ROSE MERINGUES.—Beat to a stiff froth the whites of six eggs, and then beat in by degrees, a spoonful at a time, a pound or more of finely-powdered loaf-sugar, till it is of the consistence of very thick icing or meringue. Have ready a sufficient quantity of freshly-gathered rosebuds, about half grown. Having removed the stalks and green leaves, take as many of the buds as will weigh three ounces. With a pair of sharp scissors clip or mince them as small as possible into the pan of meringue; stirring them in with a spoon. Then stir the whole very hard. Have ready some sheets of white paper, laid on baking tins. Drop the meringues on it, in heaps all of the same size, and not too close together. Smooth them with the back of a spoon or broad knife, dipped in cold water. Set them in a moderate cool oven, and bake them about twenty minutes. Take out one and try it, and if not thoroughly done, continue them longer in the oven.
To heighten the red colour, add to the white of egg, before you beat it, a very little water, in which has been steeped a thin muslin bag of alkanet-root; or you may colour it with a little cochineal powder.
Orange-blossom meringues may be made as above.
WHIPPED CREAM MERINGUES.—Take the whites of eight eggs, and beat them to a stiff froth, that will stand alone. Then beat into them, gradually, a tea-spoonful at a time, two pounds or more of finely-powdered loaf-sugar; continuing to add sugar till the mixture is very thick, and finishing with a little lemon-juice or extract of rose. Have ready some sheets of white paper, laid on a baking-board, and with a spoon drop the mixture on it in long oval heaps, about four inches in length. Smooth and shape them with a broad-bladed knife, dipped occasionally in cold water. The baking-board used for this purpose should be an inch thick, and must have a slip of iron beneath each end to elevate it from the floor of the oven, so that it may not scorch, nor the bottoms of the meringues be baked too hard. This baking-board must not be of pine wood, as a pine board will communicate a disagreeable taste of turpentine. The oven must be moderate. Bake the meringues of a light brown. When done, take them off the paper by slipping a knife nicely beneath the bottom of each. Then push back or scoop out carefully a portion of the inside of each meringue, taking care not to break them. Have ready some nice whipped cream, made in the following proportion:—Take a quarter of a pound of broken-up loaf-sugar, and on some of the lumps rub off the yellow rind of two large lemons. Powder the sugar, and then mix with it the juice of the lemons, and grate in some nutmeg. Mix the sugar with a half-pint of sweet white wine. Put into a pan a pint of rich cream, and whip it with rods or a wooden whisk, or mill it with a chocolate mill, till it is a stiff froth. Then mix in, gradually, the other ingredients; continuing to whip it hard a while after they are all in. As you proceed, lay the froth on an inverted sieve, with a dish underneath to catch the droppings; which droppings must afterwards be whipped, and added to the rest. Fill the inside of each meringue with a portion of the whipped cream. Then put two together, so as to form one long oval cake, joining them nicely, so as to unite the flat parts that were next the paper, leaving the inside filled with the whipped cream. Set them again in the oven for a few minutes. They must be done with great care and nicety, so as not to break. Each meringue should be about the usual length of a middle finger. In dropping them on the paper, take care to shape the oval ends handsomely and smoothly. They should look like very long kisses.
CREAM TARTS.—Put into a tea-cup a large table-spoonful of arrow-root flour. Pour on it a very little cold milk, and mix it very smooth with a spoon; seeing that it is entirely free from lumps. Boil, in a sauce-pan, a quart of cream or rich unskimmed milk, with the yellow rind of a large lemon or orange, pared thin, or cut into slips; or use for flavouring a handful of bitter almonds or peach kernels, blanched and broken up; or, what is still better, a vanilla bean. The milk must boil slowly (keeping it closely covered) till it is highly flavoured. Then strain out the lemon-peel or other flavouring, and set away the milk to cool. Beat the yolks of eight eggs till very thick and smooth, and stir them gradually into the milk, alternately with four heaped table-spoonfuls of powdered loaf-sugar. Add some grated nutmeg. Put the whole into a sauce-pan, and place it on hot coals or on the stove, and continue to stir it till it begins to boil. Then remove it immediately, lest it should curdle, and keep stirring it till it begins to cool. Afterwards set it in a cold place.
Sift into a pan a pound and a half of flour; mix in a quarter of a pound of white sugar; cut up in it half a pound of fresh butter, and rub it well into the flour and sugar. Beat two eggs very light, and with them wet the flour, &c., to a dough, adding a very small level tea-spoonful of soda, dissolved in a very little cold water. Mix the paste well till it becomes a lump of dough. Then beat it on all sides with the rolling-pin. Transfer it to the paste-board, and roll it out thin. Divide it equally into square pieces. Put thickly on each piece a portion of the cream or custard mixture, and fold over it the four corners of the paste, so that they approach each other in the centre. Dredge each tart with powdered loaf-sugar. Set them into the oven, and let them bake of a light brown. They are best when fresh, but not warm; and will be found delicious.
The custard may be coloured green by boiling pistachio nuts in the milk, with the flavouring.