Take half a pound of sugar, half a pound of butter, two ounces of flour, two eggs, but the white of one only, a little beaten mace, and a little brandy. Mix all together into a paste with your hands; make it into little cakes, and bake them on tins. You may put in six ounces of currants, if you like.
Little Sugar Cakes.
Take double-refined sugar and sift it very fine; beat the white of an egg to a froth; take gum-dragon that has been steeped in juice of lemon or orange-flower water, and some ambergris finely beaten with the sugar. Mix all these together in a mortar, and beat it till it is very white; then roll it into small knobs, or make it into small loaves. Lay them on paper well sugared, and set them into a very gentle oven.
Sweet Cakes.
Take half a pound of butter, and beat it with a spoon till it is quite soft; add two eggs, well beaten, half a pound of currants, half a pound of powdered sugar, and a pound of flour, mixed by degrees with the butter. Drop it on, and bake them. Blanched almonds, powdered to paste, instead of currants, are excellent.
Tea Cakes.
Take loaf sugar, finely powdered, and butter, of each a quarter of a pound, about half a pound of flour, dried before the fire, a walnut-shellful of caraway seeds, just bruised, and one egg. Work all together into a paste, adding a spoonful of brandy. Roll the paste out to the thickness of a half-crown, and cut it with a tea-cup. Flour a tin, and lay the cakes upon it. Take the white of an egg, well beaten and frothed, dip a feather in this, and wash them over, and then grate upon them a little fine sugar. Put them into a slackish oven, till they are of a very pale brown.
Dry Tea Cakes.
Boil two ounces of butter in a pint of skimmed milk; let it stand till it is as cold as new milk; then put to it a spoonful of light yest, a little salt, and as much flour as will make it a stiff paste. Work it as much, or more, than you would do brown bread; let it lie half an hour to rise; then roll it into thin cakes; prick them very well quite through, to prevent their blistering, and bake them on tin plates in a quick oven. To keep crisp, they must be hung up in the kitchen, or where there is a constant fire.