Collection of Old British Dessert Pie,Pastry [Paste], Tart, & Pie Filling Recipes

This is a collection of very old dessert or sweet pie recipes intended for serving as pudding or dessert. Most of these recipes are from the Edwardian, Victorian, Georgian, & Stuart Eras but were probably in existence for at least a century before that. I will be adding even older historical pie recipes in due course.

You can use shop-bought puff pastry or shortcrust pastry for these recipes if you do not wish to prepare your own at home. It can be so much fun recreating old Victorian, recipes in modern times. Since these recipes used everyday ingredients, it can be very budget-friendly to use old recipes.

Do let us know if you bake one of these pies. I will be trying out some of the recipes and will post a photo and a few comments, under the particular recipe, in case that may be useful for you!

If you are looking for a particular recipe for an old dessert pie, do ask, and I will do my best to scour the old recipe books to find it.

A HANDBOOK OF COOKERY FOR A SMALL HOUSE BY JESSIE CONRAD [1923]
The Healthy Life Cook Book by Florence Daniel [Second Edition, 1915]
Victorian Dessert Pie Recipes from Fast Day Cookery or Meals Without Meat by Grace Johnston [1893]
- Currant and Apple Tart.
- Pumpkin Tart.
MODERN COOKERY FOR PRIVATE FAMILIES (New Edition) by ELIZA ACTON [1882]
- TO GLAZE OR ICE PASTRY
CREAM CRUST. (Authors Receipt. Very good.)
Victorian Dessert Pie Recipes from Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management [1861]
The Lady’s Own Cookery Book, And New Dinner-Table Directory; In which will be found A LARGE COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL RECEIPTS, Including not only THE RESULT OF THE AUTHERESS’S MANY YEARS OBSERVATION, EXPERIENCE, AND RESEARCH, but also the CONTRIBUTIONS OF AN EXTENSIVE CIRCLE OF ACQUAINTANCE: Adapted to the use of PERSONS LIVING IN THE HIGHEST STYLE, as well as those of MODERATE FORTUNE. [1844]
Georgian Pie Recipes from The Art of Cookery Made Easy and Refined By John Mollard, Cook, [1802]
Stuart Era Pie Recipes from The Accomplisht Cook, or The Art & Mystery of Cookery [1685]

A HANDBOOK OF COOKERY FOR A SMALL HOUSE BY JESSIE CONRAD [1923]

General Remarks

For Tarts the fruit of all kinds must always be cooked first by itself.

Bottled fruits should also be brought to a boil with sugar before being put into the pastry, except for baked apple dumplings.

Pastry for Pies and Tarts

Three breakfast-cupfuls of self-raising flour, a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, and two ounces of lard. Work the butter and lard into the flour with a good pinch of salt and mix to a smooth elastic paste with milk (sour milk may be used with advantage). Roll the paste on the board about half an inch thick. Rub a little butter lightly round the rim of the dish and put a border of paste round it.

Brush a little milk on the top of that to allow the other crust to stick to it. Roll out an amount of paste sufficient to form a crust over the top, press the edges well together, allowing plenty of room in the paste so that it does not slip off at the edges.

Pare with a floured knife round the rim the edges of the pastry and cook for three quarters of an hour in a brisk oven.

Plums or Damsons for a Tart or as Stewed Fruit

Carefully look over one pound of plums or damsons, removing any unsound ones. Put them into an earthenware saucepan with a teacupful of cold water and two teacupfuls of sugar to the plums or three teacupfuls to the damsons. Stew for one hour the damsons, or forty minutes the plums.

Stewed Gooseberries [for a pie]

Carefully pick a quart of gooseberries, discarding the unsound ones. Put them into an earthenware saucepan with a teacupful of cold water and three teacupfuls of sugar. Boil for about an hour, stirring now and then to prevent them from burning. Serve either as stewed fruit or for a pie.

Stewed Rhubarb [for a pie]

Remove the leaves and cut the other end of the rhubarb crosswise and skin it. Cut it into pieces of about two inches long. Put it into a saucepan (either earthenware or enamelled) and allow a small teacupful of sugar to each three or four sticks of rhubarb. Add half a teacupful of water, put over a brisk fire for forty minutes, when the rhubarb should attain a rich red colour. This can be used either as stewed rhubarb or put into a pie.

Apple Tart

Take about six apples and pare finely. Do not core them but cut them in slices round the core. Put a teacupful of powdered sugar in a stone saucepan. Add a very little cold water. Stew gently for half an hour to three-quarters and turn into a pie-dish. Pastry as recipe below. Fresh fruit is always better cooked first before putting into the pastry.

Jam Tarts

A breakfast-cupful and a half of self-raising flour, three ounces of fresh butter, a well-beaten egg, and a little salt. Mix these ingredients with milk into a stiff paste. Roll it very thin and have ready a plate greased with hot butter and when cool lay a thin layer of pastry on the plate, rub a little milk round the rim and spread the jam over it not too thick.

Cut some pastry in thin strips and lay across like the spokes of a wheel. Bake in a quick oven for twenty minutes. Be careful the jam is not too juicy.

The Healthy Life Cook Book by Florence Daniel [Second Edition, 1915]

FRUIT NUT FILLING.

For small, open tarts, the following mixture is a good substitute for the lemon curd that goes to make cheese cakes. Peel, core and quarter some juicy apples. Put in a double saucepan (or covered jar) with some strips of lemon peel (yellow part only) and cane sugar to taste. Cook slowly to a pulp and, when cold, remove the lemon rind. Grate finely, or mill some Brazil nuts. Mix apple pulp and ground nut together in such proportions as to make a mixture of the consistency of stiff jam. Fill tarts with mixture and sprinkle top with ground nut. It must be used the same day as made.

APPLE SANDWICH.

Make a short crust (see recipe). Well grease some shallow jam sandwich tins. Roll out the paste very thin and line with it the tins. Peel, core, and finely chop some good, juicy apples. Spread well all over the paste. Sprinkle with castor sugar and grated lemon rind. Cover with another layer of thin paste. Bake for about 20 minutes in a hot oven. When done, take carefully out of the tin to cool. Cut into wedges, sprinkle with castor sugar, and pile on a plate.

APPLE DUMPLINGS. [whole apples baked or boiled with a short crust pastry jacket]

Peel and core some good cooking apples, but keep them whole. If you have no apple-corer, take out as much of the core as possible with a pointed knife-blade. Fill the hole with sugar and a clove.

Make short paste [see recipe below] and cut into squares. Fold neatly round and over apple. Bake from 30 to 45 minutes.

If preferred boiled, tie each dumpling loosely in a cloth, put into boiling water and cook from 45 minutes to 1 hour.

SHORT CRUST.

1/2 lb. flour, 3 ozs. nutter or butter.

Rub the nutter or butter lightly into the flour. Add enough cold water to make a fairly stiff paste. Roll it out to a 1/4 inch thickness. It is now ready for use.

PUFF PASTE.

1/2 lb. fresh-butter or 6 ozs. Mapleton’s nutter, 1 yolk of egg or 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 1/2 lb. flour.

If butter is used, wrap it in a clean cloth and squeeze well to get rid of water. Beat the yolk of egg slightly. Put the flour on the paste board in a heap. Make a hole in the centre and put in the yolk of egg or lemon juice, and about 1 tablespoon of water. The amount of water will vary slightly according to the kind of flour, and less will be required if egg is used instead of lemon juice, but add enough to make a rather stiff paste. Mix lightly with the fingers and knead until the paste is nice and workable. But do it quickly!

Next, roll out the paste to about 1/4 inch thickness. Put all the butter or nutter in the centre of this paste and wrap it up neatly therein. Stand in a cool place for 15 minutes. Next, roll it out once, and fold it over, roll it out again and fold it over. Do this lightly. Put it away again for 15 minutes. Repeat this seven times! (I do not think many food-reformers will have the time or inclination to repeat the above performance often. Speaking for myself, I have only done it once. But as no instructions about pastry are supposed to be complete without a recipe for puff-paste, I include it.) It is now ready for use.

Do not forget to keep the board and pin well floured, or the pastry will stick. If wholemeal flour is used, it is well to have white flour for the board and pin. See also that the nutter is the same consistency as ordinary butter when kept in a medium temperature. If too hard, it must be cut up and slightly warmed. If oily, it must be cooled by standing tin in very cold water.

Victorian Dessert Pie Recipes from Fast Day Cookery or Meals Without Meat by Grace Johnston [1893]

Currant and Apple Tart.

Make a nice short crust of Coombs’ Eureka Flour, thus—half a pound of flour, three ounces of butter, one egg well beaten, a pinch of salt, and one teaspoon of castor sugar. Make it into a nice dough with milk. Put in a pie dish one layer of dry currants well washed and picked, a little grated lemon peel, and a few drops of lemon juice, then a spoonful of treacle and a few very fine bread crumbs, then a layer of sliced fresh apples, and again the currants, and so on till the dish is full. Cover with the paste rolled thin, and ornament prettily on the top with the paste nicely cut out, etc., etc. Bake a nice golden brown, and when a little cool sprinkle castor sugar over the top. Serve with a nice custard or cream.

Pumpkin Tart.

Make a puff paste of Coombs’ Eureka Flour, and line a nice sized shallow tin pan with it. Grease the pan well; prick the paste to prevent it blistering; bake a nice colour and turn out of the pan. Fill up with a mixture made thus—boil one pound of nice ripe yellow pumpkin till soft; pass it through a sieve. Add to it half a pound of sugar, the grated rind of a small lemon, the strained juice of a lemon, the strained juice of an orange, a few cloves. Boil till it looks nice and clear; take out the cloves, and fill the mixture into the paste case. Cover over neatly with well whipped cream, and sprinkle over the top some chopped pistachio nuts.

MODERN COOKERY FOR PRIVATE FAMILIES (New Edition) by ELIZA ACTON [1882]

TO GLAZE OR ICE PASTRY

The best mode of icing fruit-tarts before they are sent to the oven is, to moisten the paste with cold water, to sift sugar thickly upon it, and to press it lightly on with the hand; but when a whiter icing is preferred, the pastry must be drawn from the oven when nearly baked, and brushed with white of egg, wisked to a froth; then well covered with the sifted sugar, and sprinkled with a few drops of water before it is put in again: this glazing answers also very well, though it takes a slight colour, if used before the pastry is baked.

CREAM CRUST. (Authors Receipt. Very good.)

Stir a little fine salt into a pound of dry flour, and mix gradually with it sufficient very thick, sweet cream to form a smooth paste; it will be found sufficiently good for common family dinners, without the addition of butter; but to make an excellent crust, roll in four ounces in the usual way, after having given the paste a couple of turns. Handle it as lightly as possible in making it, and send it to the oven as soon as it is ready: it may be used for fruit tarts, cannelons, puffs, and other varieties of small pastry, or for good meat pies. Six ounces of butter to the pound of flour will give a very rich crust.
Flour, 1 lb.; salt, 1 small saltspoonful (more for meat pies); rich cream, 1/2 to 3/4 pint; butter, 4 oz.; for richest crust, 6 oz.

VERY RICH SHORT CRUST FOR TARTS.

Break lightly, with the least possible handling, six ounces of butter into eight of flour; add a dessertspoonful of pounded sugar, and two or three of water; roll the paste, for several minutes, to blend the ingredients well, folding it together like puff-crust, and touch it as little as possible.

Flour, 8 oz.; butter, 6 oz.; pounded sugar, 1 dessertspoonful; water, 1 to 2 spoonsful.

EXCELLENT SHORT CRUST FOR SWEET PASTRY.

Crumble down very lightly half a pound of butter into a pound of flour, breaking it quite small. Mix well with these a slight pinch of salt and two ounces of sifted sugar, and add sufficient milk to make them up into a very smooth and somewhat firm paste. Bake this slowly, and keep it pale. It will be found an admirable crust if well made and lightly handled, and will answer for many dishes much better than puff-paste. It will rise in the oven too, and be extremely light. Ten ounces of butter will render it very rich, but we find eight quite sufficient.

BRIOCHE PASTE.

The brioche is a rich, light kind of unsweetened bun or cake, very commonly sold, and served to all classes of people in France, where it is made in great perfection by good cooks and pastry cooks. It is fashionable now at English tables, though in a different form, serving principally as a crust to enclose rissoles, or to make cannelons and fritters.

We have seen it recommended for a vol-au-vent, for which we should say it does not answer by any means so well as the fine puff-paste called feuilletage. The large proportion of butter and eggs which it contains render it to many persons highly indigestible; and we mention this to warn invalids against it, as we have known it to cause great suffering to persons out of health. To make it, take a couple of pounds[114] of fine dry flour, sifted as for cakes, and separate eight ounces of this from the remainder to make the leaven.

Put it into a small pan, and mix it lightly into a lithe paste, with half an ounce of yeast, and a spoonful or two of warm water; make two or three slight incisions across the top, throw a cloth over the pan, and place it near the fire for about twenty minutes to rise. In the interval make a hollow space in the centre of the remainder of the flour, and put into it half an ounce of salt, as much fine sifted sugar, and half a gill of cream, or a dessertspoonful of water; add a pound of butter as free from moisture as it can be, and quite so from large grains of salt; cut it into small bits, put it into the flour, and pour on it one by one six fresh eggs freed from the specks; then with the fingers work the flour gently into this mass until the whole forms a perfectly smooth, and not stiff paste: a seventh egg, or the yolk of one, or even of two, may be added with advantage if the flour will absorb them; but the brioche must always be workable, and not so moist as to adhere to the board and roller disagreeably.

When the leaven is well risen spread this paste out, and the leaven over it; mix them well together with the hands, then cut the whole into several portions, and change them about that the leaven may be incorporated perfectly and equally with the other ingredients: when this is done, and the brioche is perfectly smooth and pliable, dust some flour on a cloth, roll the brioche in it, and lay it into a pan. Place it in summer in a cool place, in winter in a warm one. It is usually made over-night, and baked in the early part of the following day. It should then be kneaded up afresh the first thing in the morning.

To mould it in the usual form, make it into balls of uniform size, hollow these a little at the top by pressing the thumb round them, brush them over with yolk of egg, and put a second much smaller ball into the hollow part of each; glaze them entirely with yolk of egg, and send them to a quick oven for half an hour or more.

The paste may also be made into the form of a large cake, then placed on a tin, or copper oven-leaf, and supported with a pasteboard in the baking.

114. It should be remarked, that the directions for brioche-making are principally derived from the French, and that the pound in their country weighs two ounces more than with us: this difference will account for the difficulty of working in the number of eggs which they generally specify, and which render the paste too moist.

Flour, 2 lbs.; yeast, 1/2 oz.; salt and sugar, each 1/2 oz.; butter, 1 lb.; eggs, 6 to 8.

RECEIPT FOR TARTLETS.

For a dozen tartlets, cut twenty-four rounds of paste of the usual size, and form twelve of them into rings by pressing the small cutter quite through them; moisten these with cold water, or white of egg, and lay them on the remainder of the rounds of paste, so as to form the rims of the tartlets.

Bake them from ten to twelve minutes, fill them with preserve while they are still warm, and place over it a small ornament of paste cut from the remnants, and baked gently of a light colour. Serve the tartlets cold, or if wanted hot for table put them back into the oven for one minute after they are filled.

APPLE CAKE, OR GERMAN TART.

Work together with the fingers, ten ounces of butter and a pound of flour, until they resemble fine crumbs of bread; throw in a small pinch of salt, and make them into a firm smooth paste with the yolks of two eggs and a spoonful or two of water. Butter thickly, a plain tin cake, or pie mould (those which open at the sides); roll out the paste thin, place the mould upon it, trim a bit to its exact size, cover the bottom of the mould with this, then cut a band the height of the sides, and press it smoothly round them, joining the edge, which must be moistened with egg or water, to the bottom crust; and fasten upon them, to prevent their separation, a narrow and thin band of paste, also moistened.

Next, fill the mould nearly from the brim with the following marmalade, which must be quite cold when it is put in. Boil together, over a gentle fire at first, but more quickly afterwards, three pounds of good apples with fourteen ounces of pounded sugar, or of the finest Lisbon, the strained juice of a large lemon, three ounces of fresh butter, and a teaspoonful of pounded cinnamon, or the lightly grated rind of a couple of lemons: when the whole is perfectly smooth and dry, turn it into a pan to cool, and let it be quite cold before it is put into the paste. In early autumn, a larger proportion of sugar may be required, but this can be regulated by the taste. When the mould is filled, roll out the cover, lay it carefully over the marmalade that it may not touch it; and when the cake is securely closed, trim off the superfluous paste, add a little pounded sugar to the parings, spread them out very thin, and cut them into leaves to ornament the top of the cake, round which they may be placed as a sort of wreath.[121]

Bake it for an hour in a moderately brisk oven; take it from the mould, and should the sides not be sufficiently coloured put it back for a few minutes into the oven upon a baking tin. Lay a paper over the top, when it is of a fine light brown, to prevent its being too deeply coloured. This cake should be served hot.

121. Or, instead of these, fasten on it with a little white of egg, after it is taken from the oven, some ready-baked leaves of almond-paste, either plain or coloured.

Paste: flour, 1 lb.; butter, 10 oz.; yolks of eggs, 2; little water. Marmalade: apples, 3 lbs.; sugar, 14 oz. (more if needed); juice of lemon, 1; rinds of lemons, 2; butter, 3 oz.: baked, 1 hour.

TOURTE MERINGUÉE, OR TART WITH ROYAL ICING.

The limits to which we are obliged to confine this volume, compel us to omit many receipts which we would gladly insert; we have, therefore, rejected those which may be found in almost every English cookery book, for such as are, we apprehend, less known to the reader: this will account for the small number of receipts for pies and fruit tarts to be found in the present chapter.

Lay a band of fine paste round the rim of a tart-dish, fill it with any kind of fruit mixed with a moderate proportion of sugar, roll out the cover very evenly, moisten the edges of the paste, press them together carefully, and trim them off close to the dish; spread equally over the top, to within rather more than an inch of the edge all round, the whites of three fresh eggs beaten to a quite solid froth and mixed quickly at the moment of using them with three tablespoonsful of dry sifted sugar. Put the tart into a moderately brisk oven, and when the crust has risen well and the icing is set, either lay a sheet of writing-paper lightly over it, or draw it to a part of the oven where it will not take too much colour. This is now a fashionable mode of icing tarts, and greatly improves their appearance.

Bake half an hour.

A GOOD APPLE TART.

A pound and a quarter of apples weighed after they are pared and cored, will be sufficient for a small tart, and four ounces more for one of moderate size. Lay a border of English puff-paste, or of cream-crust round the dish, just dip the apples into water, arrange them very compactly in it, higher in the centre than at the sides, and strew amongst them from three to four ounces of pounded sugar, or more should they be very acid: the grated rind and the strained juice of half a lemon will much improve their flavour.

Lay on the cover rolled thin, and ice it or not at pleasure. Send the tart to a moderate oven for about half an hour. This may be converted into the old-fashioned creamed apple tart, by cutting out the cover while it is still quite hot, leaving only about an inch-wide border of paste round the edge, and pouring over the apples when they have become cold, from half to three-quarters of a pint of rich boiled custard.

The cover divided into triangular sippets, was formerly stuck round the inside of the tart, but ornamental leaves of pale puff-paste have a better effect. Well-drained whipped cream may be substituted for the custard, and be piled high, and lightly over the fruit.

TART OF VERY YOUNG GREEN APPLES. (GOOD.)

Take very young apples from the tree before the cores are formed, clear off the buds and stalks, wash them well, and fill a tart-dish with them after having rolled them in plenty of sugar, or strew layers of sugar between them; add a very small quantity of water and bake the tart rather slowly, that the fruit may be tender quite through. It will resemble a green apricot-tart if carefully made. We give this receipt from recollection, having had the dish served often formerly, and having found it very good.

BARBERRY TART.

Barberries, with half their weight of fine brown sugar, when they are thoroughly ripe, and with two ounces more when they are not quite so, make an admirable tart. For one of moderate size, put into a dish bordered with paste three quarters of a pound of barberries stripped from their stalks, and six ounces of sugar in alternate layers; pour over them three tablespoonsful of water, put on the cover, and bake the tart for half an hour. Another way of making it is, to line a shallow tin pan with very thin crust, to mix the fruit and sugar well together with a spoon before they are laid in, and to put bars of paste across instead of a cover; or it may be baked without either.[123]

123. The French make their fruit-tarts generally thus, in large shallow pans. Plums, split and stoned (or if of small kinds, left entire), cherries and currants freed from the stalks, and various other fruits, all rolled in plenty of sugar, are baked in the uncovered crust; or this is baked by itself, and then filled afterwards with fruit previously stewed tender.

THE LADY’S TOURTE, AND CHRISTMAS TOURTE À LA CHÂTELAINE.

Lady’s Tourte.

To make this Tourte, which, when filled, is of pretty appearance, two paste-cutters are requisite, one the size, or nearly so, of the inside of the dish in which the entremets is to be served, the other not more than an inch in diameter, and both of them fluted, as will be seen by the engraving. To make the paste for it, throw a small half saltspoonful of salt into half a pound of the finest flour, and break lightly into it four ounces of fresh butter, which should be firm. Make these up smoothly with cold milk or water, of which nearly a quarter of a pint will be sufficient, unless the butter should be very hard, when a spoonful or two more must be added. Roll the paste out as lightly as possible twice or thrice if needful, to blend the butter thoroughly with it, and each time either fold it in three by wrapping the ends over each other, or fold it over and over like a roll pudding. An additional ounce, or even two, of butter can be used for it when very rich pastry is liked, but the tourte will not then retain its form so well.

Roll it out evenly to something more than three-quarters of an inch in thickness, and press the large cutter firmly through it; draw away the superfluous paste, and lay the tourte on a lightly floured baking-tin. Roll the remainder of the paste until it is less than a quarter of an inch thick, and stamp out with the smaller cutter—of which the edge should be dipped into hot water, or slightly encrusted with flour—as many rounds as will form the border of the tourte. In placing them upon it, lay the edge of one over the other just sufficiently to give a shell-like appearance to the whole; and with the finger press lightly on the opposite part of the round to make it adhere to the under paste.

Next, with a sharp-pointed knife, make an incision very evenly round the inside of the tourte nearly close to the border, but be extremely careful not to cut too deeply into the paste. Bake it in a gentle oven, from twenty to thirty minutes.

When it is done, detach the crust from the centre, where it has been marked with the knife, take out part of the crumb, fill the space high with apricot-jam, or with any other choice preserve, set it again for an instant into the oven, and serve it hot or cold. Spikes of blanched almonds, filberts, or pistachio-nuts, may be strewed over the preserve, when they are considered an improvement; and the border of the pastry may be glazed or ornamented to the fancy; but if well made, it will generally please in its quite simple form.

It may be converted into a delicious entrée, by filling it either with oysters, or sliced sweetbreads, stewed, and served in thick, rich, white sauce, or béchamel. Lobster also prepared and moulded as for the new lobster patties, will form a superior dish even to these.

Obs.—Six ounces of flour, and three of butter, will make sufficient paste for this tourte, when it is required only of the usual moderate size. If richer paste be used for it, it must have two or three additional turns or rollings to prevent its losing its form in the oven.

Christmas Tourte à la Châtelaine.—Make the case for this tourte as for the preceding one, and put sufficient mincemeat to fill it handsomely into a jar, cover it very securely with paste, or with two or three folds of thick paper, and bake it gently for half an hour or longer, should the currants, raisins, &c., not be fully tender. Take out the inside of the tourte, heap the hot mincemeat in it, pour a little fresh brandy over; just touch it with a strip of lighted writing-paper at the door of the dining-room, and serve it in a blaze; or if better liked so, serve it very hot without the brandy, and with Devonshire cream as an accompaniment.[124]

124. Sufficient of cream for this purpose can easily be prepared from good milk.

ALMOND PASTE.

For a single dish of pastry, blanch seven ounces of fine Jordan almonds and one of bitter;[125] throw them into cold water as they are done, and let them remain in it for an hour or two; then wipe, and pound them to the finest paste, moistening them occasionally with a few drops of cold water, to prevent their oiling; next, add to, and mix thoroughly with them, seven ounces of highly-refined, dried, and sifted sugar; put them into a small preserving-pan, or enamelled stewpan, and stir them over a clear and very gentle fire until they are so dry as not to adhere to the finger when touched; turn the paste immediately into an earthen pan or jar, and when cold it will be ready for use.

125. When these are objected to, use half a pound of the sweet almonds.

Jordan almonds, 7 oz.; bitter almonds, 1 oz.; cold water, 1 tablespoonful; sugar, 7 oz.

Obs.—The pan in which the paste is dried, should by no means be placed upon the fire, but high above it on a bar or trevet: should it be allowed by accident to harden too much, it must be sprinkled plentifully with water, broken up quite small, and worked, as it warms, with a strong wooden spoon to a smooth paste again. We have found this method perfectly successful; but, if time will permit, it should be moistened some hours before it is again set over the fire.

TARTLETS OF ALMOND PASTE.

Butter slightly the smallest-sized pattypans, and line them with the almond-paste rolled as thin as possible; cut it with a sharp knife close to their edges, and bake or rather dry the tartlets slowly at the mouth of a very cool oven. If at all coloured, they should be only of the palest brown; but they will become perfectly crisp without losing their whiteness if left for some hours in a very gently-heated stove or oven.

They should be taken from the pans when two-thirds done, and laid, reversed, upon a sheet of paper placed on a dish or board, before they are put back into the oven. At the instant of serving, fill them with bright-coloured whipped cream, or with peach or apricot jam; if the preserve be used, lay over it a small star or other ornament cut from the same paste, and dried with the tartlets. Sifted sugar, instead of flour, must be dredged upon the board and roller in using almond paste.

Leaves and flowers formed of it, and dried gradually until perfectly crisp, will keep for a long time in a tin box or canister, and they form elegant decorations for pastry. When a fluted cutter the size of the pattypans is at hand, it will be an improvement to cut out the paste with it, and then to press it lightly into them, as it is rather apt to break when pared off with a knife. To colour it, prepared cochineal, or spinach-green, must be added to it in the mortar.

FAIRY FANCIES.

(Fantaisies de Fées.)

A small, but very inexpensive set of tin cutters must be had for this pretty form of pastry, which is, however, quite worthy of so slight a cost. The short crust, answers for it better than puff paste. Roll it thin and very even, and with the larger tin, shaped thus, cut out a dozen or more of small sheets; then, with a couple of round cutters, of which one should be about an inch in diameter, and the other only half the size, form four times the number of rings, and lay them on the sheets in the manner shown in the engraving. The easier mode of placing them regularly, is to raise each ring without removing the small cutter from it, to moisten it with a camel’s hair brush dipped in white of egg, and to lay it on the paste as it is gently loosened from the tin When all the pastry is prepared, set it into a very gentle oven, that it may become crisp and yet remain quite pale. Before it is sent to table, fill the four divisions of each fantaisie with preserve of a different colour. For example: one ring with apple or strawberry jelly, another with apricot jam, a third with peach or green-gage, and a fourth with raspberry jelly. The cases may be iced, and ornamented in various ways before they are baked. They are prettiest when formed of white almond-paste, with pink or pale green rings: they may then be filled, at the instant of serving, with well-drained whipped cream.

MINCE PIES.

(ENTREMETS.)

Butter some tin pattypans well, and line them evenly with fine puff paste rolled thin; fill them with mincemeat, moisten the edges of the covers, which should be nearly a quarter of an inch thick, close the pies carefully, trim off the superfluous paste, make a small aperture in the centre of the crust with a fork or the point of a knife, ice the pies or not, at pleasure, and bake them half an hour in a well-heated but not fierce oven: lay a paper over them when they are partially done, should they appear likely to take too much colour.

1/2 hour.

MINCE PIES ROYAL.

(ENTREMETS.)

Add to half a pound of good mincemeat an ounce and a half of pounded sugar, the grated rind and the strained juice of a large lemon, one ounce of clarified butter, and the yolks of four eggs; beat these well together, and half fill, or rather more, with the mixture, some pattypans lined with fine paste; put them into a moderate oven, and when the insides are just set, ice them thickly with the whites of the eggs beaten to snow, and mixed quickly at the moment with four heaped tablespoonsful of pounded sugar; set them immediately into the oven again, and bake them slowly of a fine light brown.

Mincemeat, 1/2 lb.; sugar, 1-1/2 oz.; rind and juice, 1 large lemon; butter, 1 oz.; yolks, 4 eggs. Icing: whites, 4 eggs; sugar, 4 tablespoonsful.

THE MONITOR’S TART, OR TOURTE À LA JUDD.

Put into an enamelled stewpan, or into a delicately clean saucepan, three quarters of a pound of well-flavoured apples, weighed after they are pared and cored; add to them from three to four ounces of pounded sugar, an ounce and a half of fresh butter cut small, and half a teaspoonful of pounded cinnamon, or the lightly grated rind of a small lemon. Let them stand over, or by the side of a gentle fire until they begin to soften, and toss them now and then to mingle the whole well, but do not stir them with a spoon; they should all remain unbroken and rather firm. Turn them into a dish, and let them become cold.

Divide three-quarters of a pound of good light paste into two equal portions; roll out one quite thin and round, flour an oven-leaf and lay it on, as the tart cannot so well be moved after it is made; place the apples upon it in the form of a dome, but leave a clear space of an inch or more round the edge; moisten this with white of egg, and press the remaining half of the paste (which should be rolled out to the same size, and laid carefully over the apples) closely upon it: they should be well secured, that the syrup from the fruit may not burst through.

Whisk the white of an egg to a froth, brush it over the tart with a paste brush or a small bunch of feathers, sift sugar thickly over, and then strew upon it some almonds blanched and roughly chopped; bake the tart in a moderate oven from thirty-five to forty-five minutes. It may be filled with peaches, or apricots, half stewed like the apples, or with cherries merely rolled in fine sugar; or with the pastry cream.

Light paste, 1/2 to 3/4 lb.; apples, 12 oz.; butter, 1-1/2 oz.; sugar, 4 oz.; glazing of egg and sugar; some almonds: 35 to 45 minutes.

PUDDING PIES. [Kentish]

(ENTREMETS.)

This form of pastry (or its name at least) is, we believe, peculiar to the county of Kent, where it is made in abundance, and eaten by all classes of people during Lent. Boil for fifteen minutes three ounces of ground rice[126] in a pint and a half of new milk, and when taken from the fire stir into it three ounces of butter and four of sugar; add to these six well-beaten eggs, a grain or two of salt, and a flavouring of nutmeg or lemon-rind at pleasure. When the mixture is nearly cold, line some large pattypans or some saucers with thin puff paste, fill them with it three parts full, strew the tops thickly with currants which have been cleaned and dried, and bake the pudding-pies from fifteen to twenty minutes in a gentle oven.

126. Or rice-flour.

Milk, 1-1/2 pint; ground rice, 3 oz.: 15 minutes. Butter, 3 oz.; sugar, 1/4 lb.; nutmeg or lemon-rind; eggs, 6; currants, 4 to 6 oz.: 15 to 30 minutes.

PUDDING PIES. (A commoner kind.)

One quart of new milk, five ounces of ground rice, butter, one ounce and a half (or more), four ounces of sugar, half a small nutmeg grated, a pinch of salt, four large eggs, and three ounces of currants.

COMMON LEMON TARTLETS.

Beat four eggs until they are exceedingly light, add to them gradually four ounces of pounded sugar, and whisk these together for five minutes; strew lightly in, if it be at hand, a dessertspoonful of potato flour, if not, of common flour well dried and sifted,[128] then throw into the mixture by slow degrees, three ounces of good butter, which should be dissolved, but only just lukewarm: beat the whole well, then stir briskly in, the strained juice and the grated rind of one lemon and a half. Line some pattypans with fine puff-paste rolled very thin, fill them two-thirds full, and bake the tartlets about twenty minutes, in a moderate oven.

128. A few ratifias, or three or four macaroons rolled to powder, or a stale sponge or Naples biscuit or two, reduced to the finest crumbs, may be substituted for either of these: more lemon, too, can be added to the taste.

Eggs, 4; sugar, 4 oz.; potato-flour, or common flour, 1 dessertspoonful; butter, 3 oz.; juice and rind of 1-1/2 full-sized lemon: baked 15 to 20 minutes.

PASTRY SANDWICHES.

Divide equally in two, and roll off square and as thin as possible, some rich puff paste;[130] lay one half on a buttered tin, or copper oven-leaf, and spread it lightly with fine currant, strawberry or raspberry jelly; lay the remaining half closely over, pressing it a little with the rolling pin after the edges are well cemented together; then mark it into divisions, and bake it from fifteen to twenty minutes in a moderate oven.

130. Almond-paste is sometimes substituted for this.

FANCHONNETTES.

(ENTREMETS).

Roll out very thin and square some fine puff paste, lay it on a tin or copper oven-leaf, and cover it equally to within something less than an inch of the edge with peach or apricot jam; roll a second bit of paste to the same size, and lay it carefully over the other, having first moistened the edges with beaten egg, or water; press them together securely, that the preserve may not escape; pass a paste-brush or small bunch of feathers dipped in water over the top, sift sugar thickly on it, then with the back of a knife, mark the paste into divisions of uniform size, bake it in a well-heated but not fierce oven for twenty minutes, or rather more, and cut it while it is 375still hot, where it is marked. The fanchonnettes should be about three inches in length and two in width. In order to lay the second crust over the preserve without disturbing it, wind it lightly round the paste-roller, and in untwisting it, let it fall gently over the other part.

This is not the form of pastry called by the French fanchonnettes. Fine puff paste, 1 lb.; apricot or peach jam, 4 to 6 oz.: baked 20 to 25 minutes

JELLY TARTLETS, OR CUSTARDS.

Put four tablespoonsful of fine fruit-jelly into a basin, and stir to it gradually twelve spoonsful of beaten egg; if the preserve be rich and sweet, no sugar will be required. Line some pans with paste rolled very thin, fill them with the custard, and bake them about ten minutes.[131]

131. Strawberry or raspberry jelly will answer admirably for these.

STRAWBERRY TARTLETS. (GOOD.)

Take a full half-pint of freshly-gathered strawberries, without the stalks; first crush, and then mix them with two ounces and a half of powdered sugar; stir to them by degrees four well-whisked eggs, beat the mixture a little, and put it into pattypans lined with fine paste: they should be only three parts filled. Bake the tartlets from ten to twelve minutes.

RASPBERRY PUFFS.

Roll out thin some fine puff-paste, cut it in rounds or squares of equal size, lay some raspberry jam into each, moisten the edges of the paste, fold and press them together, and bake the puffs from fifteen to eighteen minutes. Strawberry, or any other jam will serve for them equally well.

CREAMED TARTLETS.

Line some pattypans with very fine paste, and put into each a layer of apricot jam; on this pour some thick boiled custard, or the pastry cream [see recipe below]. Whisk the whites of a couple of eggs to a solid froth, mix a couple of tablespoonsful of sifted sugar with them, lay this icing lightly over the tartlets, and bake them in a gentle oven from twenty to thirty minutes, unless they should be very small, when less time must be allowed for them.

CRÊME PATISSIÈRE, OR PASTRY CREAM.

To one ounce of fine flour add, very gradually, the beaten yolks of three fresh eggs; stir to them briskly, and in small portions at first, three-quarters of a pint of boiling cream, or of cream and new milk mixed; then turn the whole into a clean stewpan, and stir it over a very gentle fire until it is quite thick, take it off, and stir it well up and round; replace it over the fire, and let it just simmer from six to eight minutes; pour it into a basin, and add to it immediately a couple of ounces of pounded sugar, one and a half of fresh butter, cut small, or clarified, and a little sugar which has been rubbed on the rind of a lemon. The cream is rich enough for common use without further addition; but an ounce and a half of ratifias, crushed almost to powder with a paste-roller improves it much, and they should be mixed with it for the receipt which follows.

374Flour, 1 oz.; yolks of eggs, 3; boiling cream, or milk and cream mixed, 3/4 pint: just simmered, 6 to 8 minutes. Butter, 1-1/2 oz.; sugar, 2 oz.; little store-flavouring, or rasped lemon-rind; ratifias, 1-1/2 oz.

Obs.—This is an excellent preparation, which may be used for tartlets, cannelons, and other forms of pastry, with extremely good effect.

Victorian Pastry recipes for Sweet Pies from Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management [1861]

VERY GOOD PUFF-PASTE.

1205. INGREDIENTS.—To every lb. of flour allow 1 lb. of butter, and not quite 1/2 pint of water.

Mode.—Carefully weigh the flour and butter, and have the exact proportion; squeeze the butter well, to extract the water from it, and afterwards wring it in a clean cloth, that no moisture may remain. Sift the flour; see that it is perfectly dry, and proceed in the following manner to make the paste, using a very clean paste-board and rolling-pin:—Supposing the quantity to be 1 lb. of flour, work the whole into a smooth paste, with not quite 1/2 pint of water, using a knife to mix it with: the proportion of this latter ingredient must be regulated by the discretion of the cook; if too much be added, the paste, when baked, will be tough. Roll it out until it is of an equal thickness of about an inch; break 4 oz. of the butter into small pieces; place these on the paste, sift over it a little flour, fold it over, roll out again, and put another 4 oz. of butter. Repeat the rolling and buttering until the paste has been rolled out 4 times, or equal quantities of flour and butter have been used. Do not omit, every time the paste is rolled out, to dredge a little flour over that and the rolling-pin, to prevent both from sticking. Handle the paste as lightly as possible, and do not press heavily upon it with the rolling-pin. The next thing to be considered is the oven, as the baking of pastry requires particular attention. Do not put it into the oven until it is sufficiently hot to raise the paste; for the best-prepared paste, if not properly baked, will be good for nothing. Brushing the paste as often as rolled out, and the pieces of butter placed thereon, with the white of an egg, assists it to rise in leaves or flakes. As this is the great beauty of puff-paste, it is as well to try this method.

Average cost, 1s. 4d. per lb.

BUTTER.—About the second century of the Christian era, butter was placed by Galen amongst the useful medical agents; and about a century before him, Dioscorides mentioned that he had noticed that fresh butter, made of ewes’ and goats’ milk, was served at meals instead of oil, and that it took the place of fat in making pastry. Thus we have undoubted authority that, eighteen hundred years ago, there existed a knowledge of the useful qualities of butter. The Romans seem to have set about making it much as we do; for Pliny tells us, “Butter is made from milk; and the use of this element, so much sought after by barbarous nations, distinguished the rich from the common people. It is obtained principally from cows’ milk; that from ewes is the fattest; goats also supply some. It is produced by agitating the milk in long vessels with narrow openings: a little water is added.”

MEDIUM PUFF-PASTE.

1206. INGREDIENTS.—To every lb. of flour allow 8 oz. of butter, 4 oz. of lard, not quite 1/2 pint of water.

Mode.—This paste may be made by the directions in the preceding recipe, only using less butter and substituting lard for a portion of it. Mix the flour to a smooth paste with not quite 1/2 pint of water; then roll it out 3 times, the first time covering the paste with butter, the second with lard, and the third with butter. Keep the rolling-pin and paste slightly dredged with flour, to prevent them from sticking, and it will be ready for use.

Average cost, 1s. per lb.

BUTTER IN HASTE.—In his “History of Food,” Soyer says that to obtain butter instantly, it is only necessary, in summer, to put new milk into a bottle, some hours after it has been taken from the cow, and shake it briskly. The clots which are thus formed should be thrown into a sieve, washed and pressed together, and they constitute the finest and most delicate butter that can possibly be made.

VERY GOOD SHORT CRUST FOR FRUIT TARTS.

1210. INGREDIENTS.—To every lb. of flour allow 3/4 lb. of butter, 1 tablespoonful of sifted sugar, 1/3 pint of water.

Mode.—Rub the butter into the flour, after having ascertained that the latter is perfectly dry; add the sugar, and mix the whole into a stiff paste, with about 1/3 pint of water. Roll it out two or three times, folding the paste over each time, and it will be ready for use.

Average cost, 1s. 1d. per lb.

ANOTHER GOOD SHORT CRUST.

1211. INGREDIENTS.—To every lb. of flour allow 8 oz. of butter, the yolks of 2 eggs, 2 oz. of sifted sugar, about 1/4 pint of milk.

Mode.—Rub the butter into the flour, add the sugar, and mix the whole as lightly as possible to a smooth paste, with the yolks of eggs well beaten, and the milk. The proportion of the latter ingredient must be judged of by the size of the eggs: if these are large, so much will not be required, and more if the eggs are smaller.

Average cost, 1s. per lb.

SUGAR AND BEETROOT.—There are two sorts of Beet,—white and red; occasionally, in the south, a yellow variety is met with. Beetroot contains twenty parts sugar. Everybody knows that the beet has competed with the sugar-cane, and a great part of the French sugar is manufactured from beet. Beetroot has a refreshing, composing, and slightly purgative quality. The young leaves, when cooked, are a substitute for spinach; they are also useful for mixing with sorrel, to lessen its acidity. The large ribs of the leaves are serviceable in various culinary preparations; the root also may be prepared in several ways, but its most general use is in salad. Some writers upon the subject have expressed their opinion that beetroot is easily digested, but those who have taken pains to carefully analyze its qualities make quite a contrary statement. Youth, of course, can digest it; but to persons of a certain age beet is very indigestible, or rather, it does not digest at all. It is not the sugary pulp which is indigestible, but its fibrous network that resists the action of the gastric organs. Thus, when the root is reduced to a puree, almost any person may eat it.

FRENCH SUGAR.—It had long been thought that tropical heat was not necessary to form sugar, and, about 1740, it was discovered that many plants of the temperate zone, and amongst others the beet, contained it. Towards the beginning of the 19th century, circumstances having, in France, made sugar scarce, and consequently dear, the government caused inquiries to be instituted as to the possibility of finding a substitute for it. Accordingly, it was ascertained that sugar exists in the whole vegetable kingdom; that it is to be found in the grape, chestnut, potato; but that, far above all, the beet contains it in a large proportion. Thus the beet became an object of the most careful culture; and many experiments went to prove that in this respect the old world was independent of the new. Many manufactories came into existence in all parts of France, and the making of sugar became naturalized in that country.

COMMON SHORT CRUST.

1212. INGREDIENTS.—To every pound of flour allow 2 oz. of sifted sugar, 3 oz. of butter, about 1/2 pint of boiling milk.

Mode.—Crumble the butter into the flour as finely as possible, add the sugar, and work the whole up to a smooth paste with the boiling milk. Roll it out thin, and bake in a moderate oven.

Average cost, 6d. per lb.

QUALITIES OF SUGAR.—Sugars obtained from various plants are in fact, of the same nature, and have no intrinsic difference when they have become equally purified by the same processes. Taste, crystallization, colour, weight, are absolutely identical; and the most accurate observer cannot distinguish the one from the other.

To ice or glaze pastry

1335. To ice pastry, which is the usual method adopted for fruit tarts and sweet dishes of pastry, put the white of an egg on a plate, and with the blade of a knife beat it to a stiff froth. When the pastry is nearly baked, brush it over with this, and sift over some pounded sugar; put it back into the oven to set the glaze, and, in a few minutes, it will be done. Great care should be taken that the paste does not catch or burn in the oven, which it is very liable to do after the icing is laid on.

Sufficient—Allow 1 egg and 1-1/8 oz. of sugar to glaze 3 tarts.

Victorian Dessert Pie Recipes from Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management [1861]

APPLE TART OR PIE.

1233. INGREDIENTS.—Puff-paste No. 1205 or 1206, apples; to every lb. of unpared apples allow 2 oz. of moist sugar, 1/2 teaspoonful of finely-minced lemon-peel, 1 tablespoonful of lemon-juice.

Mode.—Make 1/2 lb. of puff-paste by either of the above-named recipes, place a border of it round the edge of a pie-dish, and fill it with apples pared, cored, and cut into slices; sweeten with moist sugar, add the lemon-peel and juice, and 2 or 3 tablespoonfuls of water; cover with crust, cut it evenly round close to the edge of the pie-dish, and bake in a hot oven from 1/2 to 3/4 hour, or rather longer, should the pie be very large. When it is three-parts done, take it out of the oven, put the white of an egg on a plate, and, with the blade of a knife, whisk it to a froth; brush the pie over with this, then sprinkle upon it some sifted sugar, and then a few drops of water. Put the pie back into the oven, and finish baking, and be particularly careful that it does not catch or burn, which it is very liable to do after the crust is iced. If made with a plain crust, the icing may be omitted.

Time.—1/2 hour before the crust is iced; 10 to 15 minutes afterwards.

Average cost, 9d.

Sufficient.—Allow 2 lbs. of apples for a tart for 6 persons.

Seasonable from August to March; but the apples become flavourless after February.

Note.—Many things are suggested for the flavouring of apple pie; some say 2 or 3 tablespoonfuls of beer, others the same quantity of sherry, which very much improve the taste; whilst the old-fashioned addition of a few cloves is, by many persons, preferred to anything else, as also a few slices of quince.

QUINCES.—The environs of Corinth originally produced the most beautiful quinces, but the plant was subsequently introduced into Gaul with the most perfect success. The ancients preserved the fruit by placing it, with its branches and leaves, in a vessel filled with honey or sweet wine, which was reduced to half the quantity by ebullition. Quinces may be profitably cultivated in this country as a variety with other fruit-trees, and may be planted in espaliers or as standards. A very fine-flavoured marmalade may be prepared from quinces, and a small portion of quince in apple pie much improves its flavour. The French use quinces for flavouring many sauces. This fruit has the remarkable peculiarity of exhaling an agreeable odour, taken singly; but when in any quantity, or when they are stowed away in a drawer or close room, the pleasant aroma becomes an intolerable stench, although the fruit may be perfectly sound; it is therefore desirable that, as but a few quinces are required for keeping, they should be kept in a high and dry loft, and out of the way of the rooms used by the family.

CREAMED APPLE TART.

1234. INGREDIENTS.—Puff-crust No. 1205 or 1206, apples; to every lb. of pared and cored apples, allow 2 oz. of moist sugar, 1/2 teaspoonful of minced lemon-peel, 1 tablespoonful of lemon-juice, 1/2 pint of boiled custard.

Mode.—Make an apple tart by the preceding recipe, with the exception of omitting the icing. When the tart is baked, cut out the middle of the lid or crust, leaving a border all round the dish. Fill up with a nicely-made boiled custard, grate a little nutmeg over the top, and the pie is ready for table. This tart is usually eaten cold; is rather an old-fashioned dish, but, at the same time, extremely nice.

Time.—1/2 to 3/4 hour.

Average cost, 1s. 3d.

Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons.

Seasonable from August to March.

APRICOT TART.

1239. INGREDIENTS.—12 or 14 apricots, sugar to taste, puff-paste or short crust.

Mode.—Break the apricots in half, take out the stones, and put them into a pie-dish, in the centre of which place a very small cup or jar, bottom uppermost; sweeten with good moist sugar, but add no water. Line the edge of the dish with paste, put on the cover, and ornament the pie in any of the usual modes. Bake from 1/2 to 3/4 hour, according to size; and if puff-paste is used, glaze it about 10 minutes before the pie is done, and put it into the oven again to set the glaze. Short crust merely requires a little sifted sugar sprinkled over it before being sent to table.

Time.—1/2 to 3/4 hour. Average cost, in full season, 1s.

Sufficient for 4 or 5 persons.

Seasonable in August, September, and October; green ones rather earlier.

Note.—Green apricots make very good tarts, but they should be boiled with a little sugar and water before they are covered with the crust.

APRICOTS.—The apricot is indigenous to the plains of Armenia, but is now cultivated in almost every climate, temperate or tropical. There are several varieties. The skin of this fruit has a perfumed flavour, highly esteemed. A good apricot, when perfectly ripe, is an excellent fruit. It has been somewhat condemned for its laxative qualities, but this has possibly arisen from the fruit having been eaten unripe, or in too great excess. Delicate persons should not eat the apricot uncooked, without a liberal allowance of powdered sugar. The apricot makes excellent jam and marmalade, and there are several foreign preparations of it which are considered great luxuries.