These big and fluffy cookies use a few simple ingredients that come together to make a light cookie that tastes even better than the store bought kind.
Eierkoek; found in every bakery section and loved by many. With Easter right around the corner, I was looking for something festive yet easy to make to add to our table this year. What ended up as a baking project turned into a fun afternoon of photography!
Choosing a Recipe
As with most of my cooking and baking, I start by combing cookbooks and searching the internet for a recipe that looks promising and has good reviews from people who have actually made it. Sometimes I spend days searching, sometimes I find one right away. So many times you read the comments and the majority are people saying "it looks so good, I can't wait to try" or "I changed this and this and this and it came out awful, I can't understand why". What am I looking for? Ones that use common ingredients and ones that make sense in their methods.
After trying the recipe as written, I'll start to go in and experiment if necessary. I think this might be the case here for these eierkoeken: they came out good, just not perfect. My son said they were good enough to have seconds :)
The Money Shot - Photography is Half of the Fun
I don't know what I enjoyed most about making these eierkoeken: making them, photographing them, or watching them being devoured by my family and hearing them ask if I had any more. I'm going to go with photographing them. I love finding colors, the art of arranging and composing, storytelling, and playing with angles and the light.
You can take beautiful pictures of your food with items you probably have in your house right now. Look for a mix of neutrals and colors that represent the food or season you want to express. Towels, fabric scraps, pieces of wood or even wall paper are fun choices. Add a few ingredients or utensils you used and you're off to a good start. Decide if you want to show texture, the size of the item, how to cut it ect. Lighting is always key.
I have a countertop that the sun hits perfectly for most of the day and a dining table that works great in the afternoon. Watch how the sun travels around your house for a few days to get an idea of the best location. Direct sunlight is too harsh so consider diffusing the light by lowering a sheer curtain or waiting for a slightly overcast day if possible. Take a few practice pictures and look at what you have. Do you have clutter in the background you need to clear? Can you use a filter to help nature out a little? Does your composition of items make the eye travel around the picture and bring you back to the food? If not, move a few things, change your angle, and try again!
If you look at my camera roll, I'll have 100 or more pictures that all look almost the same but not quite. They start out looking pretty bad and I'll delete half quickly but once I find a style or angle I like, I'll make minor adjustments until I get what I call The Money Shot.
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