A tea-spoonful of mixed spice, nutmeg, mace and cinnamon.
Stew some pumpkin with as little water as possible. Drain it in a colander, and press it till dry. When cold, weigh half a pound, and pass it through a sieve. Prepare the spice. Stir together the sugar, and butter, to cream, till they are perfectly light. Add to them, gradually, the spice and liquor.
Beat three eggs very light, and stir them into the butter and sugar alternately with the pumpkin.
Cover a soup-plate with puff-paste, and put in the mixture. Bake it in a moderate oven about half an hour.
Grate sugar over it when cool.
Instead of the butter, you may boil a pint of milk or cream, and when cold, stir into it in turn the sugar, eggs, and pumpkin.
GOOSEBERRY PUDDING.
A pint of stewed gooseberries, with all their juice.
A quarter of a pound of powdered sugar.
Two ounces of fresh butter.
Two ounces of grated bread.
Three eggs.
Stew the gooseberries till quite soft. When they are cold, mash them fine with the back of a spoon, and stir into them two ounces of sugar. Take two ounces more of sugar, and stir it to a cream with two ounces of butter.
Grate very fine as much stale bread as will weigh two ounces.
Beat three eggs, and stir them into the butter and sugar, in turn with the gooseberries and bread.
Lay puff-paste in a soup plate. Put in the mixture, and bake it half an hour.
Do not grate sugar over it.
BAKED APPLE PUDDING.
A pint of stewed apples.
Half a pint of cream, or two ounces of butter.
A quarter of a pound of powdered sugar.
A nutmeg grated.
A table-spoonful of rose-water.
A tea-spoonful of grated lemon-peel.
Stew your apple in as little water as possible, and not long enough for the pieces to break and lose their shape. Put them in a colander to drain, and mash them with the back of a spoon. If stewed too long, and in too much water, they will lose their flavour. When cold, mix with them the nutmeg, rose-water, and lemon-peel, and two ounces of sugar. Stir the other two ounces of sugar, with the butter or cream, and then mix it gradually with the apple.
Bake, it in puff-paste, in a soup-dish, about half an hour in a moderate oven.
Do not sugar the top.
FRUIT PIES.
Fruit pies for family use, are generally made with common paste, allowing three quarters of a pound of butter to a pound and a half of flour.
Peaches and plums for pies, should be cut in half, and the stones taken out. Cherries also should be stoned, and red cherries only should be used for pies.
Apples should be cut into very thin slices, and are much improved by a little lemon peel. Sweet apples are not good for pies, as they are very insipid when baked, and seldom get thoroughly done.
If green apples are used, they should first be stewed in as little water as possible; and made very sweet.
Apples, stewed previous to baking, should not be done till they break, but only till they are tender. They should then be drained in a colander, and chopped fine with a knife or the edge of a spoon.
In making pies of juicy fruit, it is a good way to set a small tea-cup on the bottom crust, and lay the fruit all round it. The juice will collect under the cup, and not run out at the edges or top of the pie. The fruit should be mixed with a sufficient quantity of sugar, and piled up in the middle, so as to make the pie highest in the centre. The upper crust should be pricked with a fork, or have a slit cut in the middle. The edges should be nicely crimped with a knife.
Dried peaches, dried apples, and cranberries should be stewed with a very little water, and allowed to get quite cold before they are put into the pie. If stewed fruit is put in warm, it will make the paste heavy.
If your pies are made in the form of shells, or without lids, the fruit should always be stewed first, or it will not be sufficiently done, as the shells (which should be of puff paste) must not bake so long as covered pies.
Shells intended for sweetmeats, must be baked empty, and the fruit put into them before they go to table.
Fruit pies with lids, should have loaf-sugar grated over them. If they have been baked the day before, they should be warmed in the stove, or near the fire, before they are sent to table, to soften the crust, and make them taste fresh.
Raspberry and apple-pies are much improved by taking off the lid, and pouring in a little cream just before they go to table.
Replace the lid very carefully.
OYSTER PIE.
A hundred large fresh oysters, or more if small.
The yolks of six eggs boiled hard.
A large slice of stale-bread, grated.
A tea-spoonful of salt.
A table-spoonful of pepper.
A table-spoonful of mixed spice, nutmeg, mace and cinnamon.
Take a large round dish, butter it and spread a rich paste over the sides, and round the edge, but not at the bottom.
Salt oysters will not do for pies. They should be fresh, and as large and fine as possible.
Drain off part of the liquor from the oysters. Put them into a pan, and season them with pepper, salt and spice. Stir them well with the seasoning. Have ready the yolks of eggs, chopped fine, and the grated bread. Pour the oysters (with as much of their liquor as you please) into the dish that has the paste in it.
Strew over them the chopped egg and grated bread.
Roll out the lid of the pie, and put it on, crimping the edges handsomely.
Take a small sheet of paste, cut it into a square and roll it up.
Cut it with a sharp knife into the form of a double tulip.
Make a slit in the centre of the upper crust, and stick the tulip in it.
Cut out eight large leaves of paste, and lay them on the lid.
Bake the pie in a quick oven.