It's time for Irish Soda Bread Scones

It's that time again - when the world turns green (and I don't mean because of spring). Mindy gave us green cake yesterday. Whole Foods had green chocolate chip cookies, New York's famous black and white cookies are green and white.

But none of that appeals to me the way good soda bread does. Problem is, most of what is made commercially is not very good.

I lucked out this year because the farmers' market had some really good soda bread last weekend.

But if you don't have a market with good bread, feel free to try these delicious scones.

Irish Soda Bread Scones 

Years ago, when I walked my daughter to school before my walk to work, I would pass a coffee shop that sold to-die for soda bread scones. I've been craving them lately so here you go.

Disclaimer - this recipe is adapted from one given to me by a mother at my school who baked me the loaf form of this every Christmas and St. Patrick's Day for as long as her children were in the school. When they graduated, she gave me the recipe.

The recipe is very simple:

You start with 4 cups of sifted flour. I imagine you could use any flour (or a mix).  I used King Arthur's white.

 

Next you add 1/2 a cup of sugar. I used coconut palm sugar which gave the bread a lovely grainy look because the sugar has a brownish color.
Next add 1 tsp. baking powder and 1 tsp of salt. (I only used a shake of salt and I used low sodium baking powder).

1/3 of a cup of butter gets cut into the dry mixture. The recipe recommends using a pastry blender or fork to evenly distribute.

Next up - 1 cup of seedless raisins (or dried cranberries for a nice variation) and my favorite part - 2 tablespoons of caraway seeds!

Confession. I messed up this next part because I added the baking soda in with the dry ingredients. It did not cause any problems.

You're supposed to mix 1 tsp baking soda with 1 1/3 cups of buttermilk and 1 egg in a small bowl. You add this to the dry mix and knead gently.

See the dark specks from the coconut palm sugar?

At this point you could form it into a loaf, but instead I shaped it into scones. Likewise, the loaf should ideally go in a cast iron pan. I used parchment paper. ;)

The result was about 15 wonderful scones that kept nicely in the refrigerator in a ziplock bag.

They may be Irish, but I think you'll enjoy them all year long - especially when you sub cranberries (or some other fruit).

May the luck of the Irish be with you.  

I thought I'd share one of my favorite Irish songs, thought it's quite sad. Fields of Athenry sung by Paddy Reilly.