Quick and easy Archives | Stephie Cooks

Pillowy Soft Sugar Cookies

February 8, 2018 by Stephie 2 Comments

Pillowy Soft Sugar Cookies are an old family favorite. They’re easy to make – perfect for making with kids!

It’s been a while since we talked about cookies. And by “a while” I mean…like, 5 minutes. (C’mon, people. You know I recently shared Maureen’s Rice Krispie Cookies!)

But 5 minutes is a long time for me to not talk about cookies!

I’ve been super into digging into my family recipe archives lately. Right before my great-grandmother passed away, my mom put together a cookbook of all of her recipes for everyone. I’m so grateful to have a copy for myself, especially now that my mom is gone – those recipes serve as something of a family time capsule that I can flip through when I want to feel close to the women who raised me.

In addition to the recipe itself, my mom also included notes about each recipe or where it came from. On these Pillowy Soft Sugar Cookies, she wrote: “An excellent soft sugar cookie.”

I mean…there you have it. Short and to the point (words not often used to describe how my mother wrote or spoke).

…

Cream Cheese Ranch Rollups

December 10, 2017 by Stephie 63 Comments

Cream Cheese Ranch Rollups are the easiest and most popular appetizer you could ever make. Rich cream cheese, ranch dressing mix and veggies all rolled into tortillas – these will disappear in a flash at any party!

Cream Cheese Ranch Rollups are a true Midwestern gift.

The recipe originates from my grandmother. When she gave the recipe to my mother, she said, “This is an appetizer that everyone loves. Men, women, kids…everyone adores these.”

And she was right.

I have lost count of how many times I have made these over the years. Any time there is a gathering that we need to take food to, I almost always end up making a batch of these. Sometimes I really go whole-hog and make a double batch.

Why make twice as many ranch rollups? Because one batch will disappear almost as fast as you can slice them. I promise you that I am not exaggerating.

If you are from the Midwest, you are probably already familiar with the “pinwheel” concept. Pinwheels – tortillas rolled around some kind of filling, usually of the meat and cheese variety – are a party staple in this part of the country. You can’t throw a proper party around here without pinwheels making an appearance.

Cream Cheese Ranch Rollups are like pinwheels taken to a whole other level.

As the name would suggest, the base is cream cheese mixed with ranch dressing mix and finely chopped green onions, red bell pepper and black olives, all spread on a large flour tortilla, then rolled up (to achieve the iconic pinwheel shape) and sliced.

(Pro-tip: The ends of the tortillas are not very pretty when sliced – since they don’t make a full pinwheel – but are totally delicious nonetheless. Consider them the “chef’s snack.”)

If you’re anything like me, the words “black olives” gave you pause. But I promise you, even if you are squarely in the anti-olive camp like myself, you will want to add them in here. They add a slightly salty tang, without actually making everything taste like black olives.

That said, I have been known to swap out the black olives for bacon in my Bacon Ranch Cream Cheese Rollups. That is absolutely a move I can get on board with.

If you would like to use a Homemade Ranch Dressing Mix instead of the packaged stuff (although I must admit to using the packets more often than not), you will want to use 3 tablespoons to equal one of the store-bought packets.

Go forth with your Cream Cheese Ranch Rollups and conquer all of the parties – from holiday parties to barbecues to movie nights with your best friends, I can promise that you’ll be the most popular person at the party for bringing these along.

4.5 from 8 reviews

Cream Cheese Ranch Roll-ups

Ingredients

2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
1 package ranch dressing mix
generous ½ cup finely chopped red peppers
scant ½ cup finely chopped green onions
1 small (2.25-ounce) can chopped black olives
4 12-inch flour tortillas

Instructions

In a bowl, combine all ingredients except for tortillas. Lay out tortillas; evenly distribute cream cheese mixture among tortillas and spread just shy of the edges.
Roll up tortillas; wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Slice into ¼-inch slices before serving.

Instant Pot Persimmon Butter

December 4, 2017 by Stephie 2 Comments

Instant Pot Persimmon Butter is full of sweet, fresh persimmons. Make it in just a couple of hours using your Instant Pot!

I have always deeply loved fruit butters.

When I was a little girl, we lived just down the road from a restaurant in Indiana called the Beef House. Now, the Beef House is an Indiana institution, particularly because of their rolls.

Beef House rolls are pillowy soft and the epitome of a classic yeast roll. In fact, they have made an entire business out of selling frozen rolls around the Midwest, allowing you to bake them up hot and fresh at home.

Of course, in my family we are now obsessed with making my Fluffy No-Knead Refrigerator Rolls, but in the past we have absolutely been known to enjoy Beef House rolls for a holiday meal or two.

I have not been to the Beef House in years, but when I was a little girl they served their rolls with strawberry jam and apple butter. This is my first concrete memory of fruit butters, and clearly it is one that has always stuck with me.

I mean – don’t get me wrong. I love jam. But there’s something about fruit butter that I just cannot pass up. Its smooth texture and rich, sweet flavor – oh man! Especially when served on a fluffy roll that’s also been slathered in (dairy) butter, there’s just nothing better.

Just after Thanksgiving, my friend Kathleen paid Alex and I a visit. Kathleen lives in Sacramento, and is lucky enough to have a variety of fruit trees in her backyard.

(Tough life, huh??)

On this most recent visit, she was kind enough to gift us a giant bag full of oranges, Meyer lemons, and persimmons – all things that we normally have to pay an arm and a leg to enjoy here in Illinois.

If you’ve never had a persimmon, remedy this immediately. Fuyu persimmons (the kind used in this recipe) are like a cross between an apple and a tomato. It sounds weird, but I promise it is actually completely delicious. They are sweet and a bit crunchy (like an apple) but with a smooth flesh and thin skin (like a tomato).

I, personally, find it completely acceptable to simply enjoy them with some tangy cheese as part of a cheese and charcuterie board. But when Alex suggested I make Persimmon Butter out of them, it was like a lightbulb went off.

I immediately headed into the kitchen, grabbed my Instant Pot and went to town. Because I made this in an Instant Pot, I was able to make the two-step cooking process required for a truly luscious fruit butter (first cooking the fruit and then reducing the puree until it is thick and sweet and full of the concentrated persimmon flavor) a hands-off process.

If you do not have an Instant Pot, you can follow the same stove-top cooking method as for my Apple Cherry Butter – just note that you will have to babysit it a bit more than you would in the Instant Pot.

The resulting Instant Pot Persimmon Butter will keep in the refrigerator for a week or two. Freeze it for longer-term storage. Just pull out a jar when you’re ready to eat it and enjoy the (literal) fruits of your labor long after persimmon season is over slathered on Refrigerator Rolls, Texas Roadhouse Rolls or Sweet Potato Biscuits.

Instant Pot Persimmon Butter

Persimmon Butter is full of sweet, fresh persimmons and can be made in just a couple of hours using your Instant Pot!

Yield: 1 quart

Ingredients

8-9 Fuyu persimmons
¼ cup water
Juice of ½ a lemon
2-3 tablespoons sugar
1 cinnamon stick
Splash of vanilla
Pinch of salt

Instructions

Hull the persimmons and cut into chunks. Place into the bowl of an Instant Pot with the water, lemon juice and sugar. Lock the lid into place, making sure the steam valve is closed, and set to cook on "Manual" on high pressure for 45 minutes.
When the timer beeps, quick release the pressure and open the lid. Puree the cooked persimmons in the pot using an immersion blender.
Add the cinnamon stick to the pot and set the lid on the pot, leaving a small gap allow steam out. Do not lock the lid into place.
Set the slow cooker function to high for 1 hour.
When the timer beeps, add a splash of vanilla and a pinch of salt. Taste and add additional sugar or vanilla as needed. Remove the cinnamon stick before transferring to airtight containers for storing in the refrigerator or freezer.

Notes

For an ultra-smooth butter, peel the persimmons before cooking. If you do not have an immersion blender, allow the cooked persimmons to cool slightly before carefully transferring to a blender to puree. Add the pureed fruit back to the pot for the next stage of cooking.

90-Minute Buttercrust Bread

December 1, 2015 by Stephie 4 Comments

90-Minute Buttercrust Bread is a quick and easy sandwich bread that is done in 90 minutes, start to finish. You’re closer to fluffy, soft sandwich bread perfection than you think.

This post is sponsored by Red Star Yeast. Thank you for supporting brands that make this site possible.

Alex and I closed on our house last Wednesday. We are officially homeowners.

Wow, that feels amazing to say.

We spent much of the Thanksgiving weekend working on the house – starting to paint, removing wallpaper (with only slight success…folks, do your future selves and future homeowners a favor and DO NOT go the wallpaper route), installing new light fixtures, replacing the drawer pulls in the kitchen…and generally making the house our own. I promise to share photos as soon as we are settled and there aren’t boxes everywhere. For now, you can always follow along on Instagram for random sneak peeks as we go.

Throughout this slightly stressful time of buying a house, I – as a bit of a stress-eater – was once again reminded of a pretty solid fact: Bread is a necessity in my life.

No, it is not an option. Neeeeeeed. It is my ultimate comfort food.

No, I don’t think I would fare well on a gluten-free diet. But that’s another discussion for another day. For now, it is all about the bread.

That said, I don’t always have time to make bread from scratch. I love homemade bread – it is one of my very favorite things (clearly), but it can be a little time consuming. Sure, I love Baked Potato Bread, Wheat Germ Bread or even Carrot Raisin Bread. But when I only have a couple of hours to bake and need something that can be made lickety-split?

90-Minute Buttercrust Bread to the rescue.

That’s right. 90 minutes. And, unlike many homemade yeast breads, that isn’t just rising time – that is the amount of time it will take you to make this bread from start to finish. Just an hour and a half!

And let me tell you, you won’t notice a difference in this recipe. A few simple tricks (such as using a stellar yeast like Red Star Platinum Yeast and letting your dough rise in a barely-warm oven) is all you need to make this magic happen. Soft, fluffy, butter-blessed bread heaven.

This bread also makes the best toast. I might have eaten an entire loaf by myself because I couldn’t stop toasting it and slathering it in butter and jam. In fact, I had to give away the second loaf to one of my coworkers (who was in the middle of renovating her own kitchen, which seemed like a reason to need homemade bread if ever I had heard one) just to keep myself from inhaling both loaves at once. It seems charitable but really, she was doing me a favor by taking it away from me. I cannot be held responsible for my actions when homemade bread is involved.

Hop on over to Red Star Yeast’s website for this 90-Minute Buttercrust Bread Recipe.

Looking for more great bread recipes? Make sure to follow Red Star Yeast on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram and check out their website for tips and tricks for baking with yeast!

Homemade Chai Concentrate

September 13, 2015 by Stephie 15 Comments

Homemade Chai Concentrate is quick and easy to make with just a handful of spices and no refined sugar.

This little blog is four years old today! Can you believe it?

In past years, I have marked this occasion with a giveaway or with cake. (See reference: Caramel Apple Cake.) But since this past year has brought a multitude of life changes (engagement, wedding, starting to buy a house), I thought the most appropriate way of celebrating having a preschool-aged blog would be to share a quick and easy recipe that I make almost every week – because time and energy are always of the essence around here lately.

I love chai, but at some point I realized that stopping by the local coffee shop multiple times a week for my iced chai fix was putting a significant dent into my bank account. It was at that moment that I determined that I could make a homemade chai concentrate that was as good, if not better, than what I could get at the coffee shop or buy at the store.

The added bonus would be knowing what was in it, particularly in terms of how much – and what kind – of sugar. So often the stuff you buy at the store is overly-sweet, to the point of masking some of the flavors of the spices. I knew I could do better.

This Homemade Chai Concentrate recipe took some real fiddling, but I have managed to get it to fit exactly what I was looking for. It is refined sugar-free, using coconut sugar and honey, and has a nice balance of spices. I played around with several recipes before I found one on The Prairie Homestead that seemed to be closer to what I was looking for, and continued to tweak it until it was juuuuuust right.

A few quick notes:

Whole spices are cheaper than you think. I buy mine at a Mediterranean market for next to nothing, and they last forever. Buying larger quantities at an ethnic market is definitely your best bet. When in doubt (or in a small town with fewer options), try the internet.
I use whole dried ginger, found at my local market (see above). I find this easier to keep on hand for chai at a moment’s notice than fresh ginger, and think it’s easier to use in this recipe than ground ginger.
Almost all chai recipes will call for peppercorns. Mine does not. I tried it with them several times, and then without when I found I had run out. I didn’t really notice a difference without them, and have left them out since. If it makes you feel better, try adding up to a teaspoon to your whole spices.
The vanilla is the real key to this recipe for me. I tried it several times without the vanilla, and every time it was a little bit “blah”. It was when I added the vanilla that all of the flavor notes really fell into place. I like using vanilla bean paste, but have also used a vanilla bean and vanilla extract. All will get you where you want to go. Try playing with different types of vanilla here – Madagascar for a traditional vanilla flavor, Mexican for a bit of spice, Tahitian for a touch of floral, fruity notes. Nielsen-Massey makes the best quality of all of the above.
Most recipes – and even storebought concentrates – will suggest mixing 1 part concentrate with 1 part milk. I happen to love my chai, like all tea, pretty strong, so tend to lean towards a 2:1 ratio of concentrate to milk. Play with it and see what you like – because that is the beauty of making it at home!

Now, go forth and chai! You’ll be delighted how easy it is to make at home.

5.0 from 2 reviews

Homemade Chai Concentrate

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

30 mins

Homemade Chai Concentrate is quick and easy to make with just a handful of spices and no refined sugar.

Yield: 4-5 cups concentrate

Ingredients

6 cups water
¼ cup coconut sugar
2 tablespoons honey
2-3 pieces whole, dried ginger
5 cinnamon sticks
2-3 star anise pods
1 teaspoon whole cloves
7 allspice berries
1 heaping tablespoon cardamom seeds
5 black tea bags
1 vanilla bean OR 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste OR 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Milk of your choice, for serving

Instructions

In a saucepan, bring the water, coconut sugar and honey to a boil.
Add the whole spices and vanilla bean, if using. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes.
Remove from heat and add the tea bags. Steep for 5 minutes before removing tea bags. Strain out the spices and stir in the vanilla bean paste or extract, if using.
Pour into an airtight container and allow to cool to room temperature before storing in the refrigerator for up to a week.
To serve, mix anywhere from 1 to 2 parts concentrate with 1 part milk of your choice (whole, soy, almond, coconut, etc). Serve over ice or heat.

Notes

I like to gently crack open or lightly crush my whole spices in a mortar and pestle before adding them to the boiling water; it seems to help release some of the flavor. This is totally optional, so go where your heart leads you.

Amish Breakfast Cake

August 24, 2015 by Stephie 26 Comments

Oatmeal cake with coconut pecan topping…what more could you want? Amish Breakfast Cake makes the perfect indulgent breakfast or delicious dessert. You really can’t go wrong either way.

I have a little bit of news for you guys: Alex and I are buying a house!

That’s right; if all goes according to plan, in the span of a year we will have gotten engaged, gotten married and bought our first house. Phew! I won’t give a ton of details at this point (because, if I’m honest, I don’t want to jinx us before we close) but we will be closer to our families than we are now, which means my Instagram is soon to be taken over entirely by my adorable niece and nephews – because if you think Aunt Stephie can stand to be close to her babies and not see them constantly, you can just think again.

It also means that I will have more space for storing my many (many) dishes, a larger kitchen, and we can get a dog! Only two of those things are related or probably important to you. I’ll let you decide which two those are.

A few weeks ago when Alex and I were in town house hunting, we stopped by the town coffee spot (which we both know well, having both gone to college in this town) to pick up breakfast and, of course, I found myself perusing the pastry case. Would you even know me if I didn’t? A sign labeled “Amish Breakfast Cake” caught my eye. I wasn’t really sure what it was, or if it was actually a breakfast item, but if you label something “breakfast cake” you can be sure that I will take the opportunity to eat it before noon.

As it turned out, it was a delightful oatmeal cake with a moist yet crunchy coconut-pecan topping. I knew I had to make this happen in my kitchen. After a little bit of Googling, I found this recipe for Oatmeal Cake with Coconut Pecan Frosting on For the Love of Cooking. I did a little bit of tweaking, primarily to make it a little less sweet and thus more appropriate to possibly eat for breakfast, or at least elevensies, and ended up with what may just be my new favorite cake.

Now, I have no idea where the coffee shop I referenced earlier came up with the name “Amish Breakfast Cake” – I couldn’t tell you if this is remotely Amish or not – but I rather liked the name. Who doesn’t want permission to eat more cake for breakfast? And so, Amish Breakfast Cake it will be. Eat it for breakfast, or dessert, but for the love of all that is good – eat it!

5.0 from 4 reviews

Amish Breakfast Cake

Yield: 1 8x8-inch cake

Ingredients

½ cup rolled oats
¾ cup boiling water
¼ cup granulated sugar
½ cup brown sugar
⅔ cup flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla

For the topping:

3 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
¼ cup brown sugar
¾ cup unsweetened, shredded coconut
½ cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons milk
½ teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

For the cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour an 8x8-inch cake pan. Set aside.
In a bowl, combine the oats and the boiling water. Cover for around 5 minutes while you assemble the other ingredients.
In a large bowl, whisk together the sugars, flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon. In a large measuring cup, whisk together the applesauce, egg and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients and the oatmeal mixture to the dry ingredients and fold to combine. Pour into the prepared baking pan. Bake for about 25 minutes or until the center of the cake is set.

Prepare the topping:

In a bowl, combine all of the topping ingredients until well mixed. Immediately upon removing the cake from the oven, turn the oven to broil. Gently spread the topping over the hot cake; broil until the topping is golden brown. Do NOT walk away from the oven during this time - this took less than a minute in my broiler, but may fluctuate based on your oven.
Allow cake to cool before cutting and serving.

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