You may make maccaroons with icing that is left from a cake.
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 b.a.l.l.s. Lay them on sheets of b.u.t.tered 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 b.a.l.l.s 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 the them.
COCOA-NUT JUMBLES.
Grate a large cocoa-nut. Rub half a pound of b.u.t.ter 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-h.o.a.rd, 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 b.u.t.tered 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 b.u.t.ter 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 b.u.t.ter and sugar, with a large table-spoonful of mixed mace and cinnamon, two grated nutmegs, and a tea-spoonful of essence of lemon or a wine gla.s.s 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 b.u.t.tered 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 b.u.t.ter 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 gla.s.s 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 b.u.t.tered 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 b.u.t.ter; two cups of powdered white sugar; and four cups of sifted flour. Stir the b.u.t.ter 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 eight drops of oil of lemon. Lastly, stir in a very small tea-spoonful of sal-aratus or pearl-ash, melted in a little vinegar or lukewarm 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 ten drops of essence of lemon.
Having beaten the whole very hard, drop it in oval or egg-shaped heaps upon sheets of white paper, smoothing them with the spoon and making them of a handsome and regular form. 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. To manage them properly, requires so much practice and dexterity, that it is best, when practicable, to procure kisses from a confectioner"s shop.
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 tire 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 b.u.t.ter 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 b.u.t.ter by putting it into a skillet on hot coals.
Then set it away to cool. Sift a quarter of a peck of flour 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 b.u.t.ter, 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. Do not knead it; but 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. p.r.i.c.k 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 b.u.t.ter, and a small tea-spoonful of pearl-ash dissolved in a wine gla.s.s of water. 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 b.u.t.tered tins and bake them with rather a brisk fire, but see that they do not burn.
WAFER CAKES.
Mix together half a pound of powdered sugar, and a quarter of a pound of b.u.t.ter; and add to them six beaten eggs. Then beat the whole very light; stirring into it as much sifted flour as will make a stiff batter; a powdered nutmeg, and a tea-spoonful of cinnamon; and eight drops of oil of lemon, or a table-spoonful of rose water. The batter must be very smooth when it is done, and without a single lump. Heat your wafer iron on both sides by turning it in the fire; but do not allow it to get too hot. Grease the inside with b.u.t.ter tied in a rag, (this must be repeated previous to the baking of every cake,) and put in the batter, allowing to each wafer two large table-spoonfuls, taking care not to stir up the batter. Close the iron, and when one side is baked, turn it on the other; open it occasionally to see if the wafer is doing well. They should be coloured of a light brown. Take them out carefully with a knife. Strew them with powdered sugar, and roll them up while warm, round a smooth stick, withdrawing it when they grow cold. They are best the day after they are baked.
If you are preparing for company, fill up the hollow of the wafers with whipt cream, and stop up the two ends with preserved strawberries, or with any other small sweetmeat.
WONDERS, OR CRULLERS.
Rub half a pound of b.u.t.ter into two pounds of sifted flour, mixing in three quarters of a pound of powdered sugar. Add a tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, and a grated nutmeg, with a large table-spoonful of rose water. Beat six eggs very light, and stir them into the mixture. Mix it with a knife into a soft paste. Then put it on the paste-board, and roll it out into a sheet an inch thick. If you find it too soft, knead in a little more flour, and roll it out over again. Cut it into long slips with a jagging iron, or with a sharp knife, and twist them into various fantastic shapes. Have ready on hot coals, a skillet of boiling lard; put in the crullers and fry them of a light brown, turning them occasionally by means of a knife and fork. Take them out one by one on a perforated skimmer, that the lard may drain off through the holes. Spread them out on a large dish, and when cold grate white sugar over them.
They will keep a week or more.
DOUGH NUTS.
Take two deep dishes, and sift three quarters of a pound of flour into each. Make a hole in the centre of one of them, and pour in a wine gla.s.s of the best brewer"s yeast; mix the flour gradually into it, wetting it with lukewarm milk; cover it, and set it by the fire to rise for about two hours. This is setting a sponge. In the mean time, cut up five ounces of b.u.t.ter into the other dish of flour, and rub it fine with your hands; add half a pound of powdered sugar, a tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, a grated nutmeg, a table-spoonful of rose water, and a half pint of milk.
Beat three eggs very light, and stir them hard into the mixture.
Then when, the sponge is perfectly light, add it to the other ingredients, mixing them all thoroughly with a knife. Cover it, and set it again by the fire for another hour. When, it is quite light, flour your paste-board, turn out the lump of dough, and cut it into thick diamond shaped cakes with a jagging iron. If you find the dough so soft as to be unmanageable, mix in a little more flour; but not else. Have ready a skillet of boiling lard; put the dough-nuts into it, and fry them brown; and when cool grate loaf-sugar over them. They should be eaten quite fresh, as next day they will be tough and heavy; therefore it is best to make no more than you want for immediate use. The New York Oley Koeks are dough-nuts with currants and raisins in them.
WAFFLES.
Put two pints of rich milk into separate pans. Cut up and melt in one of them a quarter of a pound of b.u.t.ter, warming it slightly; then, when it is melted, stir it about, and set it away to cool.
Beat eight eggs till very light, and mix them gradually into the other pan of milk, alternately with half a pound of flour. Then mix in by degrees the milk that has the b.u.t.ter in it. Lastly, stir in a large table-spoonful of strong fresh yeast. Cover the pan, and set it near the fire to rise. When the batter is quite light, heat your waffle-iron, by putting it among the coals of a clear bright fire; grease the inside with b.u.t.ter tied in a rag, and then put in some batter. Shut the iron closely, and when the waffle is done on one side, turn the iron on the other. Take the cake out by slipping a knife underneath; and then heat and grease the iron for another waffle. Send them to table quite hot, four or six on a plate; having b.u.t.tered them and strewed over each a mixture of powdered cinnamon, and white sugar. Or you may send the sugar and cinnamon in a little gla.s.s bowl.
In buying waffle-irons, do not choose those broad shallow ones that are to hold four at a time; as the waffles baked in them are too small, too thin, and are never of a good shape. The common sort that bake but two at once are much the best.