Harper's cook book encyclopædia

Apple Pie, Sliced. — Line a deep pie-plate with plain paste ; pare and cut in slices six sour apples; allow one cupful -of sugar, and quarter of a grated nutmeg mixed with it; fill the pie-plate with the sliced apples, sprinkle the sugar between the layers, wet the edges of the under crust with cold water, lay on the cover, and press down securely so that no juice may escape. Bake three-quarters of an hour, or less if the apples are very tender. Apple Pies without Apples. — Put ten large, square soda crackers in a bowl ; pour over them a quart of boiling water ; let them soak for an hour ; then mash them up very fine ; add to them the grated peel and juice of four lemons, and five teacupfuls of brown sugar ; put it in pastry and bake like any other pie. Apricot Pie. — Pare, stone, and halve the apricots. Place them in a pie-dish, piling them high in the middle. Strew over them a little sifted sugar, and a few of the kernels blanched and chopped small. Cover them with a good, light crust, and bake in a moderate oven. Time to bake, three-quarters of an hour. Apricot-jam Tarts. — Pare ripe apricots, break them in halves, and remove the stones. To every pound of fruit allow a pound of finely powdered sugar. Strew the sugar over the fruit, and stand for twelve hours. Break the stones, blanch the kernels. and put them, with the fruit and sugar, into a preserving - kettle. Simmer gently, removing the apricots as they are done, and skimming the syrup. Mash fruit, kernels, and syrup together, and put into jars to cool. Line tart-pans with puff paste, fill with the jam, crossing the top with strips of paste. Bake in a quick oven. Serve cold, sprinkled with sugar. Banbury T urnovers. — Though to call them mince pies without meat would be a more appropriate name. Take 1 lb. of sugar and 1/2 lb. of butter and cream together; then 1 lb. of flour, 2 lbs. of the best currants, 1 oz. of powdered allspice, and the same of cinnamon, and 1/2 lb. of candied orange and lemon peel are to be added generally. The puff paste, of which the outside is composed, is rolled out into eight -inch squares, and sufficient of the mixture is dropped in the centre of each to fill it well. Two bias corners of the paste are then brought together, and afterwards the two remaining corners ; when all are ready, sift granulated sugar over them and bake in a hot oven. Berry Pies. — Instead of sifting a little flour over the fruit to absorb the juice, cracker- crumbs are frequently substituted. Cherry Pie. — Wash and pick the fruit, and place it in a pie-dish lined with a good rich paste ; strew a little sugar over it, and cover it with a light crust. Bake in a quick oven for about three-quarters of an hour. Chocolate Cream Pie. — One quart of milk or sweet cream; quarter of a cake of the finest vanilla chocolate, grated ; six eggs, yolks of all and whites of three; one pint of boiling water ; half a cupful of white sugar ; two coffee-spoonfuls of vanilla. Dissolve the chocolate in a very little milk, stir into the boiling water, and boil three minutes; when nearly cold beat up with this the yolks of all the eggs and the whites of three; Cocoanut Pie Custard Pie