Recipes « (y)our food choices™

Traditional Irish soda bread is pretty bland. A quick bread that’s good with a stew or smothered in butter and jam, but on it’s own isn’t very appealing. Adding dried cranberries and candied orange peel sweetens what otherwise would be tasteless. I’m using about a third graham flour with all purpose flour, and some added wheat germ for taste and health. Good Irish butter and a little whiskey are fun, optional ingredients that give these muffins a little more richness and Irish appeal. Enjoy these muffins as a brunch starter, in the afternoon with tea, or kept in the freezer to be removed the night before for a quick— on the go— breakfast.

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Irish Soda Bread Muffins

1 1/4 cups/ 6 ounces all-purpose flour
1 cup/ 3 ounces whole wheat flour, or graham flour (alternately, you can use all all-purpose flour)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon wheat germ
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup dried cranberries
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons candied orange peel, chopped*
3/4 cup + 1 teaspoon buttermilk, yogurt, or kefir (or combination)
2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon Irish Whiskey

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and orange peel or caraway seeds, if using, whisk together. Add dried cranberries and butter. Using your finger tips, rub together the butter and flour mixture until small crumbs form and cranberries are separated. Add the candied orange peel and stir to combine.

Mix together 3/4 cup buttermilk/yogurt/kefir and 2 tablespoons Irish Whiskey, stir well. Stir into dry ingredients only until moistened, being careful not to over mix. Spray a muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray or butter and flour the tin. Use an ice cream scoop to transfer the batter into the tin.

Mix 1 teaspoon Irish Whiskey with remaining buttermilk and brush the top of the unbaked muffins and sprinkle the top with sugar.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes or until golden and bread sounds hollow when thumped on bottom. Cool muffins on wire rack. Muffins can be frozen and toasted.

For Valentine’s day we decided to forgo the chocolate and make it all about strawberries and Rosé wine. On their own, strawberries and Rosé seem to go together like peanut butter and jelly. However, add some gelatin and put them in a cute heart shaped mold and you have a yummy adult candy that’s mild in flavor but fun to eat. Keep the kids away from this one.

Strawberry Rosé Gummy Hearts

2 tablespoons dehydrated strawberries
1/4 cup ultra fine sugar
1/4 cup corn syrup
1 cup Rosé wine
4 tablespoons gelatin (4 packets Knox gelatin)
1 tablespoon cranberry juice (or other red fruit juice), for coloring

Special equipment: heart shaped candy molds

In a blender add the dehydrated strawberries and sugar. Pulverize until the sugar and strawberries becomes a powder. Dust the candy molds with a little of the strawberry sugar, tapping out any excess sugar. Set aside the molds.

Add the rest of the strawberry sugar powder and corn syrup to a small sauce pan and heat until sugar is dissolved. Set aside.

In another pan, warm the Rosé wine to about 90 degrees (do not boil or you’ll burn off all the alcohol), slowly stir in the gelatin, try to avoid any foam or bubbles. Add the strawberry syrup and stir until combined. If the gelatin is still not dissolved, return to the stove, on very low heat, stirring gently, again to avoid foam and bubbles. Add cranberry juice and stir one more time.

Gently pour the gelatin in the prepared molds, if you’re careful the strawberry seeds will sink to the bottom of the pan and only the last few will have seeds, or you can disregard the last little bits of the batch. Place in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. Once set, remove the gummies from the molds.

Note: I attempted to make sour gummies with citric acid and also to dust the gummies with left over strawberry sugar. Both failed miserably. The sugar and citric acid just melted, becoming a gooey mess.

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