To make Puff Paste.
Mould with the hands a pound of fresh or good salt butter and lay it in cold water; then sift a pound of best white flour, rub lightly into it half the butter, mix it with cold spring water, roll it out, put on it (in pieces) half the remaining butter, fold the paste, roll it again, and add the remainder of the butter. Strew lightly upon it a little flour, fold it together, set it in a cold place, and when it is wanted for use, roll it out twice more.
N. B. In summer time the white of an egg beat up may be added with the water that mixes it.
To make an Almond Cake.
Take eight ounces of jordan and one ounce of bitter almonds, blanch and pound them very fine; then beat in with the almonds the yolks of eight eggs, and let the whites be whisked up to a solid froth. Then take eight table spoonfuls of sifted sugar, five spoonfuls of fine flour, a small quantity of grated lemon peel and pounded cinnamon, and mix all the ingredients. Rub the inside of a mould with fresh butter, fill it with the mixture, and bake it of a light colour.
Almond Custards.
Add to a pint and a half of cream a small stick of cinnamon, a blade of mace, a bit of lemon peel, some nutmeg, and sugar to the palate. Boil the ingredients together ten minutes, and strain it; then blanch and pound (quite fine) three ounces of jordan and eight single bitter almonds; after which rub through a hair sieve, add the fine pulp to the cream, likewise a little syrup of roses, and the yolks of six eggs beat up, and put the mixture into small cups; or it may be baked in a dish with a rim of puff paste round it.
N. B. Plain custards may be made in the same manner, but instead of almonds add a little orange flower water.
Rhubarb Tart.