Half the above quantity makes a large cheese. Do not beat it till it comes to butter, but only till it is near coming. It is a very pretty dish.
Cheesecake. No. 1.
Take four quarts of new milk and a pint of cream; put in a blade or two of mace, with a bag of ambergris; set it with as much runnet as will bring it to a tender curd. When it has come, break it as you would a cheese, and, when you have got what whey you can from it, put it in a cloth and lay it in a pan or cheese-hoop, placing on it a weight of five or six pounds, and, when you find it well pressed out, put it into an earthen dish, bruising it very small with a spoon. Then take two ounces of almonds, blanch and beat them with rose-water and cream; mix these well together among your curd; sweeten them with loaf-sugar; put in something more than a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, with the yolks of six eggs mixed together. When you are ready to put it into crust, strew in half a pound of currants; let the butter boil that you make your crust with; roll out the cakes very thin. The oven must not be too hot, and great care must be taken in the baking. When they rise up to the top they are sufficiently done.
Cheesecake. No. 2.
Blanch half a pound of the best sweet almonds, and beat them very fine. Add two spoonfuls of orange-flower or rose-water, half a pound of currants, half a pound of the finest sugar, beaten and sifted, and two quarts of thick cream, which must be kept stirred over a gentle fire. When almost cold, add eight eggs, leaving out half the whites, well beaten and strained, a little beaten mace and finely powdered cinnamon, with four well pounded cloves. Mix them well into the rest of the ingredients, keeping it still over the fire as before. Pour it well beaten into puff-paste for the oven, and if it be well heated they will be baked in a quarter of an hour.
Cheesecake. No. 3.
Take two quarts of milk, make it into curd with a little runnet; when it is drained as dry as possible, put to it a quarter of a pound of butter; rub both together in a marble mortar till smooth; then add one ounce of almonds blanched; beat two Naples biscuits, and about as much crumb of roll; put seven yolks of eggs, but only one white; season it with mace and a little rose-water, and sweeten to your taste.
Cheesecake. No. 4.
Break one gallon of milk with runnet, and press it dry; then beat it in a mortar very small; put in half a pound of butter, and beat the whole over again until it is as smooth as butter. Put to it six eggs, leaving out half the whites; beat them very light with sack and rose-water, half a nutmeg grated, half a quarter of a pound of almonds beaten fine with rose-water and a little brandy. Sweeten to your taste; put in what currants you like, make a rich crust, and bake in a quick oven.