Take Swedish, American, or Russian cranberries, pick and wash them in several waters, put them into a dish, with the juice of half a lemon, a quarter of a pound of moist or pounded loaf sugar, to a quart of cranberries. Cover it with puff ([No. 1]) or tart paste ([No. 4]), and bake it three quarters of an hour; if tart paste is used, draw it from the oven five minutes before it is done, and ice it as [No. 31], return it to the oven, and send it to table cold.
Mince Pies.—(No. 38.)
Sheet with tart paste ([No. 4]), half a dozen of tin pans of any size you please; fill them with mince meat ([No. 39]), and cover with puff paste, a quarter of an inch thick; trim round the edges with a knife, make an aperture at the top with a fork, bake them in a moderate-heated oven, and send them to table hot, first removing the tin.
N.B. Some throw a little sifted loaf sugar over.
Mince Meat.—(No. 39.)
Two pounds of beef suet, picked and chopped fine; two pounds of apple, pared, cored, and minced; three pounds of currants, washed and picked; one pound of raisins, stoned and chopped fine; one pound of good moist sugar; half a pound of citron, cut into thin slices; one pound of candied lemon and orange-peel, cut as ditto; two pounds of ready-dressed roast beef, free from skin and gristle, and chopped fine; two nutmegs, grated; one ounce of salt, one of ground ginger, half an ounce of coriander seeds, half an ounce of allspice, half an ounce of cloves, all ground fine; the juice of six lemons, and their rinds grated; half a pint of brandy, and a pint of sweet wine. Mix the suet, apples, currants, meat-plums, and sweetmeats, well together in a large pan, and strew in the spice by degrees; mix the sugar, lemon-juice, wine, and brandy, and pour it to the other ingredients, and stir it well together; set it by in close-covered pans in a cold place: when wanted, stir it up from the bottom, and add half a glass of brandy to the quantity you require.
N.B. The same weight of tripe is frequently substituted for the meat, and sometimes the yelks of eggs boiled hard.
Obs.—The lean side of a buttock, thoroughly roasted, is generally chosen for mince meat.
Cheesecakes.—(No. 40.)
Put two quarts of new milk into a stew-pan, set it near the fire, and stir in two table-spoonfuls of rennet: let it stand till it is set (this will take about an hour); break it well with your hand, and let it remain half an hour longer; then pour off the whey, and put the curd into a colander to drain; when quite dry, put it in a mortar, and pound it quite smooth; then add four ounces of sugar, pounded and sifted, and three ounces of fresh butter; oil it first by putting it in a little potting-pot, and setting it near the fire; stir it all well together: beat the yelks of four eggs in a basin, with a little nutmeg grated, lemon-peel, and a glass of brandy; add this to the curd, with two ounces of currants, washed and picked; stir it all well together; have your tins ready lined with puff paste ([No. 1]), about a quarter of an inch thick, notch them all round the edge, and fill each with the curd. Bake them twenty minutes.