The Skilful Cook Part 50

A little cayenne.

Pepper and salt.

_Method._--Rub the b.u.t.ter lightly into the flour.

Add the grated cheese and seasoning, and mix with the yolk of egg.

If necessary, add another yolk, but no water.

Roll out and cut into fingers about a quarter of an inch wide and two inches long.

Lay them on a greased baking-sheet.

Stamp out with a cutter, the size of an egg-cup, some rounds, and make them into rings by stamping out the middles with a smaller cutter.

Bake the rings and straws a pale fawn colour, and serve them with a bundle of straws placed in each ring.

Gooseberry Turnovers.

_Ingredients_--Some gooseberries.

Sugar.

Short crust.

_Method._--Pick off the heads and tails of the gooseberries.

Roll out the paste and cut into rather large rounds.

Wet the edges and put some gooseberries in the middle of each round, with a teaspoonful of sugar.

Fold the paste over and press the edges together.

Decorate the edges with a fork or spoon.

Put the turnovers on a greased baking-sheet, and bake in a quick oven for fifteen minutes.

Pet.i.t Choux.

_Ingredients_--5 oz. of flour.

2 oz. of b.u.t.ter.

3 oz. of castor sugar.

3 whole eggs.

pint of water.

_Method._--Rub the flour through a sieve.

Put the b.u.t.ter and water on to boil.

When boiling, stir in the flour and sugar.

Beat well over the fire, until the mixture leaves the sides of the saucepan, then remove the saucepan from the fire and beat in three eggs.

Shape like eggs, with two dessertspoons and a knife dipped in hot water.

Lay the pastry on a greased baking-sheet, and bake in a moderate oven for one hour.

To serve, open the cakes at the side and insert a little whipped cream or preserve.

Decorate by brushing them over with white of egg, or a syrup of sugar and water, and sprinkle with chopped _pistachio_ kernels, grated cocoa-nut, or hundreds and thousands.

Apple Turnovers.

Make like gooseberry turnovers, subst.i.tuting minced apple for gooseberries.

Apple Dumplings.

_Ingredients_--1 dozen apples.

1 lb. of short crust.

A little moist sugar.

_Method._--Pare the apples and remove the cores; fill the holes with sugar.

Take pieces of paste large enough to cover the apples. Do not roll them, but draw the paste over the apples.

Wet the edges to make them join.

Place the dumplings on a greased tin and bake for about three-quarters of an hour or one hour. The length of time will depend on the kind of apples used.

PUDDINGS.

A pudding which is to be boiled should be placed in a well-greased basin, or mould, which it should quite fill. A scalded and floured cloth should be tied securely over it. Some puddings, such as suet, plum, &c., may be cooked without the basin, the mixture being firmly tied in a well-scalded and floured cloth, a little room being allowed for the pudding to swell. When cooked in this way, it is well to put a plate in the saucepan to prevent the pudding sticking to the bottom and burning.

To cook a boiled pudding successfully, the water should be kept briskly boiling during the whole of the time it is cooking, and there should be sufficient water in the saucepan to well cover it. A kettle of boiling water should be at hand to fill up the saucepan as required. In steaming puddings, unless a steamer is used, the water should not be allowed to come more than halfway up the pudding-mould, and must only gently simmer, until the pudding is cooked. The mould used need not be covered with a cloth, but a piece of greased paper should be placed over it to prevent the condensed steam dropping on the pudding. Some puddings require to be steamed very carefully, such as contain custard, for example. A custard pudding will be honeycombed (i.e. full of holes), if the water is allowed to boil; the heat of boiling will curdle the eggs.

Most baked puddings require a moderate oven, particularly such as rice, tapioca, &c.

In preparing suet for puddings, remove the skin, slice the suet, and then chop it finely, using a little flour to prevent it sticking to the knife. Currants must be well washed and dried. Sultanas should be rubbed in flour, and the stalks picked off.

Beef-steak Pudding.

_Ingredients_--1 lb. of flour.

or lb. of suet.