In this matter, I want to address a couple of things:
1: I do all my own photography. As mentioned in my bio, I am a designer and a photographer. I never want to mislead someone by how something looks, so as I bake, I'm documenting everything I can for you so you know exactly what to expect. Good lighting, a neutral background, very, VERY minimal Photoshopping (strictly try and stick with levels, lighting and contrast) is all I need to let my product shine for you.
2. Jennie didn't have recipes written down. You had to watch how she made things and more importantly, taste everything several times until you could figure it out on your own. As I started baking and cooking, I had to do things from memory, recipe-research and just do things by trial and error until it was "right." Regardless, everything is inspired by my childhood memories and stories my mother and grandfather have told me about her food. Honestly, I know she would be SO proud.
Certain things in baking you can do by eye. A lot, and I mean A LOT of baking is purely science. You can't eyeball how much baking powder should go into muffin batter and just "wing it," having never made muffins that weren't a box brand before. You really should be measuring according to some sort of base recipe. However, with trial and error of tweaking or adding ingredients to a recipe, you can alter your other attributing ingredients accordingly to make things balance out so your muffin recipe isn't a recipe for oven-baked pancakes. Sometimes with extra apple pie filling, I add it to my muffin recipe. I chop my apples and the sugary, semi-liquid filling I have developing before I've baked would certainly alter my recipe and change the texture completely. Things like that need to be accounted for sometimes.
For my pies, fillings are something I always do by eye (and taste!) That's ESPECIALLY what makes my pie a JENNIE'S pie. Not only does each pie have its own version of the main recipe, but my fillings are done completely by look and taste... sometimes lightly cooked on the stove depending on the texture I want to achieve and then I can predict how my filling is going to react once it's inside the pie and then finally play with thickeners like flour or corn starch to make sure I'm not serving you an "Apple Juice Pie" like my Aunt Jenn (named after Jennie!) and I made for the first time! Yeah, no flour + really fresh, crisp apples will undoubtedly lead to an apple juice pie ;-)
Jennie's Tip: When baking something like a blueberry muffin like in my photograph above, mix all your ingredients in your bowl or mixer JUST until combined (excluding your berries). You don't want to over mix your batter or you will get tough muffins. Lastly, to ensure your berries aren't at the bottom of your muffin cup after baking, toss your berries around in flour in a separate bowl. Shake off the excess and gently fold your berries into your batter. The flour will help the berries stay in their rightful, scattered places throughout the baking process! Berries in every bite, guaranteed.
