SWEETS
BLANCMANGE
1 pint of milk.
2 heaping tablespoonfuls of cornflour.
3 tablespoonfuls of sugar.
Whites of three eggs.
½ teaspoonful of vanilla.
Beat the whites of the eggs very stiff. Mix the cornflour with half a cup of the milk, and stir it till it melts. Mix the rest of the milk and the sugar, and put them on the fire in the double saucepan. When it bubbles, stir up the cornflour and milk well, and stir them in and cook and stir till it gets as thick as oatmeal; then turn in the eggs and stir them lightly, and cook for a minute more. Take it off the stove, mix in the vanilla, and put in a mould to cool. When dinner is ready, turn it out on a dish and put small bits of red jelly round it, or pieces of preserved ginger, or a pretty circle of preserved peaches, or preserved pineapple. Have a pitcher of cream to pass with it, or have a nice bowl of whipped cream. If you have a ring-mould, let it harden in that, and have the whipped cream piled in the centre after it is on the dish, and put the jelly or preserves round last.
CHOCOLATE BLANCMANGE
Use the same recipe as before, but put in one more tablespoonful of sugar. Then shave thin two squares of chocolate, and stand on the fire till it melts, and stir it in very thoroughly before you put in the eggs. Instead of pouring this into one large mould, put it in egg-cups to harden; turn these out carefully, each on a separate plate, and put a spoonful of whipped cream by each one.
BAKED CUSTARD
2 cups of milk.
Yolks of two eggs.
2 tablespoonfuls of sugar.
A little nutmeg.
Beat the eggs till they are light; mix the milk and sugar till the sugar melts; put the two together, and pour into a nice baking-dish, or into small cups, and dust the nutmeg over the tops. Bake till the top is brown, and till when you put a knife-blade into the custard it comes out clean.
COCOANUT CUSTARD
Add a cup of cocoanut to the above recipe and bake it in one dish, stirring it up two or three times from the bottom, but, after it begins to brown, leaving it alone to finish. Do not put any nutmeg on it.
TAPIOCA PUDDING
2 tablespoonfuls of tapioca.
Yolks of two eggs.
½ cup of sugar.
1 quart of milk.
Put the tapioca into a small half-cup of water and let it stand one hour. Then drain it and put it in the milk in the double saucepan, and cook and stir it till the tapioca looks clear, like glass. Beat the eggs and mix the sugar with them, and beat again till both are light, and put them with the milk and tapioca and cook three minutes, stirring all the time. Then take it off the fire and add a saltspoonful of salt and a half-teaspoonful of vanilla, and let it get perfectly cold.
FLOATING ISLAND
1 pint of milk.
3 eggs.
⅓ cup of sugar.
Put the milk on the stove to heat in a good-sized pan. Beat the whites of the eggs very stiff, and as soon as the milk scalds—that is, gets a little wrinkled on top—drop spoonfuls of the egg on to it in little islands; let them stand there to cook just one minute, and then with the skimmer take them off and lay them on a plate. Put the milk where it will keep hot, but not boil, while you beat the yolks of the eggs stiff, mixing in the sugar and beating that, too. Pour the milk into the bowl of egg, a little at a time, beating all the while, and then put it in the double boiler and cook till it is as thick as cream. Take it off the fire, stir in a saltspoonful of salt and half a teaspoonful of vanilla, and set it away to cool. When it is dinner-time, strain the custard into a pretty dish and slip the whites off on top, one by one. If you like, you can dot them over with very tiny specks of red jelly.
CAKE AND CUSTARD
Make a plain boiled custard, just as before, with—
1 pint of milk.
Yolks of three eggs.
⅓ cup of sugar.
1 saltspoonful of salt.
½ teaspoonful of vanilla.
Beat the eggs and sugar, add the hot milk, and cook till creamy; put in the salt and vanilla, and cool. Then cut stale cake into strips, or split ladyfingers into halves, and spread with jam. Put them on the sides and bottom of a flat glass dish, and gently pour the custard over.
APPLE CHARLOTTE
Peel, core, and slice six apples. Butter a baking-dish and sprinkle the inside all over with fine bread-crumbs. Then take six very thin slices of buttered bread and line the sides and bottom of the dish. Put a layer of apples an inch thick, a thin layer of brown sugar, six small pieces of butter, and a dusting of cinnamon, another layer of crumbs, another of apples and sugar, and so on till the dish is full, with crumbs and butter on top, and three tablespoonfuls of sugar poured over. Bake this one hour.
LEMON PUDDING
1 cup of sugar.
4 eggs.
2 lemons.
1 pint of milk.
1 tablespoonful of granulated sugar.
2 tablespoonfuls of cornflour.
1 pinch of salt.
Wet the cornflour with half a cup of the milk, and heat what is left. Stir up the cornflour well, and when the milk is hot put it in and stir; then boil five minutes, stirring all the time. Melt the butter, and put that in with a pinch of salt, and cool it. Beat the yolks of the eggs, and add the sugar, the juice of both lemons, and the grated rind of one, pour into the milk, and stir well; put in a buttered baking-dish and bake till slightly brown. Take it out of the oven; beat the whites of two of the eggs with a tablespoonful of granulated sugar, and pile lightly on top, and put in the oven again till it is just brown. This is a very nice recipe.
RICE PUDDING WITH RAISINS
1 quart of milk.
2 tablespoonfuls of rice.
⅓ cup of sugar.
½ cup of seeded raisins.
Wash the rice and the raisins and stir everything together till the sugar dissolves; then put it in a baking-dish in the oven. Every little while open the door and see if a light brown crust is forming on top, and, if it is, stir the pudding all up from the bottom and push down the crust. Keep on doing this till the rice swells and makes the milk all thick and creamy, which it will after about an hour. Then let the pudding cook, and when it is a nice deep brown take it out and let it get very cold.
BREAD PUDDING
2 cups of milk.
1 cup of soft bread-crumbs.
1 tablespoonful of sugar.
2 egg yolks.
1 egg white.
½ teaspoonful of vanilla.
1 saltspoonful of salt.
Crumb the bread evenly and soak in the milk till soft. Beat it till smooth, and put in the beaten yolks of the eggs, the sugar, vanilla, and salt, and last the beaten white of the egg. Put it in a buttered pudding-dish, and stand this in a pan of hot water in the oven for fifteen minutes. Take it out and spread its top with jam, and cover with the beaten white of the other egg, with one tablespoonful of granulated sugar put in it, and brown in the oven. You can eat this as it is, or with cream, and you may serve it either hot or cold.
Sometimes you can put a cup of washed raisins into the bread-crumbs and milk, and mix in the other things; sometimes you can put in a cup of chopped almonds, or a little preserved ginger. Marmalade is especially nice on bread pudding.
ORANGE PUDDING
Make just like Lemon Pudding, but use three oranges instead of two lemons.
CABINET PUDDING
1 pint of milk.
Yolks of 3 eggs.
3 tablespoonfuls of sugar.
1 saltspoonful of salt.
Beat the eggs, add the sugar, and stir them into the milk, which must be very hot, but not boiling; stir till it thickens, and then take it from the fire. Put a layer of washed raisins in the bottom of a mould, then a layer of slices of stale cake or Savoy biscuits; then more raisins round the edge of the mould, and more cake, till the mould is full. Pour the custard over very slowly, so the cake will soak well, and bake in a pan of water in the oven for an hour. This pudding is to be eaten hot, with any sauce you like, such as Foamy Sauce.
Cut-up figs are nice to use with the raisins, and chopped nuts are a delicious addition, dropped between the layers of cake.
COTTAGE PUDDING
1 egg.
1 cup sugar.
½ cup milk.
1½ teaspoonfuls baking-powder.
Beat the yolk of the egg light, add the sugar slowly, and beat more, then put in the milk, the flour, the whites of the eggs beaten stiff, and last of all the baking-powder, and stir it up well. Put in a greased pan and bake nearly half an hour. If you want this very nice, put in half a cup of chopped figs, mixed with part of the flour.
Serve with Foamy Sauce.
PRUNE WHIPS
This was a cookery-school recipe which the Aunt put in, because she said it was the best sort of a pudding for little girls to make and like.
1 tablespoonful of powdered sugar.
2 tablespoonfuls of stewed prunes.
White of 1 egg.
Cook the prunes till soft, take out the stones, and mash the prunes fine. Beat the white of the egg very stiff, mix in the sugar and prunes, and bake in small buttered dishes. Serve hot or cold, with cream.
JUNKET
1 junket tablet.
1 quart milk.
½ cup sugar.
1 teaspoonful vanilla.
Break up the junket tablet—or rennet can be used—into small pieces, and put them into a tablespoonful of water to dissolve. Put the sugar into the milk with the vanilla, and stir till it is dissolved. Warm the milk a little, but only till it is as warm as your finger, so that if you try it by touching it with the tip, you do not feel it at all as colder or warmer. Then quickly turn in the water with the tablet melted in it, stirring it only once, and pour immediately into small cups on the table. These must stand for half an hour without being moved, and then the junket will be stiff. In winter you must warm the cups till they are like the milk. This is very nice with a spoonful of whipped cream on each cup, and bits of preserved ginger or of jelly on it.
STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE
Margaret’s mother called this the Thousand Mile Shortcake, because she sent so far for the recipe to the place where she had once eaten it, when she thought it the best she had ever tasted.
1 pint flour.
½ cup butter.
1 egg.
1 teaspoonful baking-powder.
½ cup milk.
1 saltspoonful salt.
Mix the baking-powder and salt with the flour and sift all together. The butter should stand on the kitchen table till it is warm and ready to melt, when it may be mixed in with a spoon, and then the egg, well beaten, and the milk.
Divide the dough into halves; put one in a round biscuit-tin, butter it, and lay the other half on top, evenly. Bake a light brown. When you take it out of the oven, let it cool, and then lift the layer apart. Mash the strawberries, keeping out some of the biggest ones for the top of the cake, and put on the bottom layer; put a small half-cup of powdered sugar on them, and put the top layer on. Dust this over with sugar till it is white, and set the large berries about on it, or cover the top with whipped cream and put the strawberries on this.
SHORTCAKE
1 small cup sugar.
½ cup butter.
1 cup cold water.
1 egg.
2 cups flour.
3 teaspoonfuls baking-powder.
Rub the butter and sugar to a cream; sift the flour and baking-powder together; beat the egg stiff without separating; put the egg with the sugar and butter, add the water and flour in turn, a little at a time, stirring steadily; bake in two layer-tins. Put jam between them and on top.
Tiny field strawberries make the most delicious shortcake of all.
LEMON CHEESE CAKES
¾ lb. of loaf sugar.
4 oz. of fresh butter.
Yolks of 6 eggs.
Whites of 4 eggs.
Peel of 3 lemons grated.
Juice of 3 lemons.
Put the lemon juice and grated rind, together with the sugar and butter, into a brass pan; add the eggs gradually lest they curdle. Then simmer over the fire until as thick as honey, stirring gently all the time.
Pour into small jars, and when cold paste paper over. Keep in a very dry place. Fill the patty-pans half-full, as it rises much in a quick oven. Puff paste should be used for these.
LEMON JELLY
½ box gelatine.
½ cup cold water.
2 cups boiling water.
1 cup sugar.
Juice of 3 lemons, and three scrapings of the yellow rind.
Put the gelatine into the cold water and soak one hour. Put the boiling water, the sugar, and the scrapings of peel on the fire, and stir till the sugar dissolves. Take it off the fire and stir in the gelatine, and mix till this is dissolved; when it is partly cool, turn in the lemon juice and strain through a flannel bag dipped in water and wrung dry. Put into a pretty mould.
ORANGE JELLY
Make this exactly as you did the Lemon Jelly, only instead of taking the juice of three lemons, take the juice of two oranges and one lemon, and scrape the orange peel instead of the lemon peel.
Whipped cream is nicer with either of these jellies.
PRUNE JELLY
Wash well a cup of prunes, and cover them with cold water and soak overnight. In the morning put them on the fire in the same water, and simmer till so tender that the stones will slip out. Cut each prune in two and sprinkle with sugar as you lay them in the mould; pour over them lemon jelly made by the recipe above, and put on ice. Turn out on a pretty dish, and put whipped cream round.
FRUIT JELLY
Make a plain lemon jelly, as before. Cut up, very thin, two oranges, one banana, six figs, and a handful of white grapes, which you have seeded, and sweeten them. Put in a mould and pour in the jelly; as it begins to grow firm you can gently lift the fruit from the bottom once or twice.
You can also fill the mould quite full of fruit, and make only half the jelly and pour over. Whipped cream is nice to eat with this.
STEWED RHUBARB
Wipe the rhubarb with a damp cloth. Cut into pieces about one inch long; put in a stewpan with enough water just to cover it, and put in sugar to suit taste. Cook till it becomes soft, but not mashed; let it simmer gently.
SNOW PUDDING
½ box of gelatine.
1 pint of cold water.
3 eggs.
Juice of 3 lemons.
½ cup of powdered sugar.
Pour the water over the gelatine and let it stand ten minutes; then put the bowl over the fire and stir till it is dissolved, and take it off at once. As soon as it seems nearly cold, beat to a froth with the egg-beater. Beat the whites of the eggs stiffly, and add to the gelatine, with the lemon juice and sugar, and mix well. Put in a mould and set on ice. Make a soft custard by the recipe, and pour round the pudding when you serve it.
VELVET CREAM
¼ box of gelatine.
1 pint of milk.
2 eggs.
3 tablespoonfuls of sugar.
Small teaspoonful of vanilla.
Put the gelatine in the milk and soak fifteen minutes; put on the stove and heat till it steams, but do not let it boil; stir carefully often, as there is danger of its burning. Beat the yolks of the eggs with the sugar, and put these in the custard, and cook till it all thickens and is smooth, but do not boil it. Strain, cool, and add the vanilla, and last fold in the beaten whites of the eggs, and put in a mould on the ice.
Preserved peaches laid round this are very nice, or rich pineapple, or apricot jam; or a ring of whipped cream, with bits of red jelly, make a pretty border.
COMPOTE OF ORANGES AND CHESTNUTS
Peel and quarter eight oranges, boil half-pound of lump sugar and half-pint of water till it becomes a syrup. Pour over quartered oranges whilst boiling, and let cool. Boil one and a half or two pounds of chestnuts until quite cooked; peel and put into a boiling syrup, made as above, well flavoured with vanilla. Gently simmer for one and a half hours; when cool pass through a wire sieve. Pile up in centre of dish and place orange round; decorate with whipped cream and pistachio nuts (chopped).
CREAM BUNS OR ÉCLAIRS
½ pint water.
1 oz. butter
5 oz. fine flour.
3 eggs.
A little salt.
Put the water and butter in a saucepan over the fire to boil, then stir in five ounces of flour. Blend thoroughly till smooth and well cooked; break in the eggs and mix well together. Put the mixture out in pieces on a well-buttered baking-sheet and bake in a slow oven for one hour.
Scoop out the inside and fill with whipped cream. Place the top on again and sift sugar over, or they can be covered with chocolate icing.
TREACLE SPONGE
½ lb. flour.
¼ lb. beef suet.
½ teaspoonful carbonate soda.
A pinch of salt.
1 teaspoonful ground ginger.
1 teacup golden syrup.
¼ pint milk.
Chop suet fine, put into a basin, add flour, soda, and ginger; mix syrup with the milk, stir this in the mixture; grease a mould and steam two hours.
Froth Sauce can be served round, or a little warmed golden syrup.
HARD SAUCE
Beat together a half-cup of powdered sugar and a half-cup of butter with a fork till both are light and creamy. Flavour with a teaspoonful of vanilla and put on the ice to harden.
FOAMY SAUCE
½ cup butter.
½ cup boiling water.
1 cup powdered sugar.
1 teaspoonful vanilla.
White of 1 egg.
Rub the butter and sugar to a cream; add vanilla and beat well. When it is time to serve, beat the egg stiff, stir the boiling water into the sugar and butter, and then put in the egg and beat till foamy, standing it on the stove as you do so to keep it hot. Serve in the sauce-boat.
CHRISTMAS PUDDING
4 lbs. of raisins.
4 lbs. of currants.
4 lbs. of mixed peel.
4 lbs. of beef suet.
2 lbs. of bread-crumbs.
2 lbs. of flour.
½ lb. of mixed spice.
3 lbs. of brown sugar.
16 or 20 eggs.
2 lbs. of chopped sweet almonds.
Rind of 4 lemons grated, and the juice.
Stone the raisins, wash the currants, chop the suet and peel, and put all dry ingredients together and mix well. Then add the whipped eggs and stir all together for half an hour; then add half a bottle of rum, half a bottle of brandy, and the juice of the lemons. Add spirits to taste; boil eight hours. Enough for twelve puddings.
FROTH SAUCE FOR PUDDINGS
Take a clean stewpan, break in two yolks of eggs, quarter-pint of cream, a wineglass of sherry, and a little sugar.
Whisk well on the stove till it becomes thick and frothy, but not to curdle; then pour round the pudding. This sauce must not be made till just before it is wanted.
LEMON SAUCE
White of 1 egg.
½ cup of powdered sugar.
Juice of half a lemon.
Beat the egg, add the sugar and lemon, and beat again.
WHITE SAUCE
1 tablespoonful cornflour.
½ cup cold water.
1 cup boiling water.
½ cup powdered sugar.
Pinch of salt.
2 whites of eggs.
1 teaspoonful vanilla.
Dissolve the cornflour in the cold water, and then add the boiling water and sugar and salt, and cook for fifteen minutes, stirring all the time. Take from the fire and fold in the stiffly beaten egg-whites with the flavouring, and beat till perfectly cold. Any flavouring will do for this sauce; pistache is very nice.
QUICK PUDDING SAUCE
1 egg.
½ cup powdered sugar.
1 teaspoonful vanilla.
Put the egg in a bowl without separating it and beat till very light; then pour in the sugar very slowly, beating all the time; add the vanilla and serve at once.
This is a very nice sauce, and so simple to make that Margaret learned it among the first of her recipes.
FRENCH PANCAKES
2 tablespoonfuls flour.
2 eggs.
1 oz. butter.
½ pint milk.
Rub the butter into the flour, beat the eggs, add the milk and mix all together. Put in well-buttered tins or saucers; bake twenty minutes in a quick oven.
ICE-CREAMS AND ICES
Margaret had a little ice-cream freezer which was all her own, and held only enough for two little girls to eat at a tea-party, and this she could pack alone. When she made ice-cream for all the family she had to use the larger freezer, of course, and this cook helped her pack. But the same recipe was used for either the large one or the small. First break up the ice in a thick bag with a hammer until the pieces are no larger than eggs, and all about the same size. Then put two big bowls of this into a tub or pail, and add one bowl of coarse salt, and so on, till you have enough, mixing it well with a long-handled spoon. Put the freezer in its pail and put the cover on; then fill the space between with the ice and salt till it is full, pressing it down as you work. Let it stand now in a cool place, till you know the inside is very cold, and then wipe off the top carefully and pour in the cream, which must be very cold, too. Put on the top and turn smoothly and slowly till it is stiff, which should be fifteen minutes. Then draw off the water from the pail, wipe the top of the cover again, so that no salt can get in, and take out the dasher, pushing the cream down with a spoon from the sides and packing it firmly. Put a cork in the hole in the cover, and put it on tightly. Mix more ice with a little salt—only a cupful to two bowls this time—and pack the freezer again up to the top. Wring out a heavy cloth in the salt water you drew off the pail, and cover it over tightly with this, and then stand in a cool, dark place till you need it; all ice-creams are better for standing two hours.
QUEEN’S PUDDING
1 breakfast-cup of bread-crumbs.
3 oz. of castor sugar.
1 rind of a lemon grated.
2 eggs.
1 breakfast-cup of milk.
2 oz. of butter.
Put bread-crumbs into a basin with lemon rind and sugar; warm the butter in the milk, separate yolks from whites, add the yolks when beaten to the milk and butter, and pour over the other ingredients. Grease a pie-dish and put in mixture and bake until set. Leave till it is cold, spread over it raspberry jam, whip the whites to a stiff froth with a little sugar, pile high on the top and put it in the oven to dry, but not to brown.
PLAIN ICE-CREAM
3 cups of cream.
1 cup of milk.
1 small cup of sugar.
2 teaspoonfuls of vanilla.
Put the cream, milk, and sugar on the fire, and stir till the sugar dissolves and the cream just wrinkles on top; do not let it boil. Take it off, beat it till it is cold, add the vanilla, and freeze.
FRENCH ICE-CREAM
1 pint of milk.
1 cup of cream.
1 cup of sugar.
4 eggs.
1 tablespoonful of vanilla.
1 saltspoonful of salt.
Put the milk on the fire and let it just scald or wrinkle. Beat the yolks of the eggs, put in the sugar, and beat again; then pour the hot milk into these slowly, and the salt, and put it on the fire in the double boiler and let it cook to a nice thick cream. (This is a plain boiled custard, such as you made for Floating Island.) Take it off and let it cool while you beat the whites of the eggs stiff, and then the cup of cream. Put the eggs in first lightly when the custard is entirely cold, and then the whipped cream last, and the vanilla, and freeze.
SUMMER PUDDING
Line a pudding-basin with slices of bread without crust, and cut out a round for the bottom. Fill up with ripe raspberries or black currants, which have been stewed a little with sugar to make the syrup, but not long enough to destroy the colour. Put a plate on the top and a weight on it.
Next day turn out when required, and serve with whipped or plain cream.
COFFEE ICE-CREAM
Make either of these creams, and flavour with half a cup of strong coffee in place of vanilla.
CHOCOLATE ICE-CREAM
Make plain ice-cream; melt two squares of chocolate in a little saucepan. Mix a little of the milk or cream with this, and stir it smooth, and then put it in with the rest. You will need to use a large cup of sugar instead of a small one in making this, as the chocolate is not sweetened.
PEACH ICE-CREAM
Peel, cut up, and mash a cup of peaches. Make plain ice-cream, with a large cup of sugar, and when it is cold stir in the peaches and freeze.
STRAWBERRY ICE-CREAM
Mix a large cup of strawberries, mashed and strained carefully so that there are no seeds, with the ice-cream, and freeze.
ITALIAN CREAM
Yolks of 4 eggs.
½ pint milk.
½ pint double cream.
1 oz. castor sugar.
1 oz. melted gelatine.
1 wineglassful Chartreuse, or any liqueur.
Make a custard with the yolks and milk; add the sugar.
LEMON ICE
1 quart water.
4 lemons.
2½ cups sugar.
1 orange.
Boil the sugar and water for ten minutes; strain it and add the juice of the lemons and orange; cool and freeze.
ORANGE ICE
1 quart water.
6 oranges.
1 lemon.
2½ cups sugar.
Prepare exactly as you did Lemon Ice.
STRAWBERRY ICE
1 quart water.
2½ cups sugar.
1½ cups strawberry juice, strained.
Prepare like Lemon Ice.
RASPBERRY ICE
1 quart water.
2½ cups sugar.
1½ cups raspberry-juice, strained.
Prepare like Lemon Ice.
When Margaret wanted to make her own freezer full of ice-cream, she just took a cup of cream and heated it with the sugar, and when it was cold put in three drops of vanilla, and froze it.