This one is hubby's favorite because of the sugar on the top and the lyrical name. -Grainlady Milo O'Sullivan's Currant-Nutmeg Soda Bread 3 c. all-purpose flour 1/4 c. granulated sugar 1 t. baking soda 1/4 t. each salt and nutmeg 1/4 c. unsalted butter 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 c. buttermilk 1/2 c. currants Additional sugar for sprinkling 1. Place rack in bottom third of oven. Heat oven to 425-degrees F. Have an ungreased cookie sheet ready. (Grainlady note: I cover it with a sheet of parchment paper.) 2. Put flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and nutmeg into a large bowl. Add butter and cut in with pastry blender or mix with fingers until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in currants. Stir in buttermilk until a stiff dough forms. 3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead just enough to shape into a ball. Put smooth side up on cookie sheet. Pat into 7-inch round, slightly mounded. 4. Sprinkle with 2 t. sugar. With sharp knife, cut a deep cross in dough, slightly more than halfway through. 5. Bake 35-40 minutes until loaf is deep golden brown. Line a cooling rack with a linen or cotton dish towel (NOT a terrycloth towel). Place bread on towel. Cool 5-10 minutes, then fold towel loosely over loaf and cool completely. If you have some currants and buttermilk left, try this King Arthur recipe. Someone from the Garden Web posted it in 2009, sorry, I don't remember who, and I've made it many times since. Irish Soda Bread Muffins 1\-1/2 c. King Arthur Unbleached All\-Purpose Flour 3/4 c. King Arthur 100% White Whole Wheat Flour 2 t. baking powder 1/4 t. baking soda 1/2 t. salt 1/3 c. granulated sugar 1\-1/2 c. currants 1/2 to 2 t. caraway seeds (to taste \- optional) 1 large egg 1 c. buttermilk, yogurt, or sour cream 6 T. butter, melted; or 1/3 c. vegetable oil sparkling white sugar, for topping 1\. Preheat the oven to 400\-degrees F. Lightly grease a standard muffin pan; or line with papers, and grease the papers. 2\. In a medium\-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, currants and caraway seeds. 3\. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk and melted butter (or oil). 4\. Quickly and gently combine the dry and wet ingredients; honestly, 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. 5\. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, filling the cups about 3/4 full; the stiff batter will look mounded in the cups. 6\. Bake the muffins for 20\-minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Tip the muffins in the pan, so their bottoms don't get soggy. Remove them from the oven, wait 5 minutes, then transfer the muffins to a rack to cool. Serve them plain, or with butter and/or jam.

This is the recipe for the Irish Soda Bread made famous at the Lowell Folk Festival in Lowell MA. 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. I've been making it since 1997, serve it with dinner, as a desert warm with butter and some Jam, and a friend's daughter has served it with ice cream on top. A very adaptable Irish Soda Bread, sweet, but not really sweet, very moist, not dry. How sweet it tastes seems to be how and what it is served with. 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.

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 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. 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. 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. 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

Here's a recipe from Alton Brown's cookbook about baking. Sorry, I don't remember the name of the cookbook, but I liked this recipe enough to copy it. (Don't tell anyone!) Old School Muffins Dry Goods 2 1/4 cups (11 oz. or 303 grams) All purpose flour 2 teaspoons (1/3 oz. or 10 g) Baking powder 1 teaspoon (1/4 oz. or 6 g) Baking soda pinch salt Wet ingredients 1/2 cup (3 3/4 oz or 105 g) Sugar 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 large Whole egg 1 large Egg yolk 1 cup plain yogurt Extra ingredients 1 to 2 cups of bits and pieces (I use walnuts and blueberries, 1 cup each, but anything you'd like should be fine. Maybe since your yogurt is vanilla flavored, some almonds would be good. For some reason, I think of almonds and vanilla going together. Or, maybe even chocolate chips! Mmmmm, chocolate chips and almonds, even better!) Preheat your oven to 375 and prepare muffin tin (grease and flour as you probably usually do) 1. Combine dry ingredients (Brown likes to pulse them in a food processor.) 2. Whisk together all wet ingredients, including fat and eggs. 3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until batter comes together. Do NOT mix smooth. 4. Using an icecream scoop, drop the batter into the muffin tin. 5. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the muffin interiors hit 210 degrees F or a toothpick inserted into the bottom of a muffin comes out clean. 6. Remove from the oven and immediately turn the muffins on their sides so that the steam can escape the pan. 7. Serve immediately, or store in an airtight container for up to a week. Yields 12 standard muffins. Sally