APRICOT
BISCUITS. --Put one cup of granulated sugar and the yolks of five eggs into a bowl and
beat five minutes. In a separate bowl beat the whites of the five eggs to a perfectly
stiff froth; next add one cupful of sifted flour, a little at a time, to the yolks and
sugar, whipping it in with light, careful strokes; immediately add the whites whipping
them in gently. Put the paste into a pastry bag and press out upon buttered paper laid in
baking pans, forming little biscuits two inches long by one inch wide. This quantity
should make about forty biscuits. Bake in a moderate oven for about fifteen minutes or
perhaps a little less time, according to oven. Remove from the paper and spread on a dish
to cool. When cold brush them over with apricot marmalade and then glaze them. To make the
glaze, put into a very small sauce pan one ounce of granulated sugar with one
tablespoonful of cold water and let it come to a boil, stirring meanwhile. Remove, and add
immediately a teaspoonful of rose water; brush the cakes with this, and set in the open
oven two minutes to dry. They may be sprinkled before drying with finely chopped
pistachio, pressing it lightly into the glaze to make it adhere. Directions for using
pastry bag were given in the April number, 1891.
VANILLA CREAM BISCUITS. -- Prepare the batter
precisely as directed above for apricot biscuits. Dip it into a pastry bag and press out
upon a buttered baking-sheet, forming about fifty little round biscuits, shape of
macaroons. Sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar and bake in a quick oven for about twelve
minutes; then lift them from the pan (using a broad-bladed knife) and lay them upside down
upon a fresh, clean towel. Make a small, circular cavity, about half an inch in diameter,
in the center of each, using a narrow-pointed, very thin-bladed knife, and it must be very
sharp. Fill the cavities with the vanilla cream; have ready a glaze preparation as given
for glazing apricot biscuits. Fasten the biscuits together by twos, converting them into
little ball-shaped biscuits. Brush the under edges of one with the glaze and lay the other
quickly upon it to make them adhere. When all are done, begin with the first and glaze
their entire surface.
Vanilla Cream Filling. --Put a cupful and a
half of milk in a double boiler and place over the fire; mix thoroughly half a cup of
sugar, two tablespoonfuls of flour and a pinch of salt; add two eggs, beaten well, but not
frothing it; stir the mixture into the boiling milk and cook fifteen minutes, stirring
often. When cold add a teaspoonful of vanilla extract. The cream may be made sweeter if
liked.
RASPBERRY BISCUITS. -- Make precisely as
directed for vanilla cream biscuits; fill the cavities with raspberry jam and glaze the
entire surface. Other jams and marmalades may be used, the kind employed giving its name
to the biscuits.
LEMON PUFFS. --Save the crumbs left from the
cavities cut in the biscuits given above; add some stale cake crumbs if you have not as
much as you wish. To one cup of granulated sugar add two tablespoonfuls of water, and two
tablespoonfuls of lemon juice; boil till it forms a thin syrup, then stir into it enough
cake crumbs to make it about the thickness of good jam; this is for the filling. Roll nice
puff paste to a quarter of an inch in thickness; cut it into four-inch squares; brush the
edges with white of eggs, lay a spoonful of the filling in the middle and bring one corner
of the paste over to meet the corner diagonally opposite, so as to form a three-cornered
puff or triangle. Pinch the edges, brush the top with egg and sprinkle lightly with
powdered sugar. Bake in a very hot oven. These are delicious.
CHOCOLATE BISCUITS. --Whisk the whites of two
eggs to a stiff froth, mix in lightly two and one-half ounces of grated chocolate, one and
one-half ounces of fine flour, and one ounce of fine, granulated sugar. Drop the mixture
in small heaps on a sheet of paper, and bake for a few minutes in a brisk oven. |
