1 pint of milk, a stick of cinnamon (4 inches long), 12 blanched and sliced almonds, the thin rind of 1 lemon, sugar to taste, 3 eggs, some Allinson wholemeal bread, and 2 oz. of butter. Boil the milk with the sugar, cinnamon, and almonds; remove the cinnamon, let the milk cool a little, and then add carefully the eggs well beaten. Pour the mixture into a wide, rather shallow pie-dish. Butter slices of bread on both sides, and cover the pie-dish with these; the bread should be free from crust, and entirely cover the milk. Bake in a moderate oven about 45 minutes.
POPPY-SEED PUDDING.
4 oz. of white poppy-seed, 3 eggs, 3 oz. of sugar, 1-1/2 oz. of butter, 6 oz. of Allinson fine wheatmeal, 2 tablespoonfuls of orange-water, and 1/2 pint of milk. Scald the poppy-seed with boiling water, drain this on and crush the seed in a pestle and mortar, adding a little of the milk. When the poppy-seed has been crushed fairly fine, add the yolks of the eggs, well beaten, the sugar, meal, butter, orange-water, and the rest of the milk; mix all well, beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth, add this to the rest of the mixture, turn all into a buttered pie-dish, and bake the pudding 1-1/2 hours.
PRUNE PUDDING.
1 lb. of prunes or French plums, 4 eggs, 1 pint of milk, 1 teaspoonful of Allinson cornflour, sugar and flavouring to taste. Wash the prunes, remove the stones, and soak the prunes in 1/2 pint of water over night. Stew them very gently in an enamelled saucepan in the water in which they soaked, and add a little more if needed; when the prunes are quite tender, mash them well with a fork or wooden spoon, and let them cool. Beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth, and mix this with the mashed prunes when quite cold. Meanwhile make a custard with the milk, cornflour, and the yolks of eggs, adding sugar and a few drops of almond essence; let it cool. Heap the prunes on a glass dish and pour the custard round, and serve.
PRUNE PUDDING
1 lb. of stoned and stewed prunes, 3/4 lb. of thin slices of Allinson bread and butter, 3 eggs, 1 pint of milk, sugar to taste. Grease a pie-dish and line it with a layer of bread and butter, then arrange a layer of prunes, and so alternately until the dish is full, finishing with bread and butter; pour a little prune juice over, beat up the egg in the milk, adding a little sugar if liked. Pour the custard over the mixture, let soak 1 hour, and bake 1 hour. The pudding will be much improved if all the liquid is poured off once or twice, and poured over again.
RICE PUDDING (French).
8 oz. of rice, 1 quart of milk, 2 tablespoonfuls of sugar, 4 eggs, 1 teacupful of fine breadcrumbs, the rind of 1/2 a lemon; boil the rice in the milk with the sugar and lemon rind; let it gently simmer until quite soft, and until all the milk is absorbed; let the rice cool a little, beat up the yolks of the eggs, and mix them with the rice. Thoroughly butter a pudding mould, and sprinkle it all over with the breadcrumbs. Beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth, mix this well with the rice, and turn the whole gently into the mould, taking care not to displace the breadcrumbs; bake the pudding 1 hour in a moderate oven. It should turn out brown and firm, looking like a cake. Serve with fruit sauce or stewed fruit.