Harper's cook book encyclopædia

2^ ozs. of chopped almonds or pistachio nuts, a small quantity of fresh yeast, and as much cream as will make a thick batter. Let the mixture settle, and bake the wafers in the usual way. Wafers, Fruit (for dessert). — Take any kind of ripe, well-flavored fruit. Put it into an earthen jar, cover closely, and set it in a pan of boiling water. Keep the water boiling quickly round it till the juice flows freely from the fruit. Strain it through a jellybag, and with each pint of filtered juice mix i lb. of powdered white sugar and the white of an egg. Beat the mixture till it forms a stiff paste. Spread it in a thin layer upon buttered paper, and bake in a gentle oven till it is dry enough to leave the paper. Turn it upside down, and put it again in the oven until it is perfectly dry. Stamp it in shapes, and place these between sheets of white paper in layers in a tin box. Wafers with Jelly. — Beat % lb. of fresh butter to cream. Add x/2 lb. of powdered sugar, two eggs, well beaten, a quarter of a pint of milk, a table-spoonful of brandy, a tablespoonful of orange-flower water, half a nutmeg, grated, half a teaspoonful of powdered cinnamon, a quarter of a teaspoonful of saleratus dissolved in a little hot water, and as much flour as will make a very thick, smooth batter. Beat the mixture well. Butter a large baking-sheet, and spread the batter upon it in a layer not more than an eighth of an inch thick. Bake in a moderately heated oven till it is set. Cut it in halves ; spread a little jelly upon one half, and lay the other half upon it. When cold, cut it into fingers with a sharp knife. Pile these in a glass dish, and serve. Time to bake the batter, about a quarter of an hour. Waffles. See Bread. Walnut Cake. — One cupful of milk, three-quarters of a cupful of butter. two cupfuls of granulated sugar, three cupfuls of flour, three even teaspoonfuls of baking-powder, three eggs, not quite a'cupful of broken-up English walnuts. Beat butter and sugar together ; beat the milk in slowly ; beat separately the whites and yolks of the eggs ; sift the baking-powder into the flour; add all together, putting the broken nuts in after the batter is thoroughly beaten smooth. Bake in low, square pans. Ice both cakes, and put one cake on top of the other. Divide the icing into squares with the back of a knife, and garnish each square with half a nut laid in its centre. Walnut Cake, English. — This is very ornamental on a table if the icing is skilfully done. Cream thoroughly two cupfuls of sugar and one of butter, then add* five eggs (yolks and whites beaten separately), two - thirds of a cupful of milk, and three cupfuls of flour, in which one teaspoonful of baking - powder has been put before sifting. Beat the mixture well, and just before putting it into the pans stir in two teacupfuls of the kernels of English walnuts broken into quarters. Bake in square or oblong pans. Spread over the top a thick layer of white icing, and when it begins to stiffen draw a sharp knife from end to end in lines about two inches apart, then repeat in the same way across, forming squares, in the centre of which should be placed a half-kernel of the walnut, reserved for the purpose.