CHAPTER V.
PUDDINGS AND CAKES.
With the exception of soup, an entire dinner can be cooked in “Papakukery” fashion, and, apart from other advantages, it will gain immensely in flavour and nutritive value from being thus cooked. Almost all puddings and sweet dishes can be cooked in paper bags, and are much improved in taste and goodness.
APPLE PUDDING.
Peel, core, and slice the apples. Make a good short paste crust, roll it out to a medium thickness; lay the apples neatly on one half, cover thickly with castor sugar, add the juice of half a lemon, squeezed over the apples; fold over the pastry, pinching the edges well together; put into a well greased bag and cook fifteen minutes.
APPLE PUFFS.
Make half a pound of the finest flour perfectly smooth by passing it through a sieve. Roll half a pound of fresh butter in a cloth to free from moisture; rub a piece into the flour with the finger-tips very thoroughly till it quite disappears; add a well beaten egg, and roll out the paste on a stone slab with a glass rolling-pin; a clean round bottle will answer if the only household roller is of wood. Put more butter in tiny bits over the paste; dredge lightly with flour; fold it up and roll it out; let it stand three or four minutes. Repeat this, leaving it a few minutes each time, for four or five times. Then roll it out and cut into square pieces. Lay a few slices of apple on each, cover with castor sugar and a little ground cinnamon, fold half the paste over, point to point, forming a triangular puff. Put the puffs into a buttered “Papakuk” bag and cook fifteen minutes.
APPLE DUMPLINGS.
A plain, not too rich, paste crust is best for these. With a corer extract the core from the whole, unpared apple, which is less likely to break than one which has been peeled. Fill the hollow with powdered sugar and a little ground cinnamon, if the flavour is liked; a little ground ginger makes a nice flavour, with the zest of a lemon or a pinch of mixed spice according to taste. Divide the paste into as many neat rounds as there are apples, put one apple on each round, work the paste smoothly over, wetting the edges to make them adhere. Place them in a well buttered “Papakuk” bag and cook in a moderate oven for forty minutes.
STEWED APPLES