Original White House Cookbook

Pare some nice ripe pears (to weigh about three-fourths of a pound) ; put them in a saucepan with a few cloves, some lemon or orange peel, and stew about a quarter of an hour in two cupfuls of water ; put them in your pudding-dish, and having made the following custard, one pint of cream, or milk, four eggs, sugar to taste, a pinch of salt and a tablespoonful of flour ; beat eggs and sugar well, add the flour, grate some nutmeg, add the cream by degrees, stirring all the time, — pour this over the pears and bake in a quick oven. Apples or peaches may be substituted. Serve cold with sweetened cream. FIG PUDDINGS. Half a pound of good dried figs, washed, wiped and minced, two cupfuls of fine, dry bread crumbs, three eggs, half a cupful of beef suet, powdered, two scant cupfuls of sweet milk, half a cupful of white sugar, a little salt, half a teaspoonful of baking powder, stirred in half a cupful of sifted flour. Soak the crumbs in milk, add the eggs, beaten light, with sugar, salt, suet, flour and figs. Beat three minutes, put in buttered molds with tight top, set in boiling water with weight on cover to prevent mold from upsetting, and boil three hours, Eat hot with hard sauce or butter, powdered sugar, one teaspoonful of extract of nutmeg. FRUIT PUDDING, CORN MEAL. Take a pint of hot milk and stir in sifted Indian meal till the batter is stiff ; add a teaspoonful of salt and half of a cup of molasses, adding a teaspoonful of soda dissolved; then stir in a pint of whortleberries or chopped sweet apple ; tie in a cloth that has been wet, and leave room for it to swell, or put it in a pudding-pan and tie a cloth over ; boil three hours ; the water must boil when it is put in ; you can use cranberries and sweet sauce. APPLE CORN MEAL PUDDING. Pare and core twelve pippin apples; slice them very thin; then stir into one quart of new milk one quart of sifted corn meal ; add a little salt, then the apples, four spoonfuls of chopped suet and a teacupful of good molasses, adding a teaspoonful of soda dissolved ; mix these well together, pour into a buttered dish and bake four hours ; serve hot with sugar and wine sauce. This is the most simple, cheap and luxuriant fruit pudding that can be made. RHUBARB OR PIE-PLANT PUDDING. Chop rhubarb pretty fine, put in a pudding dish and sprinkle sugar over it; make a batter of one cupful of sour milk, two eggs, a piece of butter the size of an egg, half a teaspoonful of soda and enough flour to make batter about as thick as for cake. Spread it over the rhubarb and bake till done. Turn out on a platter upside down, so that the rhubarb will be on top. Serve with sugar and cream. FRUIT PUDDINGS.