1167. Apple Charlotte.
—Select four large or six medium-sized Newtown pippins. Peel, core, and cut them into quarters. Put them into a saucepan with two ounces of fresh butter and four ounces of powdered sugar, and place on a moderate fire. Toss them for two minutes, then moisten with a gill of white wine, and grate in the peel of half a lemon. Cover the saucepan, and let cook for ten minutes so that the liquid be almost entirely absorbed by the apples. Remove from the fire, and put aside to cool. Take a three-pint charlotte-mold; line it, beginning from the bottom, with cut slices of American bread the thickness of a silver dollar. Glaze them well with melted butter, using a hair brush for the purpose, and sprinkle powdered sugar lightly over. Let each slice overlap slightly until the bottom is covered. Then line the sides to the edge in the same way. Fill the mold with the prepared apples, and cover with slices of bread. Lay it on a baking-pan, and place it in a brisk oven for forty-five minutes, or until the bread be a good golden color. Then take it out, lay a hot dessert-dish on top, turn it over, and remove the mold. Heat in a saucepan two ounces of apricot marmalade with two tablespoonfuls of maraschino and one of water. Mix well, pour it over the charlotte, and serve very hot.
1168. Small Apple Charlottes.
—Prepare and cook the apples the same as for [No. 1167], and when removed from the fire, put it aside to cool. Trim the crust off of a quarter of a loaf of stale American bread. Cut it into slices the thickness of a silver dollar. Butter and sugar well six small, round pudding-molds. Shape the slices of bread carefully, to line the insides. Butter them lightly; place them in a clean baking-pan, and leave in the oven for five minutes to get a brown color. Remove them; let them cool a little, and then line the molds with them. Fill in with the apples, and lay the full molds on a baking-pan in the oven for twenty minutes. Turn the charlottes out on a dessert-dish. Heat half a pint of raspberry juice in a saucepan, pour it over them, and serve hot.
1169. Apples with Rice.
—Core and peel neatly six sound, fine Newtown apples. Put into a saucepan with a gill of water and two ounces of sugar. Place it on a hot stove, put the lid on, and let cook for ten minutes. Meanwhile boil four ounces of rice in a pint and a half of milk, with half a saltspoonful of salt. Flavor it with six drops of orange-flower water, and let cook for twelve minutes. Place the cooked apples in a square tin pan, pour the boiled rice over them, and put into a moderate oven for ten minutes. Then have a hot dessert-dish ready, and with a tinned cake-turner dress them carefully on the dish, decorating the sides with the rice. Should a pyramidal shape be desired, place three apples in the centre, two on top of these, and the last one above them all, then fill up the empty space around them with the rice, and serve with half a pint of vanilla syrup in a separate sauce-bowl.
The sauce is made thus: put two pounds of granulated sugar into a saucepan with one quart of cold water, and set it on the hot stove. Stir well for two minutes; add two vanilla-beans split in halves, and boil for ten minutes longer. Remove from the fire; strain through a sieve into another vessel, and use when required. This syrup, when cold, may be poured into bottles, and if corked tightly and put away in a cool place, will keep in good condition for a month at least.
1170. Riz au Lait d’Amandes.
—Into one pint of boiling water in a saucepan drop four ounces of well-cleaned rice, with half a saltspoonful of salt, the peel of a quarter of a medium-sized, sound lemon, and two leaves of the almond branch. Let all cook together for twelve minutes. Meanwhile peel four ounces of almonds. Pound them in a mortar with two tablespoonfuls of sweet cream, or the same quantity of cold milk will answer. Tie a clean napkin over a vessel; pour on the pounded almonds, and with a spatula rub the liquid gently through. Remove the rice from the stove; take out the almond-leaves and lemon-peel; then sweeten with three ounces of powdered sugar, and add the almond milk. Return it to the stove, and with a spatula stir gently while cooking for twelve minutes. Pour into a hot china or glass bowl, and send to the table.