Irish Soda Bread Recipe

This recipe comes from my mother. I'm not sure where she got it. She hasn't been making it my entire life, but I remember it showing up in the dinner rotation around the time I was in junior high. Soda bread gets its name from the use of baking soda rather than yeast as a leavening agent. Lots of times raisins are also added to this bread, but I personally don't like raisins when they are cooked in things, so if mom doesn't like it... it doesn't go in :) This bread is dense and chewy on the inside yet crispy and crunchy on the outside. Here's the how-to...

Ingredients:

• 2½ cups flour, divided
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• 1½ Tbsp sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 cup buttermilk (I've made it with regular milk before, and it turned out fine.)

Directions:

1. Measure out 2 cups of flour. Mix together with the rest of the ingredients. The dough will be super sticky.

2. Take the other half cup of flour and start adding it a little at a time as you knead the dough. I've done it by hand, but this time I used the dough hook on my stand mixer, and it worked great. Keep adding flour and knead until the dough forms a nice ball. It takes a while, but it's worth it!

3. With floured hands, form the dough into a slightly flatted ball and place on a greased baking sheet.

Using a very sharp knife, cut a cross into the top of the dough, about 3/4" deep.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45-50 minutes. This bread is kind of doughy and chewy, but you have to be careful because the center ends up way too doughy if you don't cook it long enough. I especially like to eat this bread warm with butter on it.

This is a fun recipe to pull out for St. Patrick's Day this weekend. Enjoy!




P.S. There hasn't been a whole lot of sewing going on around here lately. I just haven't been into it and really haven't had much time for it. But... this weekend I sewed my project for this month's Point of View, and I am absolutely in love with it. In the top five favorite things I've ever made. But you'll have to wait a couple of weeks to see it :)

I'm linking up...

St. Patrick's Day Jello Cookie Recipe

When my youngest daughter was born some friends of ours made us pink cookies. They were delicious. I had to have the recipe. Turns out the secret ingredient was Jello. It also turns out that you can use any flavor of Jello to get any color cookie you want! I prefer to make them with cherry Jello, but seeing as St. Patrick's Day is upon us, we decided to go with lime Jello and make some green cookies. These are pretty darn good, too :) Add some shamrock sprinkles and you've got one snazzy looking cookie. Here's the how-to...

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup of margarine or butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3oz package of Jello gelatin (any flavor will do, but we used lime)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2½ cups of flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• sprinkles (optional)

Directions: (makes about 24 cookies)

1. Cream together your first five ingredients: margarine or butter, sugar, dry Jello powder, eggs, and vanilla.

2. Carefully add the remaining ingredients: flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well.

3. Grease and flour baking sheets or line with parchment paper.

4. Roll the dough into 1½" balls and place on the baking sheets. It helps to add a little flour to your hands before rolling.

5. Flatten each ball of dough in a crisscross pattern with a fork. Again, flour is your friend here... dip the fork in flour before pressing it into the dough.

6. Add sprinkles, if you like...

7. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes. They are done when you just start to see a light brown ring begin to creep up from the very bottom of the cookie. Move to a cooling rack and enjoy!

This is a great all-purpose recipe... you can change up the color and decorations to match any holiday or occasion. And Jello comes in so many flavors, there are lots of possibilities. Have fun with it!




I'm linking up...