Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (69 page)

This is a sweet that stands up to you; that is, to come out well it requires patience and care on the part of the cook. Here are the amounts:

200 grams (about 7 ounces) of Hungarian or other very fine flour

70 grams (about 2-1/3 ounces) of butter

50 grams (about 1 -2/3 ounces) of powdered sugar

50 grams (about 1-2/3 ounces) of sultanas or dried currants

30 grams (about 1 ounce) of Malaga grapes, dried and seeded

30 grams (about 1 ounce) of brewer’s yeast

about 1 deciliter (about 2/5 of a cup) of milk, or better, heavy cream

2 whole eggs

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon of Marsala

1 tablespoon of rum or cognac

10 grams (about 1/3 of an ounce) of candied fruit, cut into small strips

a pinch of salt

a dash of vanilla

Mix the brewer’s yeast with one-fourth of the flour and a little of the lukewarm milk to form a small loaf of the right consistency. Make a cross in the loaf with a knife, in this case (as in all the others) not to ward off witches, but so that you can tell when it has risen sufficiently. Place it in a covered bowl coated with a little milk near a very moderately heated oven and let rise. While the loaf is rising, which will take about half an hour, break the eggs into a bowl and beat them with the sugar; then add the rest of the flour, the risen loaf, the melted butter (which should be lukewarm), the Marsala and the rum. If the dough should come out too firm, soften it with some lukewarm milk. Blend well with a wooden spoon until the dough no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl, and finally add the sultanas and the candied fruit and set aside to rise. When it has risen, stir it a little and pour into a mold greased with butter and dusted with confectioners’ sugar mixed with flour.

The best mold for this sweet is a ribbed copper mold; but be
sure that the mold can hold double the amount of the dough. Cover the mold with a lid to keep the air out, and place to rise in a barely warm warming oven or Dutch oven; this may take more than two hours. If it rises perfectly, the dough will double in size; that is, it will reach the top of the mold. Then bake, making sure not to expose it to drafts in the meantime. Test for doneness by inserting a straw, which should come out dry, and even then leave the baba in the oven at a moderate heat for a while longer to dry it out completely; this is necessary because of the thickness of the cake. When removed from the mold, if it is well cooked it should be the color of bread crust. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar.

Serve cold.

Make a puff pastry using the ingredients and amounts in recipe 154. Roll it out and cut into two rounds the size of an ordinary plate, and make large scallops on the edges. Spread the marzipan mixture given in recipe 579 onto one of the rounds of dough, leaving a little border; the mixture should be about a centimeter (about half an inch) thick. Then place the other round of dough on top, pressing the two rounds together at the edges with your finger, which you have dipped in water.

Gild the surface of the pastry with the egg yolk, bake in the oven or in a Dutch oven, and afterwards sprinkle it with confectioners’ sugar. This recipe serves seven to eight people, and it will be highly praised for its delicacy.

7 deciliters (about 1 pint) of milk

6 eggs

200 grams (about 7 ounces) of shelled hazelnuts

180 grams (about 6-1/3 ounces) of sugar

150 grams (about 5-1/4 ounces) of ladyfingers

20 grams (about 2/3 of an ounce) of butter

a dash of vanilla

Blanch the shelled hazelnuts in hot water to remove the skins and dry them well in the sun or over the fire. Then grind them very finely in a mortar, adding the sugar a little at a time.

Put the milk on the fire and when it starts to boil, crumble the ladyfingers into it and boil for five minutes, adding the butter. Pass this mixture through a strainer and put it back on the fire with the crushed hazelnuts and sugar until the latter melts. Let cool, add the egg yolks and then the egg whites, beaten until stiff. Pour into a mold greased with butter and dusted with bread crumbs, but do not fill the mold up to the brim. Bake in an oven or a Dutch oven until done and serve cold.

This recipe serves nine to ten people.

500 grams (about 1 pound) of flour

220 grams (about 7-3/4 ounces) of powdered sugar

120 grams (about 4-1/4 ounces) of whole sweet blanched almonds, mixed with some pine nuts

30 grams (about 1 ounce) of butter

a pinch of aniseed

5 eggs

a pinch of salt

Leave aside the almonds and pine nuts to add later, and blend all the other ingredients with four eggs (you only need to use the fifth egg if necessary) to make a rather soft dough. Add the almonds and pine nuts, and then make four loaves of dough about as thick as a finger and as long as the palm of your hand; arrange them in a baking pan greased with butter and dusted with flour, and gild with egg yolk.

Do not bake the loaves too long, so that you can slice them. This is better done the next day, because the crust has time to soften. Put the slices back in the oven and toast lightly on both sides, and there you have your crunchy cookies.

400 grams (about 14 ounces) of flour

200 grams (about 7 ounces) of sugar

80 grams (about 2-2/3 ounces) of butter

40 grams (about 1-1/3 ounces) of almonds

30 grams (about I ounce) of sultanas

20 grams (about 2/3 of an ounce) of pine nuts

20 grams (about 2/3 of an ounce) of candied citron or candied pumpkin

a pinch of aniseed

2 tablespoons of reduced wine

a scant teaspoon baking soda

1 whole egg

3 egg yolks

These cookies are more refined than the ones in the preceding recipe; and I think they leave nothing to be desired. Shell the almonds and pine nuts, remove the skins and leave whole. Cut the candied fruit into tiny pieces. Make a hole in the mound of flour and place the eggs, sugar, butter, wine, and baking soda in it. Blend the mixture without working it too much; then open it up and spread it out so you can add the other ingredients. Form a rather compact narrow cylinder, about 1 meter long (3 feet), which you will divide into four or five parts so that it fits in the baking pan. Gild with egg yolk and bake. When it is cooked, slice into cookies a little more than 1 centimeter (about half an inch) thick, and toast lightly on each side.

150 grams (about 5-1/4 ounces) of flour

60 grams (about 2 ounces) of butter

60 grams (about 2 ounces) of confectioners’ sugar

1 egg

lemon zest

Make a dough but do not knead it too much; then roll it out to make two dozen little sticks 10 centimeters (about 4 inches long), which you will bake in a pan, with no further preparation. These cookies go well with a cup of tea or a glass of wine.

For these cookies, you should have a tin pan 10 centimeters (about 4 inches) wide and a little shorter than the diameter of your Dutch oven, if you arc obliged to use that instead of a regular oven. This way the cookies will have crusts on both sides and when cut a centimeter and a half wide (about half an inch), they will be the right size.

40 grams (about 1-1/3 ounces) of wheat flour

30 grams (about 1 ounce) of potato flour

90 grams (about 3 ounces) of sugar

40 grams (about 1-1/3 ounces) of sweet almonds

20 grams (about 2/3 of an ounce) of candied citron or orange

20 grams (about 2/3 of an ounce) of fruit preserves

3 eggs

Blanch the almonds, cut them in half crosswise, and dry in the sun or on the fire. Confectioners usually leave the skin on the almonds, but it is not advisable because the skin often sticks to your palate and is difficult to digest. Dice the candied fruit and the preserves, which can be quince or some other fruit, as long as it is firm.

Beat the egg yolks, sugar, and a little of the flour for a good while—more than half an hour; then fold in the egg whites, beaten until very stiff, and, after the whites have been absorbed, add the rest of the flour, sifting it onto the mixture. Blend gently, as you drop in the almonds, candied fruit, and preserves. Grease the loaf pan with butter and dust it with flour; then bake. Slice the cookies the next day and then toast them on both sides if you like.

These cookies are inexpensive, easy to make, and not without their merits because they can be served with tea or any other beverage— they are marvelous for dunking.

250 grams (about 8-4/5 ounces) of flour

50 grams (about 1-2/3 ounces) of butter

50 grams (about 1-2/3 ounces) of confectioners’ sugar

5 grams baking powder

a pinch of salt

a dash of vanilla sugar

about 1 deciliter (about 2/5 of a cup) of lukewarm milk

Make a hole in the mound of flour; place all of the other ingredients in it except the milk, which you will use to moisten the dough. The dough should be soft, and must be worked thoroughly until it is smooth. Then roll it out to the thickness of a large coin, dust with flour if necessary, and finally run a ribbed rolling pin over it or use a grater or a fork to make some decorations on it. If you do not want to cut the dough into strips a little longer than a finger and 2 centimeters (about 1 inch) wide, as I do, cut the cookies into whatever shape you like. Place them in a copper baking pan with no further preparation, and bake in an oven or a Dutch oven.

Cheer up, for if you eat these cookies you will never die, or you will live as long as Methuselah. I eat them often, in fact, and when some indiscreet person sees me more sprightly than is becoming to my venerable age and asks me how old I am, I answer that I am as old as Methuselah, son of Enoch.

350 grams (about 12-1/3 ounces) of flour

100 grams (about 3-1/2 ounces) of brown sugar

50 grams (about 1-2/3 ounces) of butter

10 grams (about 1/3 of an ounce) of cream of tartar

5 grams (about 1/5 of an ounce) of baking soda

2 eggs

a dash of vanilla sugar

milk, as needed

Mix the flour with the sugar and make a mound with a hole in the middle where you will drop the rest of the ingredients, adding a little milk to obtain a rather soft dough. Shape the dough in a slightly flattened cylinder about half a meter long. Grease a baking pan with butter, and divide the loaf into two parts so that it will fit in the pan. Make sure that the two parts are well separated, because they swell a great deal when baked. Bake in an oven or a Dutch oven. The next day, cut the loaves into cookies, which should number about thirty or so, and toast in the oven.