Eileen's Irish Soda Bread

I'm not Irish, but I LOVE Irish Soda Bread. It has just the right amount of sweetness with a few tablespoons of brown sugar combined with the raisins in the dough. I think you'll agree the finished product is the perfect mix of scone, biscuit and quick bread! The egg wash on the outside also creates a nice crunch. It's perfect alongside a rich stew or slathered with butter and jam with your morning tea. Best of all, this recipe does not contain yeast, so you can bake up this delicious bread in no time with ingredients you probably have on hand in your pantry. My mom got this recipe from a neighbor of ours when we lived in Pennsylvania, so thanks Mrs. Peters!

This recipe is pretty darn easy, but thought I'd document the process to practice my food photography.

Just mix together the dry ingredients and then cut in the butter (I used my fingers because I didn't have a pastry blender).

Combine the egg and the buttermilk and then stir it into the flour mixture. I added a little more buttermilk since the mixture seemed too dry.

Fold in the raisins and then you are ready to knead (you'll need a lot of flour - this dough is super sticky). I used the dough hook on my KitchenAid Mixer - please excuse my laziness.

Shape the dough into a round loaf and then cut a cross in the center. Beat the remaining egg and brush it on top of the loaf before baking.

Homemade bread - just.like.that. That crispy brown crust is calling my name. Oh, and thank you Restaurant Eve for supplying us with those cute pats of Kerrygold butter!

Eileen Peters' Irish Soda Bread
Serves 6-8

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/3 cup raisins

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut in butter until crumbly.

Combine 1 egg and buttermilk, stir into flour mixture until just moistened. Fold in raisins. Knead on a floured surface for 1 minute.

Shape into a round loaf; place on a greased baking sheet. Cut a 1/4" deep cross in top of loaf. Beat remaining egg; brush over loaf.

Bake 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.

Grandma Lois's Old World Apple Cake

My grandma is a fantastic cook and baker. She can throw together a pot roast with multiple sides AND dessert without breaking a sweat. Her skills can probably be attributed to growing up on her family's ranch in Hysham, MT - lots of hungry mouths to feed! I have several Grandma Lois recipes to share with you but thought I would do a post about one of my absolute favorites - Old World Apple Cake! As the comforting aroma of cinnamon filled the kitchen, Nick yelled out, "hey is that Old School Apple Cake almost done?" Sorry about that, Grandma.

While I had romantic notions that this was an original recipe that came over on the boat from Switzerland, Grandma told me the other day that she got the recipe from a friend at their old church in the Philadelphia suburbs. Regardless, the recipe has been a family favorite for years and is a big hit every time we serve it at holiday dinners, bridal showers, etc. In addition to being a great dessert (make sure you add a scoop of vanilla ice cream), a small slice pairs well with your morning coffee or tea.

The only time consuming part of this recipe is peeling the apples and slicing them super-thin. I just use a knife, but I'm sure a mandolin would work really well here to make uniform slices. Hmmm - maybe that will be my next kitchen gadget purchase!

The batter is very simple - just flour, sugar, oil, baking powder, salt, eggs, orange juice (I use no pulp) and a tablespoon of good-quality vanilla extract

 .

No need to pull out the KitchenAid stand mixer to tackle this batter. Just use your hand-held mixer - should take you less than a minute to get everything incorporated. I try not to over-mix the batter.

Grease and flour (I LOVE Pam's baking spray) a standard 12-cup bundt pan. Fill the pan with half the batter, then lay half the sliced apples on top and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. As you can see, I am not shy with the cinnamon.

Pour in the rest of the batter, sprinkle with more cinnamon and sugar and bake. You end up with this beautiful, crusty-on-the-outside yet moist-on-the-inside apple cake. A sprinkling of powdered sugar would look nice, but I couldn't find any in the pantry (thanks Nick for finding it this weekend!).

Have some good friends over for tea and serve this cake. It'll help brighten up a cold and blustery winter day.

Old World Apple Cake

From Lois Oman

Ingredients

• 2 cups thinly sliced apples (I used McIntosh)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup orange juice (I used no pulp OJ)
• 4 eggs
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• Extra cinnamon and sugar for sprinkling between cake layers
• Powdered sugar for serving (optional)

Preparation

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 12-cup bundt pan. Thinly slice the apples and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, oil, orange juice, eggs, baking powder, salt and vanilla extract. The batter should be smooth.

Pour approximately half of the batter into the bundt pan. Place the apple slices in an even layer on top of the batter. Sprinkle the apples with about 2 tablespoons of sugar and generously with cinnamon (just eye-ball it). Pour the additional batter into the pan and sprinkle cinnamon and sugar.

Bake for approximately 70 minutes. Cool for ten minutes and then remove the cake from the pan. Cool completely and, if desired, sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.