The same, with Almonds.—Pound well four or six ounces of sweet almonds, place them in the bowl with the rest, and then mix, bake, and serve as the above one.
Do the same with bitter almonds, hazel-nuts, peanuts, filberts, and raisins; flavor with any kind of essence.
With Chocolate.—When the cake is cut in pieces, glaze it as directed for éclair au chocolat.
With Sweetmeats.—When the cake is cut in pieces, with a sharp-pointed knife, cut off a part of each piece, on the top and right in the centre, so as to make a small hole, which you fill with any kind of sweetmeat or with any cream, and then serve. When thus served, they are called under several names.
Macaroons.—Throw into boiling water for five minutes ten ounces of sweet almonds, and two ounces of bitter ones; skin them well; put in a mortar, and pound them to a paste, adding a few drops of the white of eggs during the process. Grind well also a pound of white sugar, with the quarter of a rind of lemon well grated; then mix well together almonds, sugar, and the whites of two eggs. Make balls of any size with it; put the balls on a piece of paper, beat the yolk of an egg with half a gill of water, and glaze the top of the balls with it by means of a brush; put them in a slow oven; it will take about fifteen minutes to cook them.
Macaroons with Chocolate.—Melt on a slow fire and in a tin pan three ounces of chocolate without sugar (known as Baker's chocolate); then work it to a thick paste with one pound of pulverized sugar, and three whites of eggs. Roll the mixture down to a thickness of about one-quarter of an inch; cut it in small round pieces with a paste-cutter, either plain or scalloped; butter a pan slightly and dust it with flour and sugar, half of each, place the pieces of paste or mixture in and bake in a hot but not quick oven. Serve cold.
Madeleines.—Mix well together in a bowl three ounces of sugar, three of flour, and two eggs, then again one ounce of melted butter and a few drops of essence to flavor. Butter slightly small tin moulds, dust them slightly also with flour and sugar, half of each, turn the mixture in, filling the moulds only two-thirds full, and bake in an oven at about 340°. Serve cold.
The same, with Almonds.—Chop rather fine some sweet almonds, and when the mixture is in the moulds as described above, spread the almonds over them; bake, and serve as above.
Do the same with hazel-nuts, filberts, peanuts, or raisins.
Meringues or Kisses.—Put half a pound of pulverized sugar in a plate, beat six whites of eggs to a stiff froth as directed, then have somebody to sprinkle the half pound of sugar into the eggs, and while you are still beating, which must be done in two seconds; stop beating and mix gently with a spoon, not by stirring but by turning the whole upside down several times. If it is stirred too much, it may turn too liquid. Put the mixture in the pastry-bag, with tin tube No. 2 at the end of it; spread the mixture on paper in a baking-pan, in oblong cakes about three inches long; dust them with pulverized sugar, and put in an oven at from 220° to 230° Fahr. It requires some time to dry them, about one hour. As soon as taken from the oven, place one in your left hand, the top downward; press gently on the under side which is up, with the first finger of the right hand, so as to make a hollow; put in that hollow twice as much cream as is necessary to fill it; place another cake prepared alike over the cream; so that the two will be united and kept together by the cream; do the same with the rest; place them tastefully on a dish; dust them with sugar, and serve. They are generally filled with whipped cream, but may be filled with crème légère or crème cuite. They may also be filled with crème Chantilly.