Ingredients. - Six or eight apples, two tablespoonfuls of moist sugar, four tablespoonfuls, of sherry, eight cloves, four whites of eggs, castor sugar, one pound of short crust.

Method. - Peel, core, and cut each apple into eight sections, place them in a stewpan, add the cloves and sherry, cover closely, stand the stewpan in a tin containing boiling water, and cook until tender, but not sufficiently so as to break easily. Meanwhile line a six-inch diameter flan or paste-ring with paste rolled out to about a quarter of an inch in thickness, fill it with rice, placed on an interlining of buttered paper, and bake in a quick oven. When done, remove the rice and paper, fill with the apples, arranged in a pyramid, strain the juice (if any) over them, and sprinkle well with sugar. Whip the whites of eggs to a stiff froth, spread it lightly over the apples, dredge well with castor sugar, and bake in a cool oven until lightly-browned. Serve either hot or cold.

There are two ways of making a flan without the aid of a ring. The first is by means of a round cake-tin. The tin is placed in the center of the rolled-out paste, which is cut round, leaving a margin of about one inch, to be afterwards raised and molded to the shape of the tin. Before removing the tin, a narrow-folded band of greased paper must be pinned lightly round this raised border. In the second method, the bottom is cut out to the required size, and a narrow strip of paste fastened to the edge of it by means of white of egg. A band of paper must support the border; and in both cases the inside should be filled with rice before baking.