Vanilla Pudding Chocolate Chip Cookies: Food Photography, Toronto

A friend passed on a delicious cookie recipe, so the kids and I did some baking today. These cookies are great, and even though I did what I could to make them a bit healthier, they still tasted great and the kids loved them! See below for the recipe, and here are the images:

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Vanilla Pudding Chocolate Chip Cookies

  • 1 cup unsalted butter, melted, cooled (I used just under ¾ cup)
  • 1 cup lightly packed brown sugar (used a little less)
  • ½ cup granulated sugar (a little less)
  • 102 g box instant vanilla pudding mix
  • 2 tbsp milk
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour (I used Nutri-Grain flour)
  • 1 tsp each: baking powder, baking soda
  • 2 cups milk chocolate chips (I used ~ 1 ½ cups, and that was too much—will do less next time)

In large mixing bowl, using wooden spoon, mix butter and sugars until
creamy. Stir in pudding mix and milk, then eggs and vanilla. Add flour,
baking powder and baking soda; stir until batter is smooth. Stir in
chocolate chips.

Drop batter by heaping tablespoonsful on non-stick cookie sheets (about
12 per sheet). Bake, in batches, in preheated 350F oven 12 minutes or
until edges are lightly browned. Cool 10 minutes on cookie sheet.
Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely. Store in airtight
container.

Makes about 36. (I got about ~50 or so from this recipe.)

If you make them, let me know how they turn out for you!

KarenFebruary 14, 2009 - 2:26 am

Oh man, I was salivating by the time I got to the finished cookies! Those pictures are simply fantastic, Holly! I love the way you stacked the 3 cookies on top of each other, and then to even give us the recipe, how sweet. I called Frank over and he loved the pictures (and recipe) too!

DavidFebruary 15, 2009 - 10:30 am

Holly, these look great! Thanks for sharing the recipe, I’ve passed it on to my wife. I’ll update ya after the first batch! 🙂

Latté and Dinner

As I managed a decent Latté design I caught a quick shot of it the other morning to post on my blog:

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Then I thought I would photograph one of my favorite vegetables, Swiss Chard with Caramelized Onions, here are two onions with the swiss chard in the background:

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Freshly washed swiss chard:

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Very easy recipe, caramelize the onions and add a spoonful of brown sugar:

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Once the onions are done just add the swiss chard to the pan and cook until done:

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Kids and I were also having fried pototoes and sausage, yum yum.

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Will be posting some shots from cookie baking shortly….

Espresso and Lunch Today

I continue with the food photography, being inspired by smittenkitchen. Can’t wait to photograph the cookies the kids and I will be baking this weekend…

Another espresso shot, taken with the 50 1.4. Even though it’s a brighter lens, I think the 100 2.8 macro does a better job. (just wish it was a 1.4!)

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As I was preparing SavvyMom’s DELICIOUS Red Grapefruit and Avocado Salad, for my lunch, I thought a slice of the grapefruit would look great with some backlighting (shot with the 85 1.2 wide open):

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(shot with the 100 2.8 macro)

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I have made a few modifications to the recipe. I use Romaine lettuce, as it’s a bit healthier and lasts a bit longer in the crisper drawer then bib lettuce. I also add freshly grated parmesan cheese (as we actually did at the EatSavvy shoot), and I omit the red onion (not a huge fan of raw onion):

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Here’s the completed salad, definitely a new fav!

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Hope everyone else had as yummy a lunch as I did! 🙂

Food & Friends!

I am completely smittened with smittenkitchen, great food and great photography! And it’s motivated me to photograph some food around my kitchen.

Freshly roasted coffee beans:

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Getting ready for the morning latté:

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Great crema:

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Steamed milk (filled with bubbles, I hadn’t swirled it yet):

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Nothing better then the morning latté!

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Salad dressing for the yummy Red Grapefruit and Avocado Salad:

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This Saturday I had a wonderful Winterlicious lunch at Il Posto with my sister, Monica (whom you may remember from an earlier blog post):

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And the brains and beauty behind imabeautygeek.com, Janine:

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Great food and great company! Next time we’re going for Bibimbap!

Janine FalconFebruary 8, 2009 - 8:49 pm

Your kitchen looks like a nice place to hang out, what with all the fancy coffee and all!

And I wish I could remember what Monica and I were discussing when you snapped that second image. Musta been the weather or something — that’s my unimpressed face!

HollyFebruary 8, 2009 - 8:51 pm

I can’t remember! I think we were talking business! And wait until next weekend…kids and I are going to bake delicious cookies, will take photos!

Out and About with my Son on a Sunday Afternoon

Noah and I headed downtown last Sunday for an event, and I actually took my DSLR along for the ride, with my fav lens (85 1.2) attached.

Rather then walking through the slush we decided to try waiting for the Avenue Road bus…fortunately it wasn’t too far behind schedule:

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It was dark, but caught this shot of Noah in Museum Subway stop:

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I’m sure kids of photographers get a bit tired of “just look this way for a sec…”:

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I was LOVING the wet sidewalks, they look so cool with all the reflections and bokeh:

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My handsome young man!:

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Couldn’t resist capturing the wet pavement and Queen St. West crowd:

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One last backlit shot of Noah as we made our way home:

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Hoping to have another blog post up tomorrow!! Off to make a yummy Red Grapefruit and Avocado Salad for dinner (see the blog post below) now.

Kimberly KyleFebruary 7, 2009 - 9:45 pm

Great shots of him!! Love all the reflections!