1 1/2 cups flour (sifted) 1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup lard

3 1/2 tablespoons cold water

Sift the flour and salt, then cut in the shortening with two knives until it looks mealy. Add the water gradually, cutting it in with a knife. Flour the bottom of the pan; roll out the crust and line the bottom of the pan with it. Trim off the edges; roll them out; form into a long strip and press around the edge of the crust, moistening it slightly with water first to make the dough adhere. Fill and bake in a quick oven, having the greatest heat at the bottom. A gas stove is more satisfactory for pies than a coal stove. The recipe makes two single crusts.

Tartlets

Roll puff-paste one eighth of an inch thick; cut it into squares; turn the points together into the middle and press slightly to make them stay. Bake until thoroughly done; place a spoonful of jam in the center of each; cover the jam with meringue and brown the meringue in a quick oven.

By brushing the top of the paste with beaten egg diluted with one teaspoon of water a glazed appearance may be obtained.

Torto Frutas

Line the sides of a baking dish with a half puff-paste; cover the bottom with sliced pineapple; put in a layer of peeled sliced oranges, then sliced bananas and then a few slices of lemon; sifting a generous supply of powdered sugar over each layer. Repeat the layers until the dish is full and cover with chopped nuts and narrow strips of the puff-paste. Bake slowly for an hour or more.

Peach Crusts

Roll puff-paste one-eighth of an inch thick; cut in two-and-a-half-inch squares and bake in a hot oven. Cool; press down the centers and place in each a half of a canned peach, drained from its syrup. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and squeeze a little lemon juice into each cavity.

French Tart

Roll out puff-paste; cover a pie dish with it; turn and notch the edge; fill the crust with any small preserved fruits, jam or marmalade; cut out an ornament of leaves from the crust; lay it on the top and bake for about half an hour in a quick oven.

Baked Apple Dumplings

Pare and core large tart apples. Make a short pie-crust; roll thin and cut into squares large enough to cover an apple. Place one apple in the center of each square; fill the cavity with sugar, cinnamon and grated nutmeg; fold the corners to meet at the top, pinching the edges to make them stick together and hold in the juices. Bake until the apples are tender and serve with hard or wine sauce.

Pumpkin Pie

1 1/2 cups cooked pumpkin 3/4 cup milk 2 eggs

1 tablespoon flour 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

Cut the pumpkin in small pieces; peel, wash and steam or stew until tender. Mash to a pulp; cook as dry as possible without scorching and rub through a colander or coarse sieve. Mix thoroughly with the milk and other ingredients; pour into an open crust and bake slowly for forty or fifty minutes. Spices may be used in addition to the vanilla for flavoring if desired.

Squash pie may be made from this recipe, using less milk.