Page:The White House Cook Book.djvu/374

 340 PASTRY, PIES AND TARTS.

shells. Fill them with the custard and cover each with a meringue made of the whites of the eggs, sweetened with four tablespoonfuls of sugar. Put into the oven and bake a light straw color.

LEMON TARTLETS. No. 2.

Mix well together the juice and grated rind of two lemons, two cup- f uls of sugar, two eggs and the crumbs of sponge cake ; beat it all to- gether until smooth ; put into twelve patty-pans lined with puff paste and bake until the crust is done.

ORANGE TARTLETS.

TAKE the juice of two large oranges and the grated peel of one, three-fourths of a cup of sugar, a tablespoonful of butter; stir in a good teaspoonful of cornstarch into the juice of half a lemon and add to the mixture. Beat all well together and bake in tart shells without cover.

MERINGUE CUSTARD TARTLETS.

SELECT deep individual pie-tins ; fluted tartlet pans are suitable for custard tarts, but they should be about six inches in diameter and from two to three inches deep. Butter the pan and line it with ordi- nary puff paste, then fill it with a custard made as follows: Stir gradually into the beaten yolks of six eggs two tablespoonfuls of flour, a saltspoonful of salt and half a pint of cream. Stir until free from lumps and add two tablespoonfuls of sugar ; put the saucepan on the range and stir until the custard coats the spoon. Do not let it boil or it will curdle. Pour it in a bowl, add a few drops of vanilla flavoring and stir until the custard becomes cold ; fill the lined mold with this and bake in a moderate oven. In the meantime, put the whites of the eggs in a bright copper vessel and beat thoroughly, using a baker's wire egg-beater for this purpose. While beating, sprinkle in lightly half a pound of sugar and a dash of salt. When the paste is quite firm, spread a thin layer of it over the tart and decorate the top with the remainder by squeezing it through a paper funnel. Strew a little powdered sugar over the top, return to the oven, and when a delicate yellow tinge remove from the oven and when cold serve.

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