A Cooking Lesson...

Dearest Friends of The Tearoom,
We greet you warmly once again and hope you are all having a Most Lovely Christmas Day!!

It is our pleasure to meet with you again, here in the atelier above the museum, for some hints and tips on making tiny miniature tea food, such as was served at our opening at the museum last night.  Such a beautiful night it was and how nice to have so many friends and family with us!

It's easy enough to find toy and miniature foods, made of non-edible materials, but I wanted to challenge myself to create edible food that could be served on doll's dishes.  I will admit freely to being inspired by some videos I found on YouTube where people cooked tiny edible food, sometimes over tiny stoves heated by tea-light candles!!  If you search "cooking miniature food", you too can be inspired!

The sandwiches served were a combination of my own creation and here is how they were made:

(Please click image to see larger.)

Enchanted Garden Tea Sandwiches

5 oz. chevre or cream cheese (I used a chevre flavored with herbs and garlic, but plain would be fine)

3 tablespoons of milk

A small handful of fresh dill, very finely chopped

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

An unsliced roll (I used a mini baguette roll from Whole Foods, but any finely-grained unsliced roll will do)

Several very thin slices of small Persian cucumber

Several very thin slices of French Breakfast or Easter Egg radish

Several pretty leaves of baby lettuce

Several watercress leaves

Edible flower petals such as pansies, violas or nasturtium (optional) *

To make the chevre mousse, beat together the chevre (or cream cheese), milk, dill, salt and pepper until creamy.  It must be soft enough to pipe, so add more milk if needed.  After mixing, scoop into piping bag and set aside.

Cut several thin slices (approx. 1/4 inch) from the roll with a sharp knife, remove the crusts and trim so the pieces to 1 3/4 inch-2 inch square.  Cut each piece in half.

Assemble the sandwiches by piping the cheese mousse on one side of half of the pieces of bread.  Cut in half the radish and cucumber slices and overlap if necessary so that the edges show, but not overhang from the edge of the sandwich.  Do the same with the lettuce, watercress and edible flower petals.  If necessary, place small dots of cheese in between layers to keep the sandwich together.  Serve on a plate from a doll's tea set or an old-fashioned butter chip (a plate used to serve pats of butter).

Makes several sandwiches, depending upon the size of roll used.

*Please make certain that any edible flower you intend to eat has been grown organically, has not been sprayed with pesticides or chemicals and has been washed thoroughly to remove any small insects or specks of soil.  Also, please do not eat any flower unless you are certain it is edible, as some are toxic.

Dark Chocolate Icebox Cookie Cake

with Buttercream Frosting

1/4 cup softened butter (I prefer salted, as it accents the other flavors, you may use unsalted if preferred)

1/4 - 1/2 cup of powdered sugar

A few drops each of vanilla and almond extracts, to taste

8 Famous Chocolate Cookies or other thin wafer cookie

1 piece of plain, soft white bread

Whip the butter until creamy.  Add 1/4 cup of the powdered sugar.  Beat.  Add more powdered sugar if necessary.  Add the vanilla and almond extracts to taste.  Add more sugar or drops of milk as needed to make the frosting soft enough to pipe.

Start with one of the cookies and evenly spread the frosting.  If the center is thicker than the edges, make certain there is more frosting around the edges so that each layer will sit firmly together.  Repeat process until each of the cakes has 4 layers each.  With the edge of a butter knife, smooth around the edge of the cake so that the frosting looks even all around it.  Pipe frosting in a decorative design on the top of the cake.  Repeat the process to make the second cake.  Refrigerate cakes in a covered container along with the piece of white bread, torn into 2 or 3 large pieces*.  Place the bread around the cakes and refrigerate for 1-2 days.

After they have been left in the refrigerator to become softer for a couple of days, remove them from the refrigerator and with a sharp knife which has been run under hot water and dried, carefully cut each cake into 4 pieces (Please don't allow the cakes to remain out of the refrigerator for too long before cutting.  It is essential that the frosting remain cold and hard when cutting so that it does not squish out between the layers).  Serve on plates from a doll's tea set or on old-fashioned butter chips (plates used to serve pats of butter).

Makes 8 pieces of cake

*When my mother would make homemade cookies, if they had become hard, she would add a slice of white bread to the bag where she stored the cookies to add moisture back into them from the bread.  The plain bread adds no taste at all, only makes the cookies softer.  The purpose of adding it to this recipe is to make the cookies soft enough so that they can be cut without crumbling.

Tea

One of my favorite tea flavors is Vanilla Caramel.  It reminds me of a very Marie Antoinette-like tearoom in Paris where I had caramel tea for the first time.  I prefer mine with milk and sugar.  Of course, Earl Grey is always nice, as well.  The lovely bergamot flavor which makes it so special is actually from a citrus fruit, grown in Sicily.  This tea is also nice served with a slice of citrus in the cup, so for my tiny dolls dishes, I was challenged to find one small enough to use.  I found a small Meyer lemon and cut it into pieces.  It had a lovely flavor and was just the right size.  Also, slices of kumquat could be used.  Of course, you may substitute any tea that you prefer.  Tazo's Wild Sweet Orange would also be a delicious choice, should you prefer an herbal tea.  Serve in tea cups from a doll's tea set.

Thank you so much for attending my cooking lesson in making miniature edible food today!  I hope to be able to create more lessons such as this so that you and your own Doll and Animal Family can enjoy some lovely tiny meals together.

Wishing you all a Most Merry Christmas!!