Make a short pie-crust; roll it thin and cut it into squares large enough to cover an apple. Select apples of the same size; pare them; remove the core with a corer, and fill the s.p.a.ce with sugar, b.u.t.ter, a little ground cinnamon, and nutmeg. Place an apple in the center of each square of pie-crust; wet the edges with white of egg and fold together, the points meeting on the top; give the edges a pinch and turn, making them fluted. Bake in a moderate oven about forty minutes, or until the apples are tender, but not until they have lost their form. If preferred, the crust may be folded under the apple, leaving it round. It must be well joined, so the juices will not escape. Brush the top with egg, and ten minutes before removing from the oven dust them with a little sugar to give them a glaze.

Serve with hard sauce.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BAKED APPLE DUMPLINGS. (SEE PAGE 429.)]

=APPLE CHARLOTTE=

Cut bread into slices one quarter inch thick; then into strips one and a half inches wide, and as long as the height of the mold to be used; cut one piece to fit the top of mold, then divide it into five or six pieces. b.u.t.ter the mold; dip the slices of bread into melted b.u.t.ter, and arrange them on the bottom and around the sides of the mold, fitting closely together or overlapping. Fill the center entirely full with apple sauce made of tart apples stewed until tender, then broken into coa.r.s.e pieces, drained, and seasoned with b.u.t.ter and sugar. A little apricot jam can be put in the center if desired; chopped almonds also may be added. Cover the top with bread, and bake in a hot oven about thirty minutes. The bread should be an amber color like toast. Turn it carefully onto a flat dish. Serve with a hard sauce or any other sauce preferred.

=APPLES WITH RICE, No. 1=

Boil half a cupful of rice with a saltspoonful of salt in milk until tender; sweeten it to taste; drain it if the milk is not all absorbed; press it into a basin; smooth it over the top; when it has cooled enough to hold the form, turn it onto a flat dish. This will be a socle, and should be about one and a half to two inches high. Pare and core as many apples as will stand on the top of the socle; boil them slowly until tender in sugar and water; remove them before they lose shape.

Boil the sugar and water down to a thick syrup. Arrange the apples on the top of the rice, and pour over them a little of the thickened syrup; then fill the center of each apple with jam; place a candied cherry on each one, and a pointed piece of angelica between each apple. The syrup should give enough sauce, but Richelieu sauce is recommended instead.

Serve hot or cold.

[Ill.u.s.tration: STEWED APPLES ON A RICE SOCLE--GARNISHED WITH CANDIED CHERRIES AND ANGELICA. (SEE PAGE 430.)]

=APPLES WITH RICE, No. 2=

Boil the rice as above; sweeten it and flavor it with a few drops of orange-flower water, almond, or other essence, and mix into it a few chopped blanched almonds. Turn it onto a flat dish, and press it into a mound or cone. Cut some apples of uniform size in halves, cutting from the stem to the blossom; remove the core with a vegetable scoop (see ill.u.s.tration), and pare off the skin carefully; stew the apples slowly until tender, but still firm enough to hold their shape; before removing them add a few drops of carmine to the water, and let them stand until they have become a delicate pink; then drain and place them evenly and upright against the form of rice. Put some meringue in a pastry-bag, and press it in lines or dots around the apples and over the top of the rice, making it as ornamental as desired. Dust it with sugar, and place for one minute in the oven to slightly color the meringue, but not long enough to dry the surface of the apples. Serve with whipped cream, with fruit sauce, Richelieu sauce, or wine sauce.

Whipped cream may be subst.i.tuted for the meringue, in which case place the apples overlapping one another around the rice in wreath shape; flatten the top of the rice, and pile the whipped cream on it. Another form may be made by putting the rice in a border-mold to shape it, filling the center of the rice with a well-seasoned apple puree, and finishing as directed above.

[Ill.u.s.tration: STEWED APPLES CUT IN HALVES AND ARRANGED AROUND A RICE SOCLE--GARNISHED WITH MERINGUE. (SEE PAGE 431.)]

=APPLES WITH CORN-STARCH (Felice)=

Pare and core as many apples as will be used, having them of uniform size. To a quart of water add one half cupful of sugar and the juice of half a lemon; boil the apples in this until tender, but remove them before they lose shape; drain and place them in regular order on the dish in which they are to be served. Boil the water down one half; then stir into it one tablespoonful of corn-starch or arrowroot moistened in a little water; let it cook until the starch is clear; remove from the fire; flavor with lemon, almond, kirsch, or anything preferred; let it stiffen a little; then pour it over the apples; sprinkle with sugar and place in the oven a moment to brown, or, omitting the browning, sprinkle them with green and pink sugar (see page 393), or stick them full of split almonds.

=FLAMING APPLES=

Pare and core the apples; stew them in sugar and water until tender, but still firm enough to hold their shape. Remove them carefully to the serving-dish; fill the centers with apricot or raspberry jam; boil down the liquor to a thick syrup and pour it over the apples; just before serving pour over them a few spoonfuls of rum or brandy, and light it with a taper after it is on the table. Serve with fancy cakes.

=BAKED APPLES=

(FOR BREAKFAST)

Select apples of equal size; wash and polish them; remove the core.

Place them in a baking-tin a little distance apart, and put a little water in the bottom of the pan. Bake in a moderate oven about thirty minutes; baste frequently, so they will not burn or blacken. Serve with sugar and cream.

=BAKED APPLES=

(FOR LUNCHEON)

Pare and core the apples; fill the centers with b.u.t.ter and sugar. Let them bake in a pan with a little water until tender, but still in good shape; baste frequently, letting them become only slightly colored.

After removing from the oven sprinkle them with granulated sugar and a little powdered cinnamon or nutmeg.

=TAPIOCA PUDDING=

Arrange evenly in a b.u.t.tered dish six apples which have been pared and cored. Any other fruit may be used--canned peaches are good. Soak a cupful of tapioca in hot water for an hour or more; sweeten and flavor it to taste and pour it over the fruit. Bake in a moderate oven for an hour.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PUDDING MOLDS.]

RICE PUDDINGS

=PLAIN RICE PUDDING No. 1=

In a pudding-dish holding a quart, put two heaping tablespoonfuls of well-washed rice; fill the dish with milk, and add a half teaspoonful of salt. Let it cook in the oven for half an hour, stirring it two or three times. Take it out and add two tablespoonfuls of sugar and a scant teaspoonful of vanilla; also a half cupful of stoned raisins if desired.

Grate nutmeg over the top; return the dish to the oven and cook slowly for two hours or more; as the milk boils down, lift the skin at the side and add more hot milk. The pudding should be creamy, and this is attained by slow cooking, and by using plenty of milk.

=RICE PUDDING No. 2=

Scald a pint and a half of milk; add a tablespoonful of cornstarch which has been moistened with a little of the cold milk; cook it for a few minutes; then remove it from the fire and stir in three cupfuls of boiled rice, a cupful or more of sugar to taste, and the beaten yolks of two eggs. Return it to the fire and cook it until thickened, stirring constantly but carefully. Turn it into a dish, cover the top with meringue, and place it in the oven for a few minutes to brown.

=RICE AND RAISINS=

Mix with two cupfuls of boiled rice a half or three quarters cupful of raisins. The rice should be boiled as directed on page 222, and the raisins should be soaked in hot water until plump, and the seeds removed. Press the mixture into a bowl to give it shape, and turn it onto a flat dish. Grate nutmeg over the top. Serve with sweetened milk a little flavored with vanilla or almond, or only nutmeg.

For Lemon Rice Pudding, see page 242.

For Rice and Orange Marmalade Pudding, see page 242.

BREAD PUDDINGS

=BREAD PUDDING No. 1=

2 cupfuls of milk.

1 cupful of bread-crumbs or broken bread.

1 tablespoonful of sugar.

2 egg-yolks.

1 egg-white.

1/2 teaspoonful of vanilla.