The Book of Household Management Part 208

NICE BREAKFAST CAKES.

1739. INGREDIENTS.--1 lb. of flour, 1/2 teaspoonful of tartaric acid, 1/2 teaspoonful of salt, 1/2 teaspoonful of carbonate of soda, 1-1/2 breakfast-cupful of milk, 1 oz. of sifted loaf sugar, 2 eggs.

_Mode_.--These cakes are made in the same manner as the soda bread No.

1722, with the addition of eggs and sugar. Mix the flour, tartaric acid, and salt well together, taking care that the two latter ingredients are reduced to the finest powder, and stir in the sifted sugar, which should also be very fine. Dissolve the soda in the milk, add the eggs, which should be well whisked, and with this liquid work the flour, &c. into a light dough. Divide it into small cakes, put them into the oven immediately, and bake for about 20 minutes.

_Time_.--20 minutes.

COCOA-NUT BISCUITS OR CAKES.

1740. INGREDIENTS.--10 oz. of sifted sugar, 3 eggs, 6 oz. of grated cocoa-nut.

_Mode_.--Whisk the eggs until they are very light; add the sugar gradually; then stir in the cocoa-nut. Roll a tablespoonful of the paste at a time in your hands in the form of a pyramid; place the pyramids on paper, put the paper on tins, and bake the biscuits in rather a cool oven until they are just coloured a light brown.

_Time_.--About 1/4 hour. _Seasonable_ at any time.

CRISP BISCUITS.

1741. INGREDIENTS.--1 lb. of flour, the yolk of 1 egg, milk.

_Mode_.--Mix the flour and the yolk of the egg with sufficient milk to make the whole into a very stiff paste; beat it well, and knead it until it is perfectly smooth. Roll the paste out very thin; with a round cutter shape it into small biscuits, and bake them a nice brown in a slow oven from 12 to 18 minutes.

_Time_.--12 to 18 minutes. _Average cost_, 4d.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

DESSERT BISCUITS, which may be flavoured with Ground Ginger, Cinnamon, &c. &c.

1742. INGREDIENTS.--1 lb. of flour, 1/2 lb. of b.u.t.ter, 1/2 lb. of sifted sugar, the yolks of 6 eggs, flavouring to taste.

_Mode_.--Put the b.u.t.ter into a basin; warm it, but do not allow it to oil; then with the hand beat it to a cream. Add the flour by degrees, then the sugar and flavouring, and moisten the whole with the yolks of the eggs, which should previously be well beaten. When all the ingredients are thoroughly incorporated, drop the mixture from a spoon on to a b.u.t.tered paper, leaving a distance between each cake, as they spread as soon as they begin to get warm. Bake in rather a slow oven from 12 to 18 minutes, and do not let the biscuits acquire too much colour. In making the above quant.i.ty, half may be flavoured with ground ginger and the other half with essence of lemon or currants, to make a variety. With whatever the preparation is flavoured, so are the biscuits called; and an endless variety may be made in this manner.

_Time_.--12 to 18 minutes, or rather longer, in a very slow oven.

_Average cost_, 1s. 6d.

_Sufficient_ to make from 3 to 4 dozen cakes.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

LEMON BISCUITS.

1743--INGREDIENTS.--1-1/4 lb. of flour, 3/4 lb. of loaf sugar, 6 oz. of fresh b.u.t.ter, 4 eggs, 1 oz. of lemon-peel, 2 dessertspoonfuls of lemon-juice.

_Mode_.--Rub the flour into the b.u.t.ter; stir in the pounded sugar and very finely-minced lemon-peel, and when these ingredients are thoroughly mixed, add the eggs, which should be previously well whisked, and the lemon-juice. Beat the mixture well for a minute or two, then drop it from a spoon on to a b.u.t.tered tin, about 2 inches apart, as the cakes will spread when they get warm; place the tin in the oven, and bake the cakes of a pale brown from 15 to 20 minutes.

_Time_.--15 to 20 minutes. _Average cost_, 1s. 6d.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

MACAROONS.

1744. INGREDIENTS.--1/2 lb. of sweet almonds, 1/2 lb. of sifted loaf sugar, the whites of 3 eggs, wafer-paper.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MACAROONS.]

_Mode_.--Blanch, skin, and dry the almonds, and pound them well with a little orange-flower water or plain water; then add to them the sifted sugar and the whites of the eggs, which should be beaten to a stiff froth, and mix all the ingredients well together. When the paste looks soft, drop it at equal distances from a biscuit-syringe on to sheets of wafer-paper; put a strip of almond on the top of each; strew some sugar over, and bake the macaroons in rather a slow oven, of a light brown colour when hard and set, they are done, and must not be allowed to get very brown, as that would spoil their appearance. If the cakes, when baked, appear heavy, add a little more white of egg, but let this always be well whisked before it is added to the other ingredients. We have given a recipe for making these cakes, but we think it almost or quite as economical to purchase such articles as these at a good confectioner's.

_Time_.--From 15 to 20 minutes, in a slow oven.

_Average cost_, 1s. 8d. per lb.

RATAFIAS.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RATAFIAS.]

1745. INGREDIENTS.--1/2 lb. of sweet almonds, 1/4 lb. of bitter ones, 3/4 lb. of sifted loaf sugar, the whites of 4 eggs.

_Mode_.--Blanch, skin, and dry the almonds, and pound them in a mortar with the white of an egg; stir in the sugar, and gradually add the remaining whites of eggs, taking care that they are very thoroughly whisked. Drop the mixture through a small biscuit-syringe on to cartridge paper, and bake the cakes from 10 to 12 minutes in rather a quicker oven than for macaroons. A very small quant.i.ty should be dropped on the paper to form one cake, as, when baked, the ratafias should be about the size of a large b.u.t.ton.

_Time_.--10 to 12 minutes. _Average cost_, 1s. 8d. per lb.

RICE BISCUITS OR CAKES.

1746. INGREDIENTS.--To every 1/2 lb. of rice-flour allow 1/4 lb. of pounded lump sugar, 1/4 lb. of b.u.t.ter, 2 eggs.

_Mode_.--Beat the b.u.t.ter to a cream, stir in the rice-flour and pounded sugar, and moisten the whole with the eggs, which should be previously well beaten. Roll out the paste, shape it with a round paste-cutter into small cakes, and bake them from 12 to 18 minutes in a very slow oven.

_Time_.--12 to 18 minutes. _Average cost_, 9d.

_Sufficient_ to make about 18 cakes. _Seasonable_ at any time.

GROUND RICE, or rice-flour, is used for making several kinds of cakes, also for thickening soups, and for mixing with wheaten flour in producing Manna Kroup. The Americans make rice-bread, and prepare the flour for it in the following manner:--When the rice is thoroughly cleansed, the water is drawn off, and the rice, while damp, bruised in a mortar: it is then dried, and pa.s.sed through a hair sieve.

ROCK BISCUITS.

1747. INGREDIENTS.--6 eggs, 1 lb. of sifted sugar, 1/2 lb. of flour, a few currants.

_Mode_.--Break the eggs into a basin, beat them well until very light, add the pounded sugar, and when this is well mixed with the eggs, dredge in the flour gradually, and add the currants. Mix all well together, and put the dough, with a fork, on the tins, making it look as rough as possible. Bake the cakes in a moderate oven from 20 minutes to 1/2 hour; when they are done, allow them to get cool, and store them away in a tin canister, in a dry place.

_Time_.--20 minutes to 1/2 hour. _Average cost_, 1s. 2d.