There’s a saying in Gaelic, “Chan fhiach cuirm gun a còmhradh.” It means,”A feast is no use without good talk.” And I believe that, which is probably why I have a food blog. I like to talk, and eat, so it’s really only fitting I talk about eating. Irish people are known for being given the gift of gab and I definitely inherited that from the Irish sides of my family. I have a blog where I actually think people care about whatever I have to say about food… if that’s not a perfect example, I don’t know what is.
Wouldn’t be St. Patrick’s Day without some Belleek!
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As I mentioned a few days ago, I have a favorite Irish soda cake recipe that cannot be replaced. However, I saw this recipe on the King Arthur Flour website and I just needed to try it. I do not like raisins or currants in my breads, and while I do like caraway seeds, I had to make some without because Jay does not. So I totally omitted the raisins/currants but used the caraway seeds (only 1 teaspoon). I also didn’t have crystal sugar, so I used green sparkling sugar on the tops of some; the others I left plain. All in all, they were delicious.
IRISH SODA BREAD MUFFINS (from King Arthur Flour)
Ingredients:
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup whole wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1 ½ cups currants (first choice) 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
Directions:
- 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; 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.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, filling the cups about ¾ full; the stiff batter will look mounded in the cups. 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. Tip the muffins in the pan, so their bottoms don’t get soggy. Wait 5 minutes, then transfer the muffins to a rack to cool. Serve them plain, or with butter and/or jam.
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I prefer to use the melted butter as opposed to vegetable oil in Irish soda breads/cakes/muffins. It lends a better flavor. I also like to use buttermilk, but I used half plain whole milk yogurt and half buttermilk in this recipe (½ cup of each). If you’re really a person of the British Isles, you can use clotted cream on them as well. Some people like marmalade. I like them plain, or sometimes warm right out of the oven with some butter.
The liners are the colors of the flag of Ireland, in case you didn’t realize. Duh.
I'm Marilla. A 30-something artist, hobby baker, home canning enthusiast, gardener, DIY-er, wife, mommy of a baby boy and dog mom (to another baby boy) from New York. 
i have to make these muffins i’m irish and my mothers recipe is the one we usually have. this year i will be makeing this one!
Haha great Tara! Happy St. Pat’s!
quick question…I was wondering how you would do a chocolate irish cream cupcake? I have made the regular irish cream cupcakes but I have a request for chocolate. I would keep the regular irish cream buttercream. Any suggestions you have on this would be appreciated.
Sarah- I’d do a chocolate cupcake and just use Bailey’s for half the liquid. I’m sure it’d work, but I don’t know if the chocolate flavor would overpower it at all. Hope it works! Let me know.
Thanks! I will!
No problem! 🙂
So they worked out pretty well…I used my favorite buttermilk chocolate cupcake recipe… used 1/2 cup Irish cream and 1/4 cup buttermilk. The Irish cream flavor was subtle but I also filled them with Irish cream ganache and topped them with your Irish cream butter cream frosting! Delicious!
I was going to attempt a Guiness ganache but I chickened out. Maybe next time 🙂
The Irish cream ganache sounds amazing. I might have to steal that idea 😉 Thanks for letting me know!
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