Apple Cheese.—Pare, quarter, and core your apples as for paste; put them into a jar, and cover the top with the parings: tie paper over the top, and bake them in a moderate oven until they are quite done; take off the parings, and pass the apples through a hair-sieve into a preserving-pan. To each pound of pulp add half a pound of loaf sugar clarified and boiled to the blow; place it over a slow fire, stirring it constantly from the bottom until reduced to a stiff paste, which will not stick to the hand; put it into small molds, hoops, or glasses. Dry in a moderately warm stove for a few days; take them out of the molds, turn them and place them again in the stove to finish drying. Keep in boxes as paste knots, or cover the glasses with brandy papers.
Apple or Pippin Paste.—Take any quantity of good dressing apples, pare, core, and put them into a preserving pan with a little water, or just sufficient to cover them. Boil until they are reduced to a marmalade, stirring them to prevent burning. To every pound of reduced pulp add half or three quarters of a pound of loaf sugar, clarified and boiled to the blow; pass the pulp through a hair-sieve before you mix the sugar with it: put it on the fire and let it boil for three or four minutes, keeping it constantly stirred from the bottom, when it will be sufficiently evaporated. If it be required colored, add liquid color sufficient to give the desired tint when you mix the sugar.
Spread the paste on small tin or pewter sheets (these should be about a foot wide, by a foot and a half long, and perfectly level) with a thin knife, about the eight of an inch in thickness; put them in the stove for a day; take them out, and cut the paste into long narrow strips, about a quarter of an inch in width; if the paste is dry enough, the strips can be easily pulled off; form them into rings or knots, or cut into diamonds to form leaves, or any other device your fancy may suggest. Put them in boxes with a sheet of paper between each layer. This paste is occasionally flavored with lemon, and is principally used for ornamenting the tops of twelfth cakes.
Apricot Paste.—Take ripe apricots, put them in a preserving pan with as much water as will cover them; let them simmer on the fire for two or three minutes, or scald until they are tender; drain the water from them, and pass the pulp through a hair sieve; to each pound of pulp take three quarters of a pound of sugar, which you clarify and boil to the blow; put the apricots on the fire, and let them simmer, stirring them constantly until reduced to a thick marmalade; then add the sugar; mix it well with the paste, and let it boil a minute or two longer: take it from the fire, and put it into molds, pots, or crimped paper cases; or it may be spread on small plates, as for apple paste, and formed into rings or knots. Place in the stove until dry. If put in paper cases, the paper must be wetted to get out the paste. Take it out of the molds, turn it and put it again into the stove to finish drying.
Black Currant Paste is made the same as the last. These currants, not being so juicy as the others, may be put into a jar, tied over, and baked in a moderate oven, or put into a kettle of boiling water for a few hours, to extract the juice from them.
Cherry Paste.—Take ripe cherries, deprive them of their stalks and stones, put them in a preserving pan, and boil them a little; then pass them through a hair sieve, reduce the pulp, and weigh it. To each pound add a pound of loaf sugar; add it to the paste, and finish as apricot.
Clear Cakes, or Jelly Cakes.—Take the filtered juice of fruits, as for jelly (see Jellies); to each pint of juice add one pound of loaf sugar, dissolve it in the juice thoroughly, place it on the fire and heat it, but it must not boil; put it into small pots, molds, or glasses, so as to form cakes about half an inch thick; place them on the stove, which must not be too hot, or they will melt instead of forming a jelly; about seventy-five or eighty degrees Fahrenheit is quite hot enough. When a crust has formed on the top, take out the cakes by carefully turning the knife round the sides of the pot, place them on small plates of tin or pewter, and dry on the other side. When dry they can be cut into diamonds, squares, or any shape you please. These are certainly some of the most delicate and beautiful of this class which were ever invented, fit even to gratify the palate of the most fastidious. The fruit from which they are made should be gathered as fresh as it possibly can, except apples, as the mucilage is injured by keeping, and if the fruit has fermented it is entirely destroyed.
Currant Paste.—Put any quantity of ripe currants, either red or white, or a part of each mixed, into a hair sieve, press out their juice into a preserving pan; put it on the fire, and keep it constantly stirred until evaporated to a thick consistence. To each pound of reduced pulp add three quarters of a pound or a pound of loaf sugar clarified and boiled to the blow. Let it boil a minute or two, and finish as others.
Damson Cheese.—Pick the stalks from the damsons, put them in a jar, tie it over, and bake in a cool oven; when done, pass them through a sieve into a preserving pan; put it on the fire to reduce. For each pound of pulp take half a pound of sugar, boiled to the blow; mix with the paste, and finish as for apple cheese. This, as well as all the pastes, may be evaporated to the required consistence by means of a water bath, which is done by placing the pan in which it is contained in another with water, which is kept boiling; this prevents the possibility of its being burnt, but it occupies more time. The kernels of the fruit may be blanched, and added to it just before it is taken from the fire. Put it into molds or hoops; dry them in the stove, first on one side and then on the other. All plums are done in the same manner.
Green Apricot Paste.—Take apricots before they are ripe, scald as the last, and green them. Pass the pulp through a sieve, and reduce it; to each pound of reduced pulp add one pound of loaf sugar clarified and boiled to the blow. Finish as ripe apricot paste.