A Taste of History: Recipe of the Week #3

All recipes featured in A Taste of History are taken from Modern Cookery, In All Its Branches edited by Mrs. S. J. Hale, 1852 from the collections of The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the State of Illinois housed at Clarke House Museum.

Common Lemon Tartlets

Beat four eggs until they are exeedingly light, add to them gradually four ounces of pounded sugar*, and whisk these together for five minutes; stew lightly in, if it be at hand, a dessertspoonful* of potato flour, if not, of common flour well dried and sifted; then throw into the mixture, by slow degrees, three ounces* of good butter, which should be dissolved, but only just luke-warm; beat the whole well, then stir briskly in the strained juice and the grated rind of one lemon and a half. Line some pattypans* with fine puff-paste* rolled very thin, then fill them two thirds full, and bake the tartlets about twenty minutes, in a moderate oven.

*Instead of puff paste, try Miss Acton's recipe for :  
Very Rich Short Crust for Tarts 
 Break lightly, with the least possible handling, six ounces of butter into eight of flour; add a dessertspoonful* of pounded sugar*, and two or three of water; roll the paste for several minutes, to blend the ingredients well, folding it together like puff-crust, and touch it as little as possible.

Modern Conversions

*three ounces = aprx. 1/3 cup

*four ounces = 1/2 cup

*pounded sugar = confectioner's/ powdered sugar
*dessertspoonful = aprx. 1/2 tablespoon
*pattypans = use cupcake pans