This may come as a shock to you but I’ve never ever had Irish soda bread. To be honest, I’ve never even heard about it until several weeks ago as I was going through foodgawker. And each time I saw a recipe for it, it was overlooked because it was just something I was not interested in. I mean, bread made from soda? How weird does that sound? I know, it’s embarrassing but when you’re raised by two very traditional Korean parents, you don’t get to try new things like these. You’re stuck with Korean barbecue and some sort of stew every night, which isn’t the worst thing in the world, but I’d like to have tried some different things along the way.

Anyway, about a week ago, I found out that St. Patrick’s Day was right around the corner and I had absolutely nothing planned for the blog. So in a panic, I called every arts and crafts store to see if they had any sort of St. Patty’s Day muffin liners in stock. The first store I called ran out. The second store I called, well, that’s an interesting story. Here’s how the conversation went:

  • Me: Hi, do you guys have any St. Patty’s Day muffin liners?
  • Worker: Saint what?
  • Me: St. Patty’s Day.
  • Worker: You mean St. Patrick’s Day?
  • Me: Uh, yeah, St. Patty’s Day.
  • Worker: (Pauses) Okay, let me check. Please hold.

(Several minutes later…)

  • Worker: We don’t have muffin liners but we do have cupcake liners.
  • Me: They’re the same thing!

Fun, right? So I head on over to the store and this is all they had. I wasn’t thrilled about it but it was green and it had shamrocks on them so it had to do. Although I was kind of bugged since it had 75 liners and I only needed 12. Guess I’ll have plenty for next year.

Anyway, you should know that I wasn’t that excited to make this. I only made these so I had something to post today. I wanted to make green cookies or cupcakes with green frosting instead but I just didn’t have the time. This recipe was simple and quick, and I already had everything on hand, so it was perfect as a St. Patty’s Day post with the limited time that I had. But once I took a bite into these, man-oh-man was I wrong for doubting these.

For a 15-minute bread recipe that doesn’t include yeast, this will be the lightest bread you will ever have in your entire life. Throw in some dried cranberries and you’ll have just a hint of sweetness in every bite. I devoured one just minutes after it came out of the oven. I slathered a little bit of butter inside, which just melted all over since it was still warm. Every bite was absolute heaven. 

Every St. Patty’s Day from here on out will include some form of Irish Soda Bread. Next year I’ll try RecipeGirl’s Brown Butter Soda Bread. Yum!

Irish Soda Bread Muffins (adapted from RecipeGirl):

Yields 11 muffins

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • 3/4 cup dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Line a 12-cup standard muffin tin with paper liners; set aside. (If you don’t want to use paper liners, you could coat a muffin pan with cooking spray instead.)

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Add the cold butter and toss to coat, using your fingers to work the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles coarse crumbs.

In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and egg.

Pour mixture over dry ingredients and stir using a rubber spatula just until moist.

Add the dried cranberries and gently toss to combine.

Scoop the batter evenly into the muffin tray.

Place into oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

These muffins had the honor of being presented on Javelin Warrior’s Cookin w/ Luv Food Fetish Fridays.

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