I’d like to begin this week’s column with a quote from 1980s movie legend Ferris Bueller, who justifies skipping school by declaring that “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you might miss it.”
I used to love “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” I saw it in the summer of 1986 in Worthington, Minnesota with my friend Mark. I was 19 years old, and I had just finished my first year of college. Like most people my age — then and now — I was pretty sure that I knew everything. Heck, I DID know everything. I knew that “Remington Steele” was the greatest TV show ever made, that there was no better Mexican food anywhere than at Chi Chi’s and that the scariest movie ever made was “Aliens.”
I also knew that Ferris was right in his crusade to skip school and thwart his principal Mr. Rooney at every turn.
Looking back 33 years later I can take say that at least I was correct about “Aliens.”
I started to doubt myself — and Ferris— right about the time I turned 30. “Ferris Bueller” was on TV, and I sat down to watch it. While I still thought that Mr. Rooney was a jerk – seriously, he could just leave school to chase after one truant kid?! – I found myself having a strange reaction to the film’s title character. While it was fun to watch Ferris commandeer a parade float and tour the Art Institute in Chicago, I also found myself thinking, “Man, that kid is out of control.”
It was the first moment that I realized that I was getting old.
I’m 52 now. I prefer shows like “Archer” to “Remington Steele” and the last Chi Chi’s restaurant closed in 2004.
Still, Ferris got one thing right. Life does move pretty fast, and there isn’t always enough time to let the yeast rise.
That last bit might have been a paraphrase, but you get the gist. Baking bread is one of the great joys in life, but sometimes there just isn’t the time. Thankfully, there are quick breads.
Quick breads are so named because they use baking powder and/or baking soda to get their rise rather than yeast. Thus, they are usually heavier and denser. But that doesn’t mean that they lack flavor. While I love a good sweet roll or a crusty French baguette, I sometimes prefer my mother’s old-fashioned pumpkin bread or a nice soft biscuit. There’s just something simple and comforting about them.
And, as their name indicates, they can be made in a fraction of the time that it takes to bake bread.
I’d like to think that Ferris Bueller would appreciate that.
Apple-Cinnamon Scones
I stumbled across this recipe while looking at the King Arthur Flour feed on Instagram. Maybe it was the cool temperatures that day. Maybe it was the fact that I have about 10 pounds of apples sitting in my pantry. Whatever it was, I decided to give them a try.
I’m glad I did. Scones have the texture of a biscuit, but they are sweeter. These scones get their sweetness from chopped apples and applesauce. I chopped up my apples to the point where they were almost shredded. I also used Wealthy apples because they break down more than other varieties when cooked. These are all personal preferences, however. If you don’t mind biting into a solid chunk of apple in your scone by all means use a different variety or leave the pieces larger.
Ingredients
2 ¾ cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
¾ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
½ cup cold butter
¾ cup chopped apple
¾ cup butterscotch chips
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup applesauce
For the Topping:
Milk or cream for brushing the tops of the scones
1 ½ tablespoons sugar
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and cinnamon. Work in the butter – much like you would a pie crust – until evenly crumbly. There may be large chunks of butter remaining. That’s OK. Stir in the chopped apple and the butterscotch chips.
In a second mixing bowl whisk together the eggs, vanilla and applesauce. Add these ingredients to the flour mixture, and stir until moistened.
Flour your countertop and roll out the dough until to about a ¾-inch thickness. Use a biscuit cutter to cut out the scones and place them on your prepared baking sheet. Reroll the scraps and continue cutting the scones. I got about nine. You may get more if you use a smaller cutter.
Now, make the topping. Stir together your sugar and cinnamon. Brush each scone with milk or cream and dust with the sugar/cinnamon mixture.
Chill your prepared scones for about 30 minutes in the refrigerator. While the dough is chilling preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
Bake the scones for 18-22 minutes (how long depends on how big your scones are). They should be golden brown and the edges should not look wet.
Cool briefly and serve warm.
Marion Cunningham’s Cream Biscuits
Biscuits are, perhaps, the best-known quick bread. You can throw them together just before dinner and have hot biscuits on the table in no time.
There are a million recipes for biscuits, but this one comes from Marion Cunningham, the longtime editor of the Fanny Farmer Cookbook. Her recipes – including these biscuits - are always easy to follow and good to eat.
Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 ½ cups heavy cream
1/3 cup (5 tablespoons) butter, melted
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Toss together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl. Stir with a wire whisk to lighten (this is similar to Alton’s technique of spinning the dry ingredients in a food processor).
Slowly add 1 cup cream, stirring constantly. Gather the dough together; when it holds together and feels tender, turn it out onto a floured countertop and begin to knead. If the dough feels too shagging or dry, return it to the bowl and slowly add enough cream to make the dough hold together.
Knead the dough for a total of 1 minute. Pat it into a square that is ½ inch thick. Cut into 12 biscuits and dip each in melted butter so all sides are coated. Place the biscuits 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet.
Bake for 15 minutes, or until the biscuits are lightly browned.
Serve hot.
Makes 12 biscuits.
Mom’s Pumpkin Bread
I’ve run this recipe before because it has long been a family favorite. It’s also a delicious quick bread that can be eaten for breakfast or as an after school/work snack.
The Knock family always eats their pumpkin bread slathered in butter, but I’ve also seen it served with a nice slice of cheese. Heck, you can even eat it plain. It’s that good.
Ingredients
A 15-ounce can of pumpkin
3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 cup cold water
3 ½ cups flour
½ teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease three small loaf pans or two larger loaf pans.
Sift together the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Mix together first five ingredients. Add wet ingredients to dry until just combined.
Bake for 1 hour for smaller loaves. If you make larger loaves, they will take an extra 15 minutes or so.
