Warm four ounces of fresh butter, heat it, then mix in four ounces of sugar, and whip the two together until creamy; beat in, one at a time, four eggs, then stir in quickly four ounces of finely-sifted flour, and work it till quite smooth. Butter a flat tin thick, pour the mixture onto it spreading it to about one-half inch in thickness, and bake at once for fifteen minutes in a brisk oven. When cooked turn the pastry onto a sieve, and leave until cool, the underside uppermost. Spread a thin layer of apricot jam over the pastry, then a layer of chocolate icing, and put it to dry for a minute in an oven. When quite cold cut the pastry into various fancy shapes, and serve.

Neapolitan Pastry

Make a rich puff paste, roll it out to about one-half inch in thickness, and cut it into strips about two inches wide; lay these on a baking-dish, a little distance from each other so that when they spread they will not join, and bake in a quick oven. Remove and mask half of them with raspberry or strawberry jam, and place the other half on top. Ice them with colored icing, arrange tastefully on a fancy dish, and serve.

Royal Pastry

Put two gills of water in a large saucepan with a little more than four ounces of fresh butter, two ounces of sugar, the peel of one lemon, and a little salt. Boil it till the butter is melted, then take the lemon peel out; throw in sufficient finely-sifted flour to make a stiff paste, stir it over the fire with a wooden spoon till the paste can be easily detached from the saucepan, then take it off. Break in, one at a time, five or six eggs, but do not put more than the paste can absorb, and mix each one in before the next is added. Shape the paste into equal-sized balls, and put them about one inch apart from each other on a baking-sheet. Brush over with a paste-brush dipped in beaten egg and milk, put them in a moderately hot oven, and do not open the door till they are done, or they will flatten. Dry them, detach them from the baking-sheet with the point of a knife, make a small hole in the tops, put one teaspoonful of jam, or any kind of sweetmeat in each, and serve.