The recipe I have chose to make is pumpkin muffins. I decided to make this recipe because I was limited as to what I had in the house and my only resource left was baking. I thought I would try to make one of my moms famous recipes, pumpkin spice muffins! There is in fact a story behind this recipe. Usually in the fall or winter my mom would make these muffins when my siblings and I were at school, she surprised us every time and we were always so excited! These muffins are one of my sisters favourite special treats and because her birthday is coming up I had decided to make these for her. However, I made some changes to the recipe to make them more cupcake and party like. Usually this recipe only includes making the muffins but I decided to add some cinnamon icing and crumb topping to the top to make them even more flavourful! I was unsure how they were going to taste as I have never added anything to the recipe but they turned out even better than the original muffins! I have also learnt a new skill which is how to coat the muffins in the icing and sprinkle the crumb topping on top so it would stick. It took me a couple of tries to get the right amount of topping and icing but they turned out exactly how I expected… great! My mom and dad loved them. They said they were delicious and the icing was a perfect cinnamon flavour. I am also very happy with how these turned out. My sister has not yet tried them because they are a surprise but I am sure she will love the changes I made to the recipe.
Recipe:
Pumpkin Muffins
- 2/3 cup water
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/4 cup of quick bread mix
- 2 tablespoons of pecans
Crumb Topping
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter (melted)
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
Cinnamon Icing
- 5 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 1-2 teaspoons milk (more, if needed)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Below is pumpkin muffin batter
Next is the muffins before they are out into the oven
Lastly is the final product! In the picture below you will see the muffins coated in crumb topping and cinnamon icing!
The recipe I have chosen to make is sweet and savoury pretzels. I chose to make this dish because I saw it while scrolling through social media and it looked delicious. My sister had previously tried to make it but it didn’t turn out as planned. They were very plain and puffy so I thought I would try the recipe to see if I could fix them. I had to make some changes to the recipe including drizzling them in butter after they came out of the oven, adding more salt, dipping some of the pretzels in brown sugar and cinnamon. I found they came out less puffy and even more flavourful the second time! When they first came out of the oven my mom had to told me they tasted plain so I used what I had available to me and added butter and Himalayan pink salt which totally changed the flavour in a good way. Everyone’s favourite was the brown sugar and cinnamon and they all said the same thing, a definite make again! It was my first time making pretzels and I am very happy with how they turned out.
Recipe:
- 1.5 cups flour (little bit extra for the surface)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 heaping teaspoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons butter
- a pinch of salt (extra salt for top of pretzels)
- 2/3 cup milk
- brown sugar
- cinnamon
- 1 egg
Below is the rolled out dough
Next is the pretzels before they are baked
Below is the final product!
These are some of the props I chose for my pictures. While I was looking around my house I had tried to pick different items so that you can use certain items for cooking and certain items for baking. I had found some flowers and other coloured utensils to bring some colourful elements into the next food pictures. The theme of my props was mostly white, grey and tan. These colours together merge as one and create a beautiful picture. With most of my props you are able to bake. As you can see there are liquid and dry measures, a spatula, a Wisk, rolling pin and sifter. My picture does not tell a story but I tried using different angles and lighting to create a vintage looking picture.
This is the first picture of the photoshoot and preferably my favourite. In this picture you can see I have used the cutting board, spatula and flowers from my props. I was mainly focused on the contrast and colour in this picture. While trying to figure out a theme, I wanted to add colour and saw that there were two green props. The theme I came up with was green and red fruits and vegetables. I used cucumber, broccoli, watermelon & strawberries. I used the cutting board as a prop to try and capture these foods to look like a small platter. The colours compliment each other which makes the picture look more vibrant. I was also focused on the display and arrangement of the foods to make them look neat and nice. The simple white background also makes the fruits and veggies more eye catching. The light is hitting the white flowers beautifully making the picture look like it was taken on a sunny vacation spot. The thing I like most about this photo is the colourful fruits and vegetables and the way the light is hitting the display of food. The picture makes me feel all happy and warm.
This is the second picture of the photoshoot. In this picture you can see I have used the rolling pin, bowl and dry measures from my props. I was mainly focused on the angle as I changed it to more of a birds eye view. I wanted to capture as much of the food as I could and to do so I tested different angles and chose this one as the best. The theme of this picture was also coloured fruits and vegetables but have changed the colours to compliment each other. There are red, orange and yellow foods in this picture. I used apples, oranges, a lemon, peppers and a tomato. The apples, oranges and lemon stand out because they are displayed against a white bowl making the colours ‘pop’ and eye catching. The light was also hitting the dry measures in a circular motion which i thought was cool. The thing i like most about this picture is the bright colours and circular lighting.
This is the third picture of the photoshoot. In this picture you can see I have used the hand towels and small cappuccino glass. In this picture I was mainly focused on the different textures and lighting. I wanted to incorporate texture in my final picture so I added apple chips and coconut rolls against the smooth towels to clearly show the roughness and crispiness of these foods. Also, it was starting to get dark outside so to get light I had to be creative! I took my liquid measure (which was also used in props) and a flashlight. I put the flashlight inside the glass so the light was facing towards the bottom. This gave an interesting sun like lighting including different lines and shapes! I was happy the way it turned out. The theme of this photo was different shades of brown with a hint of red. I used maple syrup, apple pie, pumpkin pie and cinnamon spices, apple chips and coconut rolls, each a different shade of brown. Something I liked most about this picture is the layout of how the foods were put together to form one beautiful photo.
