Eight maccaroons, or more if you choose.
Four small sponge-cakes or Naples biscuit.
Two ounces of blanched sweet almonds, pounded in a mortar.
One ounce of blanched bitter almonds or peach-kernels.
The juice and grated peel of two lemons.
A nutmeg, grated.
A glass of noyau.
A pint of rich baked custard, made of the yolks of eggs.
Pound the sweet and bitter almonds to a smooth paste, adding a little rose-water as you pound them.
Grate the yellow peels of the lemons, and squeeze the juice into a saucer.
Break the sponge cake and maccaroons into small pieces, mix them with the almonds, and lay them in the bottom of a large glass bowl. Grate a nutmeg over them, and the juice and peel of the lemons. Add the wine and brandy, and let the mixture remain untouched, till the cakes are dissolved in the liquor. Then stir it a little.
Mix the cream and sugar with a glass of noyau, and beat it with a whisk or rods, till it stands alone.
As the froth rises, take it off with a spoon, and lay it on a sieve (with a large dish under it) to drain. The cream, that drains into the dish, must be poured back into the pan with the rest, and beaten over again. When the cream is finished, set it in a cool place.
When the custard is cold, poor it into the glass bowl upon the dissolved cakes, &c. and when the cream is ready, fill up the bowl with it, heaping it high in the middle. You may ornament it with nonpareils.
If you choose, you can put in, between the custard and the frothed cream, a layer of fruit jelly, or small fruit preserved.
WHIPT CREAM.
A quart of cream.
The whites of four eggs.
Half a pint of white wine.
A quarter of a pound of powdered loaf-sugar.
Tea drops of strong essence of lemon, or two lemons cut in thin slices, or the juice of a large lemon.
Mix together, in a broad pan, all the ingredients, unless you use slices of lemon, and then they must be laid at intervals among the froth, as you heap it in the bowl.
With a whisk or rods, beat the cream to a strong froth. Have beside your pan a sieve (bottom upwards) with a large dish under it. As the froth rises, take it lightly off with a spoon, and lay it on the sieve to drain. When the top of the sieve is full, transfer the froth to a large glass or china bowl. Continue to do this till the bowl is full.
The cream which has dropped through the sieve into the dish, must be poured into the pan, and beaten over again. When all the cream is converted into froth, pile it up in the bowl, making it highest in the middle.
If you choose, you may ornament it with red and green nonpareils.
If you put it in glasses, lay a little jelly in the bottom of each glass, and pile the cream on it.
Keep it in a cool place till you want to use it.
FLOATING ISLAND.
Six whites of eggs.
Six large table-spoonfuls of jelly.
A pint of cream.
Put the jelly and white of egg into a pan, and beat it together with a whisk, till it becomes a stiff froth and stands alone.
Have ready the cream, in a broad shallow dish. Just before you send it to table, pile up the froth in the centre of the cream.
ICE CREAM.
A quart of rich cream.
Half a pound of powdered loaf sugar.
The juice of two large lemons, or a pint of strawberries or raspberries.
Put the cream into a broad pan. Then stir in the sugar by degrees, and when all is well mixed, strain it through a sieve.
Put it into a tin that has a close cover, and set it in a tub.
Fill the tub with ice broken into very small pieces, and strew among the ice a large quantity of salt, taking care that none of the salt gets into the cream. Scrape the cream down with a spoon as it freezes round the edges of the tin. While the cream is freezing, stir in gradually the lemon-juice, or the juice of a pint of mashed strawberries or raspberries. When it is all frozen, dip the tin in lukewarm water; take out the cream, and fill your glasses; but not till a few minutes before you want to use it, as it will very soon melt.
You may heighten the colour of the red fruit, by a little cochineal.
If you wish to have it in moulds, put the cream into them as soon as it has frozen in the tin. Set the moulds in a tub of ice and salt. Just before you want to use the cream, take the moulds out of the tub, wipe or wash the salt carefully from the outside, dip the moulds in lukewarm water, and turn out the cream.
You may flavour a quart of ice-cream with two ounces of sweet almonds and one ounce of bitter almonds, blanched and beaten in a mortar with a little rose-water to a smooth paste. Stir in the almonds gradually while the cream is freezing.
ANOTHER KIND OF ICE-CREAM.
A pint and a half of rich cream.
A quart and a half-pint of morning's milk.
One pound of loaf sugar.
Two eggs.
One table-spoonful of flour.
Two lemons.
Or half a Vanilla bean, split into small pieces.
Or two ounces of sweet almonds and once ounce of bitter almonds, blanched and split into pieces.
Take half of the milk and put in the ingredient that is to flavour it, either the vanilla, the almonds, or the grated rind of the lemons. Boil it, stirring in gradually the sugar.
Having beaten the eggs well, add to them two table-spoonfuls of cold milk, and pour them into the boiling milk. Let them simmer two or three minutes, stirring them all the time. Then take the mixture off the fire and strain it through book-muslin into a pan.
Add the cream and the remainder of the milk, and put the whole into the tin freezer, which must be set in a tub filled with ice, among which must be scattered a great deal of salt.
Squeeze the juice from the two lemons and stir it into the cream, by degrees, while it is freezing.
When it is all frozen, turn it out, first dipping the tin for a moment in warm water.
If you wish to flavour it with strawberry or raspberry juice, that, like the lemon-juice, must be stirred gradually in while the cream is freezing.
In places where cream is not abundant, this receipt (though inferior in richness) will be found more economical than the preceding one. It is, however, less easy and expeditious.
CALF'S-FEET JELLY.