One pound of flour, four ounces of ground rice, one pound and a quarter of butter, three-quarters of a pound of sugar, a little candied peel, and a pinch of salt. Beat the butter to a cream, add the sugar, and very gradually sift in the flour and rice; work with the hands till quite smooth and divide into six pieces. Put each piece on a sheet of paper and roll out to the thickness of half an inch, prick it all over, lay on it the pieces of candied peel, pinch the edges, and bake in a moderate oven from twenty minutes to half an hour.
Fancy Biscuits can be made at home, and will be found quite equal in taste and appearance to the more expensive kinds sold in the shops. Care must be taken that the oven is not too hot as they will not look well if they are browned; and the flour and sugar used for them must be very finely sifted and thoroughly dry. To make four varieties of these biscuits at once, take one pound of fresh butter and cream it with half a pound of castor sugar, and add two well-beaten eggs. When well whisked divide the mixture into four basins. Divide also a pound of fine flour into four parts. To the contents of the first basin add a quarter of a pound of flour and two tablespoonfuls of ground ginger. Mix well. Turn on to a floured board, roll out to the thickness of a quarter of an inch, cut out with a small pastry-cutter or the top of a wineglass, place a piece of candied peel or a preserved cherry on each, and bake on a sheet of buttered paper laid on a baking tin for about twenty minutes. Proceed in the same way with the second portion, but instead of the ginger add the grated rind and juice of an orange, and if needed, a tablespoonful more flour. To the third division add half a teaspoonful of vanilla flavouring, and ornament the top of each biscuit with a little pink and white icing after baking. If the biscuits are made stiff they will keep their shape well in the baking, and may be cut into various fancy patterns such as ivy leaves, stars, diamonds, etc. Ivy leaves with the veins put on in white or pink icing are very pretty. To the last basin add one ounce of finely-chopped almonds, and make the biscuits oval in form with two strips of blanched almonds on the top. Walnuts may be used instead of almonds, in which case I should make the biscuits in the shape of a half walnut shell with half a peeled walnut on the flat part. These would require to be made very stiff. Chocolate icing is very nice to put on vanilla biscuits.
And now space warns me that our chat over the tea-table must come to an end. I hope that the few simple recipes I have given will be found both good and economical. Too economical perhaps for some of my friends, but I would remind all who wish for richer cakes that in the many excellent cookery-books, both French and English, now published, they will find recipes which cannot fail to win their most cordial appreciation. Yet in all humility I venture to hope these few hints of mine may win a meed of fainter praise from those who, appreciating dainty cookery, have yet to study economy in their household management.
[THE HOUSE WITH THE VERANDAH.]
By ISABELLA FYVIE MAYO, Author of “Other People’s Stairs,” “Her Object in Life,” etc.
CHAPTER XI.
A MOTHER AT HOME.