Standard Paper-Bag Cookery

Banana Short Cake.—Beat to a cream one-half cupful butter and one of sugar. Add two well-beaten eggs, a pinch of salt and a teaspoonful of baking powder sifted with a pint of flour. Flavor with vanilla. Mix lightly and roll out into a sheet about half an inch thick. Cut into rounds about four inches in diameter, and having brushed each one over with melted butter, pile on top of each other and put in buttered bag. Bake twelve minutes, separate, and spread between the layers a thick filling of sliced bananas flavored with lemon juice and sweetened to taste. Serve with Foamy Sauce.

Peach Short Cake.—Use for this either fresh peaches or canned and make in one large short cake or individual ones which are really nicer in paper bag cookery. For the latter sift together a pint and a half of flour, two tablespoonfuls of salt. Rub in with the tips of the fingers two tablespoonfuls of butter, then add one beaten egg and milk to make a soft dough. Cut out like biscuit, bag and bake in a quick oven. When baked, split in two, spread lightly with butter and fill with the sweetened peaches and whipped cream, a layer of peaches first and cream on top. Cover the little short cakes in the same way, piling up the whipped cream on top.

Rhubarb Short Cake.—Stew rhubarb and sweeten to taste. Make a short cake batter, using one-quarter cupful of butter and a half cupful sugar creamed together, one egg well beaten, one quarter cupful sweet milk and one cupful of flour sifted with one teaspoonful of baking powder. Make in two large layers or individual ones, and bake in paper bag. When done, spread with the rhubarb filling and serve with whipped cream or a cream sauce.

Old Fashioned Strawberry Short Cake.—The real old-fashioned strawberry short cake may be made with sour cream or rich sour milk and soda, or sweet milk and baking powder. Sometimes an egg is added and a tablespoonful of sugar, but it is a far cry from the French strawberry short cake of hotels and restaurants which is really a cake, either sponge or layer, with whole berries between the layers and thick whipped cream or a meringue on top. To make the genuine old-fashioned sour milk biscuit short cake, which is really more tender than that made with sweet milk, put four cups sifted pastry flour in a mixing bowl with a half teaspoonful of salt and mix well. Add three tablespoonfuls of butter and chop fine, using a silver knife. Dissolve a level teaspoonful of soda in a little hot water and stir into a large cupful of sour cream or rich sour milk. When it stops "purring" add a tablespoonful of sugar and one well beaten egg to the milk and turn into the sifted flour. Mix well together with a spatula or flexible knife, handling as little as possible, then turn out on to a floured board. The dough should be soft enough to roll easily. Divide and roll lightly and quickly into two thin sheets. These may be baked separately in well-greased round tins in a paper bag or laid one on top of the other with a thin coating of butter between and baked in one bag. Bake in a very hot oven. When done, separate. Have ready a quart of ripe berries washed, crushed and sugared. This should have been done before beginning the dough, so that the sugar will have time to draw out the rich juice of the berries. Cover the lower half of the short cake with a thick layer of these berries, place the second cake on top and cover with the rest of the crushed and sweetened berries or large whole ones dusted with powdered sugar. Serve with thick cream or a crushed berry sauce.

PUDDINGS.

Almond Pudding.—Blanche one pound of almonds and grind to a smooth paste with two teaspoonfuls of rose water. Add a wine glass of wine and a half cupful of cream thickened with a large spoonful of bread crumbs. Add a half pound of sugar, seven well beaten eggs and a half teaspoonful of grated nutmeg. Put in a thin walled pudding dish, set in bag, seal and bake half an hour.

Apple and Fig Pudding.—Select large tart baking apples, wash and core. Stuff each apple with a fig rolled small as possible or chopped, as preferred. Put in buttered bag and bake slowly until tender, but not broken. Place in a glass dish and cover with a thick boiled custard. Decorate each apple with a candied or Maraschino cherry and serve with sweet wafers.

Banana Pudding.—Beat the yolks of three eggs and whites of two. Add a cupful of sugar, a scant half cupful softened butter, a cupful stale cake crumbs and a cupful of milk. Beat all together well, then add three bananas sliced thin, and the juice of a half lemon. Put into a basin then in a well-buttered bag, seal and bake half an hour, take out, cover with a meringue made from the whipped white of the egg that was left over and a tablespoonful of sugar with a little lemon juice to flavor. Strew a little candied peel over the meringue and set in the oven, which should be quite cool for the meringue to rise slowly and stiffen. Serve with lemon sauce.

Farmer's Plum Pudding.—Put into a basin two cupfuls of flour sifted with two level teaspoonfuls baking powder, a pinch of salt and a level teaspoonful ginger and cinnamon. Add one-half cupful sugar, one cupful chopped suet, one-half cupful each candied peel and currants and raisins. Make to batter consistency with one-half cupful each molasses and milk and one beaten egg. Put in small buttered molds, set in paper bag, pour in enough cold water to come three parts up the sides, seal and bake two hours, reducing the heat of the oven after the first ten minutes. Serve with hard or foamy sauce.

Peach Betty.—Sprinkle a layer of crumbs in a buttered baking dish and over this a layer of peach quarters. Sprinkle with sugar, then repeat a layer of crumbs and peaches and sugar until the dish is filled, having the crumbs on top. Put in buttered bag and bake thirty-five minutes in a moderate oven, and serve with sweetened cream. To prepare the buttered crumbs melt a little butter and pour over the crumbs.

Peach Cobbler.—For this the richest and ripest peaches are none too good. Some variety of the yellow peach is usually chosen because of its superior richness. For its baking a pudding dish at least three and a half inches deep is chosen. This is lined with a rich crust, a square of the dough being taken from the bottom. Now peel enough ripe and luscious peaches to fill the dish, tearing them apart but leaving the pits in to impart their superior flavor. Sweeten abundantly, add about two tablespoonfuls water, and a tablespoonful of butter cut in bits. Cover with a layer of puff paste, sealing it down carefully on the sides to the border, so as to lose none of the juices. Bag and bake in a quick oven for forty-five minutes. When nearly done, draw to the edge of the oven, open the top of the bag, dust with powdered sugar and set back a few moments longer for the crust to glaze. This is perfection, whether eaten hot or cold, serving it alone, with cream or with a hard sauce as preferred.

Peach Roly Poly.—Make a sweet biscuit dough. Roll out thin and spread with a layer of sliced or chopped peaches and roll the dough over as for jelly roll. Put in buttered bag and bake in a moderate oven.

Plum Roly Poly.—Wash and stew any ripe sound plums and remove the pits. If very juicy, drain away the most of the juice. Sweeten to taste. Make a good biscuit dough or puff paste as preferred, roll out in long strips, sprinkle sugar on the upper side, then spread thinly with the stewed plums, roll up and pinch the ends tight. Put in buttered bag and cook thirty minutes. Serve with a sauce made from the extra juice sweetened and slightly thickened with a little cornstarch.

Rye Bread Pudding.—Toast stale rye bread to a golden brown, then roll into fine crumbs. Brush small custard cups or a mould with melted butter, sprinkle over a few currants, raisins, prunes (cut fine) or figs, then fill with crumbs. Beat three eggs without separating until light, add three tablespoonfuls of sugar, a pint of milk (with vanilla or nutmeg to flavor) and pour carefully over the bread crumbs. Let them stand ten minutes, until the mixture has soaked into the crumbs; then set in a paper bag in a pan of cold water and cook like a custard in the oven. It will take about half an hour. Test by slipping the blade of the knife down the side of the bag. If it comes up clear, the pudding is sufficiently baked. Serve hot with lemon or egg sauce or fruit syrup.

Tapioca Apple Pudding.—Soak one cupful tapioca in three pints cold water over night. In the morning put on to boil and cook twenty or thirty minutes, until it looks clear. Add a quart and a half peeled and quartered apples, one cup of sugar, a teaspoonful salt, and lemon juice or extract to flavor. Turn into a buttered dish, put in bag and bake an hour in a moderate oven. When cold serve with cream and sugar.

A White Plum Pudding.—Beat to a cream a half cup of sugar and three-quarters cup of butter. Add four eggs well beaten, a saltspoonful of salt, two cups milk, a quart of flour mixed with one-half cup shredded citron, one-half cup currants, a teaspoonful grated nutmeg and a teaspoonful vanilla. Just before turning into the mould stir in two even tablespoonfuls pure baking powder. Put in bag, surround with water, steam two hours and serve with any good sauce.

PUDDING SAUCES.

Caramel Sauce.—Put one-half cupful of sugar over the fire in a clean, smooth saucepan and stir until it becomes a light brown color. Pour in a half cupful of boiling water, simmer ten minutes, add a tablespoonful of butter and serve with pudding or fritters.

Cornstarch Pudding Sauce.—Beat together one tablespoonful cornstarch, two tablespoonfuls of butter and a half cupful of brown sugar. Set on the stove until heated, then turn in hot water a little at a time and cook until consistency required. Add four tablespoonfuls of grape or apple jelly with spices or other flavoring to taste, and serve hot.

Cream Sauce.—Mix together two tablespoonfuls each of cornstarch and sugar. Add one beaten egg and cook in double boiler until thickened. Add a tablespoonful of butter and flavoring to taste.

Cream Sauce à la Hotel Astor.—Beat together one cupful each sugar and butter until perfectly blended. Add cream until mixture is like thick cream, dust with nutmeg or mace and serve.

Delicious Fruit Sauce for Plum Pudding.—Boil together one cupful of water and two of sugar for ten minutes. Thicken slightly with three level teaspoonfuls arrow root or two teaspoonfuls corn starch mixed with a little cold water, simmer five minutes, then add a half cupful candied cherries, cut in halves and a few pistache nuts quartered. Flavor with nutmeg or vanilla as preferred.

Hard Sauce for Plum Pudding.—Beat one cupful of butter to a cream. Add sugar gradually, two cupfuls in all, beating until very light. Add the whites of two eggs beaten to a stiff dry foam. Arrange on a flat glass dish and grate a little nutmeg over it.

Molasses Sauce.—To make molasses sauce, which is an excellent accompaniment to a plain rice or apple pudding, mix together one cupful of molasses, a tablespoonful of vinegar or the juice of one lemon, a saltspoonful of salt and a tablespoonful of butter. Boil ten minutes.

MENUS AND INDEXES

CHAPTER XXII.

PAPER BAG MENUS FOR SPRING.

PAPER BAG MENUS FOR SUMMER.

PAPER BAG MENUS FOR AUTUMN.

CHAPTER XXIII.

INDEX