1310. Apricot Nougats

Roll out some trimmings of puff-paste to the thickness of the eighth of an inch ; lay this all over the surface of a baking-sheet, spread it with a rather thick layer of apricot-jam, and then strew some shred pistachio kernels or Jordan almonds over this, shake some finely-sifted sugar over all, and bake them in a very moderately-heated oven. •When done, allow the pastry to cool, and then use any kind of fancy tin-cutter to stamp them out.

1311. Pastry Custard, Or Cream

Ingredients: - Four ounces of flour, four ounces of sugar, six yolks of eggs, two ounces of butter, one pint of cream or milk, one ounce of ratafias, a spoonful of orange-flower-water, and a very little salt.

Mix the flour, sugar, and salt with two whole eggs, in a stewpan with a wooden spoon; then add the cream and the butter, and stir the whole over the stove-fire until it boils; it must then be well worked together, so as to make it smooth. Withdraw the spoon, and after putting the lid on the stewpan, place the cream in the oven, or on a slow stove-fire partially smothered with ashes, that it may continue to simmer very gently for about twenty minutes: the cream must then be put out into a basin, and the bruised ratafias, the yolks of eggs, and the orange-flower-water must be added; after which put four ounces of butter into a small stewpan on the fire, and as soon as it begins to fritter, and has acquired a light-brown color (which gives to it the sweet flavor of nuts), add this also to the cream, and let the whole be well mixed.

Use this cream to garnish various kinds of pastry, according to directions given in the several articles for which it is intended.

1312. Talmouses

Ingredients required: Half a pint of milk, four ounces of flour, two ounces of sugar, two ounces of butter, six ounces of cream-cord, the rind of an orange rubbed on sugar, a very little salt, and half a pound of puff-paste.

Put the milk, butter, sugar, and salt, into a stewpan on a stove-fire, and as soon as these begin to simmer, fill in the flour by stirring the whole with a wooden spoon for two or three minutes over the fire; then add the curd (from which all the superfluous moisture must be extracted by pressing it in a napkin), and work in the eggs one after the other, remembering that this paste must be kept to about the same substance as for petits-choux.

Make half a pound of puff-paste, and give it nine turns ; roll this out to the eighth of an inch in thickness, stamp out about two dozen circular pieces with a tin-cutter a bont two inches in diameter, and place them in neat order on a baking-sheet about an inch apart from each other; then place a good tea-spoonful of the preparation described above, in the centre of each, wet these round the edges, and then turn up the sides so as to form each of them in the shape of a three-cornered hat; egg them over with a paste-brush, bake them of a light-brown color, and when they are withdrawn from the oven, shake some fine sugar over them. These cakes may be served either hot or cold.