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Sweets/Treats Italian Cream

italian creme
(from The Kentucky Housewife, by Mrs. Lettice Bryan, 1839)

Ingredients:

Six Eggs​
Pint of Wine​
1/2 Lb. Sugar​
One Orange​
One Lemon​
Quart of Sweet Cream​
Whipped Heavy Cream as a topping​

Instructions:

Beat the yolks of six eggs till very light and smooth; stir into them gradually a pint of wine, and let it set for half an hour; then stir in half a pound of powdered sugar, the juice and grated peel of one orange and one lemon, and let it set again for half an hour, after which stir in a quart of rich sweet cream, beat it light, serve it in glasses, and crown them with whipped cream. These cold creams, as they are called, are plain, nice, fashionable and easily prepared. They are eaten with tarts, sweet meats and cake.​

 
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There is not much information on Mrs. Lettice Bryan who wrote "The Kentucky Housewife. What I have found came from "Descendants of Virginia to Kentucky, the Pierce family". Lettice Pierce was born in 1805 in Lincoln County, Kentucky and died in 1877. She married Edmond Bryan on July 15, 1823 in Adair County, Kentucky. She wrote "The Kentucky Housewife" in 1839. It is a wonderful resource for recipes and home remedies available in Kentucky and the Upper South in the early 19th century. The recipes are probably much older, and were handed down by the Pierce and Bryan families and their neighbors.
 
Two questions if you please donna:
1) White wine, or Red? I may be inclined to go with rose, but expect a pink end product.
2) Powdered sugar? Would this be known today as caster sugar?
 
Howdy FourLeafClover. On your side of the Pond, powdered sugar is "icing sugar". Caster sugar we would call fine granulated sugar. I make caster sugar by taking our regular granulated sugar for a spin in a coffee grinder.

I'd be tempted to make this with a red wine that was not particularly tannic -- not a pinot noir, certainly; maybe a sweeter Spanish red... But I'll bet the original intent was a white.
 
Thank You Ken. I considered icing sugar. But thought that would be ultra sweet. Oh well, in for a penny! That is going to be one rich and creamy dessert.
 
Google recipes for Caledonian Cream and Strathbogie Mist from your side of the Pond. You'll like those too. As The Kilted Cook, a Personal Chef, with an English ex-pat girlfriend, I do a fair bit of Anglo-Scottish cookery...
 
Thanks Ken for your post.

Here is definition of powdered sugar or Confectioners sugar. In Britain it is called Icing Sugar and in France Sucre Glace. This sugar is granulated sugar ground to a smooth powder and then sifted. It contains about 3% cornstarch to prevent caking. Powdered sugar is ground into three different degrees of fineness. The confectioners sugar available in supermarkets - 10x - is the finest of the three and is used in icings, confections and whipping cream. The other two types of powdered sugar are used by industrial bakers.

The way I learned to make confectioners sugar or powdered sugar at home was mix 1 cup grandulated sugar and 1 teaspoon cornstarch in a blender at high speed for several minutes.

A coffee grinder, spice grinder or small mini-processor works as well for small amounts.
 
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