FAIRY FANCIES.
(Fantaisies de Fées.)
A small, but very inexpensive set of tin cutters must be had for this pretty form of pastry, which is, however, quite worthy of so slight a cost. The short crust, of page 349, answers for it better than puff paste. Roll it thin and very even, and with the larger tin, shaped thus, cut out a dozen or more of small sheets; then, with a couple of round cutters, of which one should be about an inch in diameter, and the other only half the size, form four times the number of rings, and lay them on the sheets in the manner shown in the engraving. The easier mode of placing them regularly, is to raise each ring without removing the small cutter from it, to moisten it with a camel’s hair brush dipped in white of egg, and to lay it on the paste as it is gently loosened from the tin When all the pastry is prepared, set it into a very gentle oven, that it may become crisp and yet remain quite pale. Before it is sent to table, fill the four divisions of each fantaisie with preserve of a different colour. For example: one ring with apple or strawberry jelly, another with apricot jam, a third with peach or green-gage, and a fourth with raspberry jelly. The cases may be iced, and ornamented in various ways before they are baked. They are prettiest when formed of white almond-paste, with pink or pale green rings: they may then be filled, at the instant of serving, with well-drained whipped cream.