An Irish-American take on the traditional Irish Soda Bread turned into a wonderful breakfast muffin! Just in time for St. Patrick's Day...Slainte!
Irish Soda Bread Muffins
It's time to celebrate all things Irish! These muffins are a far reach from the traditional Irish Soda Bread and have been totally Americanized. But these muffins are a wonderful nod to that traditional bread. Filled with currents and a bit of caraway seeds these muffins mix up quickly and bake up like a dream.
I found this recipe on the King Arthur Baking site and it is slightly different than my base muffin recipe. A little less sugar, less oil, and the addition of buttermilk, plus the soda powder. So I kept the recipe true to their site and I'm glad I did. They turned out heavenly! Moist and tender on the inside and they came out with golden craggy tops. Studded with dried fruit these are perfect anytime of day. Note: This recipe makes 12 muffins.
What Ingredients do I need?
- all purpose flour
- white whole wheat flour
- sugar
- baking powder
- baking soda
- salt
- egg
- buttermilk, sour cream, or yogurt
- butter or vegetable oil
- caraway seeds
- dried currents or raisins
- sparkling sugar (optional)
Substitutions and Variations
- Use all All Purpose Flour instead of adding in the Whole Wheat Flour
- Use milk with lemon juice or vinegar instead of buttermilk
- Use sour cream or yogurt instead of buttermilk
- leave out the caraway seeds
- use raisins instead of dried currents
- use different dried fruits for a different flavor type: cherries, cranberries, apricots
- Leave off the sparkling sugar
Kitchen Tips and Notes
- 1st rule of them when making muffins is not to "overmix" the batter. You want it batter to just come together. Little spots of flour is okay.
- To get high muffin tops turn your oven up to 400 degrees.
- Make sure you are using fresh baking powder. To test put 1/2 teaspoon into 1/4 cup of boiling water. If it bubbles, you are good.
- Halve the recipe for 6 muffins, but you will need to beat the egg and then use 1/2 of an egg.
- Muffins can be frozen individually and kept for 3 months.
- Fill the muffin tin almost to the top for nice big muffins.
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Irish Soda Bread Muffins
3/4 cup (85g) King Arthur 100% White Whole Wheat Flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup (74g) granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups (170g) currants (first choice) or raisins
1/2 to 2 teaspoons caraway seeds, to taste
1 large egg
1 cup (227g) buttermilk, yogurt, or sour cream
6 tablespoons (85g) butter, melted; or 1/3 cup (67g) 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; 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 3/4 full; the stiff batter will look mounded in the cups. Top with sparkling white sugar.
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.
