Shopify Blog Content: How the recipe world of Hensslers Schnelle Nummer was created

How do you use your Shopify store to provide customers with comprehensive information about your products and inspire them to buy? The answer lies in shoppable content: the seamless integration of commerce content, for example, via a blog.

A successful example is the recipe world of Henssler's Schnelle Nummer (fast number) : Users not only discover recipes but can also order the necessary ingredients directly from the blog. Through a well-thought-out structure, interactive filter options, and close integration with the shop, content and sales are considered as a holistic strategy.

But how can such a system be implemented in Shopify? What technical hurdles are there? Which apps do we recommend, and which aspects can be resolved through customization? We analyzed precisely this in the podcast, together with our Shopify blog expert Anna. We share the most important learnings with you in this article.

1. The structure of the recipe blog at Hensslers Schnelle Nummer
2. Requirements and challenges in implementation
3. Implementing recipes on Shopify: Apps & Customization
4. Additional content touchpoint: Live Cooking
5. Learnings: Best Practices for Shoppable Content on Shopify

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1. The structure of the recipe blog at Hensslers Schnelle Nummer

Anyone visiting the Shopify store of Hensslers Schnelle Nummer , the brand of TV chef Steffen Henssler , will quickly come across the integrated recipe section. Instead of a simple blog structure with individual articles sorted chronologically or by keywords, we built a sophisticated category system – comparable to a classic Shopify category page.

The core of the recipe world is a central overview page that brings together all available recipes. Users can use various filter options to search for suitable recipes. For example, dishes can be filtered by main ingredient (fish, meat, vegetarian), but also by preparation time or difficulty level . A particularly practical feature is that the selected filters remain even when switching between different categories. For example, customers can first filter by "salads" and then switch to "meat dishes" without resetting the previously selected preparation time.

Another highlight are the bubble filters at the top of the page, which allow for quick navigation between the main categories. These ensure intuitive operation and are reminiscent of the UX of common Shopify category pages. Users immediately see their available options and can navigate through the various recipe worlds with just a few clicks – similar to switching between product categories in a traditional online shop.

Thanks to this intelligent structuring, Henssler's recipe world offers optimized user navigation, which not only makes the content easier to find but also increases interaction with it. At the same time, the close integration with the shop allows ingredients to be purchased directly from the recipes .

2. Requirements and challenges in implementation

Integrating such a comprehensive recipe collection into Shopify required a well-thought-out strategy. The most important requirement: The recipes not only had to be clearly structured and presented clearly on the overview page, but also supplemented with interactive features that offer users real added value. These included, among others:

• Recipe ratings to highlight the most popular dishes – a feature Shopify doesn't offer by default for blog posts.
• Purchasable ingredient lists so customers can order the products they need directly from the recipe.
• A print function , as it became apparent that many users also want to use recipes offline.

One sticking point was the rating feature , which Shopify natively enables only for products and not for blog posts. However, since ratings play a key role in encouraging interaction with recipes and building user trust, a solution had to be found to retrofit this feature.

In addition, there was already an existing recipe world whose contents had to be migrated to the new system.

It quickly became clear that Shopify's native capabilities wouldn't be sufficient to implement all the desired features. While Shopify offers powerful e-commerce capabilities, the system quickly reaches its limits when it comes to content management . Therefore, the team had to weigh up whether custom development or a combination of apps and custom code would be the most sensible approach.

3. Technical implementation of the recipe blog: Apps & customization

In order to technically implement the recipe world requirements at Hensslers Schnelle Nummer , the tante-e team recommended a hybrid approach consisting of specialized apps and individual customization.

After evaluating various solutions, the Recipe Kit app was chosen. This Shopify app included several essential features, including:

• Reviews for recipes , one of the most important requirements that Shopify doesn't support out of the box.
• A structured database in which recipes are maintained and then played out in the storefront.
• SEO-optimized data that has been automatically prepared for Google to display, for example, preparation time and nutritional values in the search results.
• A purchasable ingredient list that allows you to order individual products directly from the recipe.
• Pre-made design templates that provided an initial basis for the layout.

However, the app wasn't a one-click solution ; it had to be further adapted to specific requirements. The look and feel of the recipe pages, in particular, was highly customized to fit seamlessly into the Henssler brand experience .

For this purpose, the frontend was adapted through coding so that:

• the recipe view complies with the desired design guidelines,
• the filter logic works optimally and remains combinable,
• a portion calculator has been added, which automatically adjusts ingredient quantities depending on the desired number of portions,
• the printing function was improved because it became apparent that many users wanted to print recipes.

Another important aspect was the data migration of existing recipes. The Recipe Kit app offered a paid migration service that transferred hundreds of recipes from the old system to the new one without requiring manual re-maintenance of the content.

The integration with Shopify was also optimized: The app made it possible to synchronize certain content such as recipe titles, images, and tags with the Shopify blog function, so that the recipe overview page was cleanly structured and filterable according to various criteria.

In the tante-e podcast, Anna reports in more detail about her experiences with the Recipe Kit app in the implementation of the Hensslers shop:

4. Live Shopping as an additional content touchpoint

Another feature that makes the recipe world even more interactive is the live shopping integration via the LiveMeUp app. Live shopping offers a new way to integrate content and commerce even more closely. Henssler's Schnelle Nummer used the feature to connect live cooking sessions directly to the shop:

• During the shows, Steffen Henssler presents recipes and cooks them directly
• Viewers can ask questions and interact directly with Steffen Henssler during the stream.
• All necessary ingredients can be purchased during the livestream – without having to leave the site, exclusive discounts are also displayed
• Streams can be subsequently integrated into the recipe world as shoppable video content .

This addition shows that content can not only be static , but can also be effectively used as a live event to promote sales .

5. Learnings: Best Practices for Shoppable Content on Shopify

Implementing the new recipe world for Henssler has yielded several valuable lessons. One key point: The right mix of apps and individual custom code can deliver enormous efficiency gains if strategically thought out.

• A big learning was that the Recipe Kit app already included many essential features, such as the rating function and SEO-optimized data structuring , and thus saved a lot of development time.
• One unexpected learning was the high usage of the print function : Heatmap analyses showed that many users frequently used this feature. As a result, the print view was revised to make it more reader-friendly .
• Another detail was the URL issue with the ingredients list. When product URLs change in the Shopify store (e.g., due to SEO adjustments), broken links arise in the ingredients list. While this problem could be resolved manually, it demonstrates the value of considering URL strategies early on to avoid additional work later.