The Myrtle Reed Cook Book

PUDDING SAUCES

Thicken a pint of boiling water with one tablespoonful of butter and one of flour cooked together. Add brown sugar, lemon-juice, and grated nutmeg or other flavor to taste, and serve.

Cream half a cupful of butter with half a cupful of powdered sugar, add the juice and grated rind of a lemon, set the basin into a pan of boiling water, stir until it foams, and serve immediately.

Mash fresh fruit with sugar to taste, let stand for three hours, and heat thoroughly before serving.

Cream a tablespoonful of butter with two tablespoonfuls of sugar, flavor with wine and grated nutmeg, and chill on ice. Fruit juice may be used instead of wine.

SHORTCAKES

Rub half a cupful of butter into one and one-half cupfuls of sifted flour. Add a pinch of salt and enough ice-water to make a smooth paste. Roll out, shape it into flat round cakes, and put together with butter between. Bake brown, tear apart while hot, and fill with fresh peaches crushed with sugar. Cover the peaches with the other cake, spread peaches on top and pile high with sweetened whipped cream. Strawberry, banana, blackberry, cherry, fig, blueberry, gooseberry, orange, and raspberry shortcakes may be made in the same way.

Stew a pound of prunes until soft, in water to cover, with half a cupful of sugar. When the prunes are soft, remove the stones and simmer for ten minutes longer. Make a biscuit crust, adding a little more shortening, and bake in two cakes with butter between. Split, spread with butter, fill with the prunes, cover the top with prunes, and serve hot with whipped cream.

Sift a quart of flour with two teaspoonfuls of baking-powder and a pinch of salt. Work into it two tablespoonfuls of butter, add enough milk to make a soft dough, and bake in large pie-tins. Cool, split, spread with butter and crushed strawberries heavily sweetened. Pour crushed strawberries over the cake and serve.

Drain any kind of preserved fruit and rub through a sieve enough to make a cupful. Add more sugar if required and fold in the stiffly beaten whites of eight eggs. Turn into a buttered baking-dish, bake for half an hour and serve immediately. Apples, apricots, bananas, prunes, cherries, chestnuts, cocoanut, figs, gooseberries, preserved ginger, peaches, pears, pineapples, quinces, raspberries, and strawberries may be used in the same way.

TARTS

Line a deep pie-tin with pastry, fill half full of apple sauce, and cover with quartered apples cooked until soft in lemon syrup. Sprinkle with claret and powdered sugar, bake, and serve cold.

Line a deep baking-dish with pastry and put in three cupfuls of peeled, cored, and quartered apples, the grated rind and juice of a lemon, three-fourths cupful of brown sugar, and a sprinkle of cinnamon or nutmeg. Bake until the apples are done, cool, and cover with whipped cream sweetened to taste and flavored with grated lemon peel.

Butter a pastry ring, line with paste and bake. Spread with marmalade, cover with apricots, sprinkle with sugar and maraschino, heat for a few minutes, and serve cold with the apricot syrup. Other fruits may be used in the same way.

Mix a cupful each of sugar and stoned cherries with one egg well-beaten with a teaspoonful of flour. Turn into a pie-tin lined with pastry, cover with narrow strips of crust, and bake. Other fruits may be used in the same way.

Grate a square of chocolate into a pint of milk and bring to the boil, sweetening to taste. Thicken with one tablespoonful of flour rubbed smooth with a little cold milk, take from the fire, add a tablespoonful of butter and the yolks of four eggs well-beaten. Line patty-pans with pastry, fill with the cream, and bake. Take from the oven, cover with meringue, and brown.

Line a deep pie-tin with pastry and bake, take from the oven, fill with fresh or stewed and sweetened fruit, and cover with a meringue made of the whites of three eggs beaten to a stiff froth and three tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar. Bake until brown and serve either hot or cold. Peaches, pears, plums, rhubarb, or other fruit may be used.

Line a shallow baking-pan with pastry and fill with peeled, cored, and sliced apples. Sprinkle with cinnamon and powdered sugar and bake for forty minutes in a moderate oven.

Simmer a pint of gooseberries until soft in a thick syrup. Line a pie-tin with pastry and put on a border of the paste about an inch wide. Press down lightly, fill with the gooseberries and cross the tart with narrow twisted strips of paste, moistening with cold water at each end to make them adhere. Bake for twenty minutes in a hot oven and serve very cold with whipped cream.

Stem the grapes and cook in syrup until thick and soft, rub through a sieve and cool. Line patty-pans with pastry, fill with the grapes, and bake. Cover with meringue or whipped cream if desired.

Line a deep pie-tin with pastry, brush with thick syrup, and fill with white grapes. Sprinkle with six tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar and a wineglassful of white wine. Bake and serve either hot or cold. Other grapes may be used in the same way.

Roll rich pastry thin, cut into strips, bake in a quick oven and put together with jam or jelly between. Cover with frosting and serve cold.

Roll rich pastry thin and bake three crusts in pie-tins. Cool, put together with crushed and sweetened peaches, chill and serve with whipped cream. Other fruits may be used in the same way.

Line a border mould with pastry, fill half full with peach jam, bake, cool, cover with meringue, and return to the oven until puffed and brown. Fill the centre with whipped cream if desired. Other jams may be used in the same way.

Line a deep pie-tin with good pastry and fill it two-thirds full with canned peaches that have been cooked for two or three minutes in boiling syrup. Cover with a rather thick crust and do not pinch down the edges. When cool, remove the top crust and fill with a cream made as follows: Boil a cupful of milk, and thicken with a tablespoonful of sugar mixed with a teaspoonful of cornstarch wet in cold milk. When smooth and thick, take from the fire, add the whites of two eggs beaten to a stiff froth, and a few drops of vanilla or almond extract. Cool, pour over the peaches, cover with the crust, sprinkle with powdered sugar, and serve.

Line a deep tin with pastry, fill with preserved plums, cover with crust, brush with beaten egg, bake, sprinkle with powdered sugar, and serve cold.

Line a deep baking-dish with pastry and bake. Fill half full of boiled rice cooked in milk and sweetened to taste and cover with pitted plums which have been cooked soft in thin syrup. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, dot with butter, bake, and serve hot.

Line a deep pie-tin with pastry, fill with raspberries, sprinkle with powdered sugar, and cover with crust but do not press down the edges. Bake in a moderate oven. Thicken a cupful of milk with a teaspoonful of cornstarch rubbed smooth with a little cold milk, add a tablespoonful of sugar, a few drops of vanilla, and the stiffly beaten whites of two eggs; cook until smooth and thick. Lift the top crust from the pie, pour in the custard, cover, sprinkle with powdered sugar, and serve cold.

Line a deep pie-tin with pastry and fill with alternate layers of raspberries and currants, sprinkling each layer with sugar. Sprinkle with sugar, dot with butter, and bake. Cover with meringue and serve cold.

Blanch and split half an ounce of bitter almonds. Cut one and one-half pounds of rhubarb into inch-lengths without peeling, add a pound of sugar, the almonds, and one lemon cut into bits. Cook together until thick, stirring occasionally. Line patty-pans with pastry, fill with the mixture, and bake in a moderate oven.

Cook rice until soft in milk to cover, sweetening and flavoring to taste. Arrange upon the rice peeled and cored apples which have been cooked in syrup, reduce the syrup by rapid boiling, flavor to taste, add a little chopped candied fruit, pour over the rice and apples, and serve either hot or cold.

Peel, core, and quarter five sour apples, put into a baking-dish with three tablespoonfuls of butter, and sugar and cinnamon to taste. Bake until tender and serve hot with cream.

Peel good cooking apples, cook until soft, and rub through a sieve. Sweeten to taste, adding a little butter and lemon-juice, spice, or wine to season. Fold in the stiffly beaten whites of two or three eggs and serve very cold.

Sift a cupful of flour with a pinch of salt, add two cupfuls of milk mixed with three well-beaten eggs, and turn into a shallow buttered pan. Cover with peeled and sliced apples, dot with butter, sprinkle thickly with sugar, and add a little grated lemon peel or spice if desired. Bake for forty-five minutes and serve hot. Berries or other fruits may be used in the same way.

Rub two tablespoonfuls of butter into three cupfuls of flour which has been sifted with a heaping teaspoonful of baking-powder and a pinch of salt. Mix to a soft dough with milk or water, roll into an oblong, spread with finely cut peeled apples, and sprinkle with sugar and spice. Roll up and put loosely into a pudding cloth which has been wrung dry in hot water and dredged with flour. Steam for two hours and serve with Hard Sauce.

Cook peeled apples soft in a thin syrup to cover, and rub through a sieve enough to make a pint of pulp. Cool, add the unbeaten white of an egg, and beat with an egg-beater until very light. Serve cold with boiled custard or whipped cream. Other fruits may be used in the same way.

Cook peeled, cored, and quartered apples until soft in thin syrup to cover, seasoning with spice. Drain, arrange in a serving-dish, and reduce the syrup half by rapid boiling. Pour over the apples, cool, and at serving-time cover with whipped cream sweetened and flavored to taste. Other fruits may be used in the same way.

Melt three tablespoonfuls of butter with three of lemon-juice and six of sugar. Peel six bananas and lay in a shallow buttered pan, far apart. Bake for half an hour, basting with the mixture in the bowl, and serve hot.

Peel large peaches, stick a few blanched almonds into each one, sprinkle with sugar, add a cup of water and bake, basting with the syrup. Serve very cold with the syrup poured over.

Put a quart of peeled, cored, and quartered pears into an earthen baking-dish with half a cupful of sugar and a cupful of water. Cover tightly and bake for several hours in a moderate oven. Take up the pears, reduce the syrup by rapid boiling, pour over, chill, and serve with cream.

Peel and core four or five quinces and put a bit of butter into the core of each. Sprinkle with sugar, pour in a cupful of water, cover and bake for two hours, basting occasionally. Serve cold with sugar and cream.

Cut unpeeled rhubarb into inch-lengths and pack closely in a bean-pot with alternate layers of brown sugar. Cover, bake for an hour, and serve cold.

Sift two cupfuls of flour with two teaspoonfuls of baking-powder. Work into it a tablespoonful of butter and mix to soft dough with a cupful of milk. Roll into an oblong, cover with berries, sprinkle with sugar, roll up, fasten the edges and bake or steam, basting with syrup to which a little butter has been added. Serve hot with any preferred sauce.

Crush and sweeten red currants, mix with sliced bananas, and serve cold. White currants may also be used.

Peel and slice six bananas into a serving-dish, sprinkle with sugar, and with either orange-juice, lemon-juice, or wine. Cover with whipped cream and serve immediately with cake.

Soak half a package of gelatine in cold water and dissolve in three cupfuls of boiling milk. Add a heaping cupful of sugar and cook for ten minutes. When cool but not stiff, stir in three bananas broken up with a fork. Mould, chill, and serve with whipped cream.

Peel and mash through a sieve enough bananas to make a cupful of pulp. Add a cupful of cream and two tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar. Beat with an egg-beater until very light and serve cold in dessert glasses.

Soak half a package of gelatine in half a cupful of cold water, add two cupfuls of boiling water, half a cupful of sugar, and one cupful of blackberry juice. Stir until dissolved, then strain. When cool but not set, fold in the stiffly beaten whites of four eggs. Mould, chill, and serve with cream. The juice of other fruits may be used in the same way.

Boil two cupfuls of sugar for five minutes with one-fourth cupful of water, pour the boiling syrup in a thin stream upon the stiffly beaten whites of two eggs, and beat until thick. Flavor to taste.

Cook two tablespoonfuls of minute tapioca in milk to cover, using a double-boiler. Add the yolks of three eggs well-beaten, sugar to taste, and half a teaspoonful of vanilla. Cook until thick, and add half a cake of grated sweet chocolate. When quite smooth mould, chill, and serve with whipped cream.

Beat the white of an egg to a stiff froth, add two tablespoonfuls of cream, and enough confectioner’s sugar to make it thick enough to spread. Melt half a cake of sweet chocolate in a double boiler with a teaspoonful of water, and pour over the cream frosting on the cake.

Beat the whites of two eggs to a stiff froth and gradually beat into it a cupful of jelly or jam. Fill a serving dish with whipped cream sweetened and flavored to taste, and drop spoonfuls of the frothed jelly upon it. This may be served in dessert glasses.

Beat together four eggs beaten separately, one cupful of milk, half a cupful of flour, one tablespoonful of sugar, a pinch of salt, the grated rind of a lemon, and a teaspoonful of butter melted. Fry in small pancakes, turning once, spread with jelly, jam, or marmalade, roll up, sprinkle with powdered sugar which may be seasoned with spice, and serve immediately.

Mix confectioner’s sugar with enough cream to make it the consistency of thick paste. Flavor as desired adding chopped nuts, bananas, shredded pineapple, or other fruits.

Beat three eggs separately, then add one cupful of milk, a pinch of salt, and enough flour sifted with a heaping teaspoonful of baking-powder to make a thin batter. Fill buttered custard cups, alternating with finely cut apples or other fruit sprinkled with sugar, and steam for an hour. Jam or preserves may be used in the same way. Serve hot with any preferred sauce or with cream and sugar.

Sift together two cupfuls of flour, two teaspoonfuls of baking powder, a teaspoonful of sugar, and half a teaspoonful of salt. Rub into it two tablespoonfuls of butter and add enough milk to make a dough that will roll. Roll into an oblong, keeping the dough thin, spread with softened butter, then with chopped fresh or preserved fruit or berries, sweetened to taste. Roll up, pinch the ends together, and steam for two hours, or bake until the dough is brown and crisp. Serve hot with any preferred sauce. Apples, apricots, blackberries, chestnuts, currants, figs, preserved ginger, plums, blueberries, oranges, peaches, pineapples, quinces, raspberries, and cherries may all be used in this way.

Soak a cupful of tapioca over night in four cupfuls of cold water. Add a pinch of salt, and three-fourths cupful of sugar, and cook slowly in a double boiler until transparent, adding more water if necessary. Put into a buttered baking-dish in layers, alternating with fresh or canned fruit sweetened to taste. Have tapioca on top. Sprinkle with sugar, dot with butter, and bake for an hour. Serve either hot or cold with cream or any preferred sauce. Apples, apricots, blackberries, cherries, currants, figs, gooseberries, plums, blueberries, oranges, peaches, pears, pineapples, quinces, raspberries, and strawberries are all used in the same way. The less tart fruits require a little lemon-juice sprinkled on them. In making apple tapioca sprinkle each layer of apples with sugar and spice. A delicious pudding is made of strawberries and bananas sliced and combined with the tapioca.

Cook a quart of gooseberries to a pulp in water to cover, sweetening to taste. Put into a serving-dish, cool, cover with boiled custard, then with whipped cream. Other fruits may be used in the same way.

Peel, core, and quarter enough apples to make four cupfuls. Cook slowly until soft in syrup to cover, flavoring with a little lemon or spice. Add a package of gelatine which has been soaked and dissolved, mould, chill, and serve with boiled custard or whipped cream.

Peel and split a dozen peaches and cook until soft in thin syrup to cover. Add half a package of soaked and dissolved gelatine and a tablespoonful of claret or maraschino. Mould, chill, and serve with whipped cream or custard. Other fruits may be used in the same way.

Warm a quart of milk, add a tablespoonful of rennet, cool, and serve with powdered sugar, grated nutmeg, and cream.

Boil the chopped peel of one and juice of six lemons in two cupfuls of water, strain and mix with two cupfuls of hot water in which a package of soaked gelatine has been dissolved. Sweeten to taste, and beat until it begins to set, then fold in the stiffly beaten whites of twelve eggs. Mould and chill. Half this recipe is sufficient for a small family.

Beat the whites of six eggs to a stiff froth and add gradually twelve tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar. Beat for twenty minutes, then add three large peaches peeled and cut into bits. Fill dessert glasses three-fourths full, chill, and fill with whipped cream sweetened to taste and flavored with vanilla. Other fruits may be used in the same way.

Make a pint of Orange Jelly, adding the juice of a lemon and a little grated peel. When cool but not set, fold in the stiffly beaten whites of four eggs. Mould, chill and serve with Boiled Custard. Lemon snow may be made in the same way.

Make a boiled custard with the yolks of four eggs, one pint of milk, and two tablespoonfuls of sugar, cool, and flavor with a few drops each of almond and vanilla. Arrange slices of stale sponge cake in a serving-dish, moisten with custard, cover with crushed and sweetened peaches, pour over the custard, and cover with meringue flavored with almond, or with whipped cream.

Peel and split ripe peaches and fill a baking-dish, sprinkling each layer with sugar. Dot with butter, add a cupful of water, and sprinkle with flour. Make a crust of one and one-half cupfuls of flour sifted with a pinch of salt and a teaspoonful of baking-powder, rubbing into it half a cupful of lard, and adding ice-water to mix. Cover the peaches, prick the crust, bake, and serve either hot or cold with cream.