Apricots, to preserve in Jelly.
To a pound of apricots, before they are stoned and pared, weigh a pound and a quarter of the best pounded sugar. Stone and pare the fruit, and, as you pare, sprinkle some sugar under and over them. When the sugar is pretty well melted, set them on the fire and boil them. Keep out some sugar to strew on them in the boiling, which assists to clear them. Skim very clear, and turn the fruit with a ladle or a feather. When clear and tender, put them in glasses; add to the syrup a quarter of a pint of strong pippin liquor, and nearly the weight of it in sugar; let it boil awhile, and put it to the apricots. The fire should be brisk, as the sooner any sweetmeat is done the clearer and better it will be. Let the liquor run through a jelly-bag, that it may clear before you put the syrup to it, or the syrup of the apricots to boil.
French Bances.
Take half a pint of water, a bit of lemon-peel, a piece of butter the size of a walnut, and a little orange-flower water; boil them gently three or four minutes; take out the lemon-peel, and add to it by degrees half a pint of flour: keep it boiling and stirring until it is a stiff paste; then take it off the fire, and put in six eggs, well beaten, leaving out three whites. Beat all very well for at least half an hour, till it is a stiff light paste; then take two pounds of hog’s-lard; put it in a stewpan; give it a boil up, and, if the bances are of a right lightness, fry them; keep stirring them all the time till they are of a proper brown. A large dish will take six or seven minutes boiling. When done, put them in a dish to drain; keep them by the fire; strew sugar over them; and, when you are going to fry them, drop them through the handle of a key.
Barberries, to preserve.
Tie up the finest maiden barberries in bunches; to one pound of them put two pounds and a quarter of sugar; boil the sugar to a thick syrup, and when thick enough stir it till it is almost cold. Put in the barberries; set them on the fire, and keep them as much under the syrup as you can, shaking the pan frequently. Let them just simmer till the syrup is hot through, but not boiling, which would wrinkle them. Take them out of the syrup, and let them drain on a lawn sieve; put the syrup again into the pot, and boil it till it is thick. When half cold put in the barberries, and let them stand all night in the preserving-pan. If the syrup has become too thin, take out the fruit and boil it again, letting it stand all night: then put it into pots, and cover it with brandy paper.
Biscuits.
Take one pound of loaf sugar, finely beaten and sifted; then take eight eggs, whites and all; beat them in a wooden bowl for an hour; then take a quarter of a pound of blanched almonds, beat them very small with some rose-water; put them into the bowl, and beat them for an hour longer; then shake in five ounces of fine flour and a spoonful of coriander seed, and one of caraways. Beat them half an hour; butter your plates, and bake them.
Another way.
Take one pound of flour; mix it stiff with water; then roll it very thin; cut out the biscuits with cutters, and bake them.