful of new, or a teaspoonful of condensed, milk, and serve in a bowl. (Mary Hooper.)

(_b_) The proportion of milk or cream would be 1 pint new milk to 2 lb. apples. It is impossible to give the exact quantity of sugar also, as it must entirely depend on the kind of apple used, some apples requiring so much more sweetening than others; it must be a matter of taste. It is better not to put too much in at first, but a certain amount must be put in with the first boiling of the apples, and more added afterwards if not sweet enough. The apples must be peeled, the cores removed, and then put into a pudding basin with a little water, just enough to start the juice, loaf sugar, and a few cloves. Cover the basin with a plate, and put it into a moderately hot oven to cook the apples gradually until quite soft, when they must be beaten until smooth with a wooden spoon. The milk must have been previously boiled, sweetened, and allowed to get cold. Add this by degrees to the beaten apple; mix thoroughly, and, when well amalgamated, serve it cold in a glass dish. Unless the milk be new, cream should be used with it in equal quantities. A bay leaf boiled with the milk is a great improvement.

_Apple Ginger._--(_a_) 7 lb. apples, pared and cored, 7 lb. pounded loaf sugar, 2 oz. ground ginger, the juice of 3 lemons, 1 pint water. Boil slowly rather more than ½ hour. Put in moulds and cover with paper.

(_b_) Peel, core, and quarter 2-3 lb. small russet apples. Any apples will do that do not break in the boiling, but small ones look better. Put them in a jar with layers of whole ginger, about 2 oz. Make a syrup with ¾ pint water, 1 oz. ginger, and 1½ lb. lump sugar, and pour it boiling over the apples. Let it stand till the next day, then simmer the whole very slowly until the apples are tender and look transparent; take the apples out and drain them, and boil the syrup fast until it is thick. Pour it again over the apples, and when cold bottle.

(_c_) 4 lb. apples, 1 qt. water, 4 lb. sugar, 2 oz. best essence of ginger. Pare the apples, and cut them in slices as for a pie. As you pare and core them, throw them into a basin of cold water. Boil the sugar and water nearly 15 minutes until it forms a nice syrup; then put in the apples. Do not stir them much. Add the ginger; boil 1 hour till it becomes yellow and clear. Be sure not to let it boil fast.

_Apple Pudding._--(_a_) Make a paste with equal quantities sifted flour and finely chopped suet, a pinch of salt, and a little water. Roll it out thin into a large piece, place this over a well-buttered basin, and push it in so as to line the basin with it, cut it off all round so as to leave enough to fold up; roll out the trimmings to such a size as to cover the top of the basin. Pare, core, and slice a quantity of good sound apples. Put them in the basin with brown sugar to taste, and either some chopped lemon peel, 2 or 3 cloves, or a little grated nutmeg; add a small piece of fresh butter, pack the apples tight in, put on the cover of paste, turn up the edges and press them down, tie a floured pudding cloth over, and put the basin into a saucepanful of boiling water, which should come well over the pudding. Boil 2-3 hours according to size.

(_b_) Stew 2 lb. apples to a pulp; sweeten to taste while stewing, and when taken off the fire stir in 2 oz. good fresh butter; when cold, add 2 eggs beaten up; butter well the bottom and sides of a pudding dish; strew crumbs of bread 2 in. thick, over the bottom and sides, put in the apples well mixed with the 2 eggs, strew breadcrumbs over the top, and a few tiny bits of butter and white sugar. Bake in a moderate oven, and serve the pudding with cream or custard.

_Apple Rings._--(_a_) Soak apple rings for 12 hours in cold water, when they will be fit for every use in casking apples, and found superior to our English apples, for sauce, puddings, &c., in particular. (J. B. F.)

(_b_) These cook much nicer and softer if they are soaked overnight in sufficient cold water to cover them, using the same water to stew them with. If this is not convenient, put them in an enamelled saucepan--an iron one turns them black--and nearly cover them with cold water. Put in a small piece of stick cinnamon, and a few cloves: this flavouring seems to suit them better than lemon peel; add sufficient sugar when they begin to simmer, and stew until soft, which should be in ½ hour. When apple rings are stewed, they can be spread on a suet paste and be used for roly-poly puddings, or be eaten with blancmange or boiled rice, or be made into puffs, open tarts, or an apple pasty. For example, line a Yorkshire pudding tin, greased, with short paste, put in a deep layer of stewed apples and cover it with a lid of paste, pinching the edges well between finger and thumb in a crinkled fashion; brush over the top with water, sprinkle castor sugar thickly over, and bake for ½ hour in a moderate oven; turn it carefully out of the tin by placing a flat board on the top of the pasty, and turn the tin bottom upwards, when the pasty will come out of the tin; now place your dish on the bottom of the pasty and turn it over again, which will bring the pasty right side uppermost, and if done carefully it will not break. If any of the sugar falls off, grate some sugar on the bare places. To be eaten either hot or cold. Covered tarts can be made with apple rings in this way: line a shallow tin, or a dinner plate, with a thin paste, spread a layer of stewed apple and cover with a lid of paste--either short or puff--and bake it for 20 minutes; cover with thin icing, made by beating the white of an egg with 1 tablespoonful castor sugar and 1 teaspoonful lemon juice together for 5 minutes with a whisk; spread this icing over the tart with a knife and set it in a cool oven for ¼ hour to harden. These covered tarts can be made to look pretty by spreading the white icing evenly over the crust, letting it harden 5 minutes in the oven; colour a small portion of the icing with cochineal, and put it round the edge in little pink buttons, setting the tart back in the oven for the rest of the time to harden. Apple rings can be cooked nicely in deep tarts; but, unless there is a good bottom heat to the oven, they do not cook sufficiently soft in the same time it takes to bake the crust properly, and it is best to have them stewed first.

_Apple Roly-Poly._--Make a suet crust, roll it out thinly, put slices of apple all over it, sift over the apple sugar and the grated peel of a lemon or powdered cinnamon; roll it up, pinch the ends very securely; boil it in a cloth 1½ hour, and, if large, 2 hours.

_Apple Snow._--(_a_) Pare and core 6 good-sized apples, steam them in 2 tablespoonfuls water, with a little lemon peel, till quite soft. Add ¼ lb. finely sifted white sugar, and the white of 1 quite fresh egg. Beat it well for ¾ hour without stopping, and serve as you please. It looks best in custard glasses heaped up.

(_b_) Take ¼ lb. of the pulp of roasted apples, ¼ lb. powdered loaf sugar, the juice of half a lemon, some of the rind rubbed into 2 lumps of sugar and then pounded, and the whites of 3 or 4 eggs. Whip all together for an hour, till it is like whipped cream, and drop it lightly into a glass dish.

(_c_) Stew some apples till tender, sweeten to taste, mash them up, and place them in the centre of a dish; round and over them place a layer of boiled rice (dry); whisk the whites of 3 or 4 eggs until quite light and frothy; cover the whole with this froth, sprinkle over it powdered sugar, colouring a little of it with cochineal.

_Apples, Stewed._--(_a_) Peel and core 6 apples, put the cores and parings into 1 qt. water, and simmer gently. Strain off, and pour the liquor over the apples, adding the juice of half a lemon, and 3 oz. white sugar. Boil gently till the apples are quite tender, then turn out into a basin, and beat up with a fork, gradually adding about 1 teacupful cream. When the whole is about the consistency of cream, pile up in a glass dish, and put away in a cool place. Whipped cream or the whites of eggs, well whisked, may be put over the top before serving.

(_b_) For a small dish, 5 large apples will be enough. Peel them, take out the cores, put them into a pie-dish with their weight of loaf sugar, 1 pint water, half the rind of a lemon, and a few drops of cochineal. Put them in the oven until done through. Remove the apples on to a dish without breaking, put the liquor into a stewpan, and set it on the fire to reduce to a syrup; pour it over the apples, first taking out the lemon peel. They may be done in the same way without colouring; the lemon peel should then be taken out at the same time as the apples. Cut the peel up into very fine strips, and when the syrup is made, throw in the strips of peel, to be served up in it round the apples. The syrup should be perfectly clear. Just before sending to table, put 1 teaspoonful red currant jelly in the hole at the top of each apple, or a dried cherry on the top of each makes a pretty garnish.

_Apple Tart._--Lay a disc of puff paste on a round tin, spread a layer (about ⅜ in. thick) of apple marmalade over it, leaving a rim 1 in. wide clear all round; roll out, and cut some of the paste in strips the size of a straw; form a trellis-work with them over the marmalade, then put a border of paste all round over the rim. Glaze the top of the border and trellis with beaten-up egg, and bake in quick oven.