Ummm....Irish coffee???

David, I've never been a big fan of Irish Soda Bread, but this Herb Soda Bread was pretty good.

A sticky toffee pudding might make a good dessert for St. Pat's Day.

Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

Herbed White Soda Bread
=======================
Posted by Linda (How to Cook a Wolf)

Recipe by Darina Allen

Ingredients
3-1/4 cups unbleached flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons freshly chopped herbs, such as rosemary, sage, thyme, chives, and parsley
12 to 14 ounces buttermilk

Directions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a
Large bowl, make a well in the center and pour all of the buttermilk in at once. Using 1 hand, stir
In a full circle starting in the center of the bowl working towards the outside of the bowl until
All the flour is incorporated. The dough should be soft but not too wet and sticky. When it all
Comes together, a matter of seconds, turn it out onto a well-floured board. WASH AND DRY YOUR HANDS.
Roll dough around gently with floured hands for a second, just enough to tidy it up, flip the dough
Over. Pat the dough into a round about 1 1/2-inches deep. Sprinkle a little flour onto the center of
A baking sheet and place the loaf on top of the flour. Cut a deep cross on it with a sharp knife,
Prick the four sections to let the fairies out. Let the cuts go over the sides of the bread to make
Sure of this. (This is important...you must let the fairies out!)

Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 400 degrees for 20 minutes, or until
Just cooked. If you are in doubt, tap the bottom of the bread: if it is cooked it will sound hollow.
Cool on a wire rack.

Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

Rye Bread
=========

Egg Wash
. Stir together all the dry ingredients. Add the molasses, butter and 1
1/4 cups of water. Mix until dough comes together. Add more water if
needed. Knead until dough is smooth and supple. Dough should not be
too stiff.

I used the Food Processor to knead the dough.

Oil a large bowl and roll the dough to coat it wth the oil. Cover with
plastic wrap.

Let rise until double, approximately 1 1/2 hours.

Knock dough down, divide in half and form two loaves. Free form or in
a loaf pan.

Dust the loaves with a little flour and cover with a tea towel.

Heat oven to 350�F.

Slash loaves and brush with an egg wash. Bake on a stone or on a
parchment covered baking sheet for approximately 45 minutes or until an
instant read thermometer reads 190�F.

Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

Sticky Toffee Dessert
=====================

1 cup whipping cream
1-1/4 cups unsalted butter
2-1/4 cups brown sugar
6 oz. Pitted dates
1 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/4 cups boiling water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp. Baking powder

NOTE: I used Medjool Dates
. This comforting Pudding lives up to its name! For an extra touch,
garnish dessert with a drizzle of chocolate sauce. Serves 6 to 8.

Note: I used my Caramel sauce over this dessert.

Preheat the oven to 350�F. Line an 8 inch springform pan with
aluminum foil and butter it well.

Place cream, 1 cup of of the butter and 1 3/4 cups of the brown sugar
in a saucepan on medium heat. Boil for 5 minutes, until the sauce
begins to turn brown and thicken slightly. Pour half into the
springform pan. Save the rest of the sauce.

Place dates and baking soda in a bowl. Add boiling water, mix and let
cool.

Place the remaining butter , the remaining sugar and vanilla in an
electric mixer. Beat on medium high for about 5 minutes, until well
creamed. Beat in the egg, then stir in the date mixture.

Combine flour and baking powder in a bowl. Fold into the egg mixture
until evenly incorporated. Pour into the springform pan and bake in
the oven for 30 minutes. Turn down the oven to 300�F and bake for 60
minutes, until golden brown and firm when touched lightly.

To serve: unmould the pudding, slice it and place on individual
plates. Drizzle with the warmed reserved sauce.

NOTE: I found that this cake cooked much quicker than the time called
for in the recipe. I baked it for 30 minutes at 350�F and then for
another 20 to 25 minutes at 300�F.

Caramel Sauce
=============
Caramel Sauce

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup cream
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
. Mix all the ingredients together and simmer for about 5 or 6 minutes.

Serve over Bread and butter pudding, apple pie and icecream, warm
gingerbread, etc..

Hey David

You might consider one of the chocolate cake with Guinness recipes for dessert. Someone posted the Irish Car Bomb cupcakes a couple of years ago and they were okay... not worth wasting the booze IMO, I would rather have had my Jameson's in a glass, though the Guiness chocolate cupcakes and Balieys frosting was good.

One of the really popular desserts/beverages in this area this year is Guiness Floats. Pretty much what you would expect. Guiness with vanilla or chocolate ice cream and chocolate syrup.

I've not tried this one, but it sure sounds good to me!

Alexa

Here is a link that might be useful: Chocolate Guiness Cake

Here's a recipe I posted a bit ago.....guess I better be making this soon if I am going to give away loaves of it like I did last year!

Well....I made a composite recipe.
My son had a preconceived notion of the ideal soda bread, so I winged it.
I used 2 1/2 cups of AP flour and 1/2 cup of whole wheat, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tsps of baking powder and 1 tsp of baking soda.
I mixed the dry ingredients with 1/2 cup of golden raisins....wish I had added more...
And added 1/2 stick of butter melted and about 1 1/2 cups of buttermilk...not sure just how much....since I started with 1 cup and added a little more as needed.
I baked it i9n a 10 round cake pan and baked it at 375 for about 45 minutes....wish I had used a smaller pan, as it didn't jump up like yeast bread does....and it was wonderful!...I can't seem to keep my knife away from the end of that loaf!!
He doesn't like caraway seeds so I left them out....and I am glad I did.
I may have to make another loaf on Wednesday....or perhaps several small loaves and give a couple away!
Linda C

Forgot to mention dessert! I have variously made grashopper pie....my least favorite...ro a cheese cake ( see the thread here) with a pistachio crumb crust....just butter the sides of the springform really well and press on chopped pistachios....then I use a chocolate ganash and sprinkle more pistachios on top
Not necessarily Irish but it sure is good.....and green!
Linda C....again!

Here is the recipe for Irish Soda Bread that I have used for many years. It is the only one that all of my family truly likes.

IRISH SODA BREAD

8 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons salt
3 cups raisins
3 eggs, well beaten
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 quart buttermilk

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all dry ingredients in large bowl. Add raisins. Stir in eggs and melted butter; add buttermilk. Mix with your hands until well combined. Dough should be moist. Put dough into 3 lightly greased (I use Pam) 9X5 loaf pans. Bake 40-50 minutes. Check after 40 minutes with a knife inserted near the center; if it comes out clean the bread is done. If not done, check again in 5 minutes.

Makes great toast.

My Nana O'Grady was a wonderful cook and she cooked in the traditional Irish way.... frugally! There weren't a lot of fresh fruits and the like available in Ireland so the food was largely starch based.

She rarely made many desserts but I recall two that were served on special occasions.

Bread Pudding with an Irish Whiskey sauce for the men, the children and women had a brown sugar and butter sauce!

The other was a simple Apple Cake, very moist and dense and she served it with a butter sauce.

I haven't a recipe for either , why don;t we pay more attention when we are young and they are there to tell us.....: (

Did find this one on the WEB , not T&T but it sounds right.

Irish Apple Cake Recipe
8 oz flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 4 oz sugar, 4 oz butter, 3 or 4 cooking apples, 1 egg (beaten), milk. Put flour, baking powder and sugar into a mixing bowl. Mix together. Now roughly chop up the butter. Do not cream or rub in. Peel the cooking apples and slice into the mixture, then stir in the beaten egg and sufficient milk to make a fairly stiff batter. This will be quite lumpy with apples and butter, but it is correct. Pour into a greased tin and bake for about an hour in a moderate oven (375�F).

In Ireland this is served hot with custard or cream, or cut into slices and spread with butter. A little sugar sprinkled on top, halfway through baking, improves the appearance. --Erina

I have to laugh about the apple cake. When I was a kid, apple cake was a common dessert of my mom's relatives, so we called it "Dutch Apple cake." Years later I had a friend bring me one from the bakery just like the ones I grew up with. He called it "Jewish Apple cake." Now when I make it, I call it "Half Dutch, Half Jewish Apple cake" because that suits my culture to a "T." Anyway, the one I make is fancy and you do it in a bundt pan. I also have another one I do that comes out of a Scottish recipe booklet, and my notes say, "nice little snack cake." That one is for apple gingerbread in an 8 inch square pan. I could post either one if you like. If it's a party, I'd say bring the one in the bundt pan, but I hate to make it myself because I hate greasing and flouring those bundt pans!

Here's another Irish Soda Bread from a real Irishman, which was declared the favorite by his family. This one has caraway seeds, and sour cream along with the buttermilk which I'm assuming results in a tender loaf. I haven't made this myself, but it's in my To Try file, so if you decide to try this, please let me know how it turned out.

Irish Soda Bread

3-1/2 cup AP flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
3/4 t. salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter (cut into small cubes and frozen; plus more, softened for skillet)
8 oz. container sour cream
1 large egg
1 cup buttermilk
Caraway seeds (optional) I prefer these to the raisins!

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees with a rack set in the lower third of the oven. Lightly butter a 10 inch round cast iron skillet; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add butter, sour cream and egg. Mix together, using a pastry blender, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in buttermilk (and caraway seeds if using), and mix until a sticky dough forms.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Using a floured bench scraper, form into a round loaf. With a sharp knife, score a large X in the center of the loaf.

Place the loaf in a prepared skillet and transfer to oven. Bake until loaf is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. If top begins to brown too quickly, loosely cover with a piece of parchment paper lined aluminum foil. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

I made these last year and everyone liked them better than any soda bread I've made.

Irish Soda Bread Muffins

2-1/4 c. flour
1/2 c. plus 1 tbsp. sugar, divided
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. caraway seeds
1 egg
1 c. buttermilk
1/4 c. butter, melted
1/4 c. vegetable oil
3/4 c. currants or raisins

Mix flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda and caraway seeds. Beat egg, buttermilk, butter and oil. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in currants. Fill greased muffin cups 3/4 full. Sprinkle with remaining sugar. Bake at 400F for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool 5 min. before removing from pan. Serve warm. Makes one dozen.

I posted this recipe for Iris soda bread, probably about 4 years or more ago.

It makes a perfect bread to serve with dinner and as I often do, as a desert with tea.

This is the recipe for the Irish Soda Bread made famous at the Lowell Folk Festival.
Every year it is sold at the Irish food booth along with other Irish dishes.
It's a little different from most and makes more of a cake like bread and uses sour cream as the acid, but it still goes perfectly with corned beef and cabbage on St Patricks Day. it also makes a wonderful bread to serve with tea, especially if it's warm. My family prefers to eat the bread warm with dinner or with tea, coffee or hot cocoa. It warms up well in a microwave.

The recipe was printed in the Lowell Sun newspaper 10 years ago, coutesy of the creator of the recipe, Mary Noon.

MARY NOON'S IRISH SODA BREAD

2 1/2 cups sifted flour
2 teaspoons baking powder (not level)
1 teaspoon salt (not level)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda (not level)
1/4 cup margarine or shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg beaten
1 pint sour cream
1/2 cup raisins
caraway seeds if you like. original recipe does not call for them because her family doesn't like them, nor does mine.

Preheat oven to 375. butter an 8 inch round cake pan or use cooking spray to coat.

Sift flour, baking poweder, salt and baking soda together and set aside.

Cream shortening or margarine and sugar. Add egg and sour cream and mix well.

Stir in flour mixture until well blended. Fold in raisins.

dough will be very sticky.

Put dough into 8 inch pan, make a cross in the dough and bake for 50 minutes. Cover pan with aluminum foil and bake another 10 minutes.

Let cool some in pan before removing. Serve warm or cold.

My changes. I use mazola unsalted stick margarine instead of shortening and leave out the salt. I find it tastes better without any added salt. I always serve the bread warm, fresh out of the oven and cooled a bit before serving.

wrap leftovers if any in aluminum foil and then slip into a ziploc bag to store. Reheat sliced in microwave on a plate with a cover vented just a little until it is as warm as you want it.

littleonefb, what does "not level" mean?

Thanks!

Trudymom, sorry I didn't see your question sooner.

I'm not really sure what "not level" means. At the time the recipe was printed in my local paper, I tried to find out, and never got a response.

I just assumed that it meant a little bit more than a measured teaspoon, not a full Heaping teaspoon, but just some extra.

that's what I have used all these years and it's worked out perfectly.

As I understand it it means slightly rounded just as it is when you scoop it from the box.

Level means taking a knife or other flat instrument and leveling the ingredient with the edges of the measuring spoon. Like you do when leveling flour.

Can't imagine it matters much but then again I wouldn't argue with Mary Noon!!!

Reporting back VERY late here. Life in general and business challenges have taken up much of my free time over the last week.

Thanks for all the recipes for both the bread and desserts. I did send out a few emails too. Alexa had the recipe that I made last year so I went with that one again. I'll be trying some of the others too. I forgot how good this simple bread is. I love the idea of cupcakes Katie.

Here is my results and the recipe. I might have cut that cross pattern a little deep. LOL

Sunday Best Irish Soda Bread by Martha Stewart

1 loaf
By adding egg, sugar, caraway seeds, and butter to a traditional Irish soda bread recipe, you create a loaf that is fit for a Sunday breakfast or brunch. Wrapped well with plastic wrap, it can be stored at room temperature until the last crumb is eaten. Like all Irish soda breads, this freezes well.

4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons caraway seeds
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
2 cups golden or dark raisins
1 1/2 scant cups buttermilk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon heavy cream

1. Heat oven to 350�. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and caraway seeds until well combined.
   
2. Using a pastry cutter or two knives in scissor fashion, cut in butter until the mixture feels like coarse meal. Stir in raisins until evenly distributed.
   
3. In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, egg, and baking soda until well combined. Pour buttermilk mixture into the flour-and-butter mixture all at once, and stir with a fork until all the liquid is absorbed and the mixture begins to hold together. It should resemble a rough biscuit dough. Using your hands, press the dough into a round, dome-shaped loaf about 8 inches in diameter. Lift the loaf from the bowl, and transfer it to the prepared baking sheet.
   
4. In a small bowl, mix the egg yolk and cream together. With a pastry brush, brush the egg wash over the loaf. With a sharp knife or razor, incise a cross, about 1/2 inch deep, into the top of the loaf. Transfer to the oven. Bake, rotating halfway through, until it is deep golden brown and a wooden skewer comes out clean when inserted into the center, about 70 minutes. Remove from oven, and transfer bread from the baking sheet to a wire rack to cool.

THanks for the dessert recipes too. Ann, I love your caramel sauce! Didn't we call that cake gravy a few years back? : ) Alex that chocolate cake is on the list! You know I love anything chocolate. Sharon thanks for the apple dessert recipe too. I have a few that need to be used up so I just might take that on this weekend.

I ended up make six dozen sugar cookies for the office crew and the insurance company that leases space from us in our building.

I'll be trying the Rye Bread recipe too Ann. I have another Corned Beef in the freezer that I want to make just for Reuben Sandwiches. Claire, no raisins for me either. LOL Love the caraway seeds though.

THanks again to all y'all!!

David

David, your Soda Bread looks incredible! I'm not a huge fan of typical soda breads because a lot that I've tried were too heavy/dry, but I would try yours! Thanks for sharing that delectable picture! (Your cookies look good too!)