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Puff-Paste Patties, or Small Vol-Au-Vents

Make some puff-paste, give it eight turns, and put it in a cool place or on ice for a little while, then roll it out to the thickness of a quarter of an inch. Take two plain or fluted pastry-cutters, one half the size of the other. Dip the larger into hot water, and stamp out as many rounds as are required. Place these on a baking-sheet, and brush them over with egg, then dip the smaller cutter into hot water, and press it about half through the rounds in the centre. Bake in a quick oven, and when they are done enough take out the small rounds of crust from the top with a sharp knife, and scoop out the crumb and the soft part from the inside. Before sending them to table fill the inside with any one of the different kinds of patty meats. These are composed of savoury minces, made of poultry, game, or fish. Lay the little lid on the top, and serve. Time to bake the patties, eighteen to twenty minutes. PUFF-PASTE RINGS OR PYRAMIDS (a pretty dish for a Juvenile party). Roll out some good puff-paste to the thickness of a quarter of an inch. Stamp it out first in a round the size of the inside of the dish upon which the pastry is to be served, and afterwards in rounds, gradually decreasing in size, until one is cut to lay on the top of the pyramid. Brush these rings over with egg, and bake them separately on baking-sheets till they are done enough. Lay them one on the top of the other in gradation, spread bright-coloured jam of different colours on the rims, and crown the pyramid with a dried apricot, or any suitable ornament. If liked, three or four small pyramids may be made instead of one large one. The rounds may then be formed into rings by stamping a small cutter through the centre, the holes in the rings may be filled with bright-coloured jam, and the pastry may be covered with sifted sugar. Time to bake the rounds, fifteen to twenty-five minutes, according to size.