Sift two pounds of flour into a deep pan, and cut up in it a pound of
fresh butter; rub the butter into the flour with your hands, adding
by degrees, half a pound of powdered white sugar; a tea-spoonful of
powdered cinnamon; a beaten nutmeg; a glass of wine or brandy, and two
glasses of rose water. Beat four eggs very light; and add them to the
mixture with a salt-spoonful of soda melted in a little lukewarm water.
Mix all well together; add, if necessary, sufficient cold water to make
it into a dough just stiff enough to roll out; knead it slightly, and
then roll it out into a sheet about half an inch thick. Cut it out into
small cakes with a tin cutter, or with the edge of a tumbler; dipping
the cutter frequently into flour, to prevent its sticking. Lay the
cakes in shallow pans buttered, or on flat sheets of tin, (taking care
not to let them touch, lest they should run into each other,) and bake
them of a light brown in a brisk oven. They are best the second day.
SAVOY BISCUITS.--Take four eggs, and separate the whites from the
yolks. Beat the whites by themselves, to a stiff froth; then add
gradually the yolks, and beat them both together for a long time. Next
add by degrees half a pound of the finest loaf-sugar, powdered and
sifted, beating it in very hard; and the juice of a lemon or orange.
Lastly, stir in a quarter of a pound of sifted flour, a little at a
time. Stir the whole very hard, and then with a spoon lay it on sheets
of white paper, forming it into thin cakes of an oblong or oval shape.
Take care not to place them too close to each other, lest they run.
Grate loaf-sugar over the top of each, to assist in keeping them in
shape. Have the oven quite ready to put them in immediately. It should
be rather brisk. They will bake in a few minutes, and should be but
slightly coloured. They are sometimes called lady-fingers.
ALMOND MACCAROONS.--Take a pound of shelled sweet almonds, and a
quarter of a pound of shelled bitter almonds. Blanch them in scalding
water, mix them together, and pound them, one or two at a time, in
a mortar to a very smooth paste; adding frequently a little rose
water to prevent them from oiling and becoming heavy. Prepare a pound
of powdered loaf-sugar. Beat the whites of seven eggs to a stiff
froth, and then beat into it gradually the powdered sugar, adding a
table-spoonful of mixed spice, (nutmeg, mace, and cinnamon.) Then mix
in the pounded almonds, (which it is best to prepare the day before,)
and stir the whole very hard. Form the mixture with a spoon into little
round or oval cakes, upon sheets of buttered white paper, and grate
white sugar over each. Lay the paper in square shallow pans, or on iron
sheets, and bake the maccaroons a few minutes in a brisk oven, till of
a pale brown. When cold, take them off the papers.
It will be well to try two or three first, and if you find them likely
to lose their shape and run into each other, you may omit the papers
and make the mixture up into little balls with your hands well floured;
baking them in shallow tin pans slightly buttered.
You may make maccaroons with icing that is left from a cake; adding
pounded almonds &c.
COCOA-NUT MACCAROONS.--Beat to a stiff froth the whites of six eggs,
and then beat into it very hard a pound of powdered loaf-sugar. Mix
with it a pound of grated cocoa-nut, or sufficient to make a stiff
paste. Then flour your hands, and make it up into little balls. Lay
them on sheets of buttered white paper, and bake them in a brisk oven;
first grating loaf-sugar over each. They will be done in a few minutes.
Maccaroons may be made in a similar manner of pounded cream-nuts,
ground-nuts, filberts, or English walnuts.
WHITE COCOA-NUT CAKES.--Break up a cocoa-nut; peel, and wash the pieces
in cold water, and grate them. Mix in the milk of the nut and some
powdered loaf-sugar, and then form the grated cocoa-nut into little
balls upon sheets of white paper. Make them all of a regular and
handsome form, and touch the top of each with a spot of red sugar-sand.
Do not bake them, but place them to dry for twenty-four hours, in a
warm room where nothing is likely to disturb them.
COCOA-NUT JUMBLES.--Grate a large cocoa-nut. Rub half a pound of butter
into a pound of sifted flour, and wet it with three beaten eggs, and a
little rose water. Add by degrees the cocoa-nut, so as to form a stiff
dough. Flour your hands and your paste-board, and dividing the dough
into equal portions, make the jumbles with your hands into long rolls,
and then curl them round and join the ends so as to form rings. Grate
loaf-sugar over them; lay them in buttered pans, (not so near as to
run into each other,) and bake them in a quick oven from five to ten
minutes.
COMMON JUMBLES.--Sift a pound of flour into a large pan. Cut up a
pound of butter into a pound of powdered white sugar, and stir them
to a cream. Beat six eggs till very light, and then pour them all at
once into the pan of flour; next add the butter and sugar, with a
large table-spoonful of mixed mace and cinnamon, two grated nutmegs,
and the juice of two lemons, or a wine glass of rose water. When all
the ingredients are in, stir the mixture very hard with a broad knife.
Having floured your hands and spread some flour on the paste-board,
make the dough into long rolls, (all of equal size,) and form them into
rings by joining the two ends very nicely. Lay them on buttered tins,
and bake them in a quick oven from five to ten minutes. Grate sugar
over them when cool.
APEES.--Rub a pound of fresh butter into two pounds of sifted flour,
and mix in a pound of powdered white sugar, a grated nutmeg, a
table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, and four large table-spoonfuls
of carraway seeds. Add a wine glass of rose water, and mix the whole
with sufficient cold water to make it a stiff dough. Roll it out into
a large sheet about a third of an inch in thickness, and cut it into
round cakes with a tin cutter or with the edge of a tumbler. Lay them
in buttered pans, and bake them in a quick oven, (rather hotter at the
bottom than at the top,) till they are of a very pale brown.
WHITE CUP CAKE.--Measure one large coffee cup of cream or rich milk,
(which, for this cake, is best when sour,) one cup of fresh butter;
two cups of powdered white sugar; and four cups of sifted flour. Stir
the butter and sugar together till quite light; then by degrees add
the cream, alternately with half the flour. Beat five eggs as light
as possible, and stir them into the mixture, alternately with the
remainder of the flour. Add a grated nutmeg and a large tea-spoonful
of powdered cinnamon, with rose water to your taste. Lastly, stir in a
very small tea-spoonful of sal-aratus or pearl-ash, melted in a little
tepid water. Having stirred the whole very hard, put it into little
tins; set them in a moderate oven, and bake them about twenty minutes.
KISSES.--Powder a pound of the best loaf-sugar. Beat to a strong froth
the whites of eight eggs, and when it is stiff enough to stand alone,
beat into it the powdered sugar, (a tea-spoonful at a time,) adding the
juice of two lemons, or of two large oranges. Having beaten the whole
very hard, drop it in oval or egg-shaped heaps upon sheets of white
paper, smoothing them with a broad knife dipped in cold water. Place
them in a moderate oven, (if it is too cool they will not rise, but
will flatten and run into each other,) and bake them till coloured of
a very pale brown. Then take them off the papers very carefully, place
two bottoms (or flat sides) together so as to unite them in an oval
ball, and lay them on their sides to cool. You may scoop out a little
from the under-surface of each, and put in some jelly. Then stick the
flat sides together.
MARMALADE CAKE.--Make a batter as for queen-cake, and bake it in small
tin rings on a griddle. Beat white of egg, and powdered loaf-sugar
according to the preceding receipt, flavouring it with lemon. When the
batter is baked into cakes, and they are quite cool, spread over each
a thick layer of marmalade, and then heap on with a spoon the icing or
white of egg and sugar. Pile it high, and set the cakes in a moderate
oven till the icing is coloured of a very pale brown.
Instead of small ones you may bake the whole in one large cake.
SECRETS.--Take glazed paper of different colours, and cut it into
squares of equal size, fringing two sides of each. Have ready, burnt
almonds, chocolate nuts, and bonbons or sugar-plums of various sorts;
and put one in each paper with a folded slip containing two lines of
verse; or what will be much more amusing, a conundrum with the answer.
Twist the coloured paper so as entirely to conceal their contents,
leaving the fringe at each end. This is the most easy, but there are
various ways of cutting and ornamenting these envelopes.
SCOTCH CAKE.--Rub three quarters of a pound of butter into a pound
of sifted flour; mix in a pound of powdered sugar, and a large
table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon. Mix it into a dough with three
well beaten eggs. Roll it out into a sheet; cut it into round cakes,
and bake them in a quick oven; they will require but a few minutes.
SCOTCH QUEEN CAKE--Melt a pound of butter by putting it into a skillet
on hot coals. Then set it away to cool. Sift two quarts of oatmeal
into a deep pan, and mix with it a pound of powdered sugar and a
table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon and mace. Make a hole in the
middle, put in the melted butter, and mix it with a knife till you have
formed of the whole a lump of dough. If it is too stiff, moisten it
with a little rose water. Knead it well, and roll it out into a large
oval sheet, an inch thick. Cut it down the middle, and then across, so
as to divide it into four cakes. Prick them with a fork, and crimp or
scollop the edges neatly. Lay them in shallow pans; set them in a quick
oven and bake them of a light brown. This cake will keep a week or two.
You may mix in with the dough half a pound of currants, picked, washed,
and dried.
HONEY CAKES.--Take a quart of strained honey, half a pound of fresh
butter, and a small tea-spoonful of pearl-ash dissolved in a little
sour milk. Add by degrees as much sifted flour as will make a stiff
paste. Work the whole well together. Roll it out about half an inch
thick. Cut it into cakes with the edge of a tumbler or with a tin
cake-cutter. Lay them on buttered tins and bake them with rather a
brisk fire, but see that they do not burn.