The American Housewife Part 8

150. _Sponge Biscuit._

Stir into a pint of lukewarm milk half a tea-cup of melted b.u.t.ter, a tea-spoonful of salt, half a tea-cup of family, or a table-spoonful of brewers' yeast, (the latter is the best;) add flour till it is a very stiff batter. When light, drop this mixture by the large spoonful on to flat, b.u.t.tered tins, several inches apart. Let them remain a few minutes before baking. Bake them in a quick oven till they are a light brown.

151. _Crackers._

Rub six ounces of b.u.t.ter with two pounds of flour--dissolve a couple of tea-spoonsful of saleratus in a wine gla.s.s of milk, and strain it on to the flour--add a tea-spoonful of salt, and milk enough to enable you to roll it out. Beat it with a rolling-pin for half an hour, pounding it out thin--cut it into cakes with a tumbler--bake them about fifteen minutes, then take them from the oven. When the rest of your things are baked sufficiently, take them out, set in the crackers, and let them remain till baked hard and crispy.

152. _Cream Cakes._

Mix half a pint of thick cream with the same quant.i.ty of milk, four eggs, and flour to render them just stiff enough to drop on b.u.t.tered tins. They should be dropped by the large spoonful several inches apart, and baked in a quick oven.

153. _Crumpets._

Take three tea-cups of raised dough, and work into it, with the hand, half a tea-cup of melted b.u.t.ter, three eggs, and milk to render it a thick batter. Turn it into a b.u.t.tered bake pan--let it remain fifteen minutes, then put on a bake pan, heated so as to scorch flour. It will bake in half an hour.

154. _Rice Cakes._

Mix a pint of rice boiled soft with a pint of milk, a tea-spoonful of salt, and three eggs, beaten to a froth. Stir in rice or wheat flour till of the right consistency to fry. If you like them baked, add two more eggs, and enough more flour to make them stiff enough to roll out, and cut them into cakes.

155. _Rice Ruffs._

To a pint of rice flour put boiling water or milk sufficient to make a thick batter. Beat four eggs, (when it is cool,) and put in, together with a tea-spoonful of salt. Drop this mixture by the large spoonful into hot fat.

156. _Buckwheat Cakes._

Mix a quart of buckwheat flour with a pint of lukewarm milk, (water will do, but is not as good,) and a tea-cup of yeast--set it in a warm place to rise. When light, (which will be in the course of eight or ten hours if family yeast is used, if brewers' yeast is used, they will rise much quicker,) add a tea-spoonful of salt--if sour, the same quant.i.ty of saleratus, dissolved in a little milk, and strained. If they are too thick, thin them with cold milk or water. Fry them in just fat enough to prevent their sticking to the frying pan.

157. _Economy Cakes._

Rusked bread, or that which is old and sour, can be made into nice cakes. The bread should be cut into small pieces, and soaked in cold water till very soft. Then drain off the water, mash the bread fine--to three pints of the bread pulp put a couple of beaten eggs, three or four table-spoonsful of flour, and a little salt--dissolve a tea-spoonful of saleratus to a tea-cup of milk, strain it, then stir it into the bread--add more milk till it is of the right consistency to fry. The batter should be rather thicker than that of buckwheat cakes, and cooked in the same manner. Another way of making them, which is very good, is to mix half a pint of wheat flour with enough cold milk or water to render it a thick batter, and a couple of table-spoonsful of yeast. When light, mix the batter with the bread, (which should be previously soaked soft, and mashed fine,) add salt, and a tea-spoonful of saleratus, dissolved in a little milk. Fry them in just fat enough to prevent their sticking to the frying pan.

158. _Green Corn Cake._

Mix a pint of grated green corn with three table-spoonsful of milk, a tea-cup of flour, half a tea-cup of melted b.u.t.ter, one egg, a tea-spoonful of salt, and half a tea-spoonful of pepper. Drop this mixture into hot b.u.t.ter by the spoonful, let the cakes fry eight or ten minutes. These cakes are nice served up with meat for dinner.

159. _Indian Corn Cake._

Stir into a quart of sour or b.u.t.ter-milk a couple of tea-spoonsful of saleratus, a little salt, and sifted Indian meal to render it a thick batter--a little cream improves the cake--bake it in deep cake pans about an hour. When sour milk cannot be procured, boil sweet milk, and turn it on to the Indian meal--when cool, put in three beaten eggs to a quart of the meal--add salt to the taste.

160. _Indian Slap Jacks._

Scald a quart of Indian meal--when lukewarm, turn, stir in half a pint of flour, half a tea-cup of yeast, and a little salt. When light, fry them in just fat enough to prevent their sticking to the frying pan.

Another method of making them, which is very nice, is to turn boiling milk or water on to the Indian meal, in the proportion of a quart of the former to a pint of the latter--stir in three table-spoonsful of flour, three eggs well beaten, and a couple of tea-spoonsful of salt.

161. _Journey or Johnny Cakes._

Scald a quart of sifted Indian meal with sufficient water to make it a very thick batter. Stir in two or three tea-spoonsful of salt--mould it with the hand into small cakes. In order to mould them up, it will be necessary to rub a good deal of flour on the hands, to prevent their sticking. Fry them in nearly fat enough to cover them. When brown on the under side, they should be turned. It takes about twenty minutes to cook them. When cooked, split and b.u.t.ter them. Another way of making them, which is nice, is to scald the Indian meal, and put in saleratus, dissolved in milk and salt, in the proportion of a tea-spoonful of each to a quart of meal. Add two or three table-spoonsful of wheat flour, and drop the batter by the large spoonful into a frying pan. The batter should be of a very thick consistency, and there should be just fat enough in the frying pan to prevent the cakes sticking to it.

162. _Hoe Cakes._

Scald a quart of Indian meal with just water enough to make a thick batter. Stir in a couple of tea-spoonsful of salt, and two table-spoonful of b.u.t.ter. Turn it into a b.u.t.tered bake pan, and bake it half an hour.

163. _m.u.f.fins._

Mix a quart of wheat flour smoothly with a pint and a half of lukewarm milk, half a tea-cup of yeast, a couple of beaten eggs, a heaping tea-spoonsful of salt, and a couple of table-spoonsful of lukewarm melted b.u.t.ter. Set the batter in a warm place to rise. When light, b.u.t.ter your m.u.f.fin cups, turn in the mixture, and bake the m.u.f.fins till a light brown.

164. _Raised Flour Waffles._

Stir into a quart of flour sufficient lukewarm milk to make a thick batter. The milk should be stirred in gradually, so as to have it free from lumps. Put in a table-spoonful of melted b.u.t.ter, a couple of beaten eggs, a tea-spoonsful of salt, and half a tea-cup of yeast. When risen, fill your waffle-irons with the batter, bake them on a hot bed of coals.

When they have been on the fire between two and three minutes, turn the waffle-irons over--when brown on both sides, they are sufficiently baked. The waffle-irons should be well greased with lard, and very hot, before each one is put in. The waffles should be b.u.t.tered as soon as cooked. Serve them up with powdered white sugar and cinnamon.

165. _Quick Waffles._

Mix flour and cold milk together, to make a thick batter. To a quart of the flour put six beaten eggs, a table-spoonful of melted b.u.t.ter, and a tea-spoonful of salt. Some cooks add a quarter of a pound of sugar, and half a nutmeg. Bake them immediately.

166. _Rice Waffles._

Take a tea-cup and a half of boiled rice--warm it with a pint of milk, mix it smooth, then take it from the fire, stir in a pint of cold milk, and a tea-spoonful of salt. Beat four eggs, and stir them in, together with sufficient flour to make a thick batter.

167. _Rice Wafers._

Melt a quarter of a pound of b.u.t.ter, and mix it with a pound of rice flour, a tea-spoonful of salt, and a wine gla.s.s of wine. Beat four eggs, and stir in, together with just cold milk enough to enable you to roll them out easily. They should be rolled out as thin as possible, cut with a wine gla.s.s into cakes, and baked in a moderate oven, on b.u.t.tered flat tins.

168. _Rules to be observed in making nice Cake._

Cake, to be good, must be made of nice materials. The b.u.t.ter, eggs, and flour, should not be stale, and the sugar should be of a light color, and dry. Brown sugar answers very well for most kinds of cake, if rolled free from lumps, and stirred to a cream with the b.u.t.ter. The flour should be sifted, and if damp, dried perfectly, otherwise it will make the cake heavy. The eggs should be beaten to a froth; and the cake will be more delicate if the yelks and whites are beaten separately.

Saleratus and soda should be perfectly dissolved, and strained before they are stirred into the cake. Raisins for cake should have the seeds taken out. Zante currants should be rinsed in several waters to cleanse them, rubbed in a dry cloth to get out the sticks, and then spread on platters, and dried perfectly, before they are put into the cake.

Almonds should be blanched, which is done by turning boiling water on them, and letting them remain in it till the skins will rub off easily.

When blanched, dry them, then pound them fine, with rosewater, to prevent their oiling. When the weather is cold, the materials for cake should be moderately warmed, before mixing them together. All kinds of cake that are made without yeast are better for being stirred, till just before they are baked. The b.u.t.ter and sugar should be stirred together till white, then the eggs, flour, and spice, added. Saleratus and cream should not be put in till just before the cake is baked--add the fruit last. b.u.t.ter the cake pans well. The cake will be less liable to burn if the pans are lined with white b.u.t.tered paper. The cake should not be moved while baking if it can be avoided, as moving it is apt to make it heavy. The quicker most kinds of cake are baked, the lighter and better they will be; but the oven should not be of such a furious heat as to burn them. It is impossible to give any exact rules as to the time to be allowed for baking various kinds of cake, as so much depends on the heat of the oven. It should be narrowly watched while in the oven, and if it browns too fast, it should be covered with a thick paper. To ascertain when rich cake is sufficiently baked, stick a clean broom splinter through the thickest part of the loaf--if none of the cake adheres to the splinter, it is sufficiently baked. When cake that is baked on flat tins moves easily on them, it is sufficiently baked.