Cassell's dictionary of cookery

Milk Biscuits. — Take a quarter of a pound of butter, one quart of milk, one gill of yeast, salt according to taste, and as much flour as will form the dough. Stir flour into the milk so as to form a very thick batter, and add the yeast ; this is called a sponge. This should be done in the evening. In the morning cut up the butter, and set it near the fire where it will dissolve, but not get hot ; pour the melted butter into the sponge, then stii- in enough flour to form a dough; knead it well, and set it on one side to rise. As soon as it is perfectly light, butter your tins, make out the dough in small cakes, and let them rise. "When they are hght, bake them in a very quick oven, take them out, wash the tops over with water, and send them to table hot. Milk Breakfast Cakes. — A batter of flour, milk, and yeast should be made over night for these cakes. Half a pint of yeast and a quart of milk made warm will moisten half a dozen pounds of flour. When risen next morning (the batter should be covered and set by the fireplace dui-ing the night), beat into it four or five ounces of butter melted, knead and make into small cakes, using as much flour as will be necessary to prevent the dough sticking to the fingers. Put the cakes as they are made on a baking-tin before the fire, while the oven is getting the required heat, then bake ; they will take about twenty minutes in a hot oven. Send them to table quickly, well buttered and hot. Probable cost, 2s. Milk Coffee, or Cafe au Lait.— Cafe au lait — the favourite beverage at the breakfast-tables of our continental neighbours — is the most simple of preparations, and yet is so badly made in most English households that it has become a national reproach. A very little care will enable the mistress of a family to have as good coffee on her table as can be procured in Paris. To have coffee in perfection it should be roasted and ground just before it is used ; the former is not always practicable, but the grinding can easily be performed daily by the aid of a small handmill, which is an indispensable article in every kitchen. Do not use cheap coffee. Mocha is the best. No coffee-pot answers better than the common French " alembique," which is merely a tin coffee-pot with three strainers. Place the ground coffee under the top strainer, and above the two others ; now replace the top one, and pour quite boiling water in the proportion of three cupfuls of water to one cupful of the powder. "When it bubbles up through the strainer, close the lid, and as soon as the whole of the water has passed through, the coffee is made. Boil the milk, and pour into the cups in the proportion of half coftee and half milk. Sweeten with crushed sugar-candy or loaf sugar, as moist sugar destroys the delicate aroma of the coftee. Suflicient, an ounce of coftee to three-quarters of a pint of water.