Felt Food 1: The Tart Cake (Mini)

Look at what I SEWED! I think I am obsessed with felt food! Why have I not learn how to do this earlier?! I have so many ideas running across my mind after successfully finishing this mini tart!! Different color tarts, different toppings likeee blueberry? whipped cream? and different size tarts! Isn't it ironic that I have not baked a REAL edible tart to date? Haha

Anyways, I bought this mini tart cake kit (including cut-out felt paper, threads, magnet, papers and cotton) at Daiso in Vancouver, Canada. (I also bought many other cute little bakewares at this place! I shall get into that in another post.) I really should've bought all the kits they have, like their cakes, pudding and donuts! Ugh.. there's no Daiso in California. But mm, it's ok. I searched frantically online as soon as I finished the tart for more tutorials. So far, I have bookmarked quite a list that can take me a long while to go through each of them!
**The key word to google is "felt food tutorials."

Don't ever underestimate my patience with food crafts! This mini tart took me 5 hours to finish! I believe I repeated each step twice before successfully moving on to the next (there was a total 13 steps). Pretty good for a first time sewer, right? It was indeed some tedious work, but the end result is totally worth it.

Btw, I snapped about 60 photos from different angles hoping to get one photo that can sum up the awesomeness of this little tart. Hehe. Keep checking my blog for updates on my experiment with felt food!(:

Lenox Almond Biscotti

Greetings! The last post and this post are actually ready since two weeks ago. I apologize. Total lag on my part.. BUT wait! The reason why these were not up at once was because I was on a road trip to Canada for the past two weeks. To sum up the road trip in two words .. good times :D We traveled a total of 2950 miles and stopped by San Francisco, Napa Valley, Seattle, Oregon, Sacramento, Vancouver, and Victoria Island. Loads of fun and photos taken!

With about three weeks of summer left, here I am.. slowly recovering and adjusting back to my relaxing summer vacation mood from the hectic traveling mode. I am also finally doing my job to publish these belated posts in a timely manner. Here, I present you Lenox Almond Biscotti!

Lenox Almond Biscotti
recipe from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1 stick (8tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temp
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure almond extract (I subbed it with vanilla extract)
3/4 cup sliced almonds, blanched or unblanched


*I like to halve all the ingredients and work with only one log each time I bake these! It ensures freshness! Fyi, the biscotti can be kept at room temperature for about a week.

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Whisk flour, baking powder, salt and cornmeal together.
3. With stand mixer at medium speed, beat butter and sugar together for 3 minutes until very smooth. Add the eggs and continue to beat for another 2 minutes until mixture is light and creamy. Beat in almond extract.
4. Reduce mixer to low and add dry ingredients, mixing only until they are incorporated.
5. Toss in the almonds and mix just to blend.
6. Divide the dough in half. Roll each dough into 12 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide log.
7. Bake for 15 minutes or until logs are lightly golden but still soft and springy to the touch. Transfer to rack and cool for 30 minutes.
8. With a long serrated knife, cut the logs into 3/4 inch thick slices. Stand them up on the baking sheet and bake the biscotti for another 15 minutes in 350F until they are golden and firm.
9. Cool& enjoy.



These little cookies were made on the night before I went on that road trip with my family hoping to share it with my lovely cousins in Victoria Island. The biscotti made there safely and I think my cousins liked it?(: Hehe. I personally liked these biscotti more than the chocolate peanut ones. Texture- wise, these were softer yet crunchy and not rock solid. Flavor- wise, these were lighter and have a subtle sweetness to them. I am keeping this recipe and going to play around with different variations of ingredients (dried fruits?) next time.

Chocolate Peanut Biscotti

Chocolate Peanut Biscotti
recipe from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temp
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup chopped almonds, blanched or unblanched (used peanuts)
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped or 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

1. Preheat over to 350F.
2. Line baking sheet with parchment.
3. Sift together flour, cocoa, espresso powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
4. With electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and sugar until pale (~2 mins).
5. Add eggs and vanilla and beat for another 2 minutes.
6. With mixer on low speed, mix in the dry ingredients in 3 additions until dough forms.
7. Mix in the chopped nuts and chocolate. (Knead dough if any dry ingredients have escaped)
8. Divide dough in half. Roll each dough into 12 inch long logs. Flatten logs to 1/2 to 1 inch high and about 2 inches across. Lift dough onto baking sheet.
9. Sprinkle each log with a little sugar. Bake for 25 minutes until they are just slightly firm. (Note: it is ok if the log spread and crack)
10. Remove from oven and put on cooling rack for about 20 minutes.
11. With a long serrated knife, cut each log into slices between 1/2 and 3/4 inch thick. Stand slices up on baking sheet.
12. Preheat over back to 350F and bake the army of biscotti for another 10 minutes.
13. Cool& enjoy!


^ready for first bake

Thank you bestie for thinking of me when you went to the library! This might just be the first cookbook I actually read and baked something out of(: Since the cookbook was almost 2 inches thick of recipes, my bestie and I had ideas of just flipping to a random page and whatever we landed on, I would bake. It would only be nice if all the ingredients were at hand though. In the end, I decided to just skim through the whole cookbook (I was going to anyways). The recipe/ picture that caught my eyes was the Chocolate Biscotti, a Twice-Baked Cookie. Butter. Check. Chocolate. Check. Cocoa Powder. Check. Check. Check. Check. Yes! Here it goes.

Biscotti is actually pretty easy to whip up. Once you have all the ingredients, it takes at most 10 minutes to get the dough ready. The tedious part of the whole process was probably the cooling after the first bake (The biscotti is more prone to cracking if you don't wait for it to completely cool!). Gotta be patient! (;


^after first bake

**These biscotti would definitely be better if it was another combination of ingredients. I didn't like the peanut in it and the chocolate was too strong/sweet to my liking. The big peanut pieces also made it hard to cut thin slices for the second bake. (As I am posting this, I also made the Lenox Almond Biscotti from this cookbook, which I like a lot better. >>post coming soon)