One cupful of sweet almonds, blanched and chopped fine, half a box of gelatine soaked two hours in half a cupful of cold water; when the gelatine is sufficiently soaked, put three tablespoonfuls of sugar into a saucepan over the fire and stir until it becomes liquid and looks dark; then add the chopped almonds to it and stir two minutes more; turn it out on a platter and set aside to get cool. After they become cool enough break them up in a mortar, put them in a cup and a half of milk, and cook again for ten minutes. Now beat together the yolks of two eggs with a cupful of sugar, and add to the cooking mixture; add also the gelatine; stir until smooth and well dissolved; take from the fire and set in a basin of ice-water and beat it until it begins to thicken; then add to that two quarts of whipped cream, and turn the whole carefully into molds, set away on the ice to become firm. Sponge cake can be placed around the mold or not, as desired.
CHARLOTTE RUSSE, WITH PINEAPPLE.
Peel and cut a pineapple in slices, put the slices into a stewpan with half a pound of fine white sugar, half an ounce of isingla.s.s, or of patent gelatine (which is better), and half a teacupful of water; stew it until it is quite tender, then rub it through a sieve, place it upon ice, and stir it well; when it is upon the point of setting, add a pint of cream well whipped, mix it well and pour it into a mold lined with sponge cake, or prepared in any other way you prefer.
COUNTRY PLUM CHARLOTTE.
Stone a quart of ripe plums; first stew and then sweeten them. Cut slices of bread and b.u.t.ter and lay them in the bottom and around the sides of a large bowl or deep dish. Pour in the plums boiling hot, cover the bowl and set it away to cool gradually. When quite cool, send it to the table and eat it with cream.
VELVET CREAM, WITH STRAWBERRIES.
Dissolve half an ounce of gelatine in a gill of water; add to it half a pint of light sherry, grated lemon peel and the juice of one lemon and five ounces of sugar. Stir over the fire until the sugar is thoroughly dissolved. Then strain and cool. Before it sets beat into it a pint of cream; pour into molds and keep on ice until wanted. Half fill the small molds with fine strawberries, pour the mixture on top, and place on ice until wanted.
CORNSTARCH MERINGUE.
Heat a quart of milk until it boils, add four heaping teaspoonfuls of cornstarch which has previously been dissolved in a little cold milk.
Stir constantly while boiling for fifteen minutes. Remove from the fire, and gradually add while hot the yolks of five eggs, beaten together with three-fourths of a cupful of sugar, and flavored with lemon, vanilla or bitter almond. Bake this mixture for fifteen minutes in a well-b.u.t.tered pudding-dish or until it begins to "set."
Make a meringue of the whites of five eggs, whipped stiff with a half cupful of jelly, and spread evenly over the custard, without removing the same farther than the edge of the oven.
Use currant jelly if vanilla is used in the custard, crab apple for bitter almond and strawberry for lemon. Cover and bake for five minutes, after which take off the lid and brown the meringue a very little. Sift powdered sugar thickly over the top. To be eaten cold.
WASHINGTON PIE.
This recipe is the same as "Boston Cream Pie" (adding half an ounce of b.u.t.ter), which may be found under the head of PASTRY, PIES AND TARTS.
In summer time, it is a good plan to bake the pie the day before wanted; then when cool, wrap around it a paper and place it in the ice box so to have it get _very cold_; then serve it with a dish of fresh strawberries or raspberries. A delicious dessert.
CREAM PIE.
Make two cakes as for Washington pie, then take one cup of sweet cream and three tablespoonfuls of white sugar. Beat with egg-beater or fork till it is stiff enough to put on without running off and flavor with vanilla. If you beat it after it is stiff it will come to b.u.t.ter. Put between the cakes and on top.
DESSERT PUFFS.
Puffs for dessert are delicate and nice; take one pint of milk and cream each, the whites of four eggs beaten to a stiff froth, one heaping cupful of sifted flour, one scant cupful of powdered sugar, add a little grated lemon peel and a little salt; beat these all together till very light, bake in gem-pans, sift pulverized sugar over them and eat with sauce flavored with lemon.
PEACH CAKE FOR DESSERT.
Bake three sheets of sponge cake, as for jelly cake; cut nice ripe peaches in thin slices, or chop them; prepare cream by whipping, sweetening and adding flavor of vanilla, if desired; put layers of peaches between the sheets of cake; pour cream over each layer and over the top. To be eaten soon after it is prepared.
FRUIT SHORT-CAKES.
For the recipes of strawberry, peach and other fruit short-cakes, look under the head of BISCUITS, ROLLS AND m.u.f.fINS. They all make a very delicious dessert when served with a pitcher of fresh sweet cream, when obtainable.
SALTED OR ROASTED ALMONDS.
Blanch half a pound of almonds. Put with them a tablespoonful of melted b.u.t.ter and one of salt. Stir them till well mixed, then spread them over a baking-pan and bake fifteen minutes, or till crisp, stirring often. They must be bright yellow-brown when done. They are a fashionable appetizer and should be placed in ornamental dishes at the beginning of dinner, and are used by some in place of olives, which, however, should also be on the table, or some fine pickles may take their place.
ROAST CHESTNUTS.
Peel the raw chestnuts and scald them to remove the inner skin; put them in a frying pan with a little b.u.t.ter and toss them about a few moments; add a sprinkle of salt and a suspicion of cayenne. Serve them after the cheese.
Peanuts may be blanched and roasted the same.
AFTER-DINNER CROUTONS.
These crispy _croutons_ answer as a subst.i.tute for hard-water crackers and are also relished by most people.
Cut sandwich bread into slices one-quarter of an inch thick; cut each slice into four small triangles; dry them in the oven slowly until they a.s.sume a delicate brownish tint, then serve either hot or cold. A nice way to serve them is to spread a paste of part b.u.t.ter and part rich creamy cheese, to which may be added a very little minced parsley.
ORANGE FLOAT.
To make orange float, take one quart of water, the juice and pulp of two lemons, one coffeecupful of sugar. When boiling hot, add four tablespoonfuls of cornstarch. Let it boil fifteen minutes, stirring all the time. When cold, pour it over four or five oranges that have been sliced into a gla.s.s dish and over the top spread the beaten whites of three eggs, sweetened and flavored with vanilla. A nice dessert.
LEMON TOAST.
This dessert can be made very conveniently without much preparation.
Take the yolks of six eggs, beat them well and add three cupfuls of sweet milk; take baker"s bread, not too stale, and cut into slices; dip them into the milk and eggs and lay the slices into a spider, with sufficient melted b.u.t.ter, hot, to fry a delicate brown. Take the whites of the six eggs and beat them to a froth, adding a large cupful of white sugar; add the juice of two lemons, heating well and adding two cupfuls of boiling water. Serve over the toast as a sauce and you will find it a very delicious dish.
SWEET OMELET. No. 1.
One tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter, two of sugar, one cupful of milk, four eggs. Let the milk come to a boil. Beat the flour and b.u.t.ter together; add to them gradually the boiling milk and cook eight minutes; stirring often; beat the sugar and the yolks of the eggs together; add to the cooked mixture and set away to cool. When cool, beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth and add to the mixture. Bake in a b.u.t.tered pudding-dish for twenty minutes in a moderate oven. Serve _immediately_ with creamy sauce.
SWEET OMELET. No. 2.
Four eggs, two tablespoonfuls of sugar, a pinch of salt, half a teaspoonful of vanilla extract, one cupful of whipped cream. Beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth and gradually beat the flavoring and sugar into them. When well beaten add the yolks and, lastly, the whipped cream. Have a dish holding about one quart slightly b.u.t.tered.
Pour the mixture into this and bake just twelve minutes. Serve the moment it is taken from the oven.
SALAD OF MIXED FRUITS.
Put in the centre of a dish a pineapple properly pared, cored and sliced, yet retaining as near as practicable its original shape. Peel, quarter and remove the seeds from four sweet oranges; arrange them in a border around the pineapple. Select four fine bananas, peel and cut into slices lengthwise; arrange these zigzag-fence fashion around the border of the dish. In the V-shaped s.p.a.ces around the dish put tiny mounds of grapes of mixed colors. When complete, the dish should look very appetizing. To half a pint of clear sugar syrup add half an ounce of good brandy, pour over the fruit and serve.