A Muse in My Kitchen
Irish Soda Bread Muffins
I’m not Irish…I don’t even own one piece of green clothing but I sure have fun with the holiday!
When my girls were little toddlers, I would wake them up in the morning in my Irish brogue (well, my Polish Slovak Irish brogue)…
and would talk to them all day in my brogue…
I would hide little treasures in the house and we would find their “pots of gold”.
When they became teenagers, they told me I sounded ‘stupid’ but I would do it anyways just to annoy them.
When they moved away, I stopped the tradition. They all called me the day after St. Patrick’s Day complaining that I ignored them on St. Patrick’s Day and they missed my broken brogue.
Geez. Can’t win!
Here’s my contribution to the holiday – Irish Soda Bread Muffins!
They are light, delicious, loaded with currants and a hint of caraway seeds…
And best of all – easy!
Simply mix the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet in another.
Mix with a wooden spoon until just moistened – don’t over mix for you will toughen the flour.
Scoop into muffin tins and bake.
That easy.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you and yours. I have to practice my brogue for tomorrow morning, I’ll be calling the little leprechauns in California and Colorado with a
“Top o’ the morning to ya!”
- 1½ cups unbleached flour
- ¾ cup whole wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1½ cups currants or raisins
- ½ to 2 teaspoons caraway seeds, to taste
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup buttermilk, yogurt, or sour cream
- 6 tablespoons butter, melted; or ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- sparkling white sugar, for topping
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Lightly grease a standard muffin pan; or line with papers, and grease the papers.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, currants or raisins, and caraway seeds.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk (or equivalent) and melted butter (or equivalent).
- Quickly and gently combine the dry and wet ingredients; this won’t take more than a few stirs with a bowl scraper or large spoon.
- As soon as everything is evenly moistened, quit; further stirring will cause the muffins to be tough.
- Spoon the batter into the pre
- Top with sparkling white sugar, if desired.
- Bake the muffins for 20 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
- Remove them from the oven.
