EASYBAKED

A letter to my subscribers…

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Ruthanne

Today there are 50 people subscribed to this blog….(!) I am genuinely astonished at this– I started this blog just to share my favorite recipes and experiments with friends and family. My 50th subscriber is from Mobile, Alabama (so says my email…) I’ve never met anyone from Alabama before- so “hi!” it’s nice to meet you!!!

I decided a few weeks ago that if I ever got to 50 subscribers that I’d dedicate a post to finding out more about you- where do you live? How did you end up finding this blog? Do you have a blog? (I want to visit your blog!!!) What do you like to bake? Have you tried any of these recipes? Did they work for you? Have you tried anything different with them? Please leave me a message and tell me more about you and the things you love!

I know I don’t offer much info on myself here (I’m still a little uneasy with the big world of the internet!) but here’s some fun facts:

I have an adorable dog named Casper who works hard cleaning up everything I drop in the kitchen while baking.
I’m an over-the-top Green Bay Packer fan (!!!)
One of my 1st baking experiences as a child was a mint cream candy recipe that called for egg whites- I used the whole egg and waited 3 days for them to firm up on wax paper…my mom finally made me throw them out (and she showed me how to divide an egg!)
My cousin recently moved in with me because he’s doing a college internship in my hometown –I’m pretty sure he thinks I’m nuts because his first morning here I’m in the back yard with cupcakes and a camera before work trying to catch that perfect morning light…ahh…the addiction of food blogging….

Thanks so much for subscribing– I’m so excited to hear from you! r-

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Posted in Miscellaneous. Bookmark the permalink.

Oh yeah…I have a blog!

Posted on August 2, 2011 by Ruthanne

I’m BA-A-A-ACK! 🙂

I spent the last 3 weeks in Europe (Slovakia and Czech Republic to be specific) teaching English through a ministry called Josiah Venture (AMAZING trip– loved every bit of it!), and visiting my dear friends Dave and Angie who live in Prague.

I didn’t forget about you -dear readers- and although I haven’t baked in WAY too long, I did enjoy a feast of new foods and tried to photograph them along the way- so enjoy!!!

Camp food: really amazing! This was a typical lunch- always soup- usually with cabbage, although this was a lot like egg drop soup I thought- all of the soups were GREAT! Then rice and meat after the soup. I loved how pretty this particular pile of rice and chicken was– very yummy!

Dinner was light- and often a sweet meal. This is called Bukti (spelling??) and its a sweet bread. One variety was filled with a preserve and dusted with sugar. This variety was covered in a pudding. You’ve gotta love a country that serves dessert for dinner!!! YAY!

Bukti--I've been promised a recipe for this and I'm excited to try it!

On a camp hike we found these wonderful wild blueberries

And then there’s Kofola– a cola made popular during communism as a much cheaper alternative to Coke or Pepsi- it seems as if everyone in the country is CRAZY for this beverage– it’s everywhere! I thought it was ok, but it has a bitter aftertaste- I will keep my Pepsi 🙂 Another beverage popular in both Slovakia and Czech Republic is Vinea- a fizzy non-alcoholic soft drink that tastes like a sweet wine– LOVED it!!!! Wish they made it here in America!

Kofola!!!

Too much Kofola..

Once I reached Prague there was a feast of new and fun foods– starting with a trip to Old Town Square and my first experience with Trdelnik- a yummy sugar-covered pastry that unrolls in a spiral as you pull.

Then there was the ice cream— called zmrzlina in both Slovak and Czech (it took me a week to learn how to say it!) it is a wonderful creamy ice cream (like Italian gelato) in a ton of fun flavors (my favorite was coconut!!!)

They also had lots of ice cream bars that put our bars to shame! I had a Magnum extra caramel bar at Karlstejn Castle while waiting for our tour that was the BEST ice cream bar I’ve ever had— YUM!!!

Dinner? Why Kangaroo, thank you! Dave and Angie took me to a favorite local restaurant where Dave graciously offered me a taste of the kangaroo he’d ordered. It was wonderful, but I LOVED the dish I ordered- smazeny syr– or the biggest hunk of cheese you’ve ever seen fried and served with tartar sauce– YUM!!!!!!

Smazeny Syr!!!

And my favorite food moment of this trip– a slice of Medovnik (honey cake) and coffee on a terrace overlooking Prague…

Medovnik was absolutely WONDERFUL! It had a sweet molasses-y taste with a wonderful cream filling alternated with a thicker sweet paste. I have a recipe…I have the ingredients… TIME is all I lack! I have a busy fall ahead of me and my posts will be fewer I’m afraid. I do hope that you enjoyed my little food tour of Slovakia and Czech Republic! This post made me hungry– time for dinner! :)r-

13 Comments

Posted in Miscellaneous and tagged blueberry, cheese, dessert, honey cake, international food. Bookmark the permalink.

Raspberry Truffle Tart

Posted on July 9, 2011 by Ruthanne

Smooth dark chocolate and tangy raspberry filling topped with a shiny glaze make this tart one of the richest and creamiest desserts you’ve ever had!

INGREDIENTS:

One refrigerated pie crust
1c. Ghirardelli Bittersweet chocolate chips
2c. Ghirardelli Semi-sweet chocolate chips (divided)
5 egg yolks
5 T. heavy whipping cream
3 cups plus 5 T. powdered sugar
2 T. vanilla
12 T. butter (divided and melted)
2t. raspberry flavoring
red food coloring

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray an 8 or 9 inch tart pan with cooking spray and line with pie crust. Poke holes into bottom with fork and set on a cookie sheet.
Melt together 1 cup of bittersweet chips and one cup of semi-sweet. Allow this to cool to room temperature.
In a separate bowl combine eggs, cream, vanilla and 5 T. powdered sugar.
Add cream mixture to chocolate and blend well. Pour into crust and bake for 20 – 25 minutes until center is set.
Cool tart completely and then remove outer ring.
For filling: Combine remaining 3 c. of powdered sugar with 6 T. melted butter and blend well. Add raspberry flavor and food color. Blend well (add extra powdered sugar if needed for thick frosting-like consistency) and spread over the top of cool tart.
For Glaze: Melt 6 T. butter (do not use margarine here!) with remaining cup of semi-sweet chips and stir until smooth. Pour over top of tart and smooth to edges.
Garnish with fresh raspberries if desired.

My thoughts…soooo rich (take a small slice!) and so flavorful! This tart recipe (minus the toppings) is one of my last-minute go-to recipes. Its SO quick and easy and you can serve it right out of the oven warm -with cool-whip or ice cream. The toppings are a bonus if you have a little more time- mix those flavors up! Great with mint and peanut butter and maple and coconut– such a fun and versatile recipe! ENJOY!!!

A special thanks to my friend Brie from Color Canvas Media who is teaching me about my camera and who helped me take these photos far better than I could have alone! I’m addicted to Foodgawker and thus far I’ve had 36 photos rejected and 2 accepted (lol!!) I’ve never had any interest in photography and now I think I’m addicted- fun new hobby! So here’s to better blog pictures! Thanks Brie!!!!!

23 Comments

Posted in Easy recipes, Tarts and tagged bittersweet chocolate, chocolate, chocolate glaze, crust, dark chocolate, dessert, filling, fresh, raspberry, summer dessert, tart. Bookmark the permalink.

Homemade Caramel Turtles

Posted on July 4, 2011 by Ruthanne

Soft creamy caramel tops chocolate and pecans– a quick and easy treat.

INGREDIENTS:

about 2 cups of whole pecans.
12oz (one bag) of Wilton Dark Candy Cocoa Melts
32 Kraft caramels (unwrapped)
1/2c. butter
1 (14oz.) can of sweetened condensed milk

DIRECTIONS:

Line pecans up in squares on parchment paper

Melt candy melts in microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between until smooth.
Spoon chocolate over pecans, filling in the center space and spilling it over about half of each pecan.
While this hardens, make caramel sauce (this recipe makes more caramel than you need, but you can refrigerate the rest and use as an ice cream topping later…or you can cut this part of the recipe in half- you will just have 1/2 a can of sweetened condensed milk left…?)
Melt unwrapped caramels, butter and sweetened condensed milk over the stove until smooth.
Spoon caramel into the center of each turtle (try to keep as much as you can on the chocolate- it will harden some, but it is a soft caramel)
Allow these to harden (refrigerate if necessary) and ENJOY!!!!!

My thoughts: Easy and yummy! I was surprised at how good the candy melts tasted in this- obviously using real chocolate would be a bit fussier and probably a much better flavor- but everyone loved these and I think the melts worked just fine. These are messy looking turtles- I wouldn’t fuss over making them look perfect- I think the messy look makes them fun and DEFINITELY home-made!!!! 🙂

This recipes was shared on these wonderful blogs: The Girl Creative, Sweet as Sugar Cookies, Bacon Time with the Hungry Hypo, This Chick Cooks, At Home With Haley, Cupcake Apothecary

20 Comments

Posted in Candy and tagged candy, caramel, chocolate, dessert, pecans, pecans turtles, turtles. Bookmark the permalink.

German Chocolate Disaster.

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Ruthanne

I like recipes— love them in fact! I usually prefer to create my own recipes, but once in awhile someone will recommend a recipe so highly that I simply have to try it. This was the case with this german chocolate cake. It is from allrecipes.com and you can click here to get the original recipe. The friend who recommended it (Spencer) is a chef and literally everything he makes is amazing– so here goes:

The cake is incredibly time consuming in my opinion….MUCH too time consuming for a blog called EASYbaked anyway 🙂 ….I made this crazy from-scratch cake and had all three pans stick (I should have added a circle of parchment paper to the bottoms….) and fall apart.

only two 1/2 layers were useable- saved the rest for a trifle

The recipe involves separating eggs and whipping into stiff peaks and melting german chocolate and adding buttermilk and cake flour…….yeah- buy a german chocolate cake mix– the cake was good- probably one of the best scratch cakes I’ve made- but it was not quick or easy….your call 🙂 . The icing, on the other hand, was TO DIE for! I will never buy German chocolate frosting again— easy and quick and soooooo good!! so….

INGREDIENTS:

1 German chocolate cake mix (with oil and water to make according to box) -or be brave and make it from scratch (it is really yummy)- remember the parchment paper!!!

FROSTING:
1c. sugar
1c. evaporated milk
1/2c. butter
3 egg yolks (beaten)
1 1/3c. flaked coconut
1c. finely chopped pecans.
1 t. vanilla extract

GANACHE:
1/4c. whipping cream
1/2c. semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

Prepare cake mix as directed, baking in two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans (or make cupcakes even— the star of this show is the icing!)

FROSTING : In saucepan combine sugar, evaporated milk, butter and egg yolks. Cook over low heat (stir constantly!) until this thickens considerably (took me about 8 minutes).
Remove from heat and stir in pecans and coconut.
Chill until thick enough to spread.
Slice each cake in half, forming 2 layers.
Layer cake with icing.

GANACHE: Heat whipping cream in a small saucepan until bubbling at edges (about 30 seconds). Add chocolate chips, cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Stir until smooth. Pour over top of cake and allow this to drizzle down the sides.
ENJOY!!!

YUM!

This recipe was shared on these wonderful blogs:

11 Comments

Posted in Cakes and tagged cake, chocolate, coconut, dessert, german chocolate, german chocolate cake, layer cake, pecans. Bookmark the permalink.

Cookie Cutter Brownies

Posted on June 25, 2011 by Ruthanne

Make a dessert that everyone will love at your holiday parties! Brownies cut into shapes and dipped in white chocolate— so. much. FUN!!!!

INGREDIENTS:

1c. butter
2c. sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour
1/2c. cocoa
1/2tsp. salt
1c. milk
1 1/2 bags of Wiltons Candy Melts (in whatever colors you want!)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350.
Cream butter and sugar together.
Beat in eggs, cocoa, vanilla and salt.
Add flour and milk (alternating them and mixing well in between)
Spread evenly in greased jelly roll pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until done in center and just starting to pull away from sides.
Cool completely
Using a sharp cookie cutter, cut small shapes out of the brownies. (I just used my finger to gently push the brownie out of the cutter and onto a cutting board.

Place excess brownie pieces into a freezer bag and freeze for another day (we are having brownie sundaes later this week!) 🙂
Melt each color of candy melt in separate bowls, microwaving for 30 second increments and stirring in between until smooth.
GENTLY set brownie cut-out into melted chocolate and scoop chocolate over the top. Lift out with fork and tap excess chocolate off. Place on parchment paper to harden.

Decorate with sprinkles or by drizzling candy melts over the top.

My thoughts: These are SO much fun to make!!! The brownies are very easy to cut into shapes- its a good “cake- like” brownie recipe (you would not want to use a fudge brownie with this!) The hardest part is dipping them in the candy melts. Its not NEARLY as difficult as those crazy cake-pops, but you do have to be gentle and really keep your fork and bowl edge clean as crumbs can get into the melted chocolate and ruin the texture of it. If you want to skip the chocolate coating part you could easily just decorate these cute little brownies with frosting too! Enjoy!

Dedicating this recipe to all the people in my life who serve or have served our country in the military— THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This recipe was shared on these wonderful blogs:

Bacon Time, Somewhat Simple, Fireflies and Jelly beans, Little Brick Ranch, Sweet as Sugar Cookies, Pinch of this, that and the other, Something Swanky, Two Maids a Milking

15 Comments

Posted in Brownies, Candy and tagged brownies, chocolate, chocolate covered, cut-out cookies, dessert, patriotic dessert, summer dessert, white chocolate. Bookmark the permalink.

Strawberry Lemonade Layer Cake!!

Posted on June 19, 2011 by Ruthanne

Moist strawberry cake layered with a rich lemonade cream filling. Introducing summer——on a plate!

INGREDIENTS:

One box of strawberry cake mix (plus oil, water and eggs as directed on box)
8oz. Philadelphia Cream Cheese (softened to room temp.)
1 packet (0.23oz.) of Kool-Aid Lemonade
Yellow food coloring gel (as desired for color)
2cups Jet-Puffed Marshmallow Creme
8 oz. Cool Whip Topping
Fresh strawberries to garnish.

DIRECTIONS:

Make cake according to box and bake in 2- 9 inch round cake pans as directed. Turn finished cakes over on cake racks and allow to cool completely.
Cream together cream cheese, lemonade and yellow food coloring until smooth.
Mix marshmallow creme in and then mix in Cool Whip until completely smooth. Refrigerate until cake is cooled and cut.
Cut each cake layer in half.
Alternating layers of cake with layers of filling, assemble cake. End with layer of filling.
Top with sliced strawberries.
Refrigerate and serve chilled.

My thoughts: YUM!!!!! I’m a little obsessed with the filling I used in those confetti cups a few weeks back. This lemonade filling is similar- but has more Cool Whip to make it light and fluffy. I’ve never made a strawberry cake mix before– it is SO GOOD! I love that this recipe uses a cake mix- it makes it a VERY easy and quick recipe that looks so fancy and fun! I think you could drizzle some white chocolate over this and make it over-the-top fancy. I really hope you enjoy this recipe— I’ve gotta have a piece –ready….set….GO!

Want to see more pictures of this cake done as a birthday cake? The filling is made just a little thicker so that the entire cake can be frosted. Just click here. Enjoy!

4-17-12: I love it when people try recipes I’ve posted and take pictures of the process- check out how “Don’t fight the Apple” made this recipe into yummy jar cakes to send to her boyfriend overseas! Great idea!!

4-23-12: Or check out the tips and beautiful photos taken at Jam Hands.

Try some other fun strawberry desserts at Easybaked~ just click on an image to be taken to the recipe!

242 Comments

Posted in Cakes and tagged cake, cool whip, Cream Cheese, dessert, fresh fruit, layer cake, lemonade, marshmallow, strawberry, torte. Bookmark the permalink.

Salted Caramel Cookie Cups

Posted on June 17, 2011 by Ruthanne

Salty meets sweet in these crunchy pretzel cookie cups dipped in chocolate and filled with creamy caramel.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups of crushed pretzel rods
1 tube of refrigerated sugar cookie dough
6 ounces (1/2 bag) of Wilton Dark Candy Cocoa Melts
32 Kraft caramels (unwrapped)
1/2c. butter
1 (14 oz.) can of sweetened condensed milk.

DIRECTIONS:

Using your hands, knead 1 cup of pretzel crumbs into cookie dough.
Form into 12 balls and place into a greased muffin tin.
Bake at 350 degrees for 16 minutes. Remove from oven and press centers into a cup using a mini-tart shaper or the end of a wooden spoon. Allow these to cool completely. When cool, gently run a knife around edges and remove from pan.
Melt candy melts in the microwave in 30 second increments until smooth.
Dip top edges of cup into melted chocolate and then into remaining crushed pretzels. Pipe any remaining chocolate into the bottom of each cup (save just a little bit to drizzle on the top!) Allow this to harden while you make your caramel.

To make caramel sauce: place unwrapped caramels, butter and sweetened condensed milk into a saucepan and heat until completely melted. Stir this constantly to prevent scorching. (about 6-8 minutes).

*note: this makes about twice as much caramel sauce as you will need. You can cut the ingredients in half, but then what to do with 1/2 of a can of condensed milk?!? I say make the full batch and use the leftovers on ice cream!

Spoon caramel into hardened cups.
Drizzle with more melted chocolate if desired.
ENJOY!!! 🙂

My thoughts: I made this dessert for my friend Dawn. I just love the salted caramel hot chocolate from Starbucks and we both thought that the saltiness of pretzels plus the sweetness of caramel would be perfect together. I forgot that I HATE eating pretzels with sweet things…can’t stand chocolate covered pretzels….so this dessert is not my favorite. If you like your pretzels covered in chocolate, this is the recipe for you though! I really hope you enjoy it 🙂 r-

6-14-12: I love it when readers try a recipe and share their process (changes and all!)- here’s Kitchen Mischiefs with her version of these cups using chocolate chip cookie dough—YUM!

72 Comments

Posted in Cookie Cups and tagged caramel, chocolate, cookie cups, cookies, dessert, pretzels, salted caramel. Bookmark the permalink.

Toasted Coconut Cheesecake Bonbons

Posted on June 14, 2011 by Ruthanne

I just found out that the word bonbon comes from the French word bon which means “good”…so these are goodGOOD!!!! (GOOOOD!) With toasted coconut on the outside and chewy coconut and cream cheese on the inside they couldn’t get any better! Oh- wait—yes they can! Bite into one of these bonbons and you’ll find creamy dark chocolate and almonds inside! YUM!

INGREDIENTS:

1 bag (24-30 pieces) of Dove chocolates (dark chocolate with almond)
8 ounces of Philadelphia Cream Cheese
12 ounces (one bag) of white chocolate chips
1 tbsp of coconut extract
2 cups of all-purpose flour
5 cups of shredded sweetened coconut (divided)
1/2 cup of butter (melted)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Unwrap all of your chocolates.
Soften Philadelphia Cream Cheese in the microwave for about 30 seconds- until it is warm and smooth after stirring.
Melt white chocolate chips in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between until they are melted and smooth.
Add softened cream cheese to the melted white chocolate and stir well.
Stir in coconut extract.
Add flour and mix until it forms a thick, sticky dough.
Fold in 3 cups of coconut.
Using your hands, take about 2T of dough, press it into your palm, place a chocolate in the center and wrap the dough completely around it.
Smooth the dough by rolling it a little between your hands and set it on an un-greased cookie sheet. Repeat this process with remaining dough and chocolates.
Brush melted butter over tops of cookies and press remaining coconut on the tops and sides of the cookies.
Brush the coconut topping with butter and place in the oven.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. If coconut is not sufficiently toasted on the tops of the cookies at this point, turn your broiler on high and finish toasting it. (This will happen quickly under the broiler, so keep an eye on them!).
Remove cookies from the cookie sheet and place on parchment paper to cool. They can be served warm or cooled to room temperature first– either way they are delicious!

My thoughts: mmmm…..I love these! I created this recipe for Real Women of Philadelphia and it took me awhile to decide which chocolate to use in the middle and how to get the cookie part to taste REALLY coconutty (I just made that word up!) These cookies remind me of the Chocolate Coconut Cream Cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory– seriously one of my favorite desserts and now in cookie (BONBON!!) form 🙂 ENJOY!

I shared this recipe on these wonderful blogs:

5 Comments

Posted in Cookies and tagged almonds, bonbons, cheesecake, chocolate, coconut, cookies, Cream Cheese, dessert, toasted coconut. Bookmark the permalink.

Nutter Butter Flip Flops!!!!

Posted on June 11, 2011 by Ruthanne

These just make me smile!! I’ve seen several versions of these recently on blogs and in stores and I had to try them- talk about quick and easy! I have no idea who originally came up with this – but kudos in the creativity department!!! Love ’em!

INGREDIENTS: (printer friendly recipe)

One package of Nutter Butter Cookies (32 cookies)
6 ounces each of Wiltons candy melts in 4 fun colors: Yellow Orange
Blue Purple
Candy Flowers (I found mine at Michael’s Arts and Crafts)

DIRECTIONS:

Melt 7oz. (1/2 a bag) of each color of candy in 4 separate bowls in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between.
Dip one cookie at a time in the candy melts, covering it completely and then lifting it with a fork and tapping excess melted chocolate off. Set on parchment paper to harden.

Spoon remainder of each color into small ziplock bags and clip a corner. Using a contrasting color, carefully pipe a flip flop “strap” on each cookie.
Add a candy flower or other candy decoration to strap before it hardens.

ENJOY!!!

My thoughts: Quick easy and fun. I’d love to serve them on brown sugar “sand” sometime…. Be sure you get the vanilla flavored chips– tastes just like white chocolate- even though its comes in such pretty colors. The final result tastes a little like a Butterfingers (I think…) Happy Summer to YOU! -r