PIES AND TARTS
PUFF-PASTE
Puff-paste is made of equal weights of butter and flour. The flour is made into a paste, the butter is worked until it is flexible, and they are then rolled together and folded several times so that many distinct layers of butter and paste are obtained. During the rolling air is imprisoned, and in baking the air-cells expand, separate the layers, and so inflate the pastry.
In order to effect this result, it is necessary to keep the pastry dry and cold, and the butter cold, so that they will not mix in rolling, but be pressed into thin sheets. Careful handling is necessary. Many failures are the result of pressing the paste in spots with the fingers, which prevents its rising evenly, if at all. A marble slab is desirable for rolling the paste on, as it helps to keep it cold.
Either of the following mixtures may be used:
No. 1. 1 pound of butter,
1 pound of flour (pastry flour preferred),
About 1 pound of cold water.
No. 2. 1 pound of butter,
1 cupful of flour,
1 cupful of water,
White of one egg.
Cut one sixth of the butter into the flour for the paste.
No salt is needed if salted butter is used.
Put the flour on the slab, chop into it, using a knife, one sixth of the butter, then moisten it with the water into which has been stirred the beaten white of one egg. The exact amount of water cannot be given, as that depends upon the dryness of the flour, but care must be taken to have the paste of the right consistency. It should be neither too hard to roll easily, nor so soft that it will stick, but have a flexible, dry consistency. Work it for a few minutes with the hands to a perfect smoothness. Roll it to a rectangular shape (a little longer than broad), and about a half inch in thickness. The paste can be handled with impunity at this stage, and care should be taken to roll it to an even thickness and to have the edges straight and the corners square. When just right, fold it over, wrap it in a napkin, put it in a pan, and place the pan upon ice.
Work the butter with a spoon or a pat until it is smooth and flexible, and press out as much of the water it contains as possible, as this wets the paste and may make it sticky. Mold the butter into a smooth, flattened square cake and set it on ice.
When the paste and the butter are perfectly cold lay the paste on the slab, place the cake of butter in the center, and fold the paste over it, first on the sides, and then the ends. The paste should be long enough to fold the end pieces entirely across the cake of butter. Roll it out into a strip three times longer than broad. Rolling is made easier by lightly pounding as well as rolling the paste. Keep the edges even, and finish by having the corners square and the whole of uniform thickness. Fold the strip twice, making three even layers, and place it on the ice again, wrapped in a napkin, to prevent it from gathering moisture. When it is entirely cold, roll it out again and fold it in the same way. Strike the edges to keep the folds from separating, and turn the paste so as to roll it in the opposite direction from the previous time. Endeavor to keep the edges straight and corners square, so the layers will be even. After each folding and rolling, it is said to have one “turn,” and the pastry is not finished until it has had six to eight turns. The rolling becomes more difficult as the layers get thinner, and great care must be used not to let the butter break through. This will happen if it is not kept very cold; so, unless the rolling is done in a very cold room, it is safer to put it on the ice after each turn. If the butter shows signs of coming through, cover the spot with flour, and set it away at once.
The paste should also be very cold when cut into shapes, so that the edges will not stick together; and again, it should be very cold before being put into the oven.
The oven should be hot. A simple test of the heat is to place a piece of writing-paper in the oven for ten minutes. If at the end of that time the paper is a light yellow, the heat is right for vol-au-vent and large pieces. If it is a light-brown color, it is about the heat used for baking bread, and is right for patty-shells.
After a little practice the making of puff-paste becomes an easy matter. The rolling need not be done all in one day, for if the paste is kept dry and cold, and not allowed to form a crust, it will keep for several days. So many high-class dishes can be made of puff-paste, it is desirable to accomplish the art of making it.
JAM TART
Tart cases may be prepared the same as vol-au-vent cases, page 71, except that the paste should be rolled not more than half an inch thick when ready to be cut; or, instead of cutting the border in the paste, as for vol-au-vents, a strip of paste one inch wide may be laid around the edge. The strips should be cut diagonally on the ends, and these edges moistened so they will stick together where joined. Lay the strip carefully around the slightly moistened border of the bottom piece, paint the top with egg, and bake in a hot oven for thirty minutes. Remove carefully the top of the center, and take out any uncooked paste, return it to the oven to dry the inside.
Before using, heat the tart again to make it crisp, and when cool spread the inside with a layer of any kind of jam or preserved fruit, put on the center piece, which was taken off to get out the uncooked paste, and cover the entire center with jam. Serve it on a lace paper.
TARTLET SHELLS
Use puff-paste trimmings. Roll the paste thin, shape it to the pans, being careful to press the paste as little as possible. Trim the edges with a sharp knife. Put a piece of paper in the bottom of each one, and fill the tartlet cases with dried peas, beans, or rice, and bake in a hot oven ten to fifteen minutes. When well browned, remove the filling, being particularly careful, if rice is used, that every grain is picked off the crusts. Return the shells to the oven for a minute to dry the insides.
These shells can be kept for some time, but should be freshened before using by being heated again. Fill them, just before serving, with any kind of jam or preserve, or with any freshly stewed fruits, or with creamed minced meat.
NO. 144. TART OF PUFF-PASTE WITH STRAWBERRY JAM.
STRAWBERRY TARTLETS
Use tartlet shells made of any good pastry, puff-paste trimmings preferred. Just before serving, freshen the shells by heating them, if they have been kept some time, and fill with stewed fresh strawberries. Serve the juice separately in a sauce-dish.
To prepare the strawberries, put them in a saucepan and cover them with enough sugar to sweeten them. Let them stand in a warm place until the juice moistens the sugar. Cook them slowly until the berries are softened, but not so long that they lose their shape.
NO. 146. FRANGIPANE TARTLETS.
FRANGIPANE TARTLETS
Line patty-pans with puff-paste rolled one quarter of an inch thick. Cut the paste an inch larger than the pans, and fit it as carefully as possible, pressing it lightly with the broad finger into the flutings. Prick the bottom crust and lay on it a slice of bread cut to the size of the bottom of the pan. This is to prevent the bottom crust from rising and to leave the sides to puff, as the light pastry is an important part of these tartlets. Bake in a hot oven about fifteen minutes. When done remove any uncooked paste and fill with frangipane cream. Cover the whole top with meringue, piling it high in the center, and smooth it with a wet knife. Make a border one half an inch wide of chopped almonds which have been blanched and browned. Place in the center a half cherry and two pieces of angelica to imitate a flower.
FRANGIPANE CREAM
¼ cupful of cream,
1 tablespoonful of flour,
4 tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar,
1 tablespoonful of sherry,
1 tablespoonful of brandy,
1 teaspoonful of orange-flower water,
1 grated lemon rind,
1 tablespoonful of chopped citron,
4 egg yolks.
Put the cream and flour in a small saucepan and stir until smooth, place on the fire a few minutes to cook the flour, stirring all the time. Remove from the fire, and when it is a little cooled add all the other ingredients. Set the saucepan in a second saucepan containing hot water and cook, stirring all the time, until the mixture has become a thick cream.
NO. 145. STRAWBERRY TARTLETS.
FRUIT TARTLETS
Prepare tartlet shells as for frangipane tartlets. Half fill the shells with frangipane cream, cover each one with half a California canned peach or apricot, and decorate around the outside of the fruit with meringue pressed through a pastry-bag.
NO. 147. JALOUSIES.
JALOUSIES
Roll puff-paste trimmings into a sheet one eighth of an inch thick. Cut it into strips three inches wide. Lay half of the strips on a baking-sheet and spread them with a layer of well-seasoned and quite dry apple sauce. Cover them with the remaining strips, which have been slashed into triangular openings by being folded over and cut on the folded side an inch deep in diagonal lines. Egg the tops and bake in a hot oven. When done, sprinkle with sugar and return them to the oven for a minute to glaze. Cut the strips after they are baked into pieces three inches long.
CRANBERRY PIE
Add to half a cupful of hot water a cupful of sugar and a tablespoonful of cornstarch diluted with a little water. Stir until the water boils, then add half a cupful of molasses, half a tablespoonful of butter, a saltspoonful of salt, and a pint of chopped cranberries. Cook for a few minutes, then turn it into the pastry and bake with or without an upper crust.
NO. 148. COCOANUT PIE.
COCOANUT PIE
Grate a cocoanut. Mix it with an equal weight of sugar and the beaten yolks of four eggs. Mix together and scald a cupful of milk and the milk of the cocoanut. Add a tablespoonful of cornstarch diluted with a little water, and stir it until it is a little thickened. Remove it from the fire, add the cocoanut mixture, and lastly the whipped whites of four eggs. Turn it into a deep pie-paste and bake very slowly for half an hour, or until firm to the touch. Serve cold.
The cocoanut filling should be one and a half or one and three quarter inches thick. A kitchen basin may be used for the baking-dish, or the crust can be built up around a pie-dish to make it deeper.
NO. 149. HUCKLEBERRY PIE.
CURRANT PIE
Add to a cupful of mashed currants a cupful of sugar, half a teaspoonful of butter, the yolk of an egg, and if there is much juice a tablespoonful of flour. Bake with an under-crust only, and cover the top with meringue.
LEMON PIE, No. 1
3 eggs,
2 cupfuls of milk,
2 tablespoonfuls of flour, scant,
1 tablespoonful of butter,
5 tablespoonfuls of sugar, or to taste,
Juice and grated rind of one and a half lemons.
Beat together the yolks of three eggs and the white of one egg, then add, in the following order, the sugar, the flour, the butter, and the milk. Lastly, add very slowly the juice and grated rind of lemon. Turn the mixture into a pie-dish lined with a bottom crust and bake it slowly until it is set like a custard. Do not let it cook too long, or, like custard, it will become watery.
Make a meringue of the whites of two eggs. Beat them to a stiff froth, then add slowly two tablespoonfuls of sugar. Spread the meringue roughly over the pie when it is taken from the oven, and return it to the oven for a minute to color the meringue. The top may be made more ornamental by pressing the meringue through a pastry-bag on to the pie.
LEMON PIE, No. 2
Put into a saucepan on the fire one cupful of sugar and one cupful of water. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, then add two cupfuls of grated crumb of bread and the juice and grated rind of two lemons. Stir until the mixture is smooth, then add the beaten yolks of two eggs and remove it from the fire. Turn the mixture into a baked under-crust, and bake the pie for ten to fifteen minutes.
Cover the top with meringue made of the whites of three eggs and three tablespoonfuls of sugar.
NO. 150. STRAWBERRY CAKE.
NO. 151. STRAWBERRY-CAKE WITH WHIPPED CREAM.
NO. 152. STRAWBERRY-CAKE WITH MERINGUE.
NO. 153. STRAWBERRY-CAKE WITH MERINGUE.
STRAWBERRY CAKES
Make two layers of sponge-cake, trim the edges, cover them with well-selected strawberries set close together, sprinkle with sugar, and place one layer on the other. Pass cream in a pitcher.
Prepare the cake as in No. 1, but cover the top with whipped cream pressed through a pastry-bag.
Use a single layer of cake, cover it with meringue, then with strawberries placed close together, and decorate with meringue pressed through a pastry-bag with star-tube, making a border, or a border and stars between the berries.
For the meringue use the whites of three eggs and four tablespoonfuls of sugar. Flavor it with a few drops of vanilla. Prepare the cake just before serving it.
NO. 154. CURRANT-SHORTCAKE.
NO. 155. CURRANT-SHORTCAKE CUT.
CURRANT SHORTCAKE
This shortcake will be liked as well as, if not better than, one made of strawberries. The latter has an established reputation, which is based largely upon its attractive appearance, but, as a rule, it is disappointing to the taste. Shortcake can be made quite as inviting with currants as with strawberries, and the tartness of the fruit gives it a flavor which is especially grateful in hot weather, when currants are in season.
Receipt for one currant shortcake which is enough to serve to six persons:
Make a biscuit dough as follows: Sift together twice two cupfuls of flour, one and a half teaspoonfuls of baking-powder, and a half teaspoonful of salt (they must be thoroughly mixed). When this is done, rub in one rounded teaspoonful of butter or lard or cottolene, then add enough milk to make a soft dough. Use a fork to stir in the milk. Mix it lightly and quickly together, making the paste a little too soft to roll. Turn it into a well-greased pie-tin, smooth the top with a wet knife, and put it at once into a hot oven to bake for thirty minutes. When it is taken from the oven trim the edges and split the biscuit in two, using two forks so as to tear, not cut, it apart. Spread each half with butter while it is still hot.
Stem a box of currants. Reserve a few of the finest ones to decorate the top of the shortcake. Put the rest of the currants into a bowl and mash them, add enough sugar to sweeten to taste, and let them stand an hour or more before using them.
Spread the mashed currants over one half of the buttered biscuit, lay the other half on it. Cover the top with meringue made of the whipped whites of two eggs sweetened with two tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar. Decorate with whole currants as shown in illustration.
It can be more elaborately decorated by pressing the meringue through a pastry-bag and tube into ornamental shapes, and placing currants on it as the fancy dictates.
Serve very fresh.
Chapter XI
TENTH COURSE
ICES
ICES
Ice Cream, Plain
Ice Cream with Hot Chocolate Sauce
Ice Cream with Hot Maple Sauce
Ice Cream, Strawberry
Ice Cream, Melon
Ice Cream, Peach
Water-ice, Lemon
Water-ice, Orange
Water-ice, Strawberry
Water-ice, Apricot
Water-ice, Pineapple
Water-ice, Macedoine
Café Frappé
Cake