—Prepare the paste exactly as for the above ([No. 1232]), and when ready have a square tin pan, lined all through with paper. Spread the paste over an inch thick with a knife, and put it in a moderate oven for eighteen minutes. Take it out, and when cool lay the cake on a table; detach the paper, sprinkle the surface freely with powdered sugar, and cut it into any shaped pieces desired. Dress on a dessert-dish with a folded napkin, and serve.
1234. Petits Biscuits Ambrosiennes.
—Proceed the same as for biscuits à la cuillère ([No. 1231]). After the paste has been placed in the bag, have a well-cleaned pastry baking-pan, well buttered and lightly sprinkled with flour. Drop the paste carefully into the pan, forming biscuits, each about two inches long, by one inch wide. There should be in all about forty biscuits. Place them in a moderate oven for twenty minutes. Remove, and lay them on a table. With a hair-brush spread over them six ounces of apricot marmalade ([No. 1335]), and glaze them with a glace à l’eau ([No. 1197]), flavored with half a gill of white curaçoa. Sprinkle over them four ounces of finely chopped pistaches; shake the pan lightly, and they will adhere to the glace. Set for two minutes in the oven to get dry; remove, and when cool, dress neatly in a glass bowl, and serve.
1235. Almond Biscuits.
—Take two ounces of sweet almonds and half an ounce of bitter, peel, and pound them as for [No. 1207]. Then put them in a vessel with eight ounces of powdered sugar. Add the yolks of five eggs, and beat the preparation thoroughly for five minutes; then separately beat the whites to a froth with a pastry wire whip, and mix in with the yolks and sugar, adding also one ounce of flour. Stir thoroughly with a wooden spatula until perfectly firm, which will require about five minutes. It is now ready. Have six paper boxes, any shape desired, and fill them with the preparation, using a tablespoon for the purpose. Sprinkle the tops with a little finely powdered sugar, arrange them in a pastry baking-pan, and put in a slow oven for fifteen minutes; they must get a good golden color. Remove, and when cooled off, dress nicely on a dish, and serve.
1236. Chausson Cakes.
—Roll half a pound of feuilletage paste ([No. 1076]) into a piece eighteen inches long by three wide, and pare off the edges lightly. Cut out six square pieces, all the same size, and with a pastry-brush moisten the surfaces with beaten egg. Fold up each piece by laying one corner over the other, so they will have a triangular shape. Put them on a baking-sheet in the oven for twenty minutes; remove them to the oven door; dredge plenty of powdered sugar over, put them back, and close the door for one minute and a half, to allow the sugar to melt thoroughly. Remove from the oven, and cool for twenty minutes. The cakes will have risen about two inches in front. Then, with the thickest part of a larding-needle, make a hollow in front of each cake. Put three ounces of currant jelly ([No. 1326]) into a paper cornet, and with it fill the insides of the cakes. Dress them on a dessert-dish with a folded napkin, and serve.
1237. Petites Bouchées des Dames.
—Put into a pastry-bag ([No. 1079]) half the quantity of biscuits-à-la-cuillère preparation ([No. 1231]). Butter and flour a baking-sheet, and form about fifty small, round biscuits the exact shape of macaroons. Sprinkle slightly with powdered sugar, and place in a brisk oven to bake for twelve minutes. Remove, and set to cool for fifteen minutes. Then lift them from the pan, and lay them upside down on a table. With a knife make a small cavity in the centre of each, half an inch in diameter, and fill these with a pastry cream ([No. 1242]). Fasten them, two by two, to enclose the cream; they will then be ball-shaped. Dip carefully one after the other into a glace preparation as for chocolate éclairs ([No. 1243]). Lay them on a pastry-grate to dry for fifteen minutes; then dress on a dessert-dish with a folded napkin, and send to the table.