Handbook of practical cookery

Ginger Bread. — One and one-half pound flour, one pound treacle, one quarter pound butter, three ounces orange-peel, one quarter pound almonds, two ounces sugar, one teaspoonful soda, three tea-spoonfuls of ginger (ground), two teaspoonfuls cinnamon, one quarter tea-spoonful grated nutmeg. Place in a large basin the flour, add to it the butter, and with the tips of the fingers mix it well with the flour. When well mixed add the sugar, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Cut in small pieces the peel ; add it also. Place the almonds in a small basin of boiling water, then remove the skins and chop them finely, and add them to other ingredients. Place on a plate the soda, and smooth out all the lumps with the point of a knife. Add the soda also, and mix all thoroughly with a spoon. Put the treacle in a sauce-pan, and stir it over the fire for five minutes. Pour the treacle now over the other ingredients, stir all well together, and pour the mixture into a well-greased Yorkshire pudding-tin. Place the tin in a moderate oven, and bake the ginger-bread for two hours. Belvoir Castle.— Two pounds flour, five ounces dripping, six ounces sugar, six ounces currants, one pint milk, one ounce German yeast. Place the flour in a basin, rub into it the dripping, add the sugar and currants. Place in a basin the yeast, heat in a sauce-pan over the fire the milk until tepid, pour it over the yeast and stir well together until the yeast is dissolved. Make a hole in the centre of the flour, pour in the yeast and milk, stir all together, cover the basin with a towel, and place the basin in a warm place for two hours. Knead this well now, until the dough leaves the basin quite clean ; turn the dough out on a board and cut it into eighteen pieces. Make each piece into a small ball, place the balls on a floured tin. Place the tin before the fire for half an hour, then bake the buns in a quick oven ten minutes. Victoria Buns.— Ten ounces flour, three ounces sugar, three ounces butter, one tea-spoonful of baking-powder, two eggs, half a gill milk. Place the flour, sugar, and butter in a basin, and rub them all together with the fingers till perfectly smooth ; and then add the baking-powder. Beat in a separate basin the eggs, add the milk, and then stir them quickly into the basin with the dry ingredients. Half fill some small greased tins with the mixture, and bake in a quick oven for fifteen minutes. Plain Currant Cake.— One pound flour, one half pound powdered sugar, one half pound currants, one quarter pound butter, one gill milk, three eggs, one small tea-spoonful soda. Place the flour in a basin, add the sugar and butter, mix all with the fingers till the mixture looks like bread crumbs. Wash well and dry the currants, add them to the flour ; also the soda. Stir all well together. Beat well in a separate basin the eggs, add the milk. Prepare now a cake-tin by greasing it well with butter. Mix quickly together the milk and eggs with the dry ingredients, pour into the cake-tin, and bake the cake in a moderate oven one hour and a half. Aberffrau Buns.— Four pounds flour, one quarter pound butter, three eggs, one pint milk, one pint water, six ounces sugar, two ounces German yeast.