I'm a musician, Registered Dietitian, cook, and baker. I love food, and want to share my delight for it with the world. I hope you enjoy my recipes and, if you haven't developed a love for baking already, I hope you will!
View all posts by Ruth Wendel →
Hi everyone! I’ve got a great veggie recipe for you today- a yummy breaded and baked eggplant! I’ve recently started a subscription to Misfits Market, a company devoted to reducing food waste. They take surplus or “ugly” organic produce that grocery stores won’t sell and send it right to your door for cheaper than grocery store prices. This has led to a super fun time trying new vegetables and trying out different recipes that I would never make otherwise, like the one I’m about to share with you!
Ingredients:
1 medium to large eggplant (peeling optional)
6 tbsp melted unsalted butter
1 cup Italian breadcrumbs
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
Paprika to taste
Garlic powder to taste
First, wash the eggplant and cut off the stem. If you want to peel the eggplant, do that now. I chose not to peel mine so that it held together better. Slice the eggplant into 1/2″ slices.
Place them on a cooling rack over a baking sheet and sprinkle them with salt, and leave them for about 30 minutes. This will help to draw out excess water which you can then wipe away to prevent your breading from getting soggy.
You can see the beads of water coming out of the eggplant after it has rested for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400F. Using a paper towel, blot away the water that has come out of the eggplant slices. Next, mix the breadcrumbs with the cheese, paprika, and garlic powder.
Dip the eggplant slices in the melted butter and then coat in the breadcrumb mixture. Place on the baking sheet.
Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
And now you have deliciously crispy eggplant to enjoy on its own, as a side dish, or as the star of a yummy eggplant parm! Happy cooking!
Hi all! British Baking Show recipe number two coming at you now! If you read my last post about the Millionaire Shortbreads, you probably understand by now that you should just go watch the show, but just in case- go watch it, it’s worth it!
This recipe was actually a surprise to me. I really don’t enjoy many almond flavored things, so when my sister suggested that we make a Bakewell Tart (traditionally almond and raspberry flavored) I agreed for the fun of making it, totally anticipating not liking it. So, when I dipped my finger in the batter, I was very pleasantly surprised that the almond flavor was much more natural and sweet than a usual almond extract-flavored dessert would be. It ended up being a light and sweet treat that I legitimately enjoyed, much to my sister’s satisfaction. Side note: we used a food scale because everything was in grams and we wanted to have fun with a food scale. I’ve included the approximate conversions for easier baking without a scale! Here’s the recipe:
Pastry Ingredients:
280g all purpose flour (1 1/4 cups)
1 large egg, beaten
1 large egg yolk
165g unsalted butter (3/4 cup)
65g caster/superfine sugar (1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp)
pinch salt
30g ground almonds (2 tbsp)
Filling Ingredients:
300g ground almonds (1 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp)
130g caster sugar (a little more than 1/2 cup)
6 eggs, beaten
2 splashes almond extract
6 tbsp raspberry jam (the recipe called for 3 but we decided it would be better with more)
2 tbsp flaked almonds
Pastry: In a large bowl, rub together flour, salt, sugar, butter, and ground almonds with your fingers until they come together to look like breadcrumbs.
Add the egg and egg yolk one at a time and mix until a smooth dough is formed.
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350F and grease and flour a 9″ loose-bottomed tart tin.
Unwrap the cold pastry and roll onto a floured surface. The dough is crumbly so don’t be discouraged if it’s hard to work with at first!
Line the tart tin with the pastry and trim off any excess from the sides. Prick the base with a fork and place parchment over the pastry. Put baking beans/uncooked rice over the parchment to “blind” bake the pastry (aka pre-cook it) for 15 minutes.
Side note: you definitely want to trim off excess pastry. We didn’t because we thought trimming it afterward would give us a cleaner edge. Turns out the pastry falls off the sides anyway and burns on your oven floor, leading to multiple smoke detectors going off. Whoops.
Reduce the oven temperature to 330F. While the pastry cools, mix the ground almonds and caster sugar together until well combined. Add the beaten eggs and almond extract and mix well.
When the pastry is cool, spread an even layer of raspberry jam over the base.
Pour the filling over the raspberry jam and fill the remainder of the pastry.
Top with flaked almonds and bake 25-30 minutes or until the filling is baked through (a toothpick inserted in the middle should come out clean) and golden brown.
Hi all! Hope you’re enjoying the warm weather after all that cold rain we got! It’s actually looking like summer could come after all!
Last week, my sister was in town for Mother’s Day and we decided to have our own “British Baking Show” time (if you haven’t watched the show, go watch it. Seriously.) We made a couple different desserts that are popular on the show including a classic Bakewell Tart and this recipe for Millionaire Shortbread, a really rich and tasty dessert made from a shortbread covered with a layer of caramel, all topped with chocolate. The pan was empty within a couple days, which should tell you how good these things are. Keep in mind, the recipes were written by folks in the UK so I’ve converted the recipe over from grams to cups, so it’s not quite exact. Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients:
1 cup softened butter (for shortbread)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
5oz butter (10 tbsp)
5oz dark brown sugar (a little over 1/2 cup)
1, 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
To make the shortbread, preheat the oven to 300F. With an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Gradually mix in the flour until everything is well combined.
Pat the dough down into a parchment paper-lined 9″ square baking dish and prick the dough all over with a fork. (You can also just use an ungreased baking dish but we thought it would be fun to line the dish like they do in the British Baking Show.)
Bake for 40 minutes or until light golden brown. Let the shortbread cool completely on a cooling rack.
Now for the caramel! In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar together until very smooth and the sugar is completely dissolved. It definitely helps to use a nonstick pan, and I’ll explain why below!
After the sugar is dissolved, add the condensed milk and bring the caramel to a rapid boil, stirring continuously. Cook the caramel for another minute or so until it thickens and then turn off the heat to let it cool.
Pour the caramel over the shortbread and chill until set.
Ok, so the reason you want to use a nonstick pan is because the heated sugar crystals will latch onto any sticky surface they can find to form new and bigger crystals (like when someone makes rock candy). A nonstick pan helps prevent these crystals from forming, which helps give you a smoother caramel. I didn’t use a nonstick saucepan because I don’t have one, so I ended up with some sugar crystal flecks in my caramel (see the picture below). It totally didn’t affect the taste one bit, but if you’re going for the British Baking Show caliber of this treat, you should probably use a nonstick pan.
Once the caramel has set, it’s time to melt the chocolate and pour it over the top! We went one step extra with this chocolate and tempered it, which gives it a nice shine when the chocolate has hardened. Here’s how you do it:
Melt the majority of your chocolate in the microwave (or over a double boiler if you’re feeling fancy) by microwaving it for 30 seconds, stirring, and repeating until it’s melted.
Add unmelted chocolate chips into the melted chocolate and stir until all the chocolate is melted.
When all the chocolate is melted, pour it over the caramel and spread into an even layer.
Once the chocolate sets a bit, go ahead and cut the shortbread and dig in!
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did- and seriously, go watch the British Baking Show if you haven’t yet! Happy baking!
Put all the unwrapped caramels in a microwave safe bowl with the milk. Microwave them for 30 seconds, and then stir them. Put them in for another 30 seconds, and then stir them again. Repeat this process until they are fully melted, smooth, and pourable. Tip: the reason you have to continue heating them for 30 seconds is so that nothing burns, and the milk doesn’t cook. Also, don’t be worried if the caramel foams- that’s normal!
Hi, all! It’s my first post since being off social media for Lent and it’s good to be back with you all! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter and enjoyed some time over the past couple months with friends and family.
My mom and I recently went to a spring tea party with my cousins and we were asked to make a mini dessert to share. We decided to make mini apple cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting. I made the cupcakes, she made the frosting, and they tasted sooo good- so good that I was asked for the recipe and was asked to make them again for Easter! I figure if they were that good, they’re worth sharing to the blog. Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients:
1+3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
Preheat oven to 350. Line mini muffin cups with baking papers or spray with nonstick cooking spray. Whisk flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together in a bowl. In a large separate mixing bowl, mix applesauce, sugar, oil, and egg together. Sift flour mixture into egg mixture and mix well.
Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling 3/4 full. Bake 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Cool on wire rack before frosting.
Frosting Ingredients:
4 oz unsalted butter, softened
4 oz cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Using an electric hand mixer, combine butter and powdered sugar until well mixed. Add powdered sugar in, one cup at a time, until fully mixed. Add vanilla and mix well (I usually turn the mixer speed to high for several seconds so that the mixture gets really whipped and airy). Pipe or spread the frosting onto the cupcakes.
I also bought some caramel sauce at the store and drizzled it over the top, just because I love caramel and it goes so well with apple things! You can of course make your own caramel sauce (I have a simple recipe here) but I was pinched for time so I went with the store-bought stuff.
And that’s it! These don’t take very long at all to make, but they are SO yummy, and since they’re mini you don’t feel bad having more than one! Happy baking!
Hi, all! I hope you all are having a great February and that you enjoyed your Valentine’s Day! We had a V-Day party at my work so I got to eat a ton of delicious food, but also got to try out this new recipe! I was hunting for a dairy-free recipe for my friends with dairy allergies, and realized that meringues are dairy-free (and also gluten-free) and figured I would give them a try. Meringues are known to be fairly tricky to make, but this recipe worked well for me- as always, I’ve included pictures for reference if you need it!
Ingredients:
1/2 cup superfine/caster sugar (100g for those using a food scale)
1/2 cup powdered sugar (100g)
3 large egg whites (100g)
2 tbsp cocoa powder
pinch of salt (~1/8 tsp)
Preheat the oven to 250ºF. Mix the two sugars together in a small bowl. In a mixing bowl with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt. When the egg whites begin to form peaks (instead of just being frothy), add the sugar mixture a spoonful at a time. Note- you really need to go slow with adding the sugar and make sure each spoonful is fully incorporated before adding the next, or else your meringue will become gritty. As you add sugar, your egg whites will become glossy and smooth.
Once all the sugar is added to the eggs, continue to beat them on medium to medium-high speed until very stiff peaks form. Note: “very stiff peaks” means that when you drag the whisk through the egg whites and pull up, the mixture should stay standing straight up. If you haven’t whisked the mixture enough, your meringues will melt.
Sift and fold the cocoa powder into the meringue mix using a spatula. You want to be very gentle in this process so that you don’t knock the air out of the beaten egg whites.
Transfer the mixture into a piping bag. Pipe into various shapes onto a baking sheet lined with wax paper. I tried making meringue hearts but quickly learned I’m not very good at piping hearts, so I ended up making a hodge podge of shapes. You can also just dollop the mixture onto the baking sheet using a spoon if you don’t have a piping bag.
Leaving the oven door cracked open so that steam can escape, bake the meringues for 90 minutes. Then, turn the oven off and leave the oven door cracked slightly, and let the meringues cool completely in the oven. They should be very dry and fragile.
And that’s it! These cookies are so light and airy and delicious, and the chocolate flavor is so perfect in them. You can also omit the cocoa powder and add a teaspoon of vanilla extract for vanilla meringues, which are just as delicious. Enjoy, and happy baking!
Hello, all! The countdown to Christmas is on! Hopefully you’re all getting to spend some time with family and/or friends over the next few days. I know for many people, that involves Christmas cookie baking! I personally do not enjoy making roll-out cookies, but I usually break out the cookie cutters around Christmas time for the tradition of it. As mentioned in my previous post with the chocolate truffles, I had several parties in the same week so I needed to make a huge batch of treats to feed everyone. I pulled out my mom’s old recipe for gingerbread cookies and got fantastic reviews, so I figured I would share it with you all!
Ingredients:
5 + 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup sugar
1 cup molasses
2 eggs
Sift together flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
Melt shortening; stir in sugar and molasses. Stir in eggs.
Beat in half of flour mixture, then stir/beat in remaining half. Side note- you may need to mix this by hand as the mixture gets stiffer. I actually made 1.5 times this recipe to make even more cookies and almost broke my stand mixer. Hooray for manpower!
Divide dough in half, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill ~ 1 hour (as mentioned above, I made extra mix so I actually divided mine into thirds- one third for each party that week!).
Roll dough, one chilled section at a time, onto a flour surface, to about 1/4″ thick. Cut out shapes and place on a greased baking sheet (can also use a silicone baking mat instead of greasing).
Bake at 375°F for 6-8 minutes. Let them cool on a cooling rack and then decorate. I topped some of mine with powdered sugar and some with icing (recipe below).
Icing Recipe: 1 cup powdered sugar, 1/4 tsp vanilla, and milk to desired consistency. Beat with hand mixer or whisk until smooth. Pipe or spread onto cookies as desired.
I hope you all enjoy this Christmas with your friends and family! Happy baking!
Hi, everyone! Happy holidays! I hope you’re all enjoying this holiday season and getting to spend time with lots of friends and family! Per usual, our calendar is filling up quickly with Christmas parties and work potlucks galore, and I find myself baking more and more treats to bring to each event! This week, I have three different events that require treats- so I knew I needed a good recipe that made a ton of whatever I chose so that I could just make one batch and get it over with for all the parties! I found this recipe for chocolate truffles and decided to give it a try, and was pleasantly surprised with the results! Be warned, it makes about 100 truffles, so I would recommend recruiting help for all the rolling (fun family activity, anyone?).
Ingredients:
8oz cream cheese, softened
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted- DO NOT SKIP THE SIFTING!!
3 cups melted semisweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
Toppings of choice- cocoa powder, powdered sugar, graham cracker crumbs, melted chocolate of all varieties, Oreo crumbs, sprinkles….
First, beat the cream cheese with a hand mixer just to get some air into it. Then, gradually add in the powdered sugar and beat with a hand mixer until fully combined. I usually turn the speed up on the mixer for a few seconds to get the mixture a bit more aerated and light.
Next, melt the chocolate. I always put the chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds, stir, and repeat until the chocolate is fully melted and smooth. Pour the melted chocolate and the vanilla into the cream cheese mixture and beat with the mixer until fully mixed. The mixture does tend to stiffen up quite a bit, so if needed, feel free to stir by hand if the mixer isn’t strong enough.
Chill the mixture for a maximum of 1 hour. Definitely set a timer or something- I lost track of time watching The Great British Baking Show and left the mix in for more like an hour and a half, and I had to then wait for the mix to soften so that I could roll the truffles! The goal is to get the mixture firm enough to roll into balls without it sticking to your hands.
Next, roll out truffle after truffle! I used a 1/2 tbsp measure to scoop the mixture so that I had fairly uniform truffles. I then rolled them into balls and put them on a cookie sheet to await toppings. All told, I ended up with 103 truffles.
Now for toppings! I tried toffee bits, sweetened shredded coconut, mini chocolate chips, cocoa powder, powdered sugar, graham cracker crumbs, and chocolate sprinkles. The toffee, coconut, and chocolate chips didn’t stick very well, so I went with the other four ingredients and had much better luck. You could definitely also try melted chocolate or Oreo crumbs.
Now all that’s left is to package them up for each holiday party, and eat the few that I saved for me! Happy holidays, and happy baking!
Hello, all! Now that’s it’s almost the end of October, I guess we have to accept that summer is definitely over. Time for sweaters, scarves, and much more baking now that I’m inside more often! This weekend my husband and I went to our monthly Poker Night with a bunch of friends and I decided to bring an old favorite: Peanut Butter Blossoms. I have yet to meet a person who doesn’t like these. They’re soft but chewy peanut butter cookies with a Hershey kiss nestled right into the middle, and they’re seriously the best. Here’s the recipe!
Ingredients:
1 and 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening
2 tbsp milk
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sugar (plus a few tablespoons extra for rolling)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
Hershey kisses (my most recent batch made 40 cookies, so you’ll need somewhere around that many kisses)
Preheat the oven to 375º. Cream the shortening, peanut butter, and the two sugars together until they’re fully mixed.
Add the egg, vanilla, and milk; mix to fully combine.
Add the flour, baking soda, and salt, and mix well until all the ingredients are fully incorporated. It’s a fairly stiff dough so make sure to really get everything mixed in!
Shape the cookies into about 1″ balls, and roll them in extra sugar. Hint: it goes quicker if you shape all the cookies into balls first and then roll them all in sugar at once.
Place them on an ungreased cookie sheet about 2″ apart. (Shoutout to my hubby and my mom for getting me the largest cookie sheets on the market so that I don’t have to cool cookie sheets between batches anymore. You’re the best!)
IMPORTANT NEXT STEP: COUNT OUT HOW MANY COOKIE BALLS YOU HAVE ROLLED. During the first baking time, you’ll want to unwrap enough Hershey kisses to place one on each cookie and it’s a super drag trying to rush through unwrapping them if you didn’t count.
Bake for ~8 minutes. Unwrap as many Hershey kisses as needed. Remove the cookies from the oven. While the cookies are still piping hot, place a kiss in the center of the cookie and press down gently.
Put the kiss-topped cookies back in the oven for 2-3 minutes. Then, remove them from the oven and let them cool slightly on the baking sheet. They’re really fragile when hot, so it’s hard to transfer them to a cooling rack unless they’re slightly cooled.
Once the cookies are move-able, transfer them to a cooling rack to finish cooling, and enjoy! Make sure you get some for yourself, because these go quick (or at least they do in my house!). Happy baking!
Hello, all! I can’t believe it’s September already- the summer absolutely flew by! Obviously now that it’s getting to be Fall, it’s time for me to start making my trips to the farmstand for apples, apple cider, apple cider donuts… really everything apple. And lots and lots of pumpkins. But this time as I was browsing through their produce, I found some okra! I’ve never had it before, but my husband grew up eating fried okra and loves it. I decided to try making it for him (a little skeptically, I’ll admit) and was very pleasantly surprised. The slimy-when-raw odd little vegetable transforms into really crispy crunchy yummy goodness! So- for those who are wondering what the heck okra looks like, it looks like this:
Now, onto the recipe!
Ingredients:
7-10 okra pods, cut into thin slices (about 1/4″ thick)
1 cup cornmeal
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4-1/2 tsp garlic powder (to taste)
1/4-1/2 tsp onion powder (to taste)
1 egg, beaten
vegetable oil for frying
garlic salt and dried parsley for garnish
First, soak your okra slices in the beaten egg for 5-10 minutes. Warning: this part is really slimy/sticky, so use a fork to toss the okra or be prepared to get your hands dirty!
While the okra soaks, mix the cornmeal and the spices together. I prefer to put them on a plate instead of in a bowl so that I have more room to work with when I’m tossing things in the dredge.
At this point, you can also get your oil heating. Put 1-2″ of vegetable oil in a Dutch oven or a heavy bottomed frying pan. I prefer the Dutch oven because it has really high sides so I get less splattered with oil! Heat the oil to about 350°F. When you put a piece of the dredged okra in, it should immediately start bubbling and frying- if it just sits in the oil, the oil isn’t hot enough yet (and you should remove that piece of okra and try again when the oil is hotter).
Once your oil is hot and the okra has soaked in the egg, toss the okra in the cornmeal dredge.
Fry the pieces in the oil in batches- the most you want at once is enough to form a single layer in the pan. If there are too many, they won’t fry properly.
Once the okra are dark golden brown, take them out of the oil using a slotted spoon and lay them on a paper towel-lined plate to drain. While they’re still hot, sprinkle them with garlic salt and parsley to taste.
And then, enjoy! These are surprisingly delicious and flavorful- if you get a chance, give these funky veggies a try! Happy cooking!
