Part 34 (2/2)

Put the dish in a steamer and steam until the apples are found to be tender by running a fork into them. Set it away to cool and invert the dish so that the pudding will come out entire. Serve with sweetened cream, thin custard, or fruit sauce. Flavoring may be added to the apple according to taste.

Dutch Apple Cake. (By consent, from Mrs. Lincoln's ”Boston Cook-Book.”)--One pint flour, one-half teaspoonful salt, two heaping teaspoonfuls baking-powder, one-fourth cup b.u.t.ter, one egg, one scant cup milk, four sour apples, two tablespoonfuls sugar. Mix the dry ingredients in the order given; rub in the b.u.t.ter, beat the egg and mix it with the milk, then stir this into the dry mixture. The dough should be soft enough to spread half an inch thick on a shallow baking pan.

Core, pare and cut four or five apples into eighths; lay them in parallel rows on top of the dough, the sharp edge down, and press enough to make the edge penetrate slightly. Sprinkle the sugar on the apple.

Bake in a hot oven twenty or thirty minutes. To be eaten hot with b.u.t.ter as a tea cake, or with lemon sauce or with sugar and cream as a pudding.

Scalloped Apples. (By consent, from Mrs. Lincoln's ”Boston Cook-Book.”)--Mix half a cup of sugar and an eighth of a teaspoonful of cinnamon or the grated rind of half a lemon. Melt half a cup of b.u.t.ter and stir it into one pint of soft bread crumbs; prepare three pints of sliced apples. b.u.t.ter a pudding dish, put in a layer of crumbs, then sliced apple, and sprinkle with sugar; then another layer of crumbs, apple, and sugar, until the materials are used. Have a thick layer of crumbs on top. When the apples are not juicy, add half a cup of cold water; and if not tart apples, add the juice of half a lemon. Bake about an hour, covering at first to prevent burning. Serve with cream. Ripe berries and other acid fruits may be used instead of the apples, and oat-meal or cracked-wheat mush in place of the bread crumbs.

Brown Betty. (By consent, from ”Century Cook-Book.”)--In a quart pudding dish arrange alternate layers of sliced apples and bread crumbs; season each layer with bits of b.u.t.ter, a little sugar, and a pinch each of ground cinnamon, cloves, and allspice. When the dish is full pour over it a half cupful each of mola.s.ses and water mixed; cover the top with crumbs. Place the dish in a pan containing hot water, and bake for three-quarters of an hour, or until the apples are soft. Serve with cream or with any sauce. Raisins or chopped almonds improve the pudding.

Friar's Omelet. (Mrs. Treat.)--Stew six or seven good-sized apples as for apple-sauce; when cooked and still warm stir in one teaspoonful of b.u.t.ter and one cupful of sugar; when cold, stir in three well-beaten eggs and a little lemon juice. Now put a small piece of b.u.t.ter into a saucepan, and, when hot, add to it a cupful of bread crumbs and stir until they a.s.sume a light-brown color. b.u.t.ter a pudding mold, and sprinkle on the bottom and sides as many of these bread crumbs as will adhere; fill in the apple preparation, sprinkle bread crumbs on top, bake it for fifteen or twenty minutes, and turn it out on a good-sized platter. It can be eaten with or without a sweet sauce.

Baked Apple Dumplings.--Make a short pie-crust; roll it thin and cut it into squares large enough to cover an apple. Select apples of the same size, core and pare them, and fill the s.p.a.ce with sugar, b.u.t.ter, and a little ground cinnamon or nutmeg. Place an apple in each square of pie-crust; wet the edges with water or white of egg, and fold together so that the points meet on the top. Pinch and turn the edges so that they are fluted. Bake in a moderate oven about forty minutes, or until the apples are soft without having lost their form. Serve with hard sauce or with sugar and cream.

Steamed Apple Dumplings.--Core and pare six or eight apples. Make a biscuit dough, using four cups of flour, two heaping teaspoonfuls of baking-powder, one large tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter, one teaspoonful of salt, and one cup of milk. Use more or less milk as is needed to make a soft dough that will roll out without being sticky. Roll the dough about half an inch thick and cut in squares to cover the apples, as in the preceding recipe, after sweetening and flavoring. Place the dumplings on a dinner plate which can be set in the steamer. Steam forty minutes and serve from the same plate, with hard sauce or sweetened cream. A variation of this recipe, which is sometimes more convenient, is as follows: Cut the apples into eighths, and put them, with half a cup of water, into a granite pudding pan; roll the biscuit dough out to fit the pan, and cover the apples; cover the pan, and steam or cook in the oven.

Sprinkle sugar thickly over the top and serve in the pudding pan, with hard sauce in another dish.

Apple Pie. (By consent, from ”Boston Cooking-School Cook-Book,” by Miss Farmer.)--Four or five sour apples, one-third cup sugar, one-fourth teaspoon grated nutmeg, one-eighth teaspoon salt, one teaspoon b.u.t.ter, one teaspoon lemon juice, few gratings lemon rind. Line pie plate with paste. Pare, core, and cut the apples into eighths; put row around the plate one-half inch from the edge, and work toward the center until the plate is covered; then pile on the remainder. Mix sugar, nutmeg, salt, lemon juice and rind and sprinkle over the apples. Dot over with b.u.t.ter.

Wet edges of under crust, cover with upper crust, and press edges together. Bake forty to forty-five minutes in a moderate oven. A very good pie may be made without b.u.t.ter or lemon. Cinnamon may be subst.i.tuted for nutmeg. Evaporated apples soaked over night in cold water may be used in place of the fresh fruit.

Apple Fritters.--Core and pare three or four apples. Cut them crosswise into slices one-third of an inch thick, leaving the opening in the center. Sprinkle with lemon, sugar, and spice. Let stand one hour. Dip each slice in fritter batter, and fry in deep, hot fat. Drain, and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve hot, with or without hard sauce.

Batter For Fritters.--One cup flour, one-fourth teaspoonful salt, two-thirds cup milk, yolks and whites of two eggs beaten separately, one tablespoonful olive oil or melted b.u.t.ter. Mix salt and flour, add milk gradually, yolks of eggs, b.u.t.ter, and stiff whites. A tablespoonful of sugar may be added, if liked.

Fried Apples.--Cut slices one-half inch thick across the apple without removing skin or core, or cut the apple in quarters and remove the core.

Saute the apples in b.u.t.ter or drippings until tender and light brown, but not soft enough to lose form. Serve on the same dish with pork chops.

Apple Water (for invalids).--Wipe, core and pare one large sour apple.

Put two teaspoonfuls sugar in the core cavity, and bake until tender.

Pour one cup boiling water over the baked apple, let it stand one-half hour, strain, and serve.

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