Cut up three quarters of a pound of butter into a jill and a half
or three wine glasses of rich unskimmed milk, (cream will be still
better,) and get the pan on a stove or near the fire, till the
butter becomes soft enough to stir all through the milk with a
knife; but do not let it get so hot as to boil of itself. Then set
it away in a cold place. Sift into separate pans, a half pound and
a quarter of a pound of the finest flour; and having beaten four
eggs as light as possible, mix them with the milk and butter, and
then pour the whole into the pan that contains the half pound of
flour. Having previously prepared two grated nutmegs, and a table-spoonful
of powdered cinnamon and mace, stir them into the
mixture; adding six drops of extract of roses, or a large table-spoonful
of rose water. Add a wine glass and a half of the best
fresh yeast from a brewery. If you cannot procure yeast of the
very best quality, an attempt to make these buns will most
probably prove a failure, as the variety of other ingredients will
prevent them from rising unless the yeast is as strong as
possible. Before you put it in, skim off the thin liquid or beer
from the top, and then stir up the bottom. After you have put in
the yeast, add the sugar; stirring it well in, a very little at a
time. If too much sugar is put in at once, the buns will be heavy.
Lastly, sprinkle in the quarter of a pound of flour that was
sifted separately; and stir the whole very hard. Put the mixture
into a square pan well buttered, and (having covered it with a
cloth) place it in a corner of the hearth to rise, which will
require, perhaps, about five hours; therefore these buns should
always be made early in the day. Do not bake it till the batter
has risen to twice its original quantity, and is covered on the
top with bubbles; then set the pan into a moderate oven, and bake
it about twenty minutes. Let it get cool in the pan; then, cut it
into squares, and either ice them, (flavouring the icing with
essence of lemon or extract of roses,) or sift grated loaf-sugar
thickly over them. These buns (like all other cakes made with
yeast) should be eaten the day they are baked; as when stale, they
fall and become hard.
In mixing them, you may stir in at the last half a pound of
raisins, stoned, chopped and floured; or half a pound of currants.
If you use fruit, put in half a wine glass more of the yeast.