I have loved experimenting with food photography and food styling this last year. I can’t believe how much practice really makes progress. It helps that I follow killer food photography gurus like #minimalistbaker and #veggiekins. I absolutely love seeing how other people photograph their food and drinks and get inspiration from them.
I look back on the first food photos and even some recently that I just have to laugh and shake my head. I’m not embarrassed, because everyone has to start somewhere, but it’s just funny to see the ones at the start of the journey.
Food Photography fails
Here are photos of such yummy food but the photos really don’t do them justice. I’ll probably want to redo them sometime this year:
Is it a flying saucer or Caprese Sandwich?
This Caprese Sandwich with the vegan chao cheese is so delicious and the cheese really is creamy and melty but putting it on a plain white plate with a tiny bit of basil was not the best idea. I should have zoomed out so I could get some perspective and it didn’t look like the sandwich was floating in mid air on a white background.
Vegan Chocolate Oat Cookies (also called lactation cookies)
This photo isn’t hideous but it definitely needs some work. I don’t like the cookie sheet line is coming down the photo at an angle, but I’m not sure how I would do this one differently. You don’t even need to bake them so the photo is a little misleading.
This Tropical Smoothie photo was such a fail, I can’t believe I posted it on the blog. The next one below is even worse…
The chopping board is still wet from cutting up all the oranges, lol. You just try something and if it doesn’t work, you just try something else. This definitely did not work! Final image below…
I had the right idea to put the smoothie in a nice bottle instead of the jars (above). Whew! Recipe saved!
4 Ingredient Chocolate Peppermint Bars: Vegan + Gluten Free
But back to the bars. These weren’t so good looking by themselves, but all the ingredients together were so I knew I needed little bowls to have in the background. I put the ingredients in the background and played with different ways to show the bars like in a dish, bowl, stacked on top of each other and laying straight on the faux marble counter.
I didn’t love this bird’s eye view so I changed it up and much prefer the image below…
This one shows the Peppermint Bars a little better.
I also have to move things around quite a bit to get the shot that I want.
See the bowl of vegan puffs in the background? They were kind of in the way of the Peppermint Bars stack so I moved them in the photo below…
I love this one! See the bowl of puffs is a little more to the right and I think that made a huge difference!
Anyway, I’ve had fun photographing food while Oliver naps and I appreciate everyone who follows along with me here on the blog or on Instragram or Facebook. Thanks for making my vegan meals, drinks and treats and for all your love and support on my motherhood journey.
But back to the reason I wanted to make these. There are not a lot of vegan treats at my regular grocery store (come on guys, it’s 2019!) so I tend to make my own. The only chocolate treats (besides vegan chocolate chips for baking ) I buy are “Bark Thins.” I used to love the pretzel ones but lately I have been choosing the peppermint ones. The only problem is that the little peppermint candy gets stuck in your teeth and I can only think that a second cavity is on the way! So I decided to make my own and they are delicious!
Enjoy these easy 4 ingredient Chocolate Peppermint Bars!
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Tasty chocolate peppermint crunch bars with only four ingredients. Gluten free and vegan for everyone to enjoy!
Course Dessert
Keyword vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Cool in the freezer 15 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Ingredients
1½ cups vegan chocolate chips I used Enjoy Life
2 tsp coconut oil
½ tsp peppermint extract 1 tsp for strong peppermint flavor
1 cup Nature’s Path Organic Corn Puffs I got them from Earth Fare
Instructions
Melt the chocolate chips and coconut oil in a double broiler OR put them in a microwave safe dish and microwave in 20second increments, stirring in between until the chocolate is melted and smooth.
Add the peppermint extract and corn puffs and stir until combined.
Line a baking dish (I used a bread loaf tin) with wax paper or parchment paper and add the chocolate mixture. Spread around and freeze for 15 minutes before cutting.
Transfer into an air tight dish and store in the fridge or freezer. Enjoy!
Notes
*Inspired by Beaming Baker**I didn’t use rice crispies because I couldn’t find organic ones that didn’t have palm oil in and I’m trying to avoid that where possible. Rice crispies will be smaller and easier to eat for kids but the corn puffs worked just fine!
Tag @rebellekitchen when you make them so I can take a look! Have a wonderful year everyone!
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