Paste for Small Gummed Tea-cakes

La pâte pour petits gâteaux gommés (paste for small gummed tea-cakes) teaches the discipline behind every neatly cut petit four: cold dough remembers its shape, while warm, overworked dough forgets it. Butter and four yolks make this paste rich and tender, and orange-flower water gives it a quiet perfume. The cold rest is not waiting. It is the structure of the dish.

The original formula assumed a cool pastry room, a broad marble bench, and hands accustomed to moving one great sheet of paste. Its quantity, about 1.15 kilograms, is generous but still manageable as a home baking batch, so I keep the book's proportions intact rather than force you to measure fractions of an egg. Divide it into four sheets, roll between parchment, and let the refrigerator stand in for the cold pastry room. The marble and extra hands were brigade scaffolding and can go; the two rolling passes and the rest are the dish and must stay.

Work only until the paste comes together. If it turns greasy, stop and chill it for ten minutes; if its edges crack under the pin, let it soften for three minutes and patch them with your fingers. Ça se rattrape. The step that matters most is the final cold rest before cutting, because that is what gives the finished little cakes their true edges.