Pastry Cream—Boil with a pint of milk or water five tablespoonfuls of sugar; add two tablespoonfuls of corn-starch, the yolks of five eggs, and a tablespoonful of butter; stir until thickened, add flavoring, and when partly cool spread it on the cake.
Chocolate Filling—Mix a half cupful of milk and a cupful of sugar, and stir until the sugar is dissolved; then add an ounce of shaved chocolate, and the beaten yolks of two eggs; stir until it is thickened; flavor with one half teaspoonful of vanilla, and let it partly cool before spreading it on the cake.
PUFF-PASTE
It is a mistake to consider the making of puff-paste too difficult for any but an experienced cook to undertake. No one need hesitate to attempt it, and if the few simple rules are strictly observed there will be success. The materials are few and inexpensive, and within the compass of the most moderate household. If light, good pastry can be substituted for the sodden crust of the ordinary pie, it will be found not only more palatable, but far more digestible and wholesome. Confections of puff-paste can be served on all occasions, and always make an acceptable dish, whereas ordinary pastry is excluded from any but the most informal service.
GENERAL RULES
The most important rule for making puff-paste, and the secret of success, is to have cold paste and a hot oven. It is well to have a marble slab to roll it on, but this is not positively essential. A warm, damp day should be avoided. The paste will keep on ice for a day or two before it is baked, and for several days in a dry place after it is baked, and if placed in the oven for a few moments just before serving, it will have the same crispness as when just baked. If there is no room colder than the kitchen to work in when mixing the paste, stand by an open window or in a current of air, for it is necessary to keep the paste cold during the whole time of preparing it. Use pastry flour if convenient (Plant’s St. Louis Flour). It can be obtained at all first-class grocers. It has a very fine grain, and can easily be distinguished from ordinary flour by rubbing a little between the thumb and forefinger.
RECEIPT FOR PUFF-PASTE
- ½ pound or 1 cupful of butter.
- ½ pound or 2 cupfuls of flour.
- ½ teaspoonful of salt.
- ¼ to ½ cupful of ice-water.
1st. Put the butter in a bowl of ice-water, and work it with the hand until it becomes smooth and flexible; then place it in a napkin and knead it a little to free it from moisture. Pat it into a flat square cake, and place it on the ice until ready to use.
2d. Sift the flour and salt together on a board or marble slab; reserve a little flour to be used for dusting the slab. Make a well in the center, and pour in a part of the water. Work in the flour, and use enough water to make a smooth paste. The exact amount of water cannot be given, as at certain times the flour absorbs more than at others. Gather in all the crumbs, and work the paste as you would bread dough until it becomes smooth. Roll it in a napkin, and place it on ice for fifteen minutes, that it may become thoroughly cold.