the flour till it is dry and crumbly. Add the
ice-water, and work to a smooth dough. Wash the butter, and have it cold
and firm as possible. Divide it in three parts. Roll out the paste, and
dot it all over with bits from one part of the butter. Sprinkle with
flour, and roll up. Roll out, and repeat till the butter is gone. If the
crust can now stand on the ice for half an hour, it will be nicer and more
flaky. This amount will make three good-sized pies. Enough for the bottom
crusts can be taken off after one rolling in of butter, thus making the
top crust richer. Lard alone will make a tender, but not a flaky, paste.

PUFF PASTE.

One pound of flour; three-quarters of a pound of butter; one teacupful of
ice-water; one teaspoonful of salt, and one of sugar; yolk of one egg.

Wash the butter; divide into three parts, reserving a bit the size of an
egg; and put it on the ice for an hour. Rub the bit of butter, the salt,
and sugar, into the flour, and stir in the ice-water and egg beaten
together. Make into a dough, and knead on the molding-board till glossy
and firm: at least ten minutes will be required. Roll out into a sheet ten
or twelve inches square. Cut a cake of the ice-cold butter in thin slices,
or flatten it very thin with the rolling-pin. Lay it on the paste,
sprinkle with flour, and fold over the edges. Press it in somewhat with
the rolling-pin, and roll out again. Always roll _from_ you. Do this again
and again till the butter is all used, rolling up the paste after the last
cake is in, and then putting it on the ice for an hour or more. Have
filling all ready, and let the paste be as nearly ice-cold as possible
when it goes into the oven. There are much more elaborate rules; but this
insures handsome paste. Make a plainer one for the bottom crusts. Cover
puff paste with a damp cloth, and it may be kept on the ice a day or two
before baking.

PATTIES FROM PUFF PASTE.

Roll the paste about a third of an inch thick, and cut out with a round or
oval cutter about two inches in diameter. Take a cutter half an inch
smaller, and press it into the piece already cut out, so as to sink
half-way through the crust: this to mark out the top piece. Lay on tins,
and bake to a delicate brown. They should treble in thickness by rising,
and require from twenty minutes to half an hour to bake. When done, the
marked-out top can easily be removed. Take out the soft inside, and fill
with sweetmeats for dessert, or with m