Strawberry Cream.—Take 3 pints ripe strawberries, and crush each one separately. Put them in a basin with 4 oz. powdered loaf sugar, stir until the sugar is melted, and well mixed with the pulped strawberries, then put them in a trifle dish. Now put 1 qt. cream in a saucepan on a stove, and when at boiling point stir in 2 oz. arrowroot mixed with a little cold new milk. Let this boil for 1 minute, then set it aside until sufficiently cool not to risk breaking your dish, when pour it over the pulped strawberries, and put the dish in a cool place until the cream is cold and set. Just before serving cover the cream with the whites of 6 eggs, beaten to a solid froth. If colour is liked, a portion of the white of egg may be coloured with a few drops of prepared cochineal, and put in the centre of the dish. Raspberries are very good served in this way.
Strawberry Shortcake.—1 qt. flour, 5 oz. lard, 1 even teaspoonful soda, 2 teaspoonfuls cream of tartar, a pinch of salt. Mix the salt and cream of tartar with the flour, pass it through a sieve, then rub the lard with the flour, add the soda dissolved in enough milk to form a soft dough; divide it into 4 parts, roll one part out, cover a straight-sided Vienna cake tin with it, roll out another piece and lay it upon the first, cut the edges off evenly. Repeat this with the remaining two pieces and another tin. Bake quickly. When done lift the upper piece of crust from each cake., butter the inner surfaces and place between the two crusts a layer 1 in. thick of fresh berries slightly mashed and sweetened. Cover the top with fresh berries, sift a little sugar over them and serve at once. It is eaten in slices with rich cream poured over it. A pretty way to make them is to cut the dough with a tart-cutter 3½ in. in diameter; bake two pieces, one on top of the other, place strawberries between, as above, and serve one little cake to each person with cream round it.
Strawberry Tartlets.—Make some short paste with 2 oz. sugar, 2 oz. butter, the yolks of 4 eggs, a little water, a pinch of salt, and sufficient flour; work it lightly, and roll it out to the thickness of ⅛ in. Line some patty-pans with it, fill them with uncooked rice to keep their shape, and bake them in a moderate oven till done. Remove the stalks from some strawberries, add some syrup made with sugar and a little brandy or sherry. Empty the tartlets of the rice, fill each with the strawberries. Put them in the oven to get warm, and serve.
Suet Pudding.—(a) ½ lb. flour, ½ lb. beef suet chopped fine, 1 teaspoonful salt. Mix with sufficient milk or water to keep them together; boil 2½ hours in a basin or a cloth. (b) 1 lb. beef suet chopped fine, 6 large spoonfuls flour, 1 teaspoonful grated ginger, 1 teaspoonful of salt, 1½ pint milk, and 4 eggs. Boil 3 hours in a basin, or 2½ hours in a cloth, (c) 1½ pint milk mixed with 1 lb. flour, add 2 eggs, 4 large spoonfuls beef suet chopped fine, ½ lb. currants or raisins stoned, 1 teaspoonful grated ginger, the juice of a lemon (or the rind of one grated), a very little salt and brown sugar to taste. Butter a pie dish, fill with the mixture, bake 1½ hour, turn it out, and serve with powdered sugar over and wine sauce round.
Swiss Pastry.—Weigh 3 or more eggs in the shell, and take their weight in powdered sugar, in dried flour, and in fresh butter. Put the butter in a basin, and set it over another containing hot water to remain until melted; then stir in the sugar by degrees, using a wooden spoon. When well mixed gradually add the flour, and also a pinch of salt, stirring all the time. When the flour is all in, break in one of the eggs without beating it, merely removing the speck, and then adding the egg, both yolk and white; whisk the batter well; then add another egg in the same way, again whisk, and so on till all the eggs are in. Continue the whisking until the batter looks light. Have ready a shallow tin with a rim to it, which must be lined with paper plentifully buttered; pour in the mixture directly it is ready, and put it at once into the oven to bake until firm and slightly brown. The pastry should not be more than 1 in. thick. A very clean Yorkshire pudding tin may be used to bake it in, or a good-sized cutlet pan is as good as anything. When cold, cut it into any fancy shapes, splitting the cake and putting strawberry or apricot jam between; cut into fingers, which maybe iced over the top, some pink and some white—they make a very pretty dish. For making into a set shape, hollow oval cutters are the best, in graduated sizes. Put the largest piece at the bottom of either a glass or silver dish, spread a layer of strawberry or raspberry jam on it, then the next size, and so on till the smallest piece at the top is also covered with jam. Make a border round of apricot jam, and fill up the hollow with whipped cream. A very slight sprinkling of finely chopped pistachio nuts may be strewn over the top of the cream by way of ornament if desired.
Swiss Pudding.—Take the yolks of 7 eggs, ½ oz. isinglass, beat them well, add 1 pint good milk and sugar to taste. Put this in a mould, and boil the pudding ¾ hour exactly. Let it stand in the mould till cold. The sauce for this pudding is made with ¼ pint white wine, ¼ lb. sugar, with the juice and the rind of a lemon pared very thin. Boil this till it becomes like a syrup. When cold, pour it round the pudding, but not till it is ready to be sent to table, then put a few strips of orange marmalade or apricot jam on the top and round the pudding.
Swiss Roll.—Take the weight of 3 or 4 eggs in their shells of finely powdered sugar, and the same weight of butter and flour. Melt the butter, add the sugar and the yolks of the eggs (freed from the speck); beat the mixture well, add the beaten-up whites of half the eggs, then half the flour, the rest of the whites (also beaten up), and of the flour. When quite smooth spread it out about ½ in. thick over a well-buttered tin, and bake for 15-20 minutes in a moderate oven, spread it all over equally with jam, roll it up, and put it into the oven again for a short time, sprinkle with powdered sugar, and serve cold; if liked, with custard over it.
Tansy Pudding.—Boil 1 qt. milk with a little lemon peel and 2 laurel leaves, strain it over a ¼ lb. Naples biscuit; beat up the yolks of 8 and the whites of 4 eggs with 1 spoonful rose-water; put 1 handful tansy leaves and 2 handfuls spinach in a mortar, pound them and squeeze the juice through a cloth; grate in half a nutmeg, put in ½ lb. fine sugar with ½ lb. butter melted. Mix the ingredients all together, put it over a slow fire, and keep it stirring till it is thick, then take it off and set it away to cool, and stir in a glass of brandy. Put a puff paste round the edge of the dish, pour in the ingredients, put a little candied sweetmeats over it, and bake it ¾ hour in a moderate oven.
Tapioca Cream.—Take equal quantities pearl tapioca and raw cream, boil the tapioca thoroughly, whip the cream till it drops thickly from the spoon; mix the two together, flavour with lemon or vanilla essence, and sweeten to taste, serve cold in a glass dish. This is excellent, eaten with either preserved peaches, pears, &c., or stewed fruit.
Tapioca Pudding.—Boil ¼ lb. tapioca with 1 pint milk sweetened to taste, and flavoured with either lemon peel, vanilla, or orange-flower water according to taste; pour the mixture into a buttered pie dish, and bake for ½ hour. If preferred with eggs, the boiled tapioca should be allowed to cool, and then 2 eggs well beaten up may be added before baking; but this kind of pudding is more wholesome, especially for children, without eggs, if made with plenty of milk.