Jewish Cook Book - Desserts

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Boiled custard
Take two cups of milk, two eggs or the yolks of three eggs, two tablespoons of sugar and one-half teaspoon of vanilla. Put the milk on to heat in a double boiler. Beat the eggs thoroughly with the sugar; into them pour the hot milk, stirring to prevent lumps. Return all to the double boiler and cook until the custard coats the spoon, but no longer. If the mixture should curdle, set the boiler in a pan of cold water and beat with a wire egg-beater until smooth. When the steam passes off add the vanilla, or other flavoring.

In the winter, when eggs are expensive, the custard may be made with one egg and one heaping teaspoon of cornstarch dissolved in a little cold milk.

If desired, the whites of the eggs may be beaten separately and added to the custard after it is cold or beaten with sugar into a meringue.

Caramel custard
Melt one-half cup of sugar until it is light brown in color, add four cups of scalded milk. Beat the eggs, add the milk and sugar, one-quarter teaspoon of salt, one teaspoon of vanilla and bake in cups as directed for cup custard. Serve with caramel sauce.

Cup custard for six
Stir until quite light four eggs, yolks and whites, and four tablespoons of sugar; have ready four cups of scalded milk; mix, add pinch of salt and one teaspoon of good vanilla; pour into cups and place cups into pan of boiling water. Put into oven and bake exactly twenty-five minutes.

Chocolate custard
Beat yolks of three eggs, three tablespoons of sugar till light, dissolve one heaping tablespoon of grated unsweetened chocolate, one tablespoon of sugar and one of hot water. When dissolved, add slowly one pint of milk heated to boiling, pour this hot mixture over the beaten eggs and sugar, cook in double boiler, stirring constantly till it thickens; when cool, flavor with vanilla, and place on ice. When ready to serve, half-fill small punch glasses with the custard, heap over them sweetened whipped cream, flavored; putting on top of each glass, and serve cold.

Chocolate cornstarch pudding
Take one quart of milk, one and one-half cups of sugar, seven heaping tablespoons of cocoa, six level tablespoons of cornstarch, one tablespoon of vanilla; place milk and sugar up to boil, when boiling, add cocoa, dissolved to a smooth paste; then add cornstarch dissolved in cold water, let come to a boil, remove from fire and add the vanilla; then place in mold and allow to get cold. Serve with whipped cream.

Blanc mange
Heat one quart of milk to boiling point. Dissolve four large tablespoons of cornstarch in a quarter cup of cold milk. Beat two whole eggs with one-half cup of sugar until light, and add a tiny pinch of salt. When the milk begins to boil, add a piece of butter, size of a hickory nut, then pour it over the well-beaten eggs and sugar, mix well, and put back on the stove. Stir until it begins to boil, then stir in the dissolved cornstarch until the custard is very thick. Remove from the fire, flavor with vanilla or lemon, pour into a mold, and set on ice till very cold and firm. Serve with cream.

Floating island
Beat light the yolks of three eggs with one-quarter cup of sugar. Scald a pint of milk, beat up the whites of three eggs very stiff and put them into the boiling milk, a spoonful at a time. Take out the boiled whites and lay them on a platter; now pour the hot milk gradually on the beaten yolks, when thoroughly mixed, return to the fire to boil. When it begins to thicken remove. When cool, flavor with vanilla or bitter almond. Pour into a deep glass dish; put the whites on top, and garnish with jelly or candied fruit. Eat cold.

Red raspberry or currant float
Take a half-pint glass of red raspberry or currant juice and mix it with a quarter cup of sugar. Beat the whites of four eggs to a stiff froth and add gradually a quarter cup of powdered sugar. Press the raspberries through a strainer to avoid seeds and by degrees beat the juice with the sugar and eggs until so stiff that it stands in peaks. Chill it thoroughly and serve in a glass dish half filled with cold whipped cream. Heap on the mixture by the spoonful, like floating island. If currant juice is used it will require a pint of sugar.

Rothe gritze
Take one cup of currant juice, sufficiently sweetened, and a pinch of salt. Let this boil and add to it enough cornstarch to render it moderately thick and then boil again for ten minutes. It should be eaten cold with cream. (About one-quarter cup of cornstarch dissolved in cold water will be sufficient to thicken.)

Apple snow
Peel and grate one large sour apple, sprinkling over it three-fourths cup of powdered sugar as it is grated to keep it from turning dark. Add the unbeaten whites of two eggs; beat constantly for half an hour; arrange mound fashion on a glass dish with cold boiled custard around it.

Bohemian cream
Stir together and whip one pint of double cream and one pint of grape juice or grape jelly melted, this must be whipped to a froth. Drain if needed. Put in cups and set on ice for several hours. Serve with lady lingers.

Prune whip
Soak one-half pound of prunes in cold water overnight. In the morning let them simmer in this water until they are very soft. Remove stones and rub through strainer. Add one-half cup of sugar and cook five minutes or until the consistency of marmalade. When the fruit mixture is cold, add the well-beaten whites of three eggs and one-half teaspoon of lemon juice; add this gradually, then heap lightly in buttered dish and bake twenty minutes in a slow oven. Serve cold with thin custard or cream.

Rice custard
Beat four eggs light with one cup of sugar. Add one cup of cooked rice, two cups of sweet milk, juice and rind of one lemon, one-half teaspoon of cinnamon. Pour in pudding-pan and place in a pan filled with hot water; bake until firm in moderate oven. Serve with lemon sauce.

Prune custard
Heat a little more than a pint of sweet milk to the boiling point, then stir in gradually a little cold milk in which you have rubbed smooth a heaping tablespoon of butter and a little nutmeg. Let this just come to a boil, then pour into a buttered pudding-dish, first adding one cup of stewed prune with the stones taken out. Bake for fifteen to twenty minutes, according to the state of oven. A little cream improves it when it is served in the saucers.

Tapioca custard
Soak four tablespoons of tapioca overnight in one quart of sweet milk. In the morning beat the yolks of three eggs with one cup of sugar. Put the milk and tapioca on in a double boiler, adding a pinch of salt; when this comes to boiling point stir in the eggs and sugar. Beat the whites to a stiff froth and stir quickly and delicately into the hot mixture. Flavor with vanilla. Eat cold.

Whipped cream
To one pint of rich thick cream add one-quarter of a pound of powdered sugar and one-half teaspoon of vanilla.

Put in a large platter in a cool place and whip with a wire egg-whip until perfectly smooth and velvety. Set on ice until wanted. In the summer set the cream on ice before whipping. A good plan is to set the bowl in another one filled with ice while whipping.

Dessert with whipped cream
Line the edges of a mold or a large glass dish with lady fingers and fill up with whipped cream. Ornament with macaroons and candied fruit. Serve cold.

Ambrosia
Cut up into small pieces different kinds of fruit; then chop up nuts and marshmallows (not too fine). Mix these and sugar, not allowing it to draw too much juice. Flavor with sherry, if you like. Serve individually, putting whipped cream on the top with a cherry.

Macaroon island
Fill a glass bowl with alternate layers of macaroons and lady fingers, sprinkle a layer of finely-chopped nuts over the cake, then a layer of crystallized cherries.

Boil one cup of wine, one cup of sugar and one-half cup of water together until syrupy and thick, pour it over the contents of the bowl, let this cool, then place a thick layer of thickly-whipped sweetened and flavored cream over all. Serve very cold.

Pistachio cream
Take out the kernels of half a pound of pistachio nuts and pound them in a mortar with one tablespoon of brandy. Put them in a double boiler with a pint of rich cream and add gradually the yolks of three eggs, well beaten. Stir over the fire until it thickens and then pour carefully into a bowl, stirring as you do so and being careful not to crack the bowl. (Put a silver spoon into the bowl before pouring in the cream, as this will prevent it cracking). When cold, stick pieces of the nuts over the cream and serve.

Tipsy pudding
Cut stale sponge cake into thin slices, spread with jelly or preserves, put two pieces together like sandwiches and lay each slice or sandwich on the plate on which it is to be served. Wet each piece with wine, pour or spread a tablespoon of rich custard over each piece of pudding, and then frost each piece with a frosting and put in a moderate oven for a few minutes. Eat cold.

Apple and lady-finger pudding
Core and peel apples, take top off, chop the top with almonds, citron and raisins; butter your pan, fill apples, sugar them and pour over a little wine, bake until tender; when cool add four yolks of eggs beaten with one cup of sugar, then last, add beaten whites and eight lady fingers rolled, and juice of one whole lemon; pour over apples, bake. Eat cold.

Fig dessert
Soak two cups white figs overnight. In the morning boil slowly until tender, add two cups of sugar and boil until a thick syrup is formed. Line a dish with sponge cake or lady fingers; pour the figs in the centre and cover with whipped cream that has been sweetened and flavored. Decorate with candied cherries or angelica.

Strawberries à la "bridge"
Into a champagne-glass put large strawberries, halved and sugared, and an equal amount of marshmallows halved. Place on top a mass of whipped cream, already sweetened and flavored then a single strawberry, sprinkle with shelled pecans.

Queen of trifles
Make a rich custard of four eggs, one cup of granulated sugar and one quart of milk to which has been added one teaspoon of cornstarch. Let this cook in double boiler, stirring constantly, until the custard is very thick. Cool.

Soak one-half pound of macaroons in sherry wine, blanch and chop one-quarter pound of almonds, cut fine one-quarter pound of dried figs; one-quarter pound of crystallized cherries and one-half pound of lady fingers are required as well.

Line a deep glass bowl with the lady fingers cut in half, add macaroons, fruit and almonds in layers until all are used. Then pour the boiled custard over all. Set on ice and when cold, fill the bowl with whipped cream that has been sweetened and flavored with vanilla. Decorate with a few cherries.

Ice-box cake
One-half cup of butter creamed with one-half cup of confectioner's sugar, three whole eggs added, one at a time, beat these all for twenty minutes, add one-half pound of chopped nuts, one tablespoon mocha essence or one square of bitter chocolate melted, or one teaspoon of vanilla.

Grease a spring form, put two dozen lady fingers around the edge, at the bottom put one dozen macaroons, then add the filling and let this all stand for twenty-four hours in ice-box. When ready to serve, pour one-half pint of cream, whipped, over all and serve.

Auflauf
Boil one cup of milk and when boiling stir in quickly one-half cup of sifted flour and work smooth until all lumps are out and it is the consistency of soft mashed potatoes. Stir all the while over fire. When smooth remove from stove and while yet warm break in, one by one, yolks of three eggs, a pinch of salt, then the beaten whites of three eggs. Bake in well-buttered hot square pans, in very hot oven, from fifteen to twenty minutes. Serve as soon as done with jelly or preserves. If batter is not thick enough a little more flour must be added to the milk.

Lemon puffs
Beat the yolks of four eggs until very light, add the stiffly-beaten whites and then stir in two cups of milk, add a pinch of salt, three tablespoons of fresh butter melted, and five level tablespoons of flour that have been wet with a little of the milk from the pint, stir well together and divide equally between cups. Butter the cups before pouring in the mixture. Bake in hot oven until brown (generally twenty minutes). Turn out carefully in the dish in which they are to be served, and pour over them the following:

Lemon sauce
Put on to boil one and one-half cups of water with juice of two lemons, sweeten to taste, add a few small pieces of cinnamon bark; when boiling stir in three teaspoons of cornstarch that have been dissolved in a little cold water. Boil a few minutes, then pour over the well-beaten yolks of two eggs, stirring all the time. Stir in stiffly-beaten whites of eggs, and pour over and around puffs when cold. Serve cold.

Leaf puffs
Cream one cup of butter until soft, add two cups of sifted flour, mix well, and add just enough sweet cream to make a nice dough, not too soft. Roll thin, cut in long strips or squares, bake in long pans in a moderately hot oven. When light brown, draw to the door of the oven, sprinkle with powdered sugar and let stand a few minutes longer in the oven.

Sago pudding with strawberry juice
Prepare one cup berry juice and sweeten to taste. Have ready a scant half teacup of sago soaked one hour in water enough to cover. Boil the sago in the fruit juice until thick like jelly. Beat up the whites of two eggs and add to the sago while hot and remove immediately from the stove. Mold and serve with cream or berry juice.

This mold can be made with any kind of fruit juice preferred

Apple tapioca pudding
Soak three-quarter cup of tapioca and boil it in one quart of water until clear, sweetening to taste. Pare and core six apples and place them in a baking dish. Fill the cores with sugar, pour the tapioca around them and grate a little nutmeg over the top. Cover and bake until the apples are soft Serve with cream.

Rhubarb pudding
Grate some stale rye bread and take a bunch of rhubarb; cut fine without peeling, put the cut rhubarb in a pan with a big pinch of baking-soda, and pour boiling water over to cover. While that is steeping, grate the rye bread and butter pudding-form well, and put crumbs all over the pan about one-quarter inch deep, then add one-half the rhubarb that has been well drained of the water; season with brown sugar, cinnamon, nuts and any other seasoning you like; then some more crumbs, and other one-half of rhubarb, and season as before the top crumbs, put flakes of butter all over top; bake until done.

Scalloped peaches
Pare a number of peaches and put them whole into a baking-tin, together with layers of bread crumbs and sugar and add a few cloves. Bake until the top is brown. Serve with hot butter sauce or cream.

Chestnut pudding
Boil one pound of chestnuts fifteen minutes. Shell and skin them, then put back on stove with a cup of milk and boil till tender. Rub through a colander. Butter a mold, line it with the pulp, then add a layer of apple sauce that has been colored with currant jelly, then another layer of chestnuts, and again apple sauce. Squeeze lemon juice over all, and bake in a moderate oven. Turn out on a platter and serve with whipped cream colored with currant jelly.

Farina pudding with peaches
To one quart of milk add one-half cup of farina, salt, and a small piece of butter. Boil in a double boiler until thick. Beat the yolks of four eggs with four tablespoons of white sugar, and add this just before taking off the fire. Stir it thoroughly, but do not let it boil any more. Flavor with vanilla. Beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth with pulverized sugar. After the eggs have been whipped, butter a pudding dish, put in part of the custard, in which you have mixed the whites (If you have any extra whites of eggs beat and use them also), then a layer of stewed or canned peaches; cover with the remaining custard and bake. Eat with rum sauce.

Farina pudding, No. 2
One and one-half pints of milk with nine level tablespoons of sugar, five bitter and five sweet almonds chopped fine, brought to boiling point, and twelve level tablespoons of farina dropped in slowly and stirred constantly. Cook for twelve minutes, add vanilla to taste, then add slowly the beaten whites of five eggs. Put it in a form and when cold serve with a fruit sauce.

Rice pudding
To three cups of milk, add half a cup of rice, which you have previously scalded with hot water. Boil in a double boiler until quite soft. Beat the yolks of three eggs with three tablespoons of white sugar, add this just before taking it off the fire. Stir it thoroughly with a wooden spoon, but do not let it boil any more. Add salt to the rice while boiling, and flavor with vanilla. Beat the whites of the eggs with powdered sugar to a stiff froth, and after putting the custard into the pudding dish in which you wish to serve it, spread with the beaten whites and let it brown slightly in the oven.

Prune pudding
Take one quart of milk, one teaspoon of salt, one cup of sugar and two well-beaten eggs. Heat this and then pour in slowly one cup of cream of wheat or farina, stirring constantly. Boil fifteen minutes; then butter a deep pudding dish and put in a layer of stewed prunes—that have been cut up in small pieces with a scissors; on the bottom, over this, pour a layer of the above, alternating in this order until all has been used. Bake ten minutes in a hot oven. Plain cream, not whipped or sweetened, is a delicious sauce for this.

Brown betty
Pare, quarter, core and slice four medium-sized apples. Melt one-quarter cup of butter and pour it with the juice of half a lemon over one cup of bread crumbs. Mix one-half teaspoon of cinnamon, grated rind of one-half lemon and one-quarter cup of sugar together. Butter a baking dish; put in alternate layers of apple and bread crumbs, sprinkling the apples with the sugar mixture, and making the last layer of crumbs. Pour one-quarter cup of boiling water on before adding the last layer of crumbs; cover and bake for thirty minutes or until the apples are soft; then uncover and brown the crumbs. Serve with cream or with soft custard or lemon sauce. If desired for a meat meal, substitute chicken-fat for butter and use lemon sauce.

Apple and honey pudding
Take four cups of raw apples cut in small pieces, two cups of bread crumbs, one-half cup of hot water, two teaspoons of butter, two teaspoons of cinnamon, one-half cup of honey. Put a layer of the apple in a well-buttered pudding dish; then a layer of crumbs. Mix the honey and hot water. Pour part of this over the crumbs, sprinkle with cinnamon and dot with a few bits of butter. Fill the dish with alternate layers of apples, crumbs, honey, etc., having a layer of crumbs on top. Cover and bake forty-five minutes. Serve with cream.

Queen bread pudding
Take one cup of grated bread crumbs, soak it in one pint of sweet milk; then break three eggs; separate the whites, add to the yolks one cup of sugar and a small piece of butter; beat it well, and squeeze the bread crumbs out of the milk, and add this to the yolks and flavor with vanilla. Grease the pans with butter, put the mixture in the pan, and pour the milk over it; set in the oven to bake until nearly dry, then add a layer of fresh fruit (apricots or peaches are the best or strawberry preserves); add the whites of eggs that were beaten stiff. Serve cold with cream or milk. This can also be served hot.

Bread pudding
Soak one and one-half cups of bread crumbs in a pint of sweet milk for half an hour; separate the whites and yolks of two eggs, setting the whites in a cool place until needed. Beat the yolks with a half cup of sugar and add the grated peel of one lemon and stir into the bread crumbs. Put in some raisins and pour into a greased pudding dish and bake in a moderate oven, about half an hour. Beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth, adding half a cup of powdered sugar; and spread this on top of pudding and return to the oven and brown delicately. May be eaten hot or cold, with jelly sauce or whipped cream. Stale cake of any kind may be used instead of bread; and ginger bread also is particularly nice, adding raisins and citron, and spreading a layer of jelly on the pudding before putting on the icing.

Cornmeal pudding
Bring one pint of milk to the boiling point; pour it gradually on one-half cup of Indian meal, stirring all the while to prevent lumps. When cool add three eggs well beaten, and one tablespoon of flour, one-half cup of sugar, one-half teaspoon of ginger, one teaspoon of cinnamon, pinch of salt and one pint cold milk. Pour into battered pudding dish and bake an hour and a half. Serve with hot maple sugar or cream.

Black bread pudding
Yolks of three eggs beaten with one cup of sugar; add one teaspoon of cinnamon, pinch of cloves, and pinch of allspice; one cup of stale rye bread crumbs added gradually. Mix well and add beaten whites. Bake slowly. Half an hour before serving, add one cup of claret or white wine. Serve with sherry wine sauce or whipped cream.

Dimpes dampes (apple slump)
Mix one-half cup of sugar, one-quarter teaspoon of salt, two cups of flour and gradually two cups of milk to make a smooth batter.

Melt one-half cup or a little less of butter in a large shallow dripping-pan and let it spread all over the pan to grease it well, then pour one-half cup of butter and one quart of sliced apples to the batter. Mix and pour into pan or pans not more than three-quarters of an inch deep and bake in a moderate oven, thirty to forty-five minutes, until a golden brown. This quantity serves ten people.

Bird's nest pudding
Pare four or five large tart apples and cut off the top of each apple to use as a cover. Now scrape out all the inside, being careful not to break the apples; mix scrapings with sugar, cinnamon, raisins, a few pounded almonds and add a little white wine and the grated peel of one lemon. Fill up the apples with this mixture and put back the top of each apple, so as to cover each well. Grease a deep dish, set in the apples and stew a few minutes. In the meantime make a sponge cake batter of four eggs, one cup of pulverized sugar, one cup of flour and pour over the apples and bake one-half hour. Eat warm or cold, with or without sauce.

Plain baked apples can be substituted for the filled apples.

Suet pudding with pears
Take half a pound of suet and chop it to a powder. Soak a loaf of stale bread, squeeze out the water and add to the suet. Work bread and suet well with your hands and add two eggs, one cup of sugar, one teaspoon, of salt, allspice, cloves, cinnamon and grated peel of a lemon. Add flour enough to work into a huge ball; sift two teaspoons of baking-powder in flour. Pare about half a peck of cooking pears and cut in halves, leaving the stems on. Lay half the pears in a large kettle, put the pudding in centre of the pears, and lay the rest of the pears all around. Add sugar, sliced lemon, a few cloves, some cinnamon bark and three tablespoons of syrup. Fill up with cold water and boil half an hour on top of stove. Then bake for at least three hours, adding water if needed.

Corn pudding
Scrape with a knife six ears of green corn, cutting each row through the middle. Add two cups of milk, one-half cup of butter, three eggs—the whites and yolks beaten separately—a little salt and white pepper. Stir the yolks into the milk and corn, pour into a baking dish, stir in the whites and bake one and one-half hours.

Cherry pudding
Scald a pint of crackers or bread crumbs in a quart of boiling milk; add a piece of butter the size of an egg, a good pinch of salt, four eggs, a cup and a half of sugar, a little ground cinnamon and a quart of stoned cherries. Bake in quick oven.

Huckleberry pudding
Sprinkle four tablespoons of flour over one and one-half pints huckleberries and set aside for half an hour. Soak one pint crumbed bread in one quart milk; add three tablespoons of sugar, pinch of salt, and the huckleberries. Put all into a greased pudding dish with flakes of butter on top. Bake forty-five minutes. Serve with hard sauce.

Pudding à la grande belle
This pudding is economical and dainty if nicely made. Brush small molds with butter, fill with crumbed bread and dried English currants. Beat three eggs without separating, add one pint of milk and four tablespoons of sugar. Pour carefully over the bread and let stand five minutes. Place molds in baking-pan of boiling water and bake in the oven thirty minutes, or steam half an hour. Serve with liquid pudding sauce.