# Everyday Luncheons/Easy Desserts for Luncheon

EASY DESSERTS FOR LUNCHEON
Make apple sauce and rub it through a coarse sieve. Sweeten to taste and flavor with a little cinnamon or nutmeg; then add a little cream if the sauce is too stiff. To a pint of apple sauce use the whites of three eggs, beaten to a stiff froth. Add the apple sauce to the eggs by spoonfuls, folding rather than stirring, and slip into a hot oven. When well puffed and brown, sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with cream.
Use five eggs, well beaten, to a quart of milk. Stir in a pint of apple sauce, sweeten and flavor to taste, and bake carefully. Set the custard into a pan of water in the oven to prevent burning.
Peel and core eight medium-sized apples. Arrange in a baking-dish, and fill the cores with ​sugar. Make a batter of three cupfuls of milk, three ounces of flour and four eggs, well beaten. Pour over the apples and bake until the fruit is done. Serve with any preferred pudding sauce.
Make a paste of four tablespoonfuls of corn starch, wet with a little cold water. Stir it into a quart of milk, with four tablespoonfuls of sugar, and boil until thick. Flavor with a drop or two of bitter almond, and stir in one cupful of blanched and shredded almonds. Mould, chill, and serve with cream.
One cupful of sugar, one cupful of flour, one teaspoonful of baking-powder, three eggs well beaten, and cold water enough to make a batter, probably about one fourth of a cupful. Mix, and stir in three bananas, peeled and sliced thin. Half fill buttered custard cups, steam one hour, and serve with lemon sauce.
In a quart pudding-dish arrange alternate layers of sliced apples and bread-crumbs. Season each layer with butter, sugar, nutmeg, ​clove and cinnamon. When the dish is full, pour over it half a cupful each of molasses and water well mixed. Cover with crumbs. Set the dish into a pan of hot water and bake until the apples are soft, adding more molasses and water if needed. A few raisins or nuts may be added to this pudding. Serve with cream.
One cupful of rice, one cupful of sugar, one teaspoonful of salt, six cupfuls of milk and a cupful of stoned raisins. Put the rice into a baking-dish, add the other ingredients, flavor with cinnamon or nutmeg and bake in a very slow oven for three or four hours. Stir two or three times during the first hour, and if the top browns too quickly, cover with buttered paper. If the pudding seems dry, add another cupful of milk. Half of this recipe is sufficient for a small family.
Use the large, hard pears which are sold for cooking. Core, but do not peel. Fill the cores with brown sugar, and bake in a pan containing a little water. Baste occasionally and cook until tender. Serve hot or cold with cream or boiled custard.
One quart of milk, one pint of bread-crumbs, two eggs well beaten, a pinch of salt, and one tablespoonful of butter. Bake about twenty minutes. Nuts or raisins are agreeable additions to this pudding. After it is baked, jam or jelly may be spread over the top and then a meringue made of the whites of two eggs beaten stiff with a little powdered sugar. Bake until the meringue is brown.
Six eggs, half a cupful of sugar, and one quart of new milk. Beat the eggs with the sugar and add a teaspoonful of vanilla. Mix carefully with the milk, fill the custard cups, and set into a pan of hot water in a slow oven. Anything which has eggs and milk in combination must be cooked at a low temperature. When the handle of a spoon or the blade of a knife comes out clean from the custard, it is done. Set aside to cool. A little nutmeg is often grated over the top of these cup custards, just as they come from the oven. They are served in the cups in which they are baked.
Use the fresh cocoanut if possible. If not, soak a package of dessicated cocoanut for ten ​minutes in boiling water, then drain and dry. Add one cupful of cream to the cocoanut and sweeten to taste. Stir in gradually a cupful of rich milk. Add gradually the whites of four eggs beaten to a stiff froth, flavor with nutmeg and cinnamon, and bake according to directions given above. Serve cold with a sprinkle of granulated sugar in each cup.
Cut a sponge cake into three layers, spread with jam, put together again, cover with whipped cream, sweetened and flavored, and sprinkle with chopped nuts. Serve on a platter.
One cupful of stale bread-crumbs and enough milk to make a smooth paste when boiled. Add a heaping tablespoonful of butter, a heaping tablespoonful of cocoa, sugar to taste, and a few drops of vanilla. Take from the fire and add three eggs beaten separately, first the yolks, then the whites beaten to a stiff froth. Put into a buttered pudding-dish and bake carefully. Serve with cream, either whipped or plain.
One pint of milk, two eggs, a pinch of salt, two tablespoonfuls of sugar, two tablespoonfuls ​of corn starch, a square of chocolate, and half a teaspoonful of vanilla. Heat the milk in a double boiler and melt the chocolate. Make a paste of the starch with a little cold water and beat the eggs with the sugar. When the milk is hot, stir in the other ingredients carefully and add the melted chocolate last. Pour into moulds and cool. Serve with whipped cream.
Two cupfuls each of coffee and milk. Add four tablespoonfuls of corn starch, wet to a paste with cold water, and four tablespoonfuls of sugar. Cook until it thickens, then pour into a wet mould and chill. Serve with cream, either whipped or plain.
Use any good pancake batter, except buckwheat, and bake in small, round, thin pancakes. Spread with jelly or jam, roll up, sprinkle with powdered sugar, and serve hot.
One cupful of milk and one cupful of canned fruit juice. Add two tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar and bring to a boil. Remove from the fire and stir in quickly the well-beaten yolks of ​four eggs. Butter a pudding-dish and put into it a large cupful of canned fruit. Beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth, stir into the custard, pour over the fruit and bake half an hour.
Soak half a package of gelatine in a little cold water, dissolve over steam, and add to one cupful of fruit pulp which has been mashed through a sieve and heavily sweetened. Stir until cool. When the fruit mixture begins to thicken stir in lightly the whites of six eggs which have been beaten to a stiff froth. Pour into a chilled mould and cool. Grated pineapple, banana, and peach sponges are very satisfactory.
Whip the whites of six eggs to a stiff froth. Soak half a package of gelatine in a little cold water, and dissolve over steam. Add to the gelatine the grated rind and juice of half a lemon and enough sugar to make very sweet. Stir until cool, but not stiff, then fold lightly into the egg mixture and when it begins to congeal, pour into a wet mould and chill. Orange, cherry, raspberry, and currant sponges are made in the same way, mixing the fruit juice with the gelatine. These puddings may be served ​with boiled custard or whipped cream for a sauce.
Drain the juice from canned fruit and allow two tablespoonfuls of corn starch to each pint of fruit juice. Cold water may be added to the juice to make up the requisite quantity. Add cold water to the starch until a smooth paste is formed, stir it into the hot juice, cook until thick, add the drained fruit, mould, and chill.
Three heaping tablespoonfuls of farina boiled in milk, with a bit of stick cinnamon and a pinch of salt. When cold, add the yolks of four eggs, well beaten, with sugar sufficient to sweeten, and lastly the whites of the eggs beaten to a stiff froth. Steam in a mould for an hour or more and serve with vanilla sauce.
Put one tablespoonful of butter into a saucepan and when it froths add two tablespoonfuls of flour. Cook until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan, then add two cupfuls of cold water. Stir constantly until the sauce is thick, then sweeten and flavor to taste.
Two eggs, one tablespoonful of melted butter, one cupful of flour, half a cupful of cold water, a pinch of salt and a teaspoonful of sugar. A little more melted butter may be needed. The batter should be just barely stiff enough to hold shape. Slices of apples, peaches, apricots, oranges, pineapples, or bananas are dipped into this batter and fried immediately in deep fat. Drain on brown paper and serve with a sweet sauce flavored with lemon or with fruit juice. Canned fruit may be used in fritters. Bananas for fritters are sprinkled with lemon-juice, cut into quarters lengthwise, and dipped into the batter. Banana fritters are delicious with a sauce flavored with grated lemon-peel and made tart with the juice of the lemon.
Two cupfuls of Graham flour, one cupful of raisins or currants, one cupful of sweet milk, one cupful of molasses, one egg well beaten, one teaspoonful of salt, and one teaspoonful of soda. Mix carefully, pour into a pudding mould and steam three hours. For the sauce, use a tablespoonful each of butter and corn starch and sufficient boiling water to make it of the proper consistency. Add half a cupful of sugar and the juice of half a lemon. Boil up once and serve.
One cupful of Indian meal, one cupful of molasses, two quarts of milk, two teaspoonfuls of salt, three tablespoonfuls of butter, one quart of pared, cored, and quartered apples, half a teaspoonful of ginger, and half a teaspoonful of grated nutmeg. Put the milk on in a double boiler. When it boils, sprinkle the meal into it gradually, stirring all the time. Cook half an hour or more, stirring often. Add the molasses, butter, seasoning, and apple. Butter a pudding-dish and pour the mixture into it. Bake slowly for three hours. This is an old New England recipe.
Melt two ounces of butter and add it to two well-beaten eggs, then stir in a cupful of any preferred jam or marmalade. Butter a pudding mould and put in a layer of bread-crumbs, then a layer of the jam mixture, and so on until the dish is full, having crumbs on top. Bake or steam, as is most convenient, and serve either hot or cold with cream.
Three fourths of a cupful of butter beaten to a cream, a cupful and a half of flour, three eggs beaten separately, one cupful of sugar, half a ​cupful of sour cream, a pinch of soda, and one cupful of any preferred jam. Bake until done and serve with sauce.
Get an oblong loaf of angel food from the baker's and scrape off the frosting. Cut the cake into half-inch slices and arrange on a platter. Sprinkle with candied fruit and chopped nuts, and cover with whipped cream.
Six eggs, three cupfuls of milk, a pinch of salt, and half a cupful of heavy maple syrup. Mix and bake according to directions given for cup custards.
Half a package of gelatine, half a cupful of cold water, the juice of a lemon, one cupful of boiling water, and two cupfuls of orange-juice. Soak the gelatine in cold water, add the boiling water and half a cupful or more of sugar. When cool, add the lemon- and orange-juice, strain through cheese-cloth into moulds and chill. A fine orange flavor may be secured by grating the orange rind into the juice, letting it stand for an hour or two, and straining ​through cheese-cloth before putting into the jelly. Or, use loaf sugar, and rub the lumps upon the orange rind to extract the zest.
Beat the yolks of five eggs with the whites of two, then add four ounces of sugar. Stir into a quart of milk which is just at the boiling point, and add the grated rind of an orange. Pour into a buttered pudding-dish, set the pan into another of boiling water and bake until a knife comes out clean. Make a meringue of the whites of the eggs beaten to a stiff froth with a little powdered sugar, flavored with orange-juice, sprinkle with powdered sugar and a little of the grated rind, and brown quickly in the oven. Serve either hot or cold.
Use one pound of California figs. Soak in cold water until soft, then stew slowly until tender. Add sugar enough to make a rich, heavy syrup, and flavor with a few drops of vanilla. Cool and turn into a glass dish. Just before serving, cover the figs with whipped cream which has been sweetened and flavored with vanilla. Serve small plain cakes or wafers with it.
Three scant cupfuls of scalded milk, one fourth of a cupful of cold milk, one third of a cupful of corn starch, one fourth of a cupful of sugar, a few grains of salt, the whites of three eggs, and half a can of grated pineapple. If the pineaple is very sweet, a sprinkle of lemon-juice will improve it. Mix the corn starch, sugar, and salt, add to the cold milk, stir into the hot milk, and cook about fifteen minutes. Add the pineapple and the whites of the eggs beaten to a stiff froth, mould, chill, and serve with cream.
Peel large, ripe peaches, remove the stones, and in each cavity put a marshmallow. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, and cover with whipped cream.
Make a strong, clear, lemon jelly, according to directions given for orange jelly. It will take much less lemon-juice. Soak the prunes over night and stew gently until tender, using very little sugar, if any. Pour the lemon jelly into small cups, and as it begins to stiffen drop a prune or two into each cup, together with a few blanched and shredded almonds. If the ​work is carefully done, the prunes and almonds will be moulded in the jelly. Chill and turn out of the cups at serving-tirae.
Soak eighteen prunes over night and stew until tender. Remove the stones and rub the prunes through a sieve until the pulp is smooth. Beat the whites of eight eggs to a stiff froth with seven tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar, fold the prune pulp carefully in, turn into a buttered pudding-dish, and bake twenty minutes. Serve immediately, or it will fall.
Make a biscuit dough according to directions given in a previous chapter for baking-powder biscuits. Roll it into a long oblong sheet, spread with fruit, either fresh or canned,—apples, pears, peaches, pineapple, strawberries, raspberries, plums, gooseberries, huckleberries, or cherries,—roll up, tie in a cloth, tying closely at the ends, and steam until done. Serve in slices with lemon sauce, or with sauce flavored with the juices of the fruit used.
Boil rice until tender, or use cold, boiled rice. Spread it, an inch thick, over small squares of ​coarse muslin wet in cold water. In the centre place an apricot, or a canned peach, a few canned cherries, drained of their juice, a canned pear, plum, or any suitable fruit. Tie the cloth carefully, covering the fruit with the rice. Steam ten minutes, then remove the cloths and serve with a syrup flavored with the juice of the canned fruit used.
Mould boiled rice in a border mould, turn out on a stone platter, dot with butter, sprinkle with sugar, and put in the oven until brown. Fill the centre with canned peaches, or apricots, or pears, drained of their juice, pile whipped cream over the top, sprinkle with chopped nuts, and serve.
Scald a quart of milk, and add to it half a package of gelatine which has been soaked and dissolved by gentle heat. Beat the yolks of three eggs very light with a cupful of sugar, and stir carefully into the hot milk. Cook very slowly until the mixture coats the spoon, remove from the fire, flavor with lemon or vanilla, strain into a mould which has been wet in cold water, and set aside to harden.
Cook half a cupful of sago in two cupfuls of milk until clear, add a pinch of salt and three tablespoonfuls of sugar. Beat the whites of three eggs, add to the mixture, and cook for two minutes. Flavor with lemon when a little cool, and fold in lightly one cupful of whipped cream. Pour into a mould and set on ice. Serve with a sauce of fresh fruit, crushed and sweetened.
One third of a package of gelatine, one fourth of a cupful of cold water, the whites of three eggs, one cupful of boiling water, one cupful of sugar, and one fourth of a cupful of lemon-juice. Soak the gelatine in the cold water, dissolve in the boiling water, add the lemon-juice, strain, and set aside in a cool place. When cool, but not stiff, beat in the stiffly-beaten whites of the eggs, and pour into a shallow oblong mould to chill. The whites of the eggs will rise to the top. When cold, cut into squares and serve with a boiled custard sauce.
One cupful of brown sugar, one cupful of cider, one fourth of a cupful of good vinegar, two bay leaves, twenty whole cloves, six whole ​allspice, two inches of stick cinnamon, and a blade of mace. Put into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Pare and core eight tart apples, quarter, add to the syrup, and simmer gently until tender. Skim out the fruit, boil down the syrup until as thick as honey, pour over the fruit, and serve very cold with cake.
Line small patty-pans with good paste and bake until brown. Fill with any kind of canned fruit, drained of its juice, or jam. Cover with a meringue and brown in the oven, or, at serving-time, put a spoonful of whipped cream on each one.
Use the pearl tapioca and soak over night, or the minute tapioca which requires no soaking. Cook slowly in plenty of water until transparent, and have the tapioca just thick enough to pour easily. Butter a baking-dish, put in a layer of the tapioca, and then a layer of any kind of fruit, either fresh or canned, apples, peaches, pears, pineapple, apricots, plums, preserved quinces or gooseberries. Use sugar with discretion if the canned fruit is to serve for the pudding, and quite liberally if fresh fruit is used. Have sugar on top, dot with butter, ​and bake until the fruit is done and the top brown. Serve cold, with or without cream or sauce. Apple tapioca is particularly good, flavored with nutmeg or cinnamon.
Soak three heaping tablespoonfuls of flake tapioca in a cupful of cold water over night. Bring a quart of milk to the boil, add a pinch of salt and the tapioca, and stir until it thickens. Add a cupful of sugar and the well-beaten yolks of three eggs. Take from the fire and let cool a few moments, then stir in the whites of the eggs, beaten to a stiff froth, and any preferred flavoring. Chill and serve with cake.
Prepare according to directions given for orange jelly, using wine instead of orange-juice. The lemon-juice brings out the flavor of the wine.
Cook a cupful of blanched rice with a teaspoonful of salt in three cupfuls of milk until tender and dry, add three egg yolks well beaten, one fourth of a cupful each of butter, sugar, whipped cream, and candied orange-peel shredded fine. When cool, shape into ​croquettes, dip in egg and crumbs, and fry in deep fat. Serve with fresh raspberries and powdered sugar, or with the juice of canned raspberries.
Beat two eggs very light, add half a teaspoonful of salt, and work in enough flour to roll. Roll as thin as paper and cut with a large biscuit cutter, dropping the scraps into cold water to keep soft. The scraps may be rolled again by working in a little flour. Drop the vanities into deep, boiling fat, let brown very lightly, skim out, drain on brown paper, and sprinkle with powdered sugar and cinnamon.
Boil together until thick one cupful of water, half a cupful of butter, and one cupful of flour. When cool, stir in, one at a time, three unbeaten eggs. Bake in gem pans in a steady oven. When cool, slit them at the side and fill with boiled custard or whipped cream. They may be frosted with chocolate frosting if desired.
One cupful of butter, one and one half cupfuls of sugar, two eggs, three tablespoonfuls of ​milk, one teaspoonful of baking-powder, and flour enough to roll into a soft dough. Cut in rounds and bake in a quick oven.
One cupful of butter, two cupfuls of sugar, two eggs well beaten, one cupful of grated cocoanut, one teaspoonful of vanilla, two teaspoonfuls of baking-powder, and enough sifted flour to roll out. Bake a pale brown.
Two tablespoonfuls of butter, one cupful of sugar, half a cupful of water, one and one half cupfuls of flour, a pinch of salt, one teaspoonful of baking-powder, two eggs, four tablespoonfuls of grated chocolate melted over hot water, and one teaspoonful of vanilla. Cream the butter, add the sugar, the beaten eggs, the chocolate, and lastly the flour, into which has been sifted the salt and baking-powder. Alternate the flour with the water. Bake in patty-pans in a moderate oven.
Soak one cupful of sago in cold water for four hours, then boil two cupfuls of gooseberries or ​red currants in two cupfuls of water, sweetened to taste. When the fruit is soft, rub through a fine sieve and return to the saucepan with the sago. Stir over the fire until the sago is clear, then pour into a mould. When set, turn it out carefully, and serve with whipped or plain cream.
Cover a cupful of freshly grated bread-crumbs with two cupfuls of hot milk, add a heaping tablespoonful of butter, stir until melted, and set aside to cool. Beat the yolks of two eggs with half a cupful of sugar and a tablespoonful of lemon-juice. Add a little of the grated lemon rind, half a teaspoonful of vanilla, one half cupful of grated cocoanut, and the bread mixture. Bake in a buttered pudding-dish in a moderate oven until the pudding is of the consistency of custard. Spread with jelly or jam and add a meringue if desired.
Season cold, boiled rice with melted butter, the grated rind of lemon, and sugar. Make into a paste with the well-beaten yolks of eggs. Cook until the rice is thick, then pack into a buttered border mould and keep warm for ten ​minutes. Turn out carefully upon a plate and fill the centre with sliced bananas. Pour over the pudding a sugar syrup flavored with lemon, orange, or any preferred fruit juice.
Put half a cupful of well-washed rice into a double boiler with three pints of milk and let it cook until very soft, then set aside to cool. Beat together five eggs, leaving out the whites of two, one cupful of sugar, and one grated cocoanut. Stir in the cold rice mixture and bake in the oven to a soft custard. Make a meringue of the whites of the eggs and six tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar. Pile on top of the pudding and set back into the oven until brown.
Scald two cupfuls of milk in the double boiler, mix together three tablespoonfuls of corn starch with a little cold milk, stir into the hot milk and cook fifteen minutes. Add three tablespoonfuls of sugar beaten with a few grains of salt and the yolks of three eggs. Stir and cook this for three minutes, then mix in lightly one teaspoonful of vanilla and the whites of the eggs beaten stiffly. Pour the pudding into custard ​cups which have been rinsed in cold water, and set away to cool. Before serving, turn out, scoop a teaspoonful of pudding from the top of each, and fill the cavities with jam.
Make a custard with one egg, one tablespoonful of sugar, and a cupful of milk. Butter a pudding-dish, put a layer of jam at the bottom, then slices of buttered bread, then a layer of thinly cut citron, and some raisins. Pour the custard over and bake.
Mix well one fourth of a pound of powdered sugar and one fourth of a pound of butter, add one fourth of a pound of grated chocolate and the yolks of five eggs. Cook five minutes, then remove from the fire and let cool. When cold, fold in the stiffly-beaten whites of the eggs. Butter six custard cups, and sprinkle the insides with sugar. Fill with the pudding and bake in a pan of hot water in a moderate oven. It will take about thirty minutes.
Put one glass of jelly or jam into a bowl with the whites of two eggs, and beat them well. ​Whip one pint of cream to a stiff froth and put into a glass dish. Drop tablespoonfuls of jelly into the cream. This pudding may be served in sherbert cups.
JELLIED PRUNES
Stew one pound of prunes with a handful of raisins, and after taking from the fire, add lemon-juice and sugar to taste. When soft, pour off the water and stone the fruit. Soak one tablespoonful of gelatine, dissolve over steam, and stir into the fruit juice. When it begins to thicken, add the fruit and set away to harden. Serve cold with cream.
SPONGE CAKE AND WHIPPED CREAM
Slice a sponge cake, or buy small square sponge cakes at the bakery. Arrange in a glass dish, sprinkle with wine, and pour over sweetened whipped cream flavored with vanilla.
CHOCOLATE AND APPLE CUSTARD
Peel, core, and quarter half a dozen apples, put into a pan with a little water, and season with sugar and cinnamon. Cook until the apples are reduced to a pulp. Scrape a pound of chocolate into a saucepan with three quarters ​of a cupful of sugar and one quart of milk. Beat the yolks of six eggs with the whites of two, and add a tablespoonful of canned cherries. When the chocolate and milk begin to boil, pour in the eggs, stirring gently all the time. Pour the chocolate over the apple pulp, set the dish into a pan of boiling water, and put into the oven until firm.
DATE PUDDING
Two thirds of a cupful of chopped suet, one cupful of stale bread-crumbs, one egg well beaten, two tablespoonfuls of sugar, one cupful of milk, one cupful of stoned dates cut fine, one teaspoonful of vanilla, two teaspoonfuls of baking-powder, a pinch of salt, and enough sifted flour to make a thick batter. Steam three hours, and serve with a soft sauce.
DATE DESSERT
Boil together for three minutes one cupful of sugar and two cupfuls of water. Add a pound of stoned dates and simmer until tender. Skim out the dates and boil down the syrup until reduced one half, flavor with vanilla and sherry, pour over the dates, and serve cold with whipped cream.
CREAM PUFFS
Boil together one half cupful of butter and one cupful of water. Stir in one cupful of flour, take from the fire, cool, and add three unbeaten eggs, one at a time. Beat until thoroughly mixed and drop by spoonfuls far apart on buttered tins. Bake from twenty to thirty minutes in a quick oven. Make a filling of three cupfuls of milk, two eggs well beaten, half a cupful of sugar, and two tablespoonfuls of corn starch dissolved in a little water. Cook in a double boiler until thick, take from the fire and flavor to taste. Slit the puffs and fill with the cold custard.
BOILED RICE PUDDING
Wash two cupfuls of rice and soak it in water for half an hour, then turn off the water and mix the rice with a cupful of stoned raisins cut in halves. Add a pinch of salt and tie the whole in a cloth, leaving room for the rice to double in bulk. Boil two hours in plenty of water and serve with wine or with spice sauce.
LEMON BLANC MANGE
One third of a cupful of lemon-juice, two thirds of a cupful of orange-juice, and one cupful of cold water. Boil, add three tablespoonfuls ​of corn starch dissolved in a little cold water, three tablespoonfuls of sugar, and a pinch of salt. Boil slowly for ten minutes, stirring constantly, then add the whites of three eggs beaten to a stiff froth. Stir well, remove from the fire, mould, and chill. Serve with a custard made of the yolks of the eggs, two cupfuls of milk, three tablespoonfuls of sugar, and half a teaspoonful of lemon extract. Cook the custard in a double boiler until it coats the spoon.
HAMBURG SPONGE
Soak a tablespoonful of granulated gelatine in two tablespoonfuls of cold water and add the juice of an orange. Beat the yolks of three eggs with half a cupful of sugar until very light, then add the dissolved gelatine and a little of the grated rind of the orange. Beat until it thickens, then add the whites of the eggs beaten stiff. Mould and chill. Serve with strawberries crushed with powdered sugar.
STRAWBERRY CREAM CAKE
Cut a sponge cake into three layers, and put together with crushed and sweetened strawberries in between. Cover the cake with whipped cream and garnish with whole strawberries.
STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE
Prepare the dough according to directions given for baking-powder biscuits in a previous chapter. Cut into two round cakes the size of a pie tin, spread one with soft butter and put the other on top of it. Bake in a moderate oven. When done, tear the layers apart, spread with soft butter and put together with crushed and sweetened strawberries in between. Pour over the cake more crushed and sweetened strawberries, with their juice, and serve hot.
STUFFED PRUNES
Soak large, fine prunes in sherry over night, drain, remove the stones, stuff with cut marshmallows and broken English walnut meats, and roll in powdered sugar.
HICKORY-NUT MACAROONS
One pound of powdered sugar, one pound of chopped hickory nuts, the whites of five unbeaten eggs, half a cupful of flour, and one teaspoonful of baking-powder. Drop on buttered paper and bake in a slow oven.
BANANA SHORTCAKE
Slice the bananas, sprinkle with sugar and lemon-juice, and prepare according to directions given for strawberry shortcake. Serve with whipped cream.
PEACH SHORTCAKE
Peel large, ripe peaches, cut fine, and prepare according to directions given for strawberry shortcake. Serve with whipped cream.
GOLDEN BALL FRITTERS
Put into a saucepan two cupfuls of water, one tablespoonful of butter, and half a cupful of sugar. When it boils, stir into it two cupfuls of sifted flour and mix thoroughly. Remove from the fire, and when nearly cold, add four unbeaten eggs, one at a time, and one cupful of preserved ginger, chopped fine. Drop by spoonfuls into deep fat and fry a golden brown. Drain on brown paper, and serve with a sauce made from the ginger syrup and flavored with lemon-juice.
GOOD FRIDAY PUDDING
One and one half cupfuls of bread-crumbs and the same quantity of chopped apples, one cupful of raisins and three well-beaten eggs. Put into a buttered mould and steam an hour and a half. Serve with a brandy sauce.
BANANA TRIFLE
Cut stale sponge cake into small squares. Arrange in a glass dish with alternate layers of ​sliced and sugared bananas, having cake on top. Pour over sweetened whipped cream flavored with sherry.
PUFFS
Prepare the mixture for golden ball fritters, leaving out the ginger. Fry in deep fat. Make an incision in one side of the puff, fill with jelly or jam, and keep warm in the oven. Serve with or without sauce.
STUFFED APPLES
Core good cooking apples, and stuff the centres with chopped nuts and brown sugar. Put a teaspoonful of brandy into each core, and bake. Serve cold with cream.
PEANUT COOKIES
Pound or chop one cupful of peanuts, reserving a few whole ones for decoration. Prepare a dough of one tablespoonful of butter, one half cupful of sugar, one egg well beaten, two tablespoonfuls of milk, one cupful of flour, and one teaspoonful of salt. Add the peanuts and mould with a teaspoon into two dozen balls. Put half-peanuts on the top, and bake about fifteen minutes.
NUT WAFERS
Beat the whites of two eggs to a stiff froth. Stir into the eggs enough pulverized sugar to ​make a very stiff icing. Spread the icing over crisp, sweet wafers, strew thickly with finely chopped nuts, and brown in a quick oven.
FRUIT COOKIES
One cupful of sugar, two well-beaten eggs, three tablespoonfuls of sour milk, one fourth of a teaspoonful of soda, one half cupful of chopped raisins, one half teaspoonful of cinnamon and one fourth teaspoonful each of cloves and nutmeg. Add enough sifted flour to make a very stiff batter. Drop by spoonfuls in buttered pans and bake in a quick oven.
SOFT GINGERBREAD
One half cupful each of sugar, butter, and molasses. Lard or drippings may be used in place of the butter. Mix in a bowl, add one egg well beaten, one and one half cupfuls of flour, one teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a little boiling water, and one teaspoonful of ginger. Beat thoroughly and bake in a moderate oven.
FRUIT WAFERS
Into one cupful of cold, sweet cream stir three cupfuls of sifted Graham flour, or enough whole wheat flour to make a stiff dough. Knead it thoroughly and divide in halves. Roll each ​sheet very thin. On one spread a thick layer of chopped figs, dates, marmalade or jam, lay the other sheet upon it, and press them together by rolling slightly with the rolling-pin. Cut into small squares and bake quickly.
PLAIN CAKE
One half cupful of butter, one and one half cupfuls of sugar, the yolks of two eggs, well beaten, one cupful of milk, one teaspoonful of vanilla, two cupfuls of pastry flour, sifted with three level teaspoonfuls of baking-powder, and the whites of the two eggs, beaten to a stiff froth. Mix in the order given and bake in patty-pans or in three layers. Put together with any preferred filling.
NEW YORK PUDDING
Make a plain cake according to the recipe given above, omitting the yolks of the eggs. Bake in a round, deep tin. When cold cut off a slice half an inch thick from the top of the cake, keeping it whole, then scoop out the centre of the cake, leaving a shell about an inch thick. Make a boiled custard, and when cold add a few nuts and raisins and enough of the cake crumbs to thicken. Fill the cake shell with this mixture, put on the cover, and ice the cake with colored icing, or pour over whipped cream or boiled custard.
ARROWROOT PUDDING
Put four teaspoonfuls of arrowroot into half a cupful of cold water, add two cupfuls of boiling water, bring to the boiling point, and cook until thick. Take from the fire, add four tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar and a few drops of bitter almond extract. Beat the whites of four eggs to a stiff froth, and mix into the pudding when partially cool. At serving-time arrange sliced fresh peaches in a serving dish, cover with sweetened whipped cream, and pour the arrowroot pudding on top. Cover with more whipped cream and serve.
PRUNE FLUFF
One half cupful of stewed, stoned, and mashed prunes, three tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar, one fourth cupful of chopped raisins, and the juice of half a lemon. Beat together very thoroughly and when cold, fold in the whites of three eggs beaten to a stiff froth. Put into a buttered pudding-dish, set into a pan of hot water, and bake twenty minutes in a hot oven. Sprinkle chopped nut meats over the top.
STRAWBERRY SAGO
Soak one half cupful of sago in one cupful of cold water for an hour, add two cupfuls of strawberry juice and half a cupful of sugar. Cook ​until the sago is transparent. Serve cold with cream, or with fresh strawberries crushed with powdered sugar.
NORWEGIAN PRUNE PUDDING
One pound of prunes, one quart of water, two cupfuls of sugar, five tablespoonfuls of corn starch, and a small piece of stick cinnamon. Soak the prunes in cold water over night, and boil in the same water. Stone, add one pint of water, put on to cook again, and while boiling, add sugar, cinnamon, and corn starch mixed with a little cold water. Boil until thick, stirring constantly, remove the cinnamon, and pour into a mould to cool.
QUICK BREAD PUDDING
Cut thin slices of bread into two-inch squares and arrange in a buttered baking-dish with layers of raisins, chopped figs, or canned grated, pineapple. Pour over it four cupfuls of sweetened milk in which two eggs have been beaten, set the dish into a hot oven and bake about twenty minutes.
RASPBERRY CHARLOTTE
Two cupfuls of canned raspberries, if the fresh fruit is not at hand, the juice of half a lemon, four stale lady-fingers rolled into crumbs, ​and the whites of four eggs beaten to a stiff froth. Put into a buttered baking-dish, set into a pan of hot water, and bake twenty-five minutes. Serve with a custard sauce.
BAKED PEACHES
Pare whole peaches, and pack into a deep baking-dish. Sprinkle with sugar, dot with butter, add one cupful of hot water, cover, and bake until the peaches are very tender. Serve cold with cream.
SURPRISE PEARS
Pare and core Seckel pears, and put a bit of preserved ginger into the centre of each. Season cold, cooked rice with sugar, salt, and lemon-juice. Make the rice into a paste with the yolks of two eggs, well beaten. Cover each pear with the rice, dip in crumbs, then in beaten egg, then in crumbs, and fry brown in deep fat.