WIGGS

4 lb. flour
1 lb. butter
1 lb. sugar
6 eggs
1 pint milk
1/2 pint yeast (use 2 cakes or packets commercial yeast)
Carroway seeds as desired

Four pound flour, 1 pound butter, 1 pound sugar, 6 eggs, 1 pint milk, half pint yeast; mix the flour and sugar with carroway seed, melt the butter, and with the milk mix it all together; bake them quick.

From American Cookery by Amelia Simmons, 2nd edition, Albany NY 1796

Comment: This recipe is so old that the original book uses spellings with the "medial S," a now (thankfully) obsolete letter resembling a lower case "f". Assuming that our readers do not wish to wade through directions like "1 pound fugar" and "half pint yeaft," we have taken the liberty of modernizing things a bit.

"Bake them quick" does not mean to tear through the process as if you were trying to set a speed record, it means to use a hot oven. We suggest trying 400 degrees, checking them frequently, and removing when they appear done, then noting the time required for future reference in case they prove popular and you want to make them again.

The fact that yeast is involved suggests that after mixing this dough should be given some time to rise, but since Ms. Simmons does not make mention of any such thing we can only shrug helplessly and leave the matter to the discretion of the cook.

Return to Recipe Index