SWEET DESSERTS WITH PLUMS, PEACHES AND APRICOTS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 142, 13 March 1942, Page 22

SWEET DESSERTS WITH PLUMS, PEACHES AND APRICOTS

AVING made our plum and peach preserves from last week’s recipes, and thus provided, as far as we are able, for the fruitless months, we may now eat up all the fruit we can, either fresh’ or cooked, enjoying it to the utmost. Peach Shortcake (No. 1) Two level breakfast cups of flour; 2 large tablespoons sugar; pinch salt; 2 level teaspoons baking powder; 3 full tablespoons butter; 1 egg; and milk to mix. Rub «the butter into the sifted dry ingredients, mix with the egg and milk. Roll out, and put half in a tin. Brush over with softened butter, and lay on the other half of the dough. Bake in a hot 1, Split it while hot-it will split easily where the butter was spread between. Spread with cut up peaches, and whipped cream; put the top half on, and spread that too, with cut up fresh peaches, and whipped cream. Peach Shortcake (No. 2) 1% ap utter; 1 egg; 2 cups flour; 4 teaspoc salt; ¥%2 cup sugar; 4% cup milk; 2 teaspoons baking powder; 6 or 7 fresh peaches, and whipped cream. Cream the butte: and sugar, add the well beaten egg. Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt, and add alternately with the milk to the first mixture. Beat thoroughly and put into a well greased round tin. Bake in a moderate oven, Cool, and split in half. Cover the bottom. half ‘th a layer of whipped cream. Put on this a layer of thinly sliced peaches, and cover with more whipped cream. Put the other half of

the shortcake on top. Decorate with thin slices of peaches, and very stiffly beaten cream. Apricot or Peach Whip Pr->are a large cupful of apricot or peach pulp, by cooking the cut up fruit slowly in a little water, until they a~e soft enough to push through a sieve. A little cinnamon flavouring with peaches is very popular. Then beat u': 2 egg whites very stiff; add 2 tablespoons of sugar, either -icing or ordinary, and beat till stiff again. Add 2 more tablespoons of sugar and the cupful of pulp, and beat with an egg whisk until smooth and fluffy. Serve in individual glasses-long stemmed ones look nice-with whipped cream on top. Very nice with ginger wafers. May also be served in a bowl lined with sponge fingers and with a good boiled custard or raw cream. Plum Sweet Cook 1 Ib. plums in a little syrup. Lift them out, and put in a glass dish. Make up the syrup to a pint with water, and with it make up a packet of orange jelly crystals. Also make up a pint of custard, and beat the cooled custard into the: jelly, just as it is beginning to set. Pour over the plums, and leave to set. Peach Foam Stcw some peaches, lift them out of the syrup, and lay in a glass dish. With tie syrup, and sufficient water, make up a packet of jelly crystals. Just as this is beginning to set, whip into it a tin of condensed milk, or reduced cream. Pour over the peaches, and allow to set. Greek Compote of Apricots Make a strong syrup, with lump sugar if possible, allowing 72 Ib. sugar to % pint of water. Put fine fresh apricots, whole, into the syrup with 2 or 3 cloves, and simmer gently till the fruit is cooked. Lift out the apricots carefully, one by one, so as not to break them, and put them into a glass bowl. Boil up the syrup again till it thickens; when cool remove the cloves and pour it over the apricots. In Greece, all compotes of fruit are made like this, in syrup and flavoured with spice-cloves for peaches, pears, and apricots; and cinnamon with apple. The Original Peach Melba Few of us will make up this recipe exactly as I give it, but we can adapt it to our means. It, is the original Péche Melba which was invented by the great French chef, Monsieur Escoffier, more than twenty years ago; and was given to me by a Frenchman who had worked under him. Escoffier earned thousands of pounds, and made a considerable fortune, but having no idea of thrift, he died very poor.

Four or five firm, ripe peaches; % gill of raspberry syrup; 1% gill of strawberry syrup; ¥% pony glass of Kirsch liqueur or brandy; 4% pint vanilla ice cream; 4 oz. vanilla-sugar (or sugar flavoured with vanilla) and vanilla flavouring; also 4 pint of cream. Halve and peel the peaches, and poach them in a syrup flavoured with vanilla, till tender, but not broken. Lift out the peaches, drain them on a sieve, and let them get thoroughly cold. Serve them piled round a mound of vanilla ice cream, in a silver dish. Set this in another dish

containing shaved ice. Pour over a rich rasp--crry and strawberry syrup, which must be previously iced. Beat up the cream mixed with sugar, and use it for decorating. Serve at once. Allow one peach to each person. If fresh peaches are not procurable, use tinned ones. Ordinary Peach Melba This is the more simple and ordinary Peach Melba with which most of us are quite satisfied. Place on each individual plate, a square of sponge cake, and upon it a scoop of ice cream. Then invert half a peach, tinned or fresh and ripe, over the ice cream, cand top with Melba Sauce; decorate with sweetened whipped cream, and flavoured with vanilla. Melba Sauce Make this by putting through a sieve a small tin of raspberries and then adding a quarter as much sugar, and boiling for five minutes. Let it get very cold. Mock Melba (without Ice Cream) ‘As it is not always possible to take home some ice cream, and not everybody has a refrigerator, here is a Mock Melba. Take pieces of sponge cake about three inches square, put into individual dishes, and on each, put half a large preserved or cold cooked peach. If the peach is extra choice, ripe and (Continued on next page)

— ~ a | (Continued from previous page) luscious, it need not be cooked, but just peeled. Place hollow side up. Fill cavity with strawberries, raspberries, or mixed fruits that are suitable and pour over a good boiled custard, completely covering it all. Place a strawberry or cherry on top of each, and serve with cream. If out of season, tinned strawberries or raspberries may be used. Peach Delicious One cup of wholemeal; 1 level teaspoon of baking powder; 4 tablespoons water; 3 oz. butter; and,a pinch of salt. Make a pastry of this, and roll thin on paper, or, on the oven slide. Spread half with peach jam, cover with the other half, and bake in a moderate oven about half an hour. Then cut into squares, put on plates, cover with tinned peaches and the syrup, and finish with whipped cream. Freshly stewed peaches in syrup may also be used. . Peach Flan Make up a jelly, using the juice from a tin of peaches, and the rest water. Or use fresh stewed peaches,-of course. Let the sliced peaches soak in this jelly. Cook a pastry flan, prick it, etc. When cold, put slices of peach on the shell, and pour over as much jelly as is required. Very nice with almond custard. Apricots could also be used in this recipe. Apricot Cream Stew apricots soft in syrup, strain, and rub through a sieve. Dissolve an ounce of powdered gelatine in a breakfast cup of the warm strained syrup, then. add 1 breakfast cup of the apricot pulp. Gradually fold in a cup of whipped cream. Make up a packet of strawberry jelly crystals, and set some in the bottom of a pretty mould. When the apricot mixture is cold, pour it in on top, and leave it to set. Set the rest of the strawberry jelly in a basin, and serve it chopped into small pieces, and piled loosely round the apricot cream. It makes a sparkling pretty surround for the dish. Peach Junket Have sufficient ripe peaches for the family, peel and halve them, and arrange them in a glass or china bowl. Make an ordinary junket with good rich milk, sweetened a little, and pour it immediately over the fruit, and leave it to set. Serve with a good custard sauce, or cream. If the peaches are not luscious and ripe, they may be slowly cooked, and drained dry, before putting into the bowl. Cold Plum Pudding One teacup water; 144 Ibs. fresh red plums; 2 tablespoons of sugar. Boil the

sugar and water for five minutes, add the washed plums, and cook till soft. Take out the stones. Line the bottom and sides of a pudding basin with stale bread. Carefully soak this lining with some of the plum juice. Then put in a layer of plums, another layer of bread, and so on, till the dish is full, finishing with a layer of bread. Put a saucer on top, and a weight, and leave till cold. Turn out of basin and serve with a good custard. :