Part 146 (2/2)

_Sufficient_ for 2 or 3 persons. _Seasonable_ at any time.

AUNT NELLY'S PUDDING.

1224. INGREDIENTS.--1/2 lb. of flour, 1/2 lb. of treacle, 1/2 lb. of suet, the rind and juice of 1 lemon, a few strips of candied lemon-peel, 3 tablespoonfuls of cream, 2 eggs.

_Mode_.--Chop the suet finely; mix with it the flour, treacle, lemon-peel minced, and candied lemon-peel; add the cream, lemon-juice, and 2 well-beaten eggs; beat the pudding well, put it into a b.u.t.tered basin, tie it down with a cloth, and boil from 3-1/2 to 4 hours.

_Time_.--3-1/2 to 4 hours. _Average cost_, 1s. 2d.

_Sufficient_ for 5 or 6 persons.

_Seasonable_ at any time, but more suitable for a winter pudding.

TREACLE, OR MOLa.s.sES.--Treacle is the uncrystallizable part of the saccharine juice drained from the Muscovado sugar, and is either naturally so or rendered uncrystallizable through some defect in the process of boiling. As it contains a large quant.i.ty of sweet or saccharine principle and is cheap, it is of great use as an article of domestic economy. Children are especially fond of it; and it is accounted wholesome. It is also useful for making beer, rum, and the very dark syrups.

BAKED APPLE DUMPLINGS (a Plain Family Dish).

1225. INGREDIENTS.--6 apples, 3/4 lb.. of suet-crust No. 1215, sugar to taste.

_Mode_.--Pare and take out the cores of the apples without dividing them, and make 1/2 lb. of suet-crust by recipe No. 1215; roll the apples in the crust, previously sweetening them with moist sugar, and taking care to join the paste nicely. When they are formed into round b.a.l.l.s, put them on a tin, and bake them for about 1/2 hour, or longer should the apples be very large; arrange them pyramidically on a dish, and sift over them some pounded white sugar. These may be made richer by using one of the puff-pastes instead of suet.

_Time_.--From 1/2 to 3/4 hour, or longer. _Average cost_, 1-1/2d. each.

_Sufficient_ for 4 persons.

_Seasonable_ from August to March, but flavourless after the end of January.

USES OF THE APPLE.--It is well known that this fruit forms a very important article of food, in the form of pies and puddings, and furnishes several delicacies, such as sauces, marmalades, and jellies, and is much esteemed as a dessert fruit. When flattened in the form of round cakes, and baked in ovens, they are called beefings; and large quant.i.ties are annually dried in the sun in America, as well as in Normandy, and stored for use during winter, when they may be stewed or made into pies. In a roasted state they are remarkably wholesome, and, it is said, strengthening to a weak stomach. In putrid and malignant fevers, when used with the juice of lemons and currants, they are considered highly efficacious.

APPLE CHEESECAKES.

1226. INGREDIENTS.--1/2 lb. of apple pulp, 1/4 lb. of sifted sugar, 1/4 lb. of b.u.t.ter, 4 eggs, the rind and juice of 1 lemon.

_Mode_.--Pare, core, and boil sufficient apples to make 1/2 lb. when cooked; add to these the sugar, the b.u.t.ter, which should be melted; the eggs, leaving out 2 of the whites, and take grated rind and juice of 1 lemon; stir the mixture well; line some patty-pans with puff-paste, put in the mixture, and bake about 20 minutes.

_Time_.--About 20 minutes.

_Average cost_, for the above quant.i.ty, with the paste, 1s. 2d.

_Sufficient_ for about 18 or 20 cheesecakes.

_Seasonable_ from August to March.

[Ill.u.s.tration: APPLE AND BLOSSOM.]

THE APPLE.--The most useful of all the British fruits is the apple, which is a native of Britain, and may be found in woods and hedges, in the form of the common wild crab, of which all our best apples are merely seminal varieties, produced by culture or particular circ.u.mstances. In most temperate climates it is very extensively cultivated, and in England, both as regards variety and quant.i.ty, it is excellent and abundant.

<script>