Elevator The temperature is dropping, the air is slowly changing from fall to winter, but it’s time for the ovens in our kitchen to start heating up once again. During the height of quarantine, many of us took a step back into the kitchen (or for some of us, perhaps the first step into the kitchen) to try our hand at cooking and baking some delicious, hearty home-cooked fare. And now that we’re headed towards the Holidays and the mercury in the thermometer is dropping, it’s the perfect excuse to hit the cookbooks once again.
Being in the thick of working with one of ELEVATOR’s clients, Purdys Chocolatier, in spreading some Holiday cheer through the power of chocolate, the sugary, sweet, confectionary delight has been on my brain. With that in mind, I decided to catch up with Jessica Kostka, the photographer, recipe developer and creative behind the blog, Cooking in my Genes, to get the inside foodie-scoop on all things baking, blogging, and tastiest of all, chocolate.
Christine: What inspired your love of cooking, baking and food?
Jessica: I remember when I was about 12 or 13, my Mom got me a kid’s cookbook, which I can still vividly picture in my mind. It had a yellow cover and all the recipes were super basic. But, it was my first experience of following a recipe and making my own food – I loved it! So, from a young age, I was interested in cooking and baking. Most of my memories around food throughout my life always involved having people around – whether for birthdays or holidays – sharing food. I love the feeling of cooking and baking for the ones I love.
Christine: What’s your favourite way to bake with chocolate?
Jessica: My favourite way to enjoy chocolate is in classic baking. I LOVE chocolate chip cookies, especially my mom’s recipe that she made when we were young. They’re Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies and growing up they were our most requested dessert. They’re soft and chewy, and I love that you can switch out the chocolate chips for different chocolate flavours if you want to, like semi-sweet chocolate chips, dark chocolate, milk chocolate or even white chocolate! So many ways to enjoy.
Christine: How do you come up with new recipes? What inspires you?
Jessica: I am really inspired by the seasons in my recipe development. I love going to the market throughout the year to see what’s in season and what’s fresh; that’s what really guides my cooking. So lots of fresh fruits and veggies in the spring and summer, then cozier meals in the fall and winter. Many of my recipes also have a bit of inspiration from my family; I’ll take recipes my mom or grandma cooked, then redevelop them into how I would enjoy them now – or sometimes just keep them the same.
Christine: What’s your favourite flavour of chocolate?
Jessica: Oh, so hard to choose a favourite! But I would have to say I love dark chocolate by itself or with hazelnuts.
Christine: What has your journey as a food blogger and influencer been like?
Jessica: I started my blog as a way to share family recipes and recipes inspired by my family and friends. During that time, I owned an Event Planning business and the blog served as an awesome creative outlet. I’ve been running the blog for more than five years now and in the last two years have made it into a blog/photography/recipes development business. In the years running my blog thus far, I’ve learned a lot about the behind the scenes pieces like SEO and technically how to build and run a website that I’m constantly updating. But the photography and recipe development services I now offer are my favourite to work on. I love to help clients bring their vision to life through food photography, or creating a scrumptious recipe with their products! I’ve made so many amazing connections with local and national brands, creating really delicious content together. I’ve also connected with my readers via the blog’s recipes and I especially love when a recipe becomes a ‘go-to’ for a reader! Some of my other favourite connections are with fellow bloggers that I’ve been able to connect with in real life too; everyone is so willing to help each other and learn from each other – it’s so great!
Catch more of Jessica and her delectable recipes on her blog and Instagram channel. And if you’re in the mood to bake yourself the ultimate comfort-cookies to help warm up a chilly day, check out Jessica’s mom’s family-famous One Bowl Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.