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Sixth Day: Pudding
No. 66-ESTHER'S LEMON PUDDING.
One cup sugar, one of water, rind and pulp of one lemon, two eggs, half a tablespoonful corn starch. This is just enough for one plate. The eggs must be well beaten. Bake in puff paste.
No. 67-CoCOANUT PUDDING.
Half a pound sugar, the same of butter, the same of grated cocoanut, the whites of six eggs, one tablespoonful rose-water, two do. of wine. Beat the butter and sugar to a cream, beat the eggs to a dry froth and add them, then the rose-water and wine, and lastly the cocoanut. Bake in paste. "That would be a lovely thing to make," said Grace. "It is too rich for family use," replied her aunt, "and is rather heavy for this weather; but some time when we are going to have company, and it is a little cooler, you shall make it. Grating the cocoanut used to be a very laborious business, but now that we can get it ready prepared at the grocer's, it is not so formidable." "Is it as good, Aunt Jane?" "Why, no, I can't say that it is, but it saves a vast deal of trouble, and if you are fortunate enough to get it quite fresh, there is not so much difference. Here is another good recipe." No. 68-CoCOANUT CUSTARD PIE.
One lb. cocoanut, half a pound powdered sugar, one quart milk, six eggs well beaten together, half a teaspoonful nutmeg, and two of vanilla or rose-water. Boil the milk, take it from the fire and stir it gradually into the eggs, then add sugar and seasoning, and when nearly cold, the cocoanut. This may be baked in paste or in a dish or cups by itself.
No. 69-APPLE PUDDING.
Peel, quarter and core enough sour apples to make a pint of apple-sauce when stewed; they must be scantily covered with water; two oz. butter, four do. sugar, a little nutmeg and mace, the grated rind of a lemon, the beaten yolks of two eggs, one wineglassful milk. When all these have been well beaten together, beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth, and mix them in lightly. Bake in a paste-lined dish.
No. 70-CUSTARD PIE.
One even tablespoonful corn-starch, two do. milk; put the rest of a quart of milk over boiling water, and when it is scalding (not boiling), stir in the starch carefully, with one-third of a tumblerful sugar and a few grains of salt. When slightly thickened, pour on it four well beaten eggs (yolks and whites together). Bake in paste. The custard should be an inch deep.
No. 71-ORANGE PUDDING.
One-half pound sugar, a quarter of a pound butter, six eggs, two oranges. Grate the rind from the oranges and squeeze the juice, beat the butter to a cream and add the sugar to it little by little, throw in the yolks of the eggs as you break them, beating them with the mixture, add the orange rind and juice, and finally the whites of eggs, beaten to a stiff froth; these must be added slowly. Bake in paste.
No. 72-MARLBOROUGH PUDDING.
One pint sour apple-sauce, the apples being stewed with only just enough water to keep them from burning, and just long enough to enable you to pass them through a colander; one-half lb. sugar, one-half do. butter, six well-beaten eggs, the juice of two lemons and the grated rind of one. Bake in puff paste.
No. 73-LEMON PUDDING.
Half a dozen tart apples, stew and strain through a colander, grated rind and juice of two large lemons or three small ones, one teacup cream, one-half do. butter, two cups sugar, yolks of six eggs. Bake one hour in puff paste.
No. 74-LEMON PIE.
One large or two small lemons, rind and pulp; after the seeds are taken out, squeeze the pulp well in half a tumbler of water, and strain; yolks of four eggs well beaten, one tablespoon flour stirred with the egg, two do. melted butter, 1 cup sugar, beat well together. Bake until done; then having beaten up the whites of four eggs with three tablespoonfuls powdered sugar, spread it smoothly over the top and set it in the oven a few minutes to brown. "Now let us look over our recipes," said Mrs. King. "Lemon pudding is always good, and very simple; apples are not in season, and we have no oranges in the house; the custard pie is nice, but not different enough from lemon to make at the same time. I think we'll have a lemon pie and some puffs of the puff paste, and a raspberry or currant pie of the plainer kind, and perhaps I may think of something else. Grace, see if you think you can make the filling for one of Esther's puddings. They are simple, and always nice." "I think I can, Aunt Jane," said Grace, looking over the receipt. "I suppose I must wet up the corn-starch with water?" "Yes, part of the cupful. Be careful not to put in more water than is required, or your pudding won't stand that is, it will be soft and liquid, not firm, like a custard." "Beat the eggs separately, Aunty?" "No, that is not necessary, except where it is so stated in the recipe, unless in the case of any kind of nice cake, when the rule is just the reverse. In some lemon pies, only the yolks are put into the mixture, the whites being beaten separately for a cover to the pie; but where this is the intention, you will find it so explained."
So Grace undertook the lemon pudding, and Mrs.
King examined into the condition of the fruit-closet. Here she found a quantity of ripe currants and raspberries, and though she declared it was a pity to spoil anything so nice by cooking it, still, to show the girls what could be done with them, she decided to try two recipes - the following an English one:
No. 75-CURRANT AND RASPBERRY TART.
Three half-pints currants, measured after being stripped from the stalks, one half-pint raspberries, three heaping tablespoonfuls crushed sugar; turn a small cup upside down in a deep pie dish, fill the dish with the mixture of currants, raspberries and sugar, cover with puff paste, bake from half to three-quarters of an hour. To be eaten cold, with white sugar sifted over it.
No. 76-CURRANT PIE.
Line a pie-dish with paste; in it put a layer of currants and a layer of coffee-sugar alternately until full; dredge an even tablespoonful of flour over the top, cover with paste, and bake. All pies of this sort should have a slit cut in the center, and should be well pressed down around the edges. 1 When the filling for the lemon pie was ready, Mrs.
King showed the girls how to use the crust. The amount already made was cut in two and one part rolled out thin; the pie-dish was covered evenly with this. Then another plate of the same size was laid, face downward, on a thicker layer of paste rolled out on the pie-board, and the shape exactly cut out in paste. This made a circular sheet of paste, from which Grace cut out with a sharp knife a piece from the inside as large as the deep portion of the pie-dish, thus leaving a ring of paste just the size of the margin. That already on the plate was then wet, and the other piece laid on it, to make a deeper well into which to pour the lemon custard. Then it was ready for the oven.
The English tart came next, and was simply covered with a layer of pastry, on which, by her aunt's directions, Grace made some little ornamental quirligigs with strips of paste, and a wavy criss-cross border of the same, always wetting the part on which an additional layer of paste was to rest, in order to cement them firmly together. Some puff-paste still remained, which was disposed of by Edith in the following manner.
Being rolled to half an inch in thickness, a number of round cakes of the size of the top of a tumbler were cut out. From half of these, smaller circles were cut from the inside with the top of a canister, and the ring thus formed was laid on the other, the under surface being first wetted. These when baked made little hollow puffs, which were filled with jam or jelly and presented quite an elegant appearance.
The remains of the plain pie-crust, after two currant pies had been made from it, was rolled out into shortcakes, with as much flour as they could be made to absorb, and made a welcome addition to the tea-table. A high authority says that pastry, with the exception of mince-pies, should always be eaten the day it is baked; but as this is not convenient to most house-keepers, the expedient of slightly heating the paste just before serving is often practised with good effect.