Irish Soda Bread Muffins

 It was a sunshiny day to enjoy tea and muffins... 

....before the weather turned chilly again!  Isn't the two-toned oxalis (shamrock) plant pretty?  I can plant it outside after St.  Patrick's Day.  

☘️ These muffins are perfect for St.  Paddy's day with a cup of Irish Breakfast Tea. ☘️

Last year Margie, from Tea In The Valley showed this Queen Anne teacup and I instantly fell in love, and found one!

☘️This little kissing leprechaun couple was a gift from my mom and they always make their appearance for St. Patrick's Day.☘️

Yield: 12

Author: Kitty, but adapted from King Arthur Flour

Irish Soda Bread Muffins

These are perfect treats to eat and share!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 3/4 cup White Whole Wheat Flour (or use white flour)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/4 cups currants or 1 1/4 cups raisins (I used currants)
• 1/2 to 2 teaspoons caraway seeds, to taste
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup buttermilk, yogurt, or sour cream
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted; or 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• coarse sparkling sugar, for topping

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400°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 or raisins, and caraway seeds.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk (or equivalent) and melted butter (or equivalent).
4. Quickly and gently combine the dry and wet ingredients; this doesn't take more than a few stirs with a 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 (see NOTE); the stiff batter will look mounded in the cups. Top with sparkling white sugar.
6. 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.

Notes

The next time I make these, I'm going to use an ice cream scoop and place the scoop of dough right onto parchment paper and bake them like scones and skip the muffin pan all together.

I actually got 18 muffins but I would fill them up next time as they don't rise much.

☘️Thank you for your visit!  xo☘️

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Love Your Creativity Link Party

Full Plate Thursday at Miz Helen's Country Cottage