Irish Soda Bread

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Cuz I'm so Irish :p

One of the things about having a common last name is that my email address is a very close variation to a gazillion other people with my initials and last name.  Yesterday, I received yet another email from someone looking for a Kevin or Kelly or Karl Sullivan, except this time the subject was Irish Soda Bread and the recipe inside it was being passed around because it was far superior to anything anyone else had tried, apparently.  And wow, is it good!!  I have no idea where it originated or if this isn't something that you'd just find as highly recommended on All Recipes or something, but it's a funny story so I'm posting it.  Enjoy!

Irish Soda Bread

4 C. flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

3 tsp. baking powder

½ C. sugar

¼ C. butter, melted

1 egg

1 3/4 C. buttermilk

1 1/2 C. raisins (soaked in hot water for 5 min and drained, opt).

Mix first 6 ingredients (flour thru butter).  Combine the egg and buttermilk, and add to dry ingredients and butter.  Then stir in raisins.  Knead for 2 or 3 minutes on a floured board, divide in half, make rounded loaves, place on an oiled sheet pan.  Score the top with a sharp wet knife in the form of a cross and bake for 35-40 minutes in a 375 oven.

Oatmeal Crackers

Here is the link to the original posting. Can't even pretend that I came up with this one. :)

I came across this recipe when looking for something else I could feed Clara since she's getting tired of Cheerios. I like the idea of not giving her so much wheat until she's a little older, since it's typically harder for little tummies to digest, but then I went ahead and substituted half the white flour with whole wheat, so not sure I came out ahead there. :)  I also sprinkled some kosher salt on them before they went into the oven. The thinner the better - crispy, tasty, and preservative free!

The fun thing about these is that the dough is as simple as pie crust in the food processor, and you've gotta get it out for grinding up the oatmeal anyway (I did all 2 cups at once, just because my food processor was big enough to handle it).   The girls used mini cookie cutters to cut out each cracker - great entertainment, and easier for them to handle than regular cookies because they're only about 1" across.