Woman's Institute Library of Cookery Volume IV Part 32

1/4 c. b.u.t.ter 1/4 c. sugar 2 c. flour 1/4 tsp. salt 3 tsp. baking powder 1-1/4 c. milk 2 egg whites 1 c. berries or stoned cherries

Cream the b.u.t.ter and add the sugar. Sift together the dry ingredients and add these alternately with the milk. Beat the egg whites and fold these in. Place a layer of dough in the bottom of a b.u.t.tered baking dish, put a layer of fruit on top of this, add dough next and then fruit, and have a final layer of dough on top. Cover tight and steam for 1-1/2 or 2 hours or bake without the cover in a moderate oven for about 45 minutes. Serve with a fruit or a hard sauce.

54. COCONUT PUFF.--A light pudding to which shredded coconut is added to give flavor is a satisfactory dessert for a heavy meal. As it is baked in m.u.f.fin pans, it may be served in a dainty manner.

COCONUT PUFF (Sufficient to Serve Eight)

1/2 c. b.u.t.ter 1 c. sugar 2 eggs 2 c. flour 1/2 tsp. soda 2 tsp. baking powder 1 c. sour milk 1/2 c. shredded coconut

Cream the b.u.t.ter and add the sugar. Beat the yolks of the eggs and add them. Sift the dry ingredients with the flour and add alternately with the milk. Fold in the coconut. Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold them in. Bake in b.u.t.tered m.u.f.fin pans in a quick oven for 20 minutes.

Serve with coconut or any desired sauce.

55. COTTAGE PUDDING.--When a simple baked pudding is desired, the housewife almost instinctively turns to cottage pudding. This pudding has been a favorite in the household for years and may be eaten by young or old. It is not very rich, and so should be served with an appetizing sauce.

COTTAGE PUDDING (Sufficient to Serve Eight)

1/4 c. b.u.t.ter 1/2 c. sugar 1 egg, well beaten 1 1/2 c. flour 3 tsp. baking powder 1/2 c. milk 1 tsp. vanilla

Cream the b.u.t.ter, add the sugar, and beat the egg and add it. Sift the flour and baking powder together and add alternately with the milk. Add the vanilla. Bake in a loaf-cake pan and serve hot with lemon, fruit, or chocolate sauce.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 27]

56. CHOCOLATE BREAD PUDDING.--To the majority of persons the flavor of chocolate is always pleasing. In chocolate bread pudding, this flavor is well blended with the ingredients. This pudding, when baked, may be cut into slices, as shown in Fig. 27, and then daintily served with either hard or custard sauce.

CHOCOLATE BREAD PUDDING (Sufficient to Serve Eight)

2 c. stale bread crumbs 4 c. milk 1 sq. unsweetened chocolate 1/2 c. sugar 2 eggs 1/4 tsp. salt 1 tsp. vanilla

Soak the bread crumbs in 3 cupfuls of the milk. Melt the chocolate in a saucepan and add the sugar and the remaining cup of milk. Cook until the mixture is smooth and add this to the bread and milk. Beat the eggs and add them. Add the salt and vanilla. Pour into a b.u.t.tered baking dish and bake for about 45 minutes in a moderate oven. Cut into slices and serve with hard or custard sauce.

57. CHOCOLATE PUDDING.--Baked chocolate pudding provides another way in which to serve a dessert in which chocolate flavor predominates. This pudding, because of its food value and the pleasing way in which it may be served, is sure to answer for any meal in which a pudding dessert is desired.

CHOCOLATE PUDDING (Sufficient to Serve Eight)

1/4 c. b.u.t.ter 3/4 c. sugar 2 eggs 1-1/2 c. milk 1-1/2 c. flour 3 tsp. baking powder 1/4 tsp. soda 1-1/4 sq. unsweetened chocolate 1-1/2 tsp. vanilla

Cream the b.u.t.ter, add the sugar, and beat the yolks of the eggs and add them. Add the milk alternately with the flour, which has been mixed and sifted with the baking powder and soda. Melt the chocolate in a saucepan and add. Beat the whites of the eggs until stiff and fold them into the mixture. Flavor with the vanilla. Bake in a pan that will leave a s.p.a.ce in the center. It will require about 45 minutes to 1 hour for the baking. Remove from the pan, fill the center with whipped cream, and serve with chocolate sauce.

58. BOSTON CREAM PIE.--Boston cream pie is a dessert that can be made up with some of the recipes already given. It is a favorite dessert with many people and is very high in food value.

To make Boston cream pie, first bake two layers, each about 1 inch thick, in round pans, using the plain-cake or cottage-pudding recipe.

Then, between these layers, put a filling about 1/2 inch thick. This filling should preferably be the one used for cream puffs, although any similar filling stiff enough to stand up well may be used instead. Cover the top layer with 1/2 to 1 inch of slightly sweetened and flavored whipped cream. The cake should not be put together until both the layers and the filling have cooled.

EXAMINATION QUESTIONS

(1) In what general way does the thickness of the dough mixture for large cakes differ from that for small cakes other than cup cakes?

(2) (a) In baking small cakes, how does the oven temperature required compare with that required for large cakes? (b) How does the length of time required for baking large and small cakes differ?

(3) If the time for baking small cakes is divided into halves, what should occur in the second half?

(4) Where should the pans for the baking of small cakes be placed in the oven?

(5) Describe an original way of decorating cup cakes.

(6) Describe two cla.s.ses of cookies.

(7) What precaution must be taken with regard to the flour used in the mixing of cakes?

(8) How thick should the dough be rolled for: (a) cookies? (b) ginger snaps?

(9) Describe the baking of cookies.

(10) Describe the frying of doughnuts and crullers.

(11) Describe a method of removing the excess fat from the surface of doughnuts after they are fried.

(12) By what methods may puddings be cooked?

(13) With what kind of meal and during what kind of weather should heavy, rich pudding be served?

(J4) Of what value are pudding sauces?

(15) (a) Describe the method of steaming pudding. (b) How may the surface of steamed puddings be made dry?

PASTRIES AND PIES

REQUIREMENTS FOR PASTRY AND PIE MAKING

NATURE OF PASTRIES AND PIES

1. Pastry is a shortened dough that is made of flour, water, salt, and fat and used in the preparation of desserts. Chief among these deserts are pies. These are made by baking foods between two crusts of pastry or with a single crust, which may be an upper or a lower one. Originally pies were not intended for desserts. Rather, they were used as the main dish of the meal, as they contained a filling of meat or fish and vegetables. Such pies are still made, but they are not usually the ones intended when pastry for pies is mentioned. It should therefore be understood that the pastry considered in this Section is that which is used with sweet fillings and employed particularly in the making of pies and similar foods that are used for desserts.

Some cooks, especially the French ones, regard as pastry such foods as certain small cakes, the paste used for cream puffs and eclairs, and the sweetened breads made with yeast, such as brioche. In reality, such desserts resemble cakes in use more than they do pastry, and for this reason are discussed in connection with them.

2. Pastry desserts may be made in various fancy shapes for individual servings or in pies that will serve five or six persons. Pies having one crust usually contain a filling that consists of a custard mixture, a mixture thickened with corn starch or flour, or occasionally a fruit mixture. Some pies also have a top crust covering the filling, and when this is the case a fruit filling, either fresh or cooked, is the kind that is generally used.

3. Because of the nature of the materials used in the preparation of pastry desserts, the finished product is necessarily high in food value. For instance, starchy material is provided by the flour, fat by the shortening, and sugar in comparatively large amounts by the filling, whether it be fruit of some kind or a material resembling custard. This fact, rather than the taste or the appet.i.te, should aid in determining whether or not pastry desserts should be included in a meal. While the popularity of such desserts causes them to be used somewhat indiscriminately, their use should always be governed by the nature of the rest of the meal. Thus, if the other dishes served provide enough food value, then a dessert lighter than pie should be chosen; but if the rest of the meal is not sufficiently high in this respect, a wholesome pastry dessert will generally prove to be a wise selection.

4. It is true, of course, that every person must determine for himself whether or not pastry desserts are wholesome enough to be eaten by him.

Indigestion is almost sure to result from heavy, soggy, imperfectly baked pastry, because the quant.i.ties of fat it contains may be slow to digest and much of the starchy material may be imperfectly cooked.

Consequently, it is often not the pie itself but the way in which it is made that is responsible for the bad reputation that this very attractive dessert has acquired. If the correct method of making pastry and pies is followed and the ingredients are handled properly in the making, the digestibility of the finished product need give the housewife very little concern. As a rule, a little experience is needed in order that good results in the making of pastry dishes may be attained, but one who becomes efficient in the other phases of cookery should have no difficulty with foods of this kind.