meringue barely color in the oven. Serve hot or cold.
_Jelly Pie_: (Louise Williams.) Beat the yolks of four eggs very light,
with a cup of sugar, three-quarters cup creamed butter, and a glass of
jelly, the tarter the better. Add a tablespoonful vanilla and a
dessert-spoonful of sifted cornmeal, then the whites of eggs beaten very
stiff. Bake in crusts--this makes two fat pies. Meringue is
optional--and unnecessary.
_Cheese Cakes_: Beat until very light the yolks of twelve eggs with a
pound of sugar, add to them a tablespoonful cornstarch, then
three-quarters of a pound of butter, washed and creamed. Add also the
strained juice of two lemons, a teaspoonful lemon essence and a
teaspoonful vanilla. Set over boiling water and stir until all
ingredients blend--only thus can you dissolve granulated sugar, which is
best to use, lacking the old-fashioned live open-kettle brown. Keep over
the hot water, stirring well together as you fill the tart shells. They
must be lined with real puff paste, rolled very thin, and nicely fitted.
Set in broad shallow pans, after filling with the batter and bake in a
quick, but not scorching oven. A blanched almond, or bit of citron, or
half a pecan or walnut meat, may be put in each shell before filling. I
prefer though to add such frills by help of the frosting. To make it,
beat six egg-whites with a pinch of salt until they stick to the dish,
add to them a little at a time, three cups granulated sugar boiled with
a cup and a half of water, till it spins a thread. Keep the syrup
boiling while adding it. When it is all in, set the pan of frosting over
boiling water, add six drops lemon juice and beat until stiff enough to
hold shape. It must not touch the water, but have plenty of steam
rising underneath. Frost the tarts rather thickly, and stick either a
shred of citron, a quarter of Maraschino cherry, or half a nut in the
middle. If you like cocoanut flavor, strew freshly grated cocoanut over
while the frosting is soft--it ought to harden inside half an hour. Tiny
pink or green comfits stuck in the middle, or set in threes
triangularly, are very decorative. Indeed, there is no limit but taste
and invention to the manners of making beautiful these tarts. I rather
pride myself upon them, since they have been enthusiastically praised by
folk who have eaten all around the world, and set above the best of
French confections by a man ten years resident in Paris, whose wife is
held to be the mo
|