SPANISH BUNS.

Cut up three quarters of a pound of butter into a jill and a half or
three wine glasses of rich unskimmed milk, (cream will be still
better,) and get the pan on a stove or near the fire, till the butter
becomes soft enough to stir all through the milk with a knife; but do
not let it get so hot as to boil of itself. Then set it away in a cold
place. Sift into separate pans, a half pound and a quarter of a pound
of the finest flour; and having beaten four eggs as light as possible,
mix them with the milk and butter, and then pour the whole into the pan
that contains the half pound of flour. Having previously prepared two
grated nutmegs, and a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon and mace,
stir them into the mixture; adding six drops of extract of roses, or a
large table-spoonful of rose water. Add a wine glass and a half of the
best fresh yeast from a brewery. If you cannot procure yeast of the
very best quality, an attempt to make these buns will most probably
prove a failure, as the variety of other ingredients will prevent them
from rising unless the yeast is as strong as possible. Before you put
it in, skim off the thin liquid or beer from the top, and then stir up
the bottom. After you have put in the yeast, add the sugar; stirring it
well in, a very little at a time. If too much sugar is put in at once,
the buns will be heavy. Lastly, sprinkle in the quarter of a pound of
flour that was sifted separately; and stir the whole very hard. Put the
mixture into a square pan well buttered, and (having covered it with a
cloth) place it in a corner of the hearth to rise, which will require,
perhaps, about five hours; therefore these buns should always be made
early in the day. Do not bake it till the batter has risen to twice its
original quantity, and is covered on the top with bubbles; then set the
pan into a moderate oven, and bake it about twenty minutes. Let it get
cool in the pan; then, cut it into squares, and either ice them,
(flavouring the icing with essence of lemon or extract of roses,) or
sift grated loaf-sugar thickly over them. These buns (like all other
cakes made with yeast) should be eaten the day they are baked; as when
stale, they fall and become hard.

In mixing them, you may stir in at the last half a pound of raisins,
stoned, chopped and floured; or half a pound of currants. If you use
fruit, put in half a wine glass more of the yeast.
