St. Patrick’s Day is next Wednesday and I’m getting ready. I baked some  Irish Soda Bread, did you know that it wasn’t originated by the Irish, and these yummy little Shamrock Almond Cookies just melt in your mouth.

A couple months ago, when I received my wall calendar from Pillsbury, and was flipping through the months, I spotted [...]]]>

St. Patrick’s Day is next Wednesday and I’m getting ready. I baked some  Irish Soda Bread, did you know that it wasn’t originated by the Irish, and these yummy little Shamrock Almond Cookies just melt in your mouth.

A couple months ago, when I received my wall calendar from Pillsbury, and was flipping through the months, I spotted a recipe for Almond Sandwich Cookies with pink filling. Well, I got busy sharing other treats and food for Valentine’s Day and didn’t get them baked, so I knew exactly what I wanted to bake for St. Patrick’s Day, but with green filling, of course.

The recipe called for refrigerated sugar cookie dough, which I didn’t want to use, so I set out to find an Almond Cookie dough recipe. The very first place I headed was my friend, Bridget over at Bake at 350 (if you haven’t visited Bridget, run fast…she is amazing!), and I was excited to find that she uses a Vanilla Almond Sugar Cookie for many of her cut out cookies. I followed her recipe exactly…

Ingredients:

• 3 cups Flour, all-purpose
• 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1 cup Sugar
• 2 sticks Butter
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 teaspoon Almond Extract

Directions:

Combine the flour and baking powder, set aside. Cream the sugar and butter. Add egg and extracts, mix well. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat until well combined.

Roll out dough and cut out shapes.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, if you like a soft sugar cookie, bake a little shorter, if you like a crisp cookie, bake a little longer.

For the filling, I followed the Pillsbury recipe that was on the calendar, except I doubled it.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups Powdered Sugar (I ended up using about 3 cups and the filling was pretty stiff)
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) Butter, softened
• 4 teaspoons Milk
• 1/2 teaspoon Almond Extract
• 1 drop Green Food Color

Directions:

Beat butter until fluffy, gradually add a small amount of powdered sugar at a time, alternating with milk and almond extract. I mixed it like I do my Buttercream Frosting.

I wanted to add a little something to the top and had seen the amazing dessert that Amanda at I Am Baker made, but wanted to stay with the green theme. So, I used some of the filling, added a bit more green food color and a dab more of milk, heated it in the microwave. After mixing well, I filled my Wilton Plastic bottle to be able to drizzle with ease. I also sprinkled on some green sugar on the edge.

I couldn’t stop with just the little sandwich cookies, I cut out some larger ones too. I was excited when my son found 7 different shamrock cookie cutters in my basket. I also used them for my St. Patrick’s Garland.

I frosted some with the filling and some with the darker green filling, using the same method I use on Sugar Cookies with Almond Bark.

Are you baking for St. Patrick’s Day? Or have a special meal planned? I’d love to hear about it.

This post linked to:

~Finer Things Friday hosted by The Finer Things in Life

~St. Patrick’s Day Party hosted by Created by Diane

~Food on Friday hosted by Ann Kroeker

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Wondering why they call it Soda Bread, I used my handy Swagbucks toolbar, and searched around, this is what I [...]]]> Baking special treats and making Holidays fun, has always been important to me. Irish Soda Bread is a St. Patrick’s Day tradition, (Corned Beef is too, but, sorry I won’t be making it) that I have never made…until now.

Wondering why they call it Soda Bread, I used my handy Swagbucks toolbar, and searched around, this is what I found from the Society of Preservation of Soda Bread (yep, it really does exist )

“Just like the bagpipes weren’t invented by the Scots, Soda Bread wasn’t invented by the Irish.  The earliest reference to using soda ash in baking bread seems to be credited to American Indians using it to leaven their bread.  Pearl Ash was used prior to 1800 to make cakes by combining it with an acidic ingredient in the dough.  However, as the Scots have made the bagpipe their instrument, the Irish have made Soda Bread theirs.  Not by choice, but by a state of poverty that made it the easiest bread to put on the table.”

While most breads have yeast to make them light, Irish Soda Bread does not contain yeast, so it is a heavy, dense bread.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups flour, all-purpose, plus a little extra for currants
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 3/4 cups cold buttermilk, shaken
• 1 Egg, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
• 1 cup dried currants (I used dried cranberries, the Walmart brand)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, spray a large cookie sheet with cooking spray or line it with parchment paper

1. Combine flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl, whisk lightly.
2. Add cold butter and combine with mixer

1. In a small bowl, combine buttermilk, egg and orange zest, beat lightly with a fork. *If you don’t have buttermilk, I add 1 tablespoon vinegar to a measuring cup and then add enough milk to measure what the recipe calls for*
2. Slowly add milk mixture to flour mixture, mix on low speed. I ended up having to finish the mixing by hand because my small mixer couldn’t handle it.

1. Add about 1 tablespoon of flour to currants (or dried cranberries, like I did) so they don’t clump together
2. The recipe says the batter is very wet, I’ll have to say that’s an understatement   Dump dough onto well floured surface, and knead into a round loaf (it took me quite a few times to get it workable)

I divided the dough in half to make 2 smaller loaves. Place them on the cookie sheet and with a serrated knife, make an “X” on top.

If you make one loaf, Bake for about 45-55 minutes, I baked my loaves for about 30 minutes. The bread is done when a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. When you tap the loaf, it will have a hollow sound.

Cool on a baking rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Isn’t this the prettiest bread ever? I’m not sure I will bake it again anytime soon. We did like the taste, although the boys didn’t really care for the texture. We really like the dried cranberries in it. I used them because I couldn’t find currants, and they worked out really well.

Have you ever baked Irish Soda Bread? Did you like it?

This post linked to:

~St. Patrick’s Day Party hosted by Created by Diane

~St. Patrick’s Day Party hosted by Somewhat Simple

~Foodie Friday hosted by Designs by Gollum

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A Big THANK YOU to all my great sponsors for donating the giveaways, Pillsbury, My Blog Spark, Alice, and Susan Branch.

And the winners were…

Pillsbury Sweet Orange Rolls [...]]]> I know I have already announced the winners, but I have had a few readers ask, so I thought I would put them all in one post for you.

A Big THANK YOU to all my great sponsors for donating the giveaways, Pillsbury, My Blog Spark, Alice, and Susan Branch.

And the winners were…

Pillsbury Sweet Orange Rolls and Photo Album ~ Vicki Wurgler

Hello Cupcake Cookbook ~ Pamela from Keeping Life Creative

Alice $20 Gift Card ~ Angie from Many Little Blessings

Personalized Tile Pendant ~  Nutmeg Nanny

Susan Branch Daisy Card Box ~  Francine Gies

Thank you again to all who entered! I hope you are liking it here at Hoosier Homemade!

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