Serving Size : 50

12 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 2/3 cups currants (almost 1 box)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Cream the butter and sugar. Beat the eggs to a thick froth and combine with the sugar mixture. Sift the flour and spices together twice. Fold the currants into the batter, then sift in the flour. Thoroughly work the ingredients together to make a very stiff dough. Break off pieces and roll them into balls the size of walnuts. Set these on baking sheets lined with baking parchment. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 15 minutes, or until golden brown on the bottom. Cool on racks or serve immediately.

Source: Maria Rundell. A New System of Domestic Cookery (Philadelphia: Benjamin C. Buzby, 1810), p. 198. Redacted by William Woys Weaver, The Christmas Cook. New York: Harper Collins, 1990. p. 128.